If Mormon Temple Worship was copied from Freemasonry, how does that explain the many core doctrines, ordinances, and practices that have no connection to Masonry at all?
What the Claim Actually Has to Explain
The claim is simple. Joseph Smith stole Masonry to create the Mormon Temple worship.
But that claim can only explain a few minor similarities. How do you explain everything else involved with Mormon Temple worship?
Not just symbols. Not just structure. Everything.
If something is taken from a source, should that source not account for most of what is being produced?
What Does Masonry Actually Explain?
What parts of temple worship does Freemasonry actually account for?
Symbolic gestures? A structured presentation? A progression of instruction?
That is where the comparison stops. But what about everything else?
Ordinances for the Dead
Where does Masonry explain baptism for the dead?
Where does it explain performing ordinances on behalf of deceased ancestors?
Where is the idea that saving ordinances can be extended beyond mortality?
Where is the idea of linking fathers and children and generations together?
Temple worship places enormous emphasis on this work. Masonry does not address it at all.
If this was borrowed, where did this entire system of work for the dead come from? Who did Joseph steal that from?
Eternal Families
Where does Masonry teach that families can be sealed together forever?
Where is eternal marriage? Is there any sealings between man and woman performed in Masonry?
Where is the doctrine that parents and children are bound across generations?
Where is the idea of linking humanity together through priesthood authority?
These are not minor additions. They are central to temple worship. They are the purpose of it.
If not Masonry, what is their source?
Prayer and Worship
Where is the temple as a house of prayer in Masonry?
Where are names submitted for collective prayer?
Where is the prayer roll?
Where is repeated, ongoing worship centered on communion with God?
Temple worship is not just instructional. It is devotional.
Where does that come from?
Participation and Access
Why are youth participating in temple ordinances?
Why are women fully involved in temple worship?
Why are families central to the entire system?
Masonry operates as a selective fraternity. Temple worship operates as a covenant system open to all who prepare.
If one came from the other, why is participation structured so completely different?
Doctrine and Teaching
Where is the plan of salvation in Masonry?
Where are the teachings about the creation taught?
Where are teachings of divine structure and order taught?
Where are teachings about the fall taught?
Where are teachings about sacrifices taught?
Where is the teaching of eternal progression?
Where is becoming heirs with God?
Where is the central role of Jesus Christ in covenant and redemption?
Masonry does not claim to teach saving doctrine.
Temple worship is entirely focused on it.
How does the copying theory account for that?
Priesthood and Authority
Where is priesthood authority in Freemasonry?
Where are ordinances performed with the claim of divine authorization?
Where is the belief that these ordinances are required for exaltation?
Authority is foundational to temple worship.
It is absent in Masonry.
How does something get copied from a system that does not contain one its core elements?
Purpose and Outcome
Freemasonry aims to teach moral behavior and build fraternity.
Temple worship aims at Covenant relationship with God. Forgiveness. Transformation. Eternal life.
These are not variations of the same goal.
They are fundamentally different outcomes.
If the purpose is different, what exactly is being borrowed?
The Size of What Is Unexplained
At some point, the question shifts.
It is no longer about what is similar.
It is about what is not.
How much of temple worship does Masonry actually explain?
A small portion of symbolic presentation? And how much of that shared symbolic presentation is because they share the same ancient origin?
What fractional percentage of the whole is shared?
And what about the 99% left?
What the Theory Leaves Out
The copying argument focuses on what overlaps and remains silent about what does not.
But the non-overlapping portion is not small.
It is the majority.
Entire doctrines. Entire ordinances. Entire purposes.
If a theory explains only a fraction of the data, what does that say about the theory?
What Needs to Be Answered
If Joseph Smith copied Masonry, then the explanation must account for everything that followed.
Not just the form.
Not just the presentation.
The full system.
The doctrines, the authority, the ordinances, the purpose, and the outcomes.
If those things are not found in Masonry, where did they come from?
If Freemasonry only overlaps with a small portion of symbolic presentation, how does it explain the much larger system of temple worship that has no connection at all?