by John Pacella on February 20th, 2006

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If a person chooses to leave the Mormon Church, are they still under the oaths they have taken, such as keeping temple ceremonies secret?

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by Kim Siever on February 28th, 2006
Technically, there are no oaths taken to keep the temple ceremony secret. The only oaths to keep anything secret are for a tiny portion of the ceremony, not the ceremony as a whole.

That being said, the oaths taken are not made conditional on someone's membership as a Mormon. In my opinion, leaving the Mormon church does not relinquish oaths that were made independent of one's membership in the church.
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by Glenn Blaylock on February 27th, 2006
As far as I am concerned, most definitely. Anyone who is honest about it will tell you that the the parts of the ceremonies about which we don't speak pose no threat to anyone. In these ceremonies, we promise to keep God's commandments as spelled out in the scriptures (which are available for anyone to read if they desire to do so). We also learn things that we believe are necessary for our salvation. Despite what other may tell you there is nothing in the ceremonies about taking over the world on any of the other wild stories you might hear. That being the case, there is no reason why any honest person should feel it necessary to break the vows they made. Whether those who leaves the Church believes it or not, they did make those vows to God. Therefore, to break them is to break faith with God. If we were using the temple to hide illegal activity or push forward a plan for world domination, then someone might be justified in breaking the vows. However, we are not; so they are not.

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Addendum:

Let me draw a comparison to other organizations. When people go to work for various government organizations or industries, they may learn things that they are not permitted to discuss with other people. When these people leave those jobs, they are still required to keep these secrets. For example, when my father was in the Air Force, he learned things that were required for his job that he was told he was not permitted to discuss with people outside of the service. He left the Air Force over forty years ago. So, those secrets that he is keeping are probably long obsolete. However, he still won't discuss them because he does not know if they have been declassified. Personally, I would not even dream of asking him to discuss them. To do so would be to ask him to break a promise that he made.

The same applies to the temple ceremonies. As I wrote above, there is nothing in the ceremonies that threatens anyone else. So there is no reason to break the oaths that they make. Therefore, those that do so are proving themselves to be oath-breakers and, therefore, untrustworthy.
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- But Glenn, if a person leaves the church and no longer believes in the LDS interpretation of God, how can they break an oath to a God they do not know or believe in? Am I making sense? If I make an oath to Glenn Blaylock and later found out he was actuall Bob Blaylock (which some believe... but I don't :-) )... what good is the oath?
  
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  by John Pacella on June 14th, 2007
- The Assumption you make is a big one... "Assuming God is real"... my qualification would be... "Assuming the LDS God is real". The oath made to the LDS God is only good if the LDS God is real. Which is what I was essentially saying. If the LDS God is real, then the oaths are in force, otherwise they are not.
  
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  by John Pacella on September 4th, 2007
- By my way of thinking, it really doesn't matter if the "LDS God" is real. (Note the prejudice inherent in that phrase.) If you make a promise (take an oath), then you keep it. The only reason for breaking a promise is if there is danger to yourself or others in keeping said oath. With respect to the temple oaths, as I have written already. There is no danger to anyone from not talking about those things that are forbidden. Despite what some would have you believe, there are no blood oaths and never have been. There are no oaths to break the law or impose our beliefs on any one else. The only reason to break the oaths is to ridicule that which we hold sacred. Is that an honorable motivation? Would you consider it honorable for some one who was once a member of your church to start ridiculing your beliefs? Whether you agree with our beliefs or not, there is no honorable reason to violate the oaths taken in the temple. Therefore, someone who does so has no honor.
  
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  by Glenn Blaylock on September 4th, 2007
- Let me give you another example. Let us say that you told a friend something in confidence. It is not something that is wrong, immoral, or illegal. It is nothing that is in and of itself, embarrassing. However, it is something that an enemy could twist in such a way so as to embarrass you. It is something, that when taken out of context could be used against you. Let us further say that this hypothetical friend and you had a falling out and he decided to tell your secret knowing that it can and will be used thus. How would you feel about your former friend? Would you still consider him to be honorable or trustworthy? The same thing applies here. Just because a person stops believing in what we teach, just because he stops believing in the “God of the Mormons”, does not make it honorable for him to reveal that which he promised not to so that others can ridicule what we hold sacred.
  
