The first thing that you should know about the endowment is that everything is not a literal, but a symbolic representation. The endowment is not a saving ordinance, but it is a symbolic depiction of a saving ordinance which should take place throughout your life as you come to Christ. I pray that as I present some of those symbols and what the Lord has taught me about them that you will see these representations, not as beliefs, but as ways of understanding the symbols. You can understand them on many levels, and there are many ways to interpret them. Use these ideas as suggestions that the Lord can show you the true principles behind them, that you may use them in your life.
We are forced to labor under very difficult circumstances. We are taught by fallible men. We have poorly translated and incomplete scriptures. We have to contend with the vagaries of our language. And, last of all, we are bound by false traditions promoted by false, apostate religions. And yet, the Lord tells us that we have sufficient to enable us to lay hold of the iron rod and walk the path back to Him. Given all this, why should we expect our temple ordinances to be pure and uncorrupted? It’s a measure of our faith that even when given insufficient information, we can still step forward and act boldly and valiantly. None of this is a barrier to the Lord. By His grace, He will compensate for our lack of pure knowledge by giving us pure revelation. The Endowment
John144 
Question: What is the “(1)” you refer to throughout the text? I was looking for a footnote. Thanks for the paper which is a reminder that there is much to glean from sources many of us may have soured upon because of the hands they were filtered through. Some humility of heart and forgiveness can reap rewards and as you allude to, the Holy Ghost can fill in the gaps.
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It refers to an item in the Sources section at the bottom of the document:
• I am quoting several points from this website because it expresses these thoughts better than I could. (1) If you feel uncomfortable with my presentation, I invite you to check out this website. They present things in a more LDS-friendly format. https://ldsendowment.blogspot.com/p/about-this-website.html?view=classic
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John, I have been reading most of everything you have written from your life history written in PR’s Facebook page years ago to present. They certainly gave you a hard time but for me you gave me something to ponder. This paper is truly awesome. Thanks for writing. I have thought often how I would like to introduce you to my nephews whom you have some in common. Perhaps you could ignite them. Nance
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On some points I wish to disagree. Additional instruction I’ve been given by the spirit is that the coats of skins also symbolize our actual physical bodies that clothe our spirits. It creates a barrier between other mischievous spirits that may want to interact with our spirit. And the wearing of the garment is synonymous with putting on the the armor of God. A spiritual barrier/force field against the evils in the world. In someways it blurs or hides our light so evil spirits are not attracted to us as we ascend and grow in light. Why wouldn’t you want to have the spiritual armor of God on you at all times? I do. I had an experience I was using a heavy chainsaw all day clearing some land and my arms gave out and I dropped the blade across my thigh. The saw bogged down and stalled. When i inspected my leg, the pants were clearly ripped at each chain link right across from the inner thigh, on top and outer thigh in an arc. When I pulled my pants down there were no marks in my garment bottom and no punctures in my skin. I wear them every day and feel that protection both spiritually and physically.
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If this is your faith and your understanding of the purpose of the coats of skins, who is anybody else to disagree?
And, by the same token, who would anybody else be to disagree with my personal understanding the the spiritual armor, which the Lord has given me, and the garment of light, which the Lord has given me?
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you hint at the doctrine of eternal lives a bit when you talk about this world being the telestial kingdom. I have to agree 100%. If we don’t ascend to Terrestrial in this round of mortal probably we will be doomed to repeat again on another Telestial world. In no way is a resurrection to the Telestial kingdom something you want. You will lose your body and have to take another body by force until you reach ascension to “Go no more out”. I would actually consider this the doctrine of continuous mortal lives, stuck in a loop, stuck in Hell, stuck in Satan’s dominion, for he is the God of this world. Imagine that Satan the god of the Telestial kingdom! However the doctrine of eternal lives is something higher and holier. It’s that those who attain a higher glory, out of love for God’s children condescend to another Telestial world to perform an important mission or to help gather israel. This is noble and appreciated by God. The fact that Michael was a God and condescended and got a new body, and Jesus/Jehova was a God and condescend is proof that this is a thing. How can one become a God without going through a mortal probation and earning that status? It is likely that the Great and Noble ones assembled before the foundation of the world, pre-ordained and given missions were condescenders as well. An amazing sacrifice for anyone to take on, because there is always a risk that they will not awake to their mission and possibly lose their previously higher state and have to start again on another telestial world. My suspicion is God will get involved if a noble and great one goes down the wrong path as we find with the angel’s intervention with the sons of Mosiah and Alma the younger, and Saul/Paul.
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I agree.
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