At our meetinghouses on Sunday, we would go and the
people would assemble.
And we would hear people preach.
And the scripture came to mind, "God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that [whoso]
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."
We would sing songs.
[MUSIC - "I Believe in Christ"]
(SINGING) I believe in Christ; he is my King!
It would be what most people would consider to be a normal
Sunday worship service.
We would have Sunday School, where we would study the Bible
and other scriptures.
How do our words, our actions--
That would be a normal Sunday meeting
in our Church services.
The Mormon temple is different than a regular meetinghouse.
Probably all men and women of faith from way back have
sought opportunities to commune with God and to find
spiritual refreshment.
They want to have this feeling of spiritual enrichment and
being spiritually uplifted.
When we go to the temple, we think that's
what happens for us.
It's for a high degree of worship.
It's very solemn and very sacred for Latter-day Saints.
And so we would go there and we would participate in a
different way than we would in our Sunday worship services.
Our temples are appointed beautifully, just as was done
in ancient Israel in 1 Kings chapter 7, where the Bible
describes Solomon's ancient temple.
The scripture tells us that they used the finest materials
and the finest workmen to produce a
beautiful temple for God.
And that's the same that we do today.
Just as was done in ancient Israel, as is detailed in
Exodus chapter 28, on the front door, or above the front
door, somewhere near the entrance to every temple, is
the expression "Holiness to the Lord, the House of the
Lord."
Let me walk you through the temple.
Many people are surprised that it's not a large hall with a
great sanctuary where you would have a large assembly.
As a matter of fact, it's mostly made
up of smaller rooms.
Part of the appointment of our temples is to use fine
materials and fine workmanship, but we also like
to have beautiful art hanging throughout the temples.
The art usually is religious art detailing the life of the
Savior Jesus Christ, but often it would just
be beautiful scenery.
And some of these pieces of art are just designed to
remind us of the beauties of God's creation.
In each of our temples, we have in the lower area a
baptismal font.
In the New Testament, Jesus taught that it's necessary to
be baptized to enter the kingdom of heaven.
So what about those people who lived in previous years and
ages--generations where they did not have any knowledge of
the Savior Jesus Christ?
Well, we can do the work for them.
This is a very important part of the function of the Mormon
temple, is to do the work for our
forefathers--our deceased ancestors.
Each baptismal font would be on the back of 12 oxen.
And this is just as was done in ancient Israel, as is
detailed in 1 Kings chapter 7.
Let me read the passage to you.
This is from the Old Testament, 1 Kings
chapter 7, verse 25.
It says that "it stood upon twelve oxen, three looking
toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and
three looking toward the south, and three looking
toward the east." And that's the same pattern that we have
in our temples.
In addition to the baptismal font, we have other rooms in
the temple.
We assemble for our worship in the temple in a room which we
sometimes call an instruction room.
That is where instruction about life--it would be given
about the creation of the earth.
And those who are attending would be instructed about
God's plan of happiness for us.
And that's where the majority of the time in our worship in
the temple would be spent--in those rooms.
Those of us who go to the temple know that as part of
that worship, we are recommitting ourselves to live
the commandments--to live righteously, to love others,
to follow the teachings of the Savior Jesus Christ.
So when we go and participate in temple worship, we are
going to be energized and to be spiritually uplifted and to
be recommitted to our desire to keep God's commandments and
be true disciples of Jesus Christ.
The celestial room is the most sacred place in the temple.
It really is symbolic of returning to heaven.
There's no instruction that takes place there.
It's not a place of speaking.
It's simply a place of personal reflection and prayer
and introspection and renewal of our individual commitments.
Church members go to the temple primarily to commune
with God, to have a spiritual experience which reminds them
of the importance of living God's commandments.
It helps us to remember that we are here
for a higher purpose.
We are children of a loving Father in Heaven.
We come to this earth to live righteously, and we are on our
way back to heaven.
And that's part of the purpose of going to the temple.
It's very common that people who have special needs--they
have come to a fork in the road, and they are wondering
what to do, which job to take, or what important decision to
make--it's very common for our people to go to the temple
with a prayer in their heart and a desire that they would
receive some inspiration that would help them
to make those decisions.
