Mormon Church

A temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) is a building dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ as His house. It’s a place where sacred ordinances or required rites for salvation and eternal life take place. It is a holy edifice, a place of peace and a refuge from the world, where the Lord’s Spirit dwells and where His people are armed with power as they serve, receive instruction, and make and keep sacred covenants, for themselves and their departed ancestors.

Personal Response by Andrew C. Skinner

Latter-day Saint or Mormon temples are holy edifices or buildings wherein the most sacred ordinances, rites, and ceremonies are performed that pertain to full and complete salvation in the Kingdom of God, usually referred to as exaltation. Because Latter-day Saints believe that life continues after this mortal existence, and that all men and women deserve and need to participate in these saving ordinances instituted by God, members of the Mormon Church who have participated in these ordinances for their own salvation are encouraged to return to the temple often to act as proxies for ancestors who have passed on.

Latter-day Saints have always been a temple-building people because they believe that God has always commanded his people in every period of time to build temples (D&C 124:39). Therefore, Latter-day Saints see a connection to and continuity between their Mormon temples and ancient Israelite and Jewish temples (Solomon’s, Zerubbabel’s and Herod’s temples). The first Mormon temple built after the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 was in Kirtland, Ohio (D&C 109) dedicated in 1836.

Latter-day Saints believe that authorized, dedicated temples are literally the house or home of the Lord, places on earth where he may actually come and dwell. Therefore, the same degree of purity and sanctity required of the ancient Israelites to enter their most sacred of all structures, as described in Ezekiel 44:9, is required of Latter-day Saints today. Temples are different from chapels, wherein weekday instructional meetings occur and Sabbath-day worship services are conducted. All people are welcome to enter these buildings. However temples possess the highest degree of holiness wherein the highest form of worship takes place and where only members who are certified in worthiness may enter.

Entrance into any temple, once it has been dedicated by priesthood leaders for its full and intended use, requires a recommend-a certificate of worthiness issued by a member’s Bishop or local ecclesiastical leader.

Because Latter-day Saint or Mormon temples represent the highest in our worship, special ordinances and ceremonies are performed that pertain to the exaltation of the human family. In the temple, members receive instruction on the Lord’s plan of salvation, the stages of humankind’s eternal existence, and ordinances which seal together husbands, wives, and children as eternal families. The power to bind and seal on earth, as well as in heaven, was possessed by Old Testament prophets, Elijah being one of the most dramatic examples (1 Kings 18). The power to bind and seal was given to Peter in New Testament times (Matthew 16:19), and that same power is vested in Prophets and apostles today. Thus Mormon temples are constructed for the same purpose as this earth was created-to foster marriage and family life and link families together for eternity (D&C 2; 49:15-17). Knowledge of and participation in these sealing ordinances provide a great blessing of security, comfort, and peace to those who attend the temple.The temple is a place of peace and purity because no unclean or impure thing is allowed to enter (D&C 97:15-16). As a result, members may enjoy special, sacred experiences in temples.

In the temple, Church members gain added insight into the nature of our Father in Heaven and his Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, including an understanding of the infinite love they possess for each of us, and the infinite power and knowledge they desire to pass on to us. In the temple, worshipers get their bearings on the universe so to speak. The temple is a place on earth where God and humans come together.
Personal Response by Karen Merkley

I feel like I’ve grown up spiritually, in a sense, in the House of the Lord. Its as if my greatest spiritual tutorials as daughter of God, mother, and friend have come as a by-product of temple service, worship, and attendance. The temple is certainly at the center of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and everything that takes place within its beautiful precincts connects us more deeply with Him and His atonement.

I had a wonderful experience there yesterday. To tell you about it, I need to explain that one of the ordinances of the temple is what we call a sealing or marriage of two individuals for eternity. We believe the power to perform that ordinance rests within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Anyway, about 8 of us entered the beautiful sealing room, graced with peace, lit by an elegant chandelier, surrounded by mirrors that kindle a sense of timelessness. I carried with me the names of my ancestors who had not known the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for whom wed have eternal marriage performed by proxy. We had a magnificent experience, unmatched anywhere else on the earth. There was a oneness, a peace, a feeling of the Lord’s Spirit that was tangible and real. The sealer was inspired to say things to us, and to me, that had everything to do with my personal walk and through which I felt the Saviors love and awareness of me. As we perform a work for another’s salvation, our own lives are enriched and empowered. Its a beautiful thing.

