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Temples

The Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records: Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844-January 1846

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[For more information on the Council of Fifty, see Matthew J. Grow’s 2016 FairMormon Conference presentation.]

In September 2013, it was announced that the minutes from the Council of Fifty would be published as part of the Joseph Smith Papers project. This was significant because they had not been available for research, and so most of what was known of the council had been gleaned from journal entries of members and rumors spread by publications such as the Nauvoo Expositor, which were repeated over the years by each generation of critics. Besides being able to put these hyperbolic claims to rest, we now have new information about what happened during the Nauvoo period, and some new statements made by Joseph Smith and other early members of the Church.

The Council of Fifty was a secret organization formed in Nauvoo, made up of the leaders of the Church, as well as other men, including some nonmembers, with Joseph Smith at the head. Their purpose was to do civil business, separate from the ecclesiastical business done elsewhere. Under Joseph Smith, the three major functions involved Joseph’s presidential campaign, planning a “theodemocracy [that] would protect liberty and freedom ‘for the benefit of ALL’” [page xxxvi], and to find a place of refuge away from the government of the United States, which had failed them.

After the death of Joseph Smith the council was reconvened under Brigham Young, and dealt with the repeal of the Nauvoo charter, completing the temple, and finding a new place to settle. It was later reconvened in 1848, after settling in Salt Lake City, and functioned off and on until 1885. This book contains the minutes through January, 1846, and there are currently no plans to publish the rest, which would be beyond the scope of the Joseph Smith Papers. [Read more…] about The Joseph Smith Papers: Administrative Records: Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844-January 1846

Why Build Temples?

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The Lima Peru Temple
The Lima Peru Temple

This week, critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have again been opining online on the extravagant furnishings inside LDS temples. The implication being that this is a dreadful waste of money on expensive edifices when the funds could be spent on assisting the poor. A first glance, this complaint appears reasonable. Why indeed should so much funds be devoted to building temples rather than to poverty relief?

We all know that poverty relief consists of two types, handling out bread and fishes, that can sustain a man and his family for a few days, or handing out a fishing pole and seeds, together with instructions on how to catch fish and grow grain, that will sustain the man and his family for months and years to come.

Fresh water is flowing for the first time to villages in Indonesia.
Fresh water is flowing for the first time to villages in Indonesia.

The Church does both of the above kinds of relief, in the form of emergency assistance, or in such wonderful programs as the Perpetual Education Fund. But there is another form of assistance that vastly exceeds either of these types. In countries like Peru (or Ghana, or many other places), the Church has built temples, to which any member holding a recommend may attend, no matter what his or her social status may be.

Inside the temple, no one can tell who is the Peruvian peasant or who is the banker from Lima. All are alike (even in dress), and all are treated the same.

Can you imagine what this does to the self-esteem of that Peruvian peasant (or, indeed, to the viewpoint of the banker)? The temple is the Great Leveler, and unlike the Marxist ideal where everyone is supposed to be leveled down to the proletariat, it levels everyone up, to become kings and queens.

No amount of poverty relief, no matter how lavishly dispensed, could possibly achieve such a remarkable outcome. When viewed from this angle, the amount the Church spends on temple construction could be considered more effective than any other outlay.

All this, even before considering the religious aspects of this work (ie, that God commanded it, or that temples are an essential element in LDS theology in the work of salvation for all mankind).

But this is not just an LDS theme. In my opinion, religious edifices have always elicited such responses. The great cathedrals of Europe were built at great expense, by the elite of society, but also with the enthusiastic participation of the lower classes, who saw these structures as their own. (This adoration does not extend to secular buildings, btw. When I toured Versailles back in 1991, my first thought was “Now I know why they had the French Revolution.”) The theme also holds true in non-Christian societies. The Great Buddha of Nara, constructed in the 8th century when Nara was the capital of Japan, was a project that encompassed all layers of society (it included raising a wooden structure to house the statue that is the largest purely wooden building in the world), and it is an awe-inspiring sight even now, more than 1200 years later.

Celestial Room in the Accra Ghana Temple
Celestial Room in the Accra Ghana Temple

And, of course, in the LDS context (as in the above non-LDS examples), the temples must be built of the highest quality materials possible. This serves to cement the leveling-up effect. Even the Church’s outlays for the downtown shopping mall in Salt Lake City, which has elicited such scorn from critics, is a part of this same effort, by upgrading the environment around the Salt Lake Temple (and Conference Center), so that members visiting from faraway places can feel safe and secure.

