2.) People often take disagreement as attack. We can love, honor and respect others and disagree with them. And they with us. This idea is often muddled in the minds of some. Many people demand consensus or they feel attacked. We can disagree, and at a minimum be civil.

A missionary at a door offering his religion is not “ripping ” anything that person has. And as a “Christian ” how could we avoid the great commission to preach to the world? The JW’s visit my home on a regular basis; I don’t feel they are ripping anything I believe; I am still intact when they go. People have become way too thinned skinned.

-David

Addressing doctrinal distinctions in belief is a colossal leap from defaming and desecrating what others hold sacred. They are not nearly on the same plane in interfaith dialogue, if you can even call the latter such. But it does not surprise me that you would equate them since it seems as though you don’t believe in anything as sacred as we do the temple, so it is hard for you to imagine the difference. I’m sorry that this is so. I believe that you probably do have very many things in your life that you hold very sacred, but you probably don’t recognize them – e.g. your family, your relationships, your scriptures, your home, your property, your freedom, etc. I believe you would be quite disturbed if any of those things in your life were suddenly and rudely profaned, defamed, desecrated, and exposed to public use and scrutiny. You don’t try to challenge us on opposing views but you attempt to lay bare the holy vessels of the Lord. That is not dialogue or critique or debate; it is careless libel and selfish aspersion.

How would a person express their feelings who finds the endowment ceremony troubling? I think that would depend on if they are a member of the Church or not. If not, I’m not sure why something that we do in the sacred seclusion and confines of the temple should disturb such a person at all since they don’t participate in it, and it in no way affects their way of life or beliefs. If it truly disturbs such a person, a careful inventory and analysis of how external influences affect their life might be in order. If they are a member of the Church, then I believe an education in the history of temples since the beginning of time might be good counsel, since such worship practices, rituals, and liturgies have been in existence since the world began. The Lord’s ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8-9). The things of God and His temples are not the way of the world, and are starkly in contrast with mundane trivialities. This could potentially strike new temple-goers as odd or different. But such ceremonies have always stood out in distinctiveness from the rest of the world. The earliest Christian initiations were likewise extraordinary, and for a divine purpose. Edward Yarnold, a research lecturer at Oxford University, has written about the early Christian liturgy thus:

‘The awe-inspiring rites’ – the words recur several times in these pages. Without being unfaithful to the Greek, I might have called this book ‘The Spine-chilling Rites of Initiation.’ It takes the form of a collection of sermons, all preached about the second half of the fourth century, explaining the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and Holy Communion by which a Christian became a full member of the Church. The ceremonies took place at night some of them in the dark, after weeks of intense preparation; they were wrapped in secrecy, and the candidate knew little about them until just before, or even after, he had receive them. Everything was calculated to inspire religious awe, to make these rites the occasion of a profound and life-long conversion. (Edward Yarnold, The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation, ix.)

Prayerful and scriptural introspection and study would be valuable to any temple-going Latter-day Saint to consider to know if the temple is really the Lord’s House. Discussion with a bishop, teacher, friend, or family member about such feelings might also help. Generally, the more one knows the ways of the Lord, the more the temple fits perfectly into His model of the eternities and the more one recognizes the profound blessing it is to worship and serve in the temple.

This thread has been enlightening, and further evidence of the original point of my post. Thanks to all.

“Can we not let our emotions subside and not go on the offense whenever anyone says anything that is different than our personal beliefs? ”

Can you? Can other Mormons? Latter-day Saints tend to allow themselves the right to complain when people challenge their “sacred space,” but always find a way to justify themselves when they invade another's. Again, don't misunderstand. I am defending wholeheartedly your right to invade, complain, and critique. I am not offended at all by that aspect. My personal beliefs are not so frail that I feel the need to silence those who do not share my worldview. What offends me personally is when a Mormon (or any religious person), publicly makes truth-claims and then cries foul when a person or persons with an opposing view challenges them on their position. Perhaps you can explain how a person who finds the endowment ceremony to be extremely troubling should express those feelings.

As a follow up point, I have great respect for Muslims and for Muhammad. Some of my best friends are Muslims and I enjoy going to mosques. That doesn’t mean that I can’t think that it is not true nor speak about why I think it is wrong. I think that it is a matter of showing respect when doing it, that’s all.

