Mormons: What's the difference between "sacred" and "secret"?

Question

Gumby: So refusing to tell somebody something is not being secretive?

Gumby: All you are saying is that you keep it a secret for a "good" reason. It's still a secret.

Beta: Finally you're speaking the truth. I applaud you.

Granny: Exactly. That's all I'm saying. It's still a secret so they should stop saying they are not secretive.

Answer 1

Sacred means the following;

1. devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose; consecrated.
2. entitled to veneration or religious respect by association with divinity or divine things; holy.
3. pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to secular or profane): sacred music; sacred books.
4. reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object: a morning hour sacred to study.
5. regarded with reverence: the sacred memory of a dead hero.

Secret means the following;
–adjective
1. done, made, or conducted without the knowledge of others: secret negotiations.
2. kept from the knowledge of any but the initiated or privileged: a secret password.
3. faithful or cautious in keeping confidential matters confidential; close-mouthed; reticent.
4. designed or working to escape notice, knowledge, or observation: a secret drawer; the secret police.
5. secluded, sheltered, or withdrawn: a secret hiding place.
6. beyond ordinary human understanding; esoteric.
7. (of information, a document, etc.) a. bearing the classification secret.
b. limited to persons authorized to use information documents, etc., so classified.

–noun 8. something that is or is kept secret, hidden, or concealed.
9. a mystery: the secrets of nature.
10. a reason or explanation not immediately or generally apparent.
11. a method, formula, plan, etc., known only to the initiated or the few: the secret of happiness; a trade secret.
12. a classification assigned to information, a document, etc., considered less vital to security than top-secret but more vital than confidential, and limiting its use to persons who have been cleared, as by various government agencies, as trustworthy to handle such material. Compare classification (def. 5).
13. (initial capital letter) Liturgy. a variable prayer in the Roman and other Latin liturgies, said inaudibly by the celebrant after the offertory and immediately before the preface.
—Idiom14. in secret, unknown to others; in private; secretly: A resistance movement was already being organized in secret.

So sacred has to do with religious purpose, secret just means you don't tell anyone.

I am assuming that you are referring to what goes on in the Temple. By dictonary terms both are sacred because it has to do with religious purpose, and secretive because we don't speak of what goes on.

Answer 2

Here is my definition for the distinction of sacred and secret. I hold the name of Jesus Christ as sacred. That is, I view his name as worthy of respect or dedication; I declare it to be holy; devoted to a deity and hallowed and worthy of religious veneration.
Secret on the other hand simply means to be not open to the public, or hidden and a mystery.

The two words are quite different.

Mormon temple rites are very sacred and viewed as holy. They are open and available to all who diligently seek to obtain them. They are not kept hidden from those who seek them.

Answer 3

Why the sudden upsurge of anti-mormon?

A secret is information that you choose not to tell other parties
Sacred is set apart for the sole purpose of worshipping Deity and those holding the information have no right to share casually.

Answer 4

Sacred means it's simply none of your business. It's something intensely purposeful that doesn't need to be shared with the world at large. Call them secrets, that's fine, it doesn't change anything. Let your paranoia run wild!

Are you secretive for not displaying the size of your genitalia in your profile? For not giving me your social security number? Or are you just keeping those things to yourself because they're none of our business?

Answer 5

@ Gumby, It's our fault that Meatbot is intolerant of us. Not his. Don't blame him. We are, after all, following "harmful doctrines". Read the newspaper sometime and see just how destructive the LDS church is to society. We're really a menace.

Answer 6

The problem, dear one, is that Mormons follow their belief system faithfully, without asking questions or even knowing the real history of their organization. They're controlled by that organization and told to not read anything that isn't "faith promoting," that's why they aren't familiar with the real history of their beginnings. Those who get curious and start asking questions and reading, leave the organization.

God bless!

Answer 7

sacred is like special it means something. secret is to keep it a secret like hide something (i'm not a mormon lol but its a simple vocab ?)

Answer 8

Something sacred is something so special that you don't want the world to soil and desecrate it, because it is that wonderful.

Answer 9

That which is sacred for Mormons is NOT to be blatted about for the unbeliever to make mock of, thus it is, in a sense, a secret.

Answer 10

What's the difference between bigot and idiot?


If we told you things we consider sacred (not secret) you would mock them. That is why we keep them to ourselves. Not because they are secret. Because we don't want to see them mocked.