This entry was posted in Temples on 17 November 2014 by David Farnsworth

Book Review: A Reason for Faith: Navigating LDS Doctrine & Church History

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Available from the FairMormon bookstore at 20% off
Available from the FairMormon bookstore at 20% off

In the prologue of A Reason for Faith, the editor, Laura Hales, lays out the purpose of the book. Members of the church sometimes come across new information in an unfriendly setting that damages their faith. This book is a compilation of articles about many of the topics that are not often discussed in a church or family setting, and can be difficult to understand. They are laid out by scholars in an honest but faithful manner, and while they can’t possibly cover the topics completely in the amount of space given, they are meant to be a springboard for further study where necessary.

The first chapter is by Richard Bushman, on “Joseph Smith and Money Digging.” He recounts the history of scholarship in this area, where it was originally denied by those inside the church due to being based on accounts thought to be unreliable published by critics of the church. As he began his own research, he found evidence that convinced him that Joseph was indeed involved with folk magic and seer stones, and that these things were too common in the 19th century to invalidate Joseph’s prophetic claims or be scandalous. [Read more…] about Book Review: A Reason for Faith: Navigating LDS Doctrine & Church History

A Case for Ancient Temple Ordinances

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salt-lake-temple-exterior-789727-printThe most sacred structure to Latter-day Saints is the Temple. Of course, what makes the Temple sacred has nothing to do with the building; it is because of the holy ordinances that are performed inside. The Church teaches that only through those ordinances are the greatest blessings available through the Atonement to be had1.  The Church also teaches that Temple ordinances have been around since the time of Adam2. By contrast, most anti-Mormons believe that they are a modern invention, a mixture of Joseph Smiths imagination and plagiarized Freemason ritual.  This is simply not true. Although not a comprehensive analysis, I hope to give throughout this post a glimpse of the plentiful evidences that these ordinances were practiced anciently, and that divine revelation to Joseph Smith is a much better explanation for their genesis than pretending he made it up.

Before getting into the heart of the subject, I want clarify a couple of things. First, I am not suggesting that early Temple ritual was a carbon copy of what is practiced today. We just don’t know exactly what the ordinances were like in ancient times. How they are performed has been changed from time to time by the presiding authorities to better meet the needs of the Church membership (one of the beauties of continuing revelation), and so there is no need to assume that the ordinances have remained unchanged throughout history.  Also, it is entirely possible that there have been periods of time where the full spectrum of Temple ordinances has not been available on the earth (for example after the Children of Israel lost the Melchizedek Priesthood). But since those ordinances are critical to our salvation, the essential core aspects would have remained the same throughout time, and would have been known to the faithful.  As I hope to demonstrate, there are many evidences of this found within ancient texts and traditions.

Second, I’m purposefully not discussing in detail any connections to Freemasonry. This has been explored extensively, and FairMormon has plenty on the subject. The primary purpose of this post is to discuss documents and traditions relating to the Temple that pre-date Freemasonry. From my point of view, any connection between Temple ritual and Freemasonry need not be distressing. I believe that it is entirely possible (if not probable) that Joseph Smith was inspired to become a Mason so that he could better learn how to use dramatic ritual and symbols to teach complex ideas; and while some similarities undoubtedly exist, you cannot explain the ordinances of the Temple by looking at Freemasonry alone. [Read more…] about A Case for Ancient Temple Ordinances

Book Review: “The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals: Volume 3: May 1843 – June 1844”

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Available from the FairMormon Bookstore at 15% off
In 1992, the second volume of Dean C. Jesse’s “The Papers of Joseph Smith” was published, containing the journal entries of 1832-1842. Many of us waited for years for the third volume, which would cover the remainder of Joseph’s life, before finally finding out that Jesse’s work was being expanded into the Joseph Smith Papers Project. Finally, with the recent release of volume 3 of the Journals series, the journals have all been published.

The volume begins with a timeline of Joseph Smith’s life, maps, an introduction that outlines the events of the last year of a very busy life, and the usual explanation of the editorial method being used for the Joseph Smith Papers Project. It then contains the text of the journals followed by three appendixes which are relevant excerpts from journals kept by Willard Richards and William Clayton detailing Joseph Smith’s activities during this time period. There is also a section of reference materials containing things like a chronology, pedigree chart, glossary, and organizational charts of the church and Nauvoo. There is a full index of all three volumes in the Journals series. (Previous volumes didn’t contain an index due to this planned combined index, but individual indexes can be found online and were provided in print on request.) There are also photos scattered throughout of things like the actual journals, the Kinderhook plates, the first issue of the Nuavoo Neighbor, a list of marriages and sealings that was added at the end of one of the journals later, and the guns in the possession of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail.