But again, until there is something that outsider’s have in comparison, I don’t know if there will be an understanding. I think a muslim would understand the idea better as Mecca serves a similar function.

No. I don’t see hypocrisy in this. Paul taught that the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Gal. 5:22-23). We try to emulate those good fruits. Yes, we send out missionaries to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, but we do it with the Spirit. If people don’t like it, they can politely refuse our message and we will be on our way. I know, I experienced it many times on my own mission. We don’t ever cram our beliefs down others’ throats, or rip apart others’ faith in the process. That is not what Christ has counseled us to do. There may be missionaries that try to do that, but I wouldn’t, and I think the majority of missionaries don’t do that. It serves no purpose, whatsoever. If you don’t like what we teach, then we will thank you and move on. That is much different than the force-feeding you’re expressing, where we “replace” teachings that people find “heretical” and “abhorrent” and “profane.” I don’t know of anyone who would sit through a discussion with the missionaries if they truly had that view.

I might add that all there is that separates us is “distinctive beliefs.” We all believe in the same basics of Christianity, namely in Jesus Christ, that He is the Savior of the world, that He atoned for our sins, that we can repent of our sins and be forgiven, that He died on the cross for us, was resurrected on the third day, and ascended into heaven with a promise of return to rule and reign. These are not the beliefs that differentiate us. We tend to make mountains out of mole hills.

Also, I don’t think your fellow Christians would have any objection to a belief in the Aaronic priesthood, since they probably haven’t heard of it before, again from experience on my mission. Only certain of our critics believe in the “obsoleteness of the Aaronic priesthood.”

Who are your Mormon friends? I’d like to get to know them.

“Can we not recognize our differences of opinion and grow together as a society instead of ripping each other apart and destroying one another's faith?”

Can’t you see the utter hypocrisy of this? Mormon missionaries go to the doors of my fellow Christians every day and attempt to replace nearly all their distinctive beliefs. Our belief in the Trinity is ripped apart, our belief in justification by faith alone is ripped apart, our belief in the obsoleteness of the Aaronic priesthood is ripped apart, our belief in the reliability of the Bible is ripped apart. All those things are sacred to us and yet your missionaries attempt to replace them with things we find heretical and abhorrent and profane. Sure, the missionaries do it with a soft voice and a smile, but it is what it is.

If you want to stop ripping apart Protestant teachings, then stop sending missionaries out to teach of the “Great Apostasy” and of the “Restoration” which calls all our creeds an “abomination”.

Listen, I have Mormon friends that get along with me, but few things are more offensive and disrespectful than a passive-aggressive, hypocritical view of religious criticism. I liked Mormonism better in the days when political correctness wasn’t a beloved golden calf. Just put your claims and criticisms out on the open table and stop pretending to take a supposed moral high ground. The Mormon friends I have who I best get along with, who I best know as honest, forthright, and respectful, put all their cards out on the table.

If that’s not arrogant, I don’t know what is. I’ll stick with Deuteronomy 29:29:

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

How easily we take offense these days. Can we not state our belief in the Godhead without people fearing we’ve “attacked” mainstream Christianity or “offended” anyone? Can we not have civil dialogue where we explain our differences of belief in order to understand one another better? Can we not let our emotions subside and not go on the offense whenever anyone says anything that is different than our personal beliefs? Can we not recognize our differences of opinion and grow together as a society instead of ripping each other apart and destroying one another’s faith?

You said, “but I don't think anything religious is so sacred that a self imposed censorship should prevail.” Then I don’t believe you know what sacred means, for if you personally held anything sacred, you would not want it blasted into the public scene. Not desecrating a Buddhist temple or interrupting a Muslim service means that you hold a certain amount of respect for that thing which others believe is sacred. Yes, ideologies do need to be discussed, but even scholars recognize that there are lines of propriety that are not to be crossed when analyzing anything that someone else holds in the most sublime holiness. It is called goodwill, a conscience, loving thy neighbor, grace, and charity, traits that come naturally to most people for we are all born into this world with the light of Christ (John 1:9).

Even Christ himself told his disciples to not tell others of certain sacred teachings and practices (Matt. 8:4; Matt. 16:20; Matt. 17:9; Mark 7:36; Mark 8:30; Mark 9:9; Luke 5:14; Luke 8:56; Luke 9:21). Holding certain things sacred seems very Christian to me.