Thank you for your interest in temples.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
declare that a temple is literally a house of the Lord.
Each temple is a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies
and ordinances of the gospel are performed
by and for the living, and also in behalf of the dead.
The Church builds temples all over the world.
You may have seen one in your community.
They are beautiful, holy houses of the Lord.
We build temples so our faithful members
can visit often and receive the most
sacred ordinances of our faith.
Before our temples are dedicated for their sacred purpose,
the public is invited to see the beauty of the temple
and learn about the commitments we make there with God.
I invite you now to enjoy this video
and see inside one of our temples.
In this recording made in the Rome Italy Temple,
you will hear from two Apostles of the Lord
about promises devout members make
there to become better people by following our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hello, and welcome to the house of the Lord.
My name is David Bednar, and this is Ronald Rasband.
We both serve as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We are here in the Rome Italy Temple,
and we're delighted that you can join us for this brief tour.
This is the recommend desk of the temple.
Members of our Church come here to this recommend desk,
and they are met by two temple workers who
are wearing white suits.
And they present a small card called a temple recommend.
The card is issued by their local Church leaders,
affirming that they are prepared to participate
in these sacred ceremonies of the temple.
Now please notice how, immediately as you enter
the temple, the focus is on the Savior,
represented in the painting behind me
and in the other artwork that you find throughout the temple.
Welcome to the baptistry of the temple.
This room houses the baptismal font,
and one of the very first things you'll notice
is that the font sits upon the backs of twelve strong oxen.
Those oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel,
and they also represent the strength and the power
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Savior said, "Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of [heaven]."
Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins
is an essential saving ordinance in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And here in the temple, we do baptisms for the dead.
Two members of our Church will come into the baptismal font
dressed in white, and there they will be baptized
for their departed ancestors.
Baptism for the dead was taught by the Apostle Paul in the New
Testament, and we have the privilege
of continuing that ordinance in the Church today
in all of the temples throughout the world.
One of the great questions in Christianity
is what happens to those who have never
heard of Jesus Christ.
His is the only name under heaven whereby a man or a woman
can be saved.
But yet among all those who have ever lived,
only a relative few have heard of Him,
have had the opportunity to learn His doctrine,
and to receive the saving ordinance of baptism
by immersion.
That is made possible through proxy baptism for the dead.
There are some people who will ask
if we are compelling or constraining
our ancestors to become members of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And the answer is no.
It is a loving offering.
And they then have the opportunity to accept or reject
that ordinance.
When a person comes to the temple to perform baptisms
for the dead, he or she would come to a dressing area like
this--separate area for the men, separate area for the women.
This is what the lockers look like,
and you would dress in this kind of clean white clothing.
One of the things I love most about this staircase
is the combining of the oval and the olive tree.
The oval reminds us that the Lord's course
is one eternal round, that His ways are endless,
while the olive tree recalls the Garden of Gethsemane,
that sacred site of the Savior's Atonement.
This is the chapel of the temple.
In this room, members come who are preparing
to go through the ordinance sessions
in the house of the Lord.
They come into the chapel dressed
in white, which creates a sense of unity
and reminds us that we are all equal before God.
Now there's beautiful artwork in the chapel,
there's soft music that might be playing in the background,
all enabling those who are going to go through the temple
to have a quiet spirit and contemplative
time before going through their ordinance sessions.
An ordinance is a sacred religious ceremony.
This is one of the instruction rooms of the temple.
Here we begin the endowment.
The word endowment represents a gift of light
and of power to those who come here and receive
this sacred instruction and honor their commitments.
In this instruction room, we learn
about the plan of happiness, and we
learn about God's purpose for us here in mortality.
We're also able to make special covenants
with the Lord about our journey throughout life.
A covenant is a pledge, a promise,
and a commitment to God.
And here, as a part of the endowment,
we pledge that we will obey God's commandments;
that we will be selfless; that we will live clean, pure,
and chaste lives; and that we will develop and dedicate
ourselves to God's holy purposes.
We have just come from the first instruction room, where
the walls were painted in beautiful murals
of the world we now live in.
We have progressed into this instruction room now that
is lighter, brighter, and gives us a sense of our progression
through life.
That progression is made possible
because of honoring the covenants
that we entered into in the previous instruction room.
You'll notice that there's also an altar in this room.
These altars are an essential element
of the process of entering into covenants with God.
Now we'll move into the celestial room representing
the ultimate destination of our eternal journey--back
to the presence of our Father in Heaven.
The celestial room of the temple is a representation
of our heavenly home--the ultimate destination
of our mortal journey.
The celestial room is also a place
of personal, private prayer, reflection, and meditation.
I'm delighted to introduce Susan Bednar.
This is the bride's room.
Imagine coming in here as a bride before your wedding.
In this beautiful setting, brides
are tenderly reminded that regardless
of their circumstances in the world,
they are precious and honored.
Imagine how this helps us understand
that every bride is a beloved daughter of our Heavenly
Father.
What a wonderful, beautiful room for a bride.
We're in the sealing room of the temple.
The word sealing can be equated to a marriage that
is forever binding, or put together permanently.
At this altar, a man and a woman kneel,
take each other by the hand, and by the authority
of that holy priesthood power, they
are sealed as a husband and a wife.
And if they are true and faithful to the covenants
that they have entered into in the temple,
then that marriage lasts not just till death do they part,
but for all of eternity.
This great power connects all generations,
as children and parents can also be sealed together
as families for eternity.
I love coming into this room.
It helps me remember what it was like when I was
a new bride here in the temple.
And I remember the hopes and the dreams that I had,
the excitement that I felt, and the love
that we had for one another.
Every once in a while, when we have
a misunderstanding or a disagreement,
I like for my mind to come back to the temple
and remember those things I felt on our wedding day.
And then it helps put things into perspective.
Something that seems big becomes small and insignificant.
And I remember that we're married not only for this life,
but forever.
There were temples anciently.
There are temples on the earth today.
Anciently, there were Twelve Apostles.
Today, there are also Twelve Apostles,
with the same authority.
We are now in the Rome visitors' center,
celebrating the resurrected Christ.
And here, standing in front of this marvelous Christus
statute, I bear witness to you that I
know that Jesus Christ lives, that He is our Savior, that He
is our Redeemer, and that we are true servants of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
All that we have discussed today,
all that we have attempted to show you, is focused on Christ.
And because of Him and His atoning sacrifice,
the work that is performed in the holy temples
endures now and throughout all of eternity.
With all the energy of my soul, I declare His living reality,
His divinity as our Savior, and I do so joyfully
in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
[MUSIC PLAYING]