Temple ceremony changes and Masonic origins

Ordinances presented as restored, unchanging and essential to exaltation have been revised repeatedly, and the endowment appeared weeks after Joseph became a Master Mason.

What the Church claims

The temple endowment was revealed to Joseph Smith as an ancient ordinance; its covenants and ordinances are eternal and unchanging.

Once the evidence is in, this claim: Contested. Strong on the historical facts (borrowing and repeated change), but whether that defeats the theological claim depends on premises believers can reasonably reject.

The record

  • Joseph Smith was initiated, passed and raised a Master Mason on 1842-03-15/16 in the room above his Red Brick Store; the Church's own history says he introduced the endowment 'soon after he became a Mason' and that 'there are some similarities between Masonic ceremonies and the endowment'. Heber C. Kimball wrote that Joseph believed Masonry was 'taken from priesthood but has become degenerated'.
  • Documented revisions: the oath of vengeance (avenging the prophets' blood on the nation) removed in 1927; Adam-God material dropped from the lecture at the veil c.1905; penalty gestures, the Protestant preacher and women's vow to 'obey' removed in April 1990; the initiatory made symbolic in 2005; women's covenant to 'hearken' to husbands removed and the ceremony shortened in January 2019; the witness couple and much physical contact removed and an informed-consent preamble added in February 2023.
  • The First Presidency's 2019-01-02 statement says details of temple work 'have been adjusted periodically' and that 'there will be no end to such adjustments as directed by the Lord', while ordinances 'are not discussed outside a holy temple'.
  • Brigham Young's 1877 St. George standardization, with its Adam-God lecture, is the earliest full form; Wilford Woodruff spent hours 'harmanizing the Different Modes of ceremonies' across temples in the 1890s, showing the text was not fixed.

The moving target

  • 1842-05: Endowment introduced; Masonry a degenerated form of ancient priesthood ritual.
  • 2019-01-02: Adjustments are periodic, Lord-directed and will not end; content is sacred and not discussed.
  • n.d.: Similarities exist but 'stark differences in their content and intent'.

The exchange

First Presidency 2019; FAIR; Mormonr

Ordinances are eternal; their presentation is not. Changes touch the teaching vehicle (dialogue, gestures, wording) and never the covenants or the priesthood authority behind them; God directs adjustments through living prophets, which is what continuing revelation means.

The answer: The removed elements were not peripheral: penalties were sworn oaths with death imagery; the oath of vengeance was a covenant; 'obey' and 'hearken' were the content of women's covenant; the Adam-God lecture was doctrine. Each change tracked outside pressure (federal scrutiny 1904-1927; survey feedback and press 1990; feminism 2019; consent culture 2023) rather than announced revelation. If the covenants themselves can change, the claim that they were revealed in their ancient form is hard to sustain.

What they get right: The five core covenants (obedience, sacrifice, gospel, chastity, consecration) have been stable since the 19th century, and many religions revise liturgy.

Church History Topics; FAIR ('Similarities between Masonic and Mormon temple ritual')

Masonic parallels are superficial or reflect a shared ancient source; Joseph restored what Masonry had corrupted.

The answer: The chronology is the problem: Master Mason in March 1842, endowment in May 1842, with grips, tokens, penalties, aprons and a five-points embrace that match the York Rite. Freemasonry's rituals date to the early 18th century, not to Solomon's temple, so a 'common ancient source' has no historical support. The Church's own topic page no longer claims the endowment predates Masonry, only that it differs in 'content and intent'.

What they get right: The endowment's narrative content (creation, fall, redemption) has no Masonic counterpart.

Both cases at full strength

The skeptics' case

The Church now concedes the two facts critics long pressed: the endowment appeared within weeks of Joseph's Masonic initiation and resembles Masonic ritual, and the ceremony has been changed many times. Members were required to keep secret, on pain of penalties, elements later quietly deleted. The revisions cluster around moments of external pressure, and none was presented to the membership as a revelation with text. For a rite the Church calls essential to exaltation, the pattern looks like institutional adaptation rather than restoration.

The apologetic case

God has always adapted the form of ordinances to a people's capacity (Moses' tabernacle, the temple, Christian sacraments); the endowment's covenants have been constant; and Joseph, like the early Christians borrowing from their culture, used a familiar ritual grammar to teach revealed truths. The First Presidency has said plainly that adjustments will continue.

What would change this

Evidence of endowment-like ritual in Joseph's revelations before March 1842, or a pre-18th-century source for the specific Masonic elements shared with the endowment.

Sources

An independent project. Not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or with any organization cited here. Summaries are written here; short quotations are attributed and linked. Every page names its sources so that it can be corrected, and every page can be challenged.