I was at the temple, and noticed in interesting ritual during baptisms for the dead. A man baptized several people, and apparently wanted to be baptized as well. Even though he had been in the font, he was asked to get out of the font, let the baptizer enter the font “first”, and then follow him into the font. Is this just a ritual at this temple, or do other temples do this as well? Why do you think the first man had to leave the font?
Come Out of Font
Wheat & Tares 
Jared, do you have anything faith-promoting to add to this post?
I don’t know if I would call letting the person doing the baptizing enter the water first a ritual. I’m not aware that this is a common temple practice or requirement. It does seem that for many live baptisms (whether of children or converts), the baptizer ends up in the water first, but I’ve seen plenty of other times when that hasn’t been the case. In fact, if it’s a brother baptizing a sister, they usually enter at opposite sides of the font at the same time. There’s nothing in Handbook 2 to indicate any order or preference. Most temples only have one set of stairs, so it’s a bit difficult to walk into the font at the same time. Usually, when doing youth baptisms, the baptizer tends to enter the water first, but again, it’s usually an adult leading the way sort of thing, not for any real church reason. It could be they wanted to baptizer to exit and re-enter to signify the “end” of one ordinance and the beginning of another, sort of like lifting hands during confirmations or breaking a grip during sealings. On the other hand, we don’t have the people being baptized exit and re-enter after each baptism (that would be a real chore.) I’d be curious to see if anyone can cite a clear temple practice, preference or policy.
I’ve done a lot of baptizing immediately followed by being baptized in the Provo Temple. They’ve never had me exit and re-enter, and thank goodness for that.
I know that the Mt. Timpanogos temple has people come out of the font to get baptized. I toured the new Payson Temple this weekend, and was surprised to see 2 sets of stairs into the font, because I had never seen that before. I took my son to Oquirrh Mountain a few months ago; I think they made the man get out to get baptized (but my memory could be faulty.) Glad to hear that they don’t do it in Provo.
I do think some temple workers get a little overboard on some of these rules, and sometimes create extra rules (rituals) for unknown reasons because they feel it is proper. A temple worker has told me of some extra rules put in place that the temple presidency has told people to quit being so anal about.
I heard a story that Dallin Oaks went to the temple after shoulder surgery. When asked to raise his arm to the square, he did the best he could. A temple worker grabbed his arm to put it in the proper position, causing tremendous pain. This was a reminder that temple workers should assume patrons are doing the best they can, and workers should never attempt to correct someone even if it appears wrong. There are some other stories, but I’ll probably save those for another post.
I once walked on the “wrong” side of the altar when going to the veil. They made me do a U-turn and come back up on the other side. Sounds like another made-up rule.
I just did baptisms with my son the other day. I was going to have him go in first, but they told me (the baptizer) to go in first instead. I asked why, and the reason given was so that I could help the person being baptized into the font. Makes sense.
I can see that would be fine. I can understand that a young person might slip more easily than an adult, so sure, let the adult go in first to catch the young teen if they slip.
However, when an adult is already in the water and comes out of the water, it seems that the person in charge is doing this for a stupid rule’s sake, without understanding the rule. I can see how this can be confused as a ritual, and is enforced differently at different temples. I think this is where temple workers are so focused on obedience that they make other people obey stupid rules. I think this is just like the temple worker in Dallin Oaks case–making up rules that shouldn’t exist.
Once at the temple, a temple worker scolded me for saying hello to my dad and brother in the hall. She said we are not allowed to talk to men at the temple. I asked the temple matron about this later, and she assured me that there was no such rule. She said she frequently had to tell temple workers to stop enforcing made up rules.
Is this baptismal font from the Mt. Timpanogos temple?