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LDS Temples

Church Developments and Their Timescales

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I was recently thinking about some of the significant programmatic changes that have happened in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the last few years. People have evaluated them in various ways and labeled them a success or failure, but popular opinion often swings on short-term thinking. For example, when, in October 2012, President Monson announced changes in the age limits for full-time missions, some made the coupled assumptions that this would either result in a proportional increase in convert baptisms or it should be considered a failure. It did not lead to a large increase in convert baptisms and some considered it only on that basis; however, this hasty act of labeling ignores a foundational bad assumption as well as a host of secondary effects that potentially act on a much longer time scale and are interesting in their own right.

The problem started with faulty assumptions. The first of these is that those who convert are in some sense “caused” by missionaries rather than merely facilitated. It is rooted at least partly in the experiences of a past era in which people in the United States and other sociopolitically similar areas could be reached by door-to-door salesmen and, correspondingly, that an increase in the number of people engaged in these activities would result in a proportionate gain in initial interest, teaching, baptisms and so forth. This assumption of course ignores years of entreaties that finding is the duty of the members of the Church while teaching is the responsibility of the full-time missionaries and that we should cease praying only that the missionaries find the honest in heart but rather that we should instead pray to be able to open our own mouths to share the gospel and invite others to come unto Christ. The reality is then that the model upon which the assumption (that more missionaries would lead to proportionately more convert baptisms) was based was largely invalid and the members of the Church should realize that missionary finding only ever constitutes a modest portion of the the success of the Church’s missionary efforts. The reality is members letting their light shine, setting examples of good works in the world and sharing the gospel in their individual circumstances, combined with a certain number who find the Church of Jesus Christ through their own individual searching are together a far more stable and effective source of interest.

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Going to the Temple for the First Time – Interview with Anthony Sweat

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Kelsey Edwards Anthony Sweat and Nick Galieti - LDS MissionCast
Kelsey Edwards (Left), Anthony Sweat (Center), Nick Galieti (right)

On this episode Kelsey Edwards and Nick Galieti sit down with BYU scholar and professor, Anthony Sweat who wrote a book called The Holy Invitation, published by Deseret Book. This is book and this interview are focused on those going to the temple for the first time prior to their mission, or even those that have gone but are looking to get more out of the experience. This is a great opportunity for missionaries preparing to leave, those on a mission, or even those that are coming home from a mission and looking to get more from their temple experience. Anthony Sweat has some great insights to share on this subject.

This week we are showcasing the music of Sara Lyn Baril. Her music can be found at http://saralynbaril.com Her music is definitely fitting for a missionary friendly music library, which means its also great for music to listen to on the sabbath day or any time you want to feel the peace and contentment of gospel music.

Sara Lyn Baril Music
Sara Lyn Baril – LDS Musician featured in this episode.

 

The Holy Invitation - Anthony Sweat

Some thoughts on Sacred Silence with the temple by Nick Galieti (host)

I went back to my journals to see back to my first temple experience on October 11th, 1997, the day before I received my mission call to Baton Rouge, LA. It would appear that two things were at play that informed the journal entry for that day, my obsession with girls and getting a girlfriend, so much so that I didn’t really offer much reflection at all on the mission call itself (yeah, really classy – don’t do what I did), and the fact that I was taught that we aren’t supposed to talk about the temple outside of the temple, so I never wrote anything about the experience, who was there, nothing.

In this episode, we touched on the idea of “sacred silence” in our interview. Its an obviously sensitive subject. There are sacred experiences that we should honor in that spirit. But what are those lines that we shouldn’t cross? I want to forward my own thoughts on this matter in hopes that it can help promote the spirit of the temple as well as help us to understand that the answer is far more ambiguous than we might originally think.

In the episode, I agreed with Anthony Sweat that there is a maximal point where all people engaged in living the covenants of the temple have explicitly agreed to not disclose certain parts of the temple endowment ritual. However, while there are those things that are specifically mentioned there, parts that need to remain sacred, it doesn’t mean that the rest of it remains public domain either. As in all gospel principles, but especially teachings of the temple are best understood line upon line, precept upon precept.

This means that what we talk about with respect to the temple should be viewed in light of who we are speaking with, not just what is “approved” according to covenant. It is common and expected that Missionaries will talk about the plan of salvation when speaking with those being taught about the restored gospel. However, it is doubtful that the best course of action is to discuss the content of the drama depicted in the temples as part of the endowment ritual. Then again, it might be. The spirit should be the guide in these matters.

Remember, it’s not that we hide it, at least no more than God has withheld many truths until we are in a position to best endure the experience that comes with tutoring from the spirit. In speaking of the temple and the sacred truths taught therein, much of what is taught is through the spirit to each individual because that is what that individual is prepared for and ready to learn. Without authorization from the spirit to share such things, it is best to treat such things as valuable for the person receiving it, and not necessarily relevant to the rest of the world.

Temple theologians talk about the temple as being sacred space, in sacred time. They also speak of the nature of temple ritual and learning as being something that should not be made profane. Meaning, something relating or devoted to that which is not sacred or biblical; secular rather than religious. The origin of that word profane, from which we get the word profanity, actually originally meant “outside the temple, or not sacred.” (Side note: To speak profanity isn’t just using certain words that are socially considered vulgar, but to speak in any manner that is unholy.)

In order to keep the temple from becoming secular, something all too common, or profane, it is best to remember that while some of what is taught in the temple is not “off limits” to discuss conceptually and principally, or even out-of-bounds according to covenant in the temple itself, we should be careful to not make profane what is taught and what is learned as it remains in the domain of the sacred and spiritual. Sometimes what we learn in the temple is best understood in the temple context, and outside of that it looses its meaning, especially to someone other than yourself.

So, when you go to the temple for the first time, or when you go to the temple in subsequent visits, don’t be afraid to record those sacred experiences in your personal journal, but seek divine approval for what is appropriate to share and with what audience when it comes to speaking of such sacred things.

You can listen to past episodes at LDSMissionCast.com

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

Faith and Reason 72: Sacred Vestments

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garment

To those outside a particular faith, the rituals and clothing may seem unfamiliar. But for the participants they can stir the deepest feelings of the soul, motivate them to do good, even shape the course of a whole life of service.

The nun’s habit. The priest’s cassock. The Jewish prayer shawl. The Muslim’s skullcap. The saffron robes of the Buddhist monk. All are part of a rich tapestry of human devotion to God.

Not all such religious vestments are on public display. Some are seen only in places of worship. Temple robes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the robes of the holy priesthood, are worn only inside Mormon temples and reserved for the highest sacraments of the faith. White symbolizes purity. There is no insignia or rank. The most senior apostle and the newest member are indistinguishable when dressed in the same way. Men and women wear similar clothing. The simple vestments combine religious symbolism with echoes of antiquity reflected in ancient writings from the book of Exodus.

From the LDS Newsroom: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/temple-garments

Michael R. Ash is the author of: Of Faith and Reason: 80 Evidences Supporting The Prophet Joseph Smith. He is the owner and operator of MormonFortress.com and is on the management team for FairMormon. He has been published in Sunstone, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Maxwell Institute’s FARMS Review, and is the author of Shaken Faith Syndrome: Strengthening One’s Testimony in the Face of Criticism and Doubt. He and his wife live in Ogden, Utah, and have three daughters.

Julianne Dehlin Hatton has worked as a News Director at an NPR affiliate, News Anchor, and Airborne Traffic Reporter. She graduated with an MSSc from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2008. Julianne and her husband Thomas are the parents of four children.

Music for Faith and Reason is provided by Arthur Hatton.