Many people have noted the similarities between the LDS temple ceremony and Masonry. (Do an internet search with "Mormon", "temple", and "Masonic", and I'm sure many hits will pop up.) This often leads Mormon critics to conclude that Joseph Smith just "copied" the Masonic ritual for use in the LDS temples.

Some Mormon apologists will claim that the similarities may arise because the LDS temple ritual was present (in nearly the same form) in the early Christian church, and that the similarities arise because the Masonic ritual is a corrupted version of the early Christian ritual.

So, which view is right?

I personally tend to think that neither view is correct. Specifically, I do not believe that the LDS temple ceremony, as instituted by Joseph Smith, is a duplication of an rite found in the original Christian church. Moreover, I do not believe that Joseph Smith ever claimed that to be the case. If anyone knows statements by Smith to the contrary, please let me know-- I'd be interested to hear them.

There may have been *some* sort of equivalent ceremony in the original Christian church; that would not surprise me at all. But, I really doubt that Joseph's temple ceremony is a word for word restoration.

I do believe that Joseph's *implementation* of the temple ceremony was affected by his Masonic experience, although certainly is not just a plagiarized version. I do not know enough of the Masonic ritual to discuss it in detail, and my own covenants prevent me from discussing the LDS ceremony here, but the way I see it, the covenants and promises of the temple ceremony are the "heart and soul" of the ceremony. Those are precisely the things which are (a) different than the Masonic ritual, and (b) likely to have been found in the original Christian church (in my opinion).