Penalty (Mormonism)

In Mormonism, a penalty was an oath made by participants of the original Nauvoo Endowment instituted by Joseph Smith in 1843 and further developed by Brigham Young after Smith's death. Mormon critics refer to the penalty as a "blood oath", because it required the participant to swear never to reveal certain key symbols of the endowment ceremony, including the penalty itself, while symbolically enacting ways in which a person may be executed. The penalties were similar to oaths made as part of a particular rite of Freemasonry practiced in western New York at the time the endowment was developed.

During the 20th century, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest Mormon organization, gradually softened the graphic nature of the penalties, and in 1990 removed them altogether from their version of the ceremony.

Original oaths

On May 4, 1842, Joseph Smith instituted the endowment ritual in Nauvoo, Illinois. At three different stages of the endowment, participants were asked to take an oath of secrecy regarding the gestures of the ceremony. The participants promised that if they were ever to reveal the gestures of the ceremony, would be subject to the following:

Each of the penalties was accompanied by gestures known as the "execution of the penalty" which simulated the actions described in the oath.

The oaths and their accompanying gestures resembled certain oaths performed in a particular Freemasonry tradition in western New York at the time, in which participants promised:

Changes

Beginning in 1919, church president Heber J. Grant appointed a committee charged with revising the endowment ceremony, which was done under the direction of apostle George F. Richards from 1921 to 1927. Among the changes that were instituted was a modification of the oaths. While the execution of the penalty gestures remained unchanged, the church replaced the verbal description of the penalty with the phrase, "rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."

Elimination

In April 1990, the LDS Church eliminated the oaths and the penalty gestures from the endowment. During the period when these oaths were used, there was no documented instance in which a person was killed or committed suicide for having violated the oaths of secrecy of the endowment.. There has been, however, a link to temple ritual in the 1984 killing of an American Fork, Utah, mother and daughter by Ron and Dan Lafferty (the throats were cut from ear to ear).

Confusion with other doctrines

These penalty oaths and the oath of vengeance are often confused as being related teachings. However, they were separate and distinct oaths; the oath of vengeance involved praying to God for justice in regard to the murders of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. While the oath of vengeance was removed from the endowment in 1927 as part of the LDS Church's "Good Neighbor" policy, the penalty oaths were not completely removed until 1990. The penalty oaths are also frequently confused with the concept of blood atonement, which was never incorporated into the Latter-day Saint temple ordinances.

Continuation by Mormon fundamentalists

Some groups within the Mormon fundamentalist movement continue to practice the endowment without the LDS Church's 1927 and 1990 modifications. Consequently, these groups still participate in these oaths when performing the endowment. Some of the denominations that continue to perform the original endowment include the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Apostolic United Brethren, and the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days.

See also

References

External links

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