Temples
Prior to the dedication of the new Rexburg Idaho Temple, Elder David A. Bednar, an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explained some of the basic purposes and uses of temples. He posed five specific questions people might have about temples in the LDS church. His hope was that the answers to these five questions would help all to understand more fully why temples are an essential part of LDS worship.
1) What is a temple? Elder Bednar noted that the LDS Church has 22,000 meetinghouses in 166 countries in which congregations gather for weekly worship services and youth gatherings, and which are open to the public. However, a temple is a building constructed for and exclusively devoted to sacred rites and ceremonies. He explained that in the vocabulary of our Church, we refer to these sacred sacraments, these rites, and these ceremonies as ordinances. For Latter-day Saints, temples are places of holiness. The word ‘temple’ derives from the Latin root, templum, and is defined as the abode of deity or simply ‘The House of the Lord’.
2) Why do we have temples in our Church today? Elder Bednar explained that temples today serve the same purposes as temples did anciently. Prior to the dedication of a temple, the public is invited to tour the sacred edifice, but that after the dedication, the temple becomes the House of the Lord, vested with a character so sacred that only members of the Church in good standing are permitted to enter. He explained that is in not a matter of secrecy, but a matter of sanctity.
3) What happens in a temple after it is dedicated? Elder Bednar explained that temples are places of learning where the basic questions concerning the purposes of life are answered. These questions include where we were before our earth life, what are we to accomplish during our life on earth, and what is our destiny following our earth life. Elder Bednar added that temple work is primarily concerned with the family.
4) Why do we perform vicarious ordinances for the dead? Through living proxies, the ordinances of the gospel are available to those who passed from mortality without the knowledge of the gospel. There is no compulsion, Elder Bednar explained, but there must be an opportunity.
5) What is the significance of having a temple in Rexburg, Idaho? Elder Bednar referred to what has been called the ‘Wagon Box Prophecy’ of President Wilford Woodruff, then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and later the 4th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During a visit to the settlers around Rexburg in 1884, he climbed aboard a wagon box and said that the climate would be moderated for their good, that schools and colleges would be built, and that one day temples would dot the land. Today in that same area, farms produce vast quantities of potatoes and other crops, a Church-owned university thrives, 120 LDS meetinghouses can be found within a 55-mile radius, and there are now two temples.
Here is more basic information about latter-day temples:
- Purpose of temples: Sacred ordinances performed in temples of The Church of jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are designed to extend the saving principles of the gospel of jesus Christ to all men, both the living and the dead. The temples are not to be confused with the many thousands of church meeting houses where public services are conducted and to which all are invited. Because of the sacred nature of the work for which temples are dedicated, only church members in good standing are given the necessary written authorization to enter. However, before formal dedication of a temple, many thousands of non-members of the church are given an opportunity for guided tours.
- History of temples: The building of temples is not new. In ancient Israel a reverently-guarded tabernacle sheltered the Ark of the Covenant until the death of King David. Only those properly authorized were allowed to enter and officiate within the sacred confines of this structure. Solomon replaced the tabernacle with a magnificent temple. Until it was destroyed at the time of the Babylonian captivity, this temple stood as the center shrine of Israel. Years later the Jews were permitted to return from captivity and they rebuilt the temple of Solomon. But Herod the Great eventually replaced it with a more pretentious structure. It was from this newer building that the Savior drove the money changers, as described in the well-known Biblical passage. In 70 AD, when Titus captured Jerusalem. the building was desecrated, stripped, and demolished — a fulfillment of prophecy. From that time until the 19th century there was no sanctuary in either the Jewish or Christian world dedicated to the Lord as His House in the same sense as were the Tabernacle and temples of ancient Israel. It was to fill this need that temples again began to be built after the Church was restored in the early 1800’s. Resumption of temple work was in obedience to a Divine command.
- Temple ordinances:
- Baptism for the dead — The words of the Savior to Nicodemus are accepted in their literal sense by the Latter-day Saints: “Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5) The scriptures make no distinction between the living and the dead. This law is of universal application, exemption being granted only to children who die in infancy, having no sins. To provide a means of salvation for all, fonts are made available in the temples whereby the living may be baptized as proxies in behalf of the deceased. Evidence that such vicarious work was performed in the early Christian church is found in the words of Paul to the Corinthians: “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29) Joseph Smith, the first Prophet and President of the Church in the latter days, said that shortly after the dedication of the first latter-temple in Kirtland, Ohio, Elijah, the resurrected prophet of ancient Israel, bestowed upon him and an associate the necessary authority to re-establish vicarious work for the dead.
- The Temple Endowment — Those who have been baptized and confirmed members of the Church by men holding the proper authority may, if worthy, receive what is known as the “Temple Endowment.” This, too, is done not only for the living, but vicariously in behalf of the dead. The endowment comprises a course of instruction relating to the eternal journey of man from creation through the Garden of Eden, his struggle when driven out into the world, and the exaltation he may attain. Rooms and representations symbolic of these various periods and stations are found in the temples. The endowment includes obligations of chastity, charity, consecration, and service. Blessings are pronounced, conditional upon the faithful observance of these obligations and the keeping of the commandments. In every detail, the endowment is uplifting and sanctifying, obligating the recipient to moral, religious, and patriotic endeavor.
- Temple Marriage — After He organized His church, the Savior told His apostles: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven…” (Matthew 16:19) Although this authority was eventually lost through a gradual apostasy, with the restoration to earth of the Holy Priesthood in the latter day, this power was again given to chosen men. When marriages are performed in a temple under authority of the Priesthood, the contracting parties are joined not for life only, as in the case of civil marriages, but for time and eternity. With such a ceremony, a new sanctity is given to the home and a new dignity added to the marriage covenant.
- Other Ordinances — Consistent with a belief in the eternal nature of marriage is the belief that the family unit may be preserved when sealed together under the authority of the Holy Priesthood. Children born of patents married in the temples retain their relationship to father and mother after death. Through the vicarious labor of the living, the dead may also receive the benefit of temple endowment, eternal marriage, and the binding together of families in an everlasting relationship. All of this contemplates that the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached in the spirit world — that lies between death and the resurrection — to those who have died without a knowledge of it. That such is the case, and that the dead may accept the ordinances performed in their behalf by the living, is the belief of the Church. Evidence that even the Savior visited among and administered unto those who had died is found in the words of Peter: “For Christ also went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah…” (1 Peter 3:18-20)
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