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  by Glenn Blaylock on September 4th, 2007
- If I find out that what I thought was God is not really God would it be honorable for me to withold information that would help others come to this realization? I understand what you are saying Glenn, but it is my thinking that an oath taken to a false God is not an oath at all. (I am not stating that LDS beliefs are false, this is just a general statement)
  
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  by John Pacella on September 4th, 2007
- This is a difference in the approaches between you and us. You feel it necessary to attack the beliefs of others to prove that they are wrong. We believe in telling others what we believe and letting them decide for themselves. We don’t feel it necessary to tear down other people’s beliefs in order to promote our own.
  
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  by Glenn Blaylock on September 4th, 2007
- Glenn: I think what you are decribing is a different problem... that of someone's integrity. There are different ways of providing the information we are talking about... respctful and disrespectful ways. Those consuming the information should also be respectful... unfortunately there are those that do not handle it this way (myself included :-( ). Doesn't mean that the information being discussed should be hidden.
  
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  by John Pacella on September 4th, 2007
- Well... I guess I am done talking on this point. Thanks for the discussion.
  
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  by John Pacella on September 4th, 2007
- If there is no good reason for revealing it, then, yes. I don't care how you try to justify it. There is no good reason for revealing those portions of the temple ceremonies that one has promised not to. Revealing them does nothing to prove or disprove the validity of what we believe. The only reason to reveal these practices is to show spite for that which the person revealing them once held sacred and to ridicule that which we still hold sacred.
  
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  by Glenn Blaylock on September 4th, 2007
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by peterpam on July 20th, 2007
Why should any people of faith have secret anythings?
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- Surely this is a fair comment, is there a secret society in Latter Day Saints worship?
  
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  by peterpam on July 20th, 2007
- Actually, there is. Once you achieve a certain rank in the church, you get to learn all the secrets, and you're in forever.
  
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  by Tamilze on July 20th, 2007
- Sounds rather dark ages to me!
  
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  by peterpam on July 20th, 2007
- Yeah, I've never liked the thought of having secrets in a religion. How can you believe something if you aren't allowed to know what it is?
  
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  by Tamilze on July 20th, 2007
- Absolutely suggests that they might have something to hide! But what is it, we will never know if it is secret!
  
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  by peterpam on July 20th, 2007
- Talim, do you even see the contradiction in your assertion? "Once you achieve a certain rank in the church, you get to learn all the secrets, and you're in forever." If this is true, then how is it that people get out and start talking about these "secrets"? Obviously, there are people who leave the Church and discuss those portions of temple ceremonies that they promised not to discuss. If this did not happen, then you would not know that there are parts of the ceremony that we are not supposed to discuss with outsiders.
  
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  by Glenn Blaylock on March 24th, 2008
- Well, nothing in life has to be completely absolute, ya know? I mean, it's not like they lock you inside a building for the rest of your life...at least I don't think they do. Do they?
  
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  by Tamilze on March 24th, 2008
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by Noah18 on July 20th, 2007
They are still under the covenants they made with God, usually leaving the Church or being excommunication shows breaking those covenants or not believing them anymore
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by John Pacella on March 1st, 2006
I can attest to what you are saying is true from my own work experience but we are talking about something much higher and more important the are jobs here.

If I take an oath to what I thought was God and then later on found out that he wasn't the true God (whether Mormon or Christain) my oath would not be worth anything. It is only as good as the one you put your faith in.

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I would suppose that according to an LDS member, a person choosing to leave the Church are still under the oaths they have taken. They believe that these oaths were taken to God.

Logically thinking... a person leaving the Mormon Church no longer believes in the God of the Mormon Church and therefore can not be under an oath to this God. If these people talk about "secret" ceremonies, they shouldn't be considered dishonest. In fact, if they are speaking the truth, how can they be considered dishonest?
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- Some who learns secrets while working for industry or government are still expected to keep those secrets if they lieve emplo
  
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  by Glenn Blaylock on March 16th, 2006
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by Anonymous on July 20th, 2007
I would think that if it is an oath made to God, then it is a moral decision that only you can make.
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by Bridget_D8547 on April 21st, 2011
Only if they want to respect the Lord.
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by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on November 11th, 2010
No more than someone who leaves the Mafia is under the oaths that they took while still in the organization.
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If a person chooses to leave the Mormon Church, are they still under the oaths they have taken, such as keeping temple ceremonies secret?

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Question

If a person chooses to leave the Mormon Church, are they still under the oaths they have taken, such as keeping temple ceremonies secret?

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