Gaining Perspective & Feeling God’s Presence

Perspective, presence, power. Thats what a temple is about. A temple erected by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon temple) is a dedicated sanctuary, set apart to empower us, as children of God, with the vision of who we are and who we can become as we keep sacred covenants with the Lord. It’s a refresher and a reminder of God’s divine design and helps us see increasingly beyond the present pixel of our circumstance. Through temple service, we are lifted up. We are covered by the Lord’s pavilion.

The temple is not a Sunday meetinghouse, but a place where worthy members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) participate in the highest, most beautiful, ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ through which we become gradually prepared to enter the presence of the Lord.

Enter the presence of the Lord. Thats a powerful concept. We are actually here to make our way back to God, to re-enter His presence literally. In the temple, we learn what is required for us to pass through the veil that separates us from Him in mortality. It’s worth everything to have Him near. I recall a billboard that caught my eye one day as I was driving home from the temple. The slogan, raised in bold letters on the sign, read: The Power of Presence. I thought to myself, That’s it. That’s when we feel the greatest joy….when we are brushed by, touched by, moved by, embraced by the Lords love and presence. There is nothing more exquisite than that in the world. No amount of Godiva chocolates, no exotic Maserotti, no free trips to Barbados, no gold trophy, no earthly achievement, can approach or duplicate that joy. And while we can feel His presence consistently as we navigate everyday circumstances, there’s an intensity and a spiritual bounty that is ours specifically as a result of our covenant-making and the service we perform in Houses of the Lord throughout the world.

Temple Ceremony

The temple is a place where were gifted with instructions or endowments about the entire plan of happiness and salvation. In a panoramic review of that plan and the Savior’s role in it, we make covenants with the Lord to obey His laws of love, morality, and sacrifice; He promises us spiritual peace, protection, and power in return. We prepare for that gift or endowment through preparatory ordinances, ceremonial washings and anointings initiated in Old Testament times and restored to the earth today (Leviticus 8:30). These are beautiful symbolic rituals of healing and cleansing. We receive special underclothing to remind us of our covenants. While some unknowingly call it “Mormon underwear,” it’s really known as the Mormon temple garment. We follow the endowment with an ordinance called a sealing or eternal marriage, through which couples who remain faithful can be together forever. Nowhere else in the world are such blessings extended and validated than in the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

The temple offers a reverent setting in which we worship, receive revelation, and, after receiving ordinances for ourselves, we serve as proxy for others who have passed from mortality to the spirit world, so that they may receive the same glorious gospel blessings (1 Corinthians 15:29).

As we circulate in our daily lives, we feel the fulfillment of the promise extended to us in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple, that angels will have charge over us, that we might go forth from His house armed with His power and with His glory round about us D&C 109:22.

Testimony

I know that the temples really do lessen the power of Satan on the earth. They provide a kind of spiritual immunity and divine armor. I know the joy of temple worship and a real relationship with the Savior. There have been trials in my life for which no amount of yellow stickies with affirmations pasted on the mirror would ever remediate, but which the power of the temple blessings have healed. Ive been lifted up as on eagles wings and know that miraculous renewal of mind and heart that issues from the Lord. When we serve Him first and in this way, the scriptures become personal mailgrams, and His Spirit more abundant. It’s as if He places a Norton Utility on our lives and organizes our time, sharpens our perspective; magnifies the little we bring to the table; and generously bestows His grace beyond that otherwise given. The investment of serving there continues to reap blessings in and out of the temple for the rest of our lives, until the veil is rent, and we then see face to face for now [we] know in part, but then shall [we] know, even as also [we] are known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Additional Resources:

“Why These Temples?” President Gordon B. Hinckley
“The Holy Temple” President Boyd K. Packer
“A History of Temples” Elder James E. Talmage

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