Mormon Temple Endowment
An endowment is a gift.
One who has been sufficiently prepared may go to the holy temple and receive an endowment from God, our Heavenly Father. This gift is so special and sacred that we don’t talk about it in detail–even with those who know and have received it–outside the temple. Joseph Smith taught that these ordinances are “of things spiritual, and to be received only by the spiritual minded” (History of the Church 5:2). Another reason we don’t talk about it outside the temple is “for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). We don’t want people to be accountable for that which they do not understand.
Yet, the fact that we don’t go into much detail about the endowment ceremony has made some friends of other faiths react with emotions anywhere between simple curiosity and heated contempt.
But even though we hold these things sacred does not mean that we cannot talk about them in general terms. In fact, we often do. The scriptures abound with things that are taught in the temple, the foremost of these being that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of all mankind and that we can come unto Him and receive peace, joy, and salvation.
The word endowment means “gift,” and the temple endowment truly is a gift from God. The ordinance consists of a series of instructions and includes covenants we make to live righteously and comply with the requirements of the gospel. The endowment helps us focus on the Savior, His role in our Heavenly Father’s plan, and our commitment to follow Him. (True to the Faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Salt Lake City, 2004, 171.)
James E. Talmage, a biblical scholar and an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said this about the endowment,
The Temple Endowment, as administered in modern temples, comprises instruction relating to the significance
and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the present as the greatest and grandest era in human history. This course of instruction includes a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned, the period of the great apostasy, the restoration of the Gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges, the absolute and indispensable condition of personal purity and devotion to the right in present life, and a strict compliance with Gospel requirements. (James E. Talmage, The House of the Lord [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962], pages 99–100.)
During the endowment, the receiver also makes covenants with God. Talmage also describes these covenants:
“The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King,—the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.” (Ibid., 84.)
The endowment is administered through the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood, which “greater priesthood administereth the gospel 
and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:19-21).
The endowment is, therefore, a gift. It is the privilege of receiving “all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being able to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell. (Discourses of Brigham Young, comp. John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1971], page 416.)
I have been to the house of the Lord. I have received my endowment. I testify that the spirit of the Lord is present in temples. I am a witness to the added power that comes from worshiping in the temple. I know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the world. I know that the temple brings us closer to God, and for this knowledge I am exceedingly grateful.