[Read more…] about Book Review: “The Joseph Smith Papers: Journals: Volume 3: May 1843 – June 1844”

Why Build Temples?

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The Boston Massachusetts Temple
The Boston Massachusetts Temple

A couple of years ago I encountered an online blogger who was complaining about how much money the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints wastes on temple building, especially in poor countries like Peru, where the money could be better spent on assisting the poor. Why indeed should so much funds be devoted to building temples rather than to poverty relief?

We all know that poverty relief consists of two types, handling out bread and fishes, that can sustain a man and his family for a few days, or handing out a fishing pole and seeds, together with instructions on how to catch fish and grow grain, that will sustain the man and his family for months and years to come.

The Church does both of the above kinds of relief, in the form of emergency assistance, or in such wonderful programs as the Perpetual Education Fund. But there is another form of assistance that vastly exceeds either of these types. In countries like Peru (or Ghana, or many other places), the Church has built temples, to which any member holding a recommend may attend, no matter what his or her social status may be.

Inside the temple, no one can tell who is the Peruvian peasant or who is the banker from Lima. All are alike (even in dress), and all are treated the same.

Can you imagine what this does to the self-esteem of that Peruvian peasant (or, indeed, to the viewpoint of the banker)? The temple is the Great Leveler, and unlike the Marxist ideal where everyone is supposed to be leveled down to the proletariat, it levels everyone up, to become kings and queens.

No amount of poverty relief, no matter how lavishly dispensed, could possibly achieve such a remarkable outcome. When viewed from this angle, the amount the Church spends on temple construction could be considered more effective than any other outlay.

All this, even before considering the religious aspects of this work (ie, that God commanded it, or that temples are an essential element in LDS theology in the work of salvation for all mankind).

But this is not just an LDS theme. In my opinion, religious edifices have always elicited such responses. The great cathedrals of Europe were built at great expense, by the elite of society, but also with the enthusiastic participation of the lower classes, who saw these structures as their own. (This adoration does not extend to secular buildings, btw. When I toured Versailles back in 1991, my first thought was “Now I know why they had the French Revolution.”) The theme also holds true in non-Christian societies. The Great Buddha of Nara, constructed in the 8th century when Nara was the capital of Japan, was a project that encompassed all layers of society (it included raising a wooden structure to house the statue that even today is the largest purely wooden building in the world), and it is an awe-inspiring sight even now, more than 1200 years later.

And, of course, in the LDS context (as in the above non-LDS examples), the temples must be built of the highest quality materials possible. This serves to cement the leveling-up effect. Even the Church’s outlays for the downtown shopping mall in Salt Lake City, which has elicited such scorn from critics, is a part of this same effort, by upgrading the environment around the Salt Lake Temple (and Conference Center), so that members visiting from faraway places can feel safe and secure.

Book Review: A Refuge from the Storm: The Priesthood, the Family, the Church

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A Refuge from the StormTitle: A Refuge from the Storm: The Priesthood, the Family, the Church
Author: Boyd K. Packer
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Genre: Nonfiction
Year Published: 2014
Number of Pages: 224
Binding: Hardcover and Deseret Bookshelf eBook
ISBN13: 978-1609079833
Price: $25.99

Reviewed by Trevor Holyoak

Boyd K. Packer is, of course, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a general authority in the church for over 50 years, he has given many talks on the priesthood, the family, and the Church. This book is a collection of 24 of them. Many of the talks are from General Conference, but there are also some from other meetings, such as Worldwide Leadership Training, firesides, BYU Women’s Conference, and a seminar for new mission presidents. While most of the talks are available online, there are a few that are not readily available outside this book.

I was initially a little disappointed to find that this was a collection of talks and not something newly written (other than perhaps the introduction) like many other books by general authorities. But as I began to look through it, I realized that the talks (even those given decades ago) apply more to the situation the world is in today than they did when they were given. They were prophetic.

The book begins by explaining its purpose: “The gospel of Jesus Christ enables individuals to become exalted by being part of eternal families. The gospel contains the purpose, the doctrine, and the plan. The priesthood is the power and the authority. The Church has the means and the organization. The exalted, eternal family is the end of the gospel plan. In this book, we will discuss those three interconnected elements of the gospel: the priesthood, the family, and the Church” (pages ix-x). The remainder of the book is divided into three parts along those elements, with the repeating underlying message that “The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children might be happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood” (page 25).

