Love One Another

In the early 1980s Daniel and Judy* vowed to love and honor each other from that time forward; they pledged their devotion before God and witnesses in a marriage ceremony. A short time later, the couple began to recognize their need for spiritual fulfillment. Through faith by God's grace, Daniel was given new life in Christ while Judy chose to reactivate her previous membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the years since, the couple has continued to love and honor one another even though the faiths they follow are incompatible. Daniel attends his church, Judy attends hers. But now Judy desires to take her religion a step further by participating in an LDS temple Endowment ceremony.

The Endowment is a ritual in the Mormon temple in which the participant learns the sacred/secret handshakes, body postures, and incantations which are necessary, according to Mormonism, for one to pass by "the angels who stand as sentinels, being able to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation�" (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 416)

Judy's Bishop wanted to be certain Daniel would not object to her temple participation. Therefore, he requested, through Judy, that her husband provide a letter of permission. Daniel is heartbroken that his wife continues to miss the joy and assurance which comes from trusting in the biblical Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, he trusts his Sovereign God to love Judy even more than he does. He continually brings her before God in prayer and endures with hope.

Daniel's letter to Judy's Bishop is reprinted here. It beautifully demonstrates his unwavering commitment to the truth of the Gospel united with his unfailing love for his wife. May Daniel's example be instructive and encouraging to us all as we seek to find the balance between loving and honoring the Mormons in our lives while remaining true to our Lord Jesus Christ.


Dear Paul,

Judy announced, the other day, her decision to go to the temple for her Endowment session and asked that I write a letter giving her my approval and assurance that it will not disrupt our marriage.

As for the first request, I hope you can understand that it would already be very difficult for me to consent to a ritual which I'm not supposed to even know about. However, knowing the content of the current endowment and the version prior to 1990 in which Christian ministers were ridiculed as hirelings of Satan, it's impossible for me to condone it.

I can only tell you what I told Judy -- that it breaks my heart for her to participate in this ceremony but that I will do nothing to interfere with it. The Bible makes it clear that each person must take responsibility for what he/she trusts in for Eternal Life.

My concern is that this ritual adds mandatory works to the finished work of Jesus Christ in order for a person to gain Eternal Life. This will cause Judy to "be led astray from [her] sincere and pure devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3)

The Bible tells us that if we have the Son, we have Eternal Life: "Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son HAS life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you HAVE eternal life." (1 John 5:10-13)

In answer to the second request, I assured her and I can assure you that my love for and devotion to her has never, and will never, be affected by her participation in any part of the LDS Church.

Please feel free to call and discuss this further or ask any follow-up questions.

Sincerely in Christ,

Daniel

P.S. I will enclose a couple of brochures which were produced to help Latter-day Saints understand non-LDS Christians better and to rediscover Biblical truths we used to share. I hope you find them helpful. I'd be glad to get together with you sometime to discuss them or answer any questions.


*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of everyone involved.