I will give an example from each section, and let the book speak for itself. In 1992, he gave some instruction that is particularly relevant today regarding the priesthood: “There are some things about the priesthood that every elder should know if he is to understand how the Church is governed to have things right before the Lord. There are principles and precepts and rules which are often overlooked and seldom taught. Some of these principles are found in the scriptures, others in the handbooks. Some of them are not found in either. They are found in the Church. You might call them traditions, but they are more than that. They are revelations which came when the Brethren of the past assembled themselves, agreed upon His word, and offered their prayers of faith. The Lord then showed them what to do. They received by revelation…These are things we do to have things right before the Lord” (pages 3-4).

He said this about The Proclamation on the Family in a Worldwide Leadership Training Broadcast in 2008: “A proclamation in the Church is a significant, major announcement. Very few of them have been issued from the beginning of the Church. They are significant; they are revelatory…It is scripturelike in its power. When you wonder why we are the way we are and why we do the things we do and why we will not do some of the things that we will not do, you can find the authority for that in this proclamation on the family. There are times when we are accused of being intolerant because we won’t accept and do the things that are supposed to be the norm in society. Well, the things we won’t do, we won’t do. And the things we won’t do, we can’t do, because the standard we follow is given of Him. As we examine this proclamation more closely, see if you don’t see in it the issues that are foremost in society, in politics, in government, in religion now that are causing the most concern and difficulty. You’ll find answers there – and they are the answers of the Church” (page 87).

In General Conference, October, 2006, he explained part of the role of the Church: “The principles of the gospel life we follow are based on doctrine, and the standards accord with the principles. We are bound to the standards by covenant, as administered through the ordinances of the gospel by those who have received priesthood and the keys of authority. Those faithful Brethren were not free, and we are not free, to alter the standards or to ignore them. We must live by them…If we are doing the best we can, we should not become discouraged. When we fall short, as we do, or stumble, which we might, there is always the remedy of repentance and forgiveness…Some suppose that our high standards will repel growth. It is just the opposite. High standards are a magnet. We are all children of God, drawn to the truth and to good…Those who come out of the world into the Church, keep the commandments, honor the priesthood, and enter into activity have found the refuge” (pages 150-153).

As I read this book, my testimony of Boyd K. Packer as a prophet, seer, and revelator has grown, as has my conviction that this is God’s church, and my understanding of the things I need to improve on as a priesthood holder, husband, and father. I highly recommend it to anyone that seeks a better understanding of their place within God’s plan and wishes to find their “refuge from the storm.”

Announcement: 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference

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–––From the Interpreter website–––

The Interpreter Foundation would like to announce a forthcoming conference, the 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference to be held in 251 TNRB (N. Eldon Tanner Building) on the campus of Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, on 25 October, 2014. This conference is sponsored by the BYU College of Humanities and Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages as well as The Interpreter Foundation.

The conference focuses on LDS conceptions of ancient and modern Temple theology as reflected in the Bible and LDS scripture. There will be thirteen presenters. You can see a list of presenters and schedule on the Program & Schedule page.

Program & Schedule

2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference
Saturday, 25 October 2014, 8:45 am–5:45 pm
251 TNRB (N. Eldon Tanner Building)
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

8:45 am           Opening Prayer, Greeting—Donald W. Parry, presiding

9:00 am           Jeffrey Bradshaw: “What Did Joseph Smith Know about the LDS Endowment by 1836?”

9:30 am           Dan Belnap: “‘Let the Beauty of the Lord our God be Upon Us’: The Role of Visual Aesthetics in Ancient Israel’s Temple Worship”

10:00 am         Carli Anderson: “Enthroning the Daughter of Zion: The Coronation Motif of Isaiah 60-62”

10:30 am         Break

 

10:45 am         Carli Anderson, presiding

Stephen D. Ricks: “Prayer with Uplifted Hands”

11:15 am         David Calabro: “Joseph Smith and the Architecture of Genesis”

11:45 am         Stephen Smoot: “The Book of the Dead as a Temple Text and the Implications for the Book of Abraham”

12:15 pm         David J. Larsen: “Psalm 24 and the Two Yahwehs at the Gate of the Temple”

12:45 pm         Lunch break

 

1:55 pm           Greeting—David J. Larsen, presiding

2:00 pm           Ann Madsen: “Temples in the Margins: The Temple in Isaiah”

2:30 pm           Donald W. Parry: “Temple Themes in Cities of Refuge Texts”

3:00 pm           Matthew L. Bowen: “‘I Have Done According to My Will’: Reading Jacob 5 as a Temple Text”

3:30 pm           Break

 

3:45 pm           Stephen D. Ricks, presiding

John W. Welch: “Leviticus as an Archetypal Temple Template”

4:15 pm           John S. Thompson: “How John’s Gospel Portrays Jesus as the Way of the Temple”

4:45 pm           Shon D. Hopkin: “The Day of Atonement, the Mosaic Temple, and the Christian Sacrament of Communion: Links and Symbols”

5:15 pm           Daniel C. Peterson: “The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and the Qur’an”

5:45 pm           Concluding Remarks, Closing Prayer

This conference is sponsored by the BYU College of Humanities, the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, and the Interpreter Foundation

Eborn Books Author Presentation: “What Did Joseph Smith Know about LDS Temple Ordinances by 1836?”

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Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Directly after the FairMormon Conference on Friday, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw will be presenting at Eborn Books in Salt Lake City on the topic “What Did Joseph Smith Know about LDS Temple Ordinances by 1836?” The details of the presentation are below.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 7 PM–8:30 PM + Q&A.

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw will be giving a presentation at Eborn Books this coming Friday, August 8, in Salt Lake City. His topic is “What Did Joseph Smith Know about LDS Temple Ordinances by 1836?”

It is increasingly apparent that Joseph Smith’s early revelations and teachings evince a detailed understanding of concepts relating to temple worship. In this presentation, I will summarize precedents for LDS temple ordinances, both in antiquity and in the revelations and teachings of Joseph Smith through 1836. I will focus on three major items: 1. the backbone of narrative and covenants that relate to the liturgy of the LDS temple endowment, as revealed in 1830-1831; 2. prominent priesthood symbols associated with temple-related concepts for which we have evidence going back as far as 1826; and 3. the full sequence of blessings associated with the oath and covenant of the priesthood, given in 1832. In discussing these matters, I will be respectful of the sacred nature of LDS temple ordinances.

Bradshaw is the author of several books including the very popular and well-selling masterpiece IN GOD’S IMAGE AND LIKENESS – Enoch, Noah and the Tower of Babel.

Due to the tremendous amount of wonderful material collected by Brother Bradshaw, the presentation is expected to last an hour and a half, with Q&A afterwards.

Date: 8 August 2014, 7:00 PM
Place: 254 S. Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

About the Author:

Bradshaw and his wife Kathleen are the parents of four children. He is an active member of LDS Church). He was a missionary in France and Belgium from 1975–1977, and has since returned with his family twice to live in France: once from 1993-1994 as part of a Fulbright fellowship and a second time from 2005-2006 as a sabbatical in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. Among other publications on LDS temples and the ancient Near East, he published two highly-acclaimed commentaries on the Book of Moses: In God’s Image and Likeness 1: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on the Book of Moses, which covers Moses 1-6:12, and In God’s Image and Likeness 2: Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel, which covers the story recounted in Moses 6:13-8:30. He is a regular contributor to Meridian Magazine and currently maintains a blog entitled “Temple Themes in the Scriptures”. He is a vice president for The Interpreter Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board for the Academy for Temple Studies. Bradshaw has served twice as a bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and currently serves as a counselor in the stake presidency of the Pensacola Florida Stake. He is also the author of Temple Themes in the Book of Moses and Temple Themes in the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. He has also contributed articles in BYU Studies and other publications.

Bret & Cindy Eborn
Eborn Books
254 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, UT 84101
801-359-0460

Eborn Books in Salt Lake City
Eborn Books in Salt Lake City.

Temple Blindness

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I am pained to see Latter-day Saints get carried away in cynicism over the Temple because some elements are linked to modern sources such as Masonry. This is an important theme in some attacks that have gained publicity recently, where it is argued that the Temple is a fraud because it does not contain elements from Solomon’s temple but from modern Masonry. As I explain on my LDSFAQ page on the LDS Temple and Masonry, neither Masonry nor any other modern source explains the ancient majesty of the LDS temple concept, which is completely foreign to the modern world and to Joseph Smith’s world. Numerous aspects of the LDS temple concept such as washings and anointings, baptism for the dead, and the sealing of families have no relationship to Masonry or and/or predate Joseph’s exposure to Masonry, making Masonry a completely inadequate source to explain the content of the Temple. The LDS Temple is much more at home in a very ancient setting and offers strong evidence for an actual Restoration. As for Solomon’s temple, the relationship might be stronger than blind critics could ever see, as I’ll explore below. 
[Read more…] about Temple Blindness