The sealing room in our temples is a very wonderful
and special place.
It's a wonderful and a remarkable thing to look into
the eyes of a man and a woman who are about to be married.
They love each other with all their hearts.
When two people are getting married, they can't imagine
the idea that this beautiful, loving
relationship would ever end.
Everybody right here.
Smile.
And 1, 2, 3.
So it's an important part of Mormon teaching that it
doesn't need to end at death.
This marriage can go on into the eternities, and a loving
God intended it to be that way.
So He gave us this power and authority.
It's actually what Jesus was giving the Apostles in Matthew
chapter 16, when Jesus put His hands on Peter and the other
Apostles and conferred upon them the authority to have
bound on earth and have it be bound in heaven.
That's what was happening there.
Jesus was giving the sealing authority to His Apostles.
And that's utilized in the temple, in the house of the
Lord, where a man and a woman can be sealed
together for eternity.
When you've been married in the temple, you've been sealed
in the temple, then your children who are born into
this marriage are part of that sealing.
And they are yours forever, so long as everybody lives the
commandments.
Now, you might say, "Well, what about those who were
married before?" They can go to the temple and receive
those same blessings.
The children would come with the mother and father, and
they would also kneel at the altar.
And it's a beautiful, sacred thing to witness, particularly
with little children, to see them kneel at the altar in the
temple next to their mother and father, holding hands
together on the altar, and have them sealed together as a
family for time and for all eternity.
That's a great blessing from heaven.
It's a great blessing from God.
And we believe that's what God intended, that families would
be together forever.
Everything that we've discussed in terms of what I
could go to the temple and participate in as an
individual, we can also do the same for
our deceased ancestors.
We believe that these are saving ordinances.
And the blessings that come from the baptisms and the
marriages that we do in the temple can also be a blessing
to our deceased forefathers.
And that person has a choice.
They have their agency, the ability to choose whether they
want that to be for them or not.
There is no compulsion in any of this.
It's a loving, kind gesture to enable them to accept, if they
choose to, these blessings in heaven, which would be a
blessing to them into the eternities.
Members of the Church choose to go to the temple as often
as they would like.
Some people who are retired and love the temple
may go every day.
Others who are busy or with young children may only go to
the temple once a month.
It's a personal choice.
And of course there are people who live in remote locations
where a temple is not close to them, and they may only go to
the temple once in their life to receive
that wonderful blessing.
We believe that going to the temple is a blessing and a
benefit for us, not just because of what happens when
we were there, but what happens after we leave the
temple and we go back to our normal life.
We believe that God expects us to live life in a good
Christian way, with love and kindness to others.
So when we leave the temple and we go back home and go
back to work and go back to our neighborhoods, that's an
opportunity for us to live the way that we think that we
should--to love others, to do service, to be honest, to be
good citizens, to be good neighbors.
We should leave the temple not only recommitted, but we
should leave the temple a better person, more likely to
do the right things and to make wise
and righteous choices.
God's purpose is "to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man." It's His purpose to bless us and to
help us and to give us every opportunity to receive all the
blessings that He would have in store for us.
Life as we know it--this mortal life--is just part of
what goes on in an eternal life.
We believe that we lived as spirit children of God before
we were born.
And we live this life, and when we die here,
life will go on.
And there will be learning and progression and advancement in
the life after this.
Sometimes I'll hear others who are not members of our Church
say something about, "Well, you Mormons are so secret, or
secretive, with your temple." And actually, that's a
surprising thing to hear because I have never heard a
member of our Church refer to the temple as being secret.
For us it's sacred.
The temple is the most sacred and holy place
for Latter-day Saints.
We believe that is reserved to those who are the faithful,
who are the devout members of the Church.
And so to manifest that, each member of the Church must go
to their local ecclesiastical leader and be recommended by
them and receive a temple recommend, which is simply a
statement that this person is living the way we expect
devout members of our Church to live.
It's an opportunity for introspection and
self-certification, so to speak, that yes, I am living
the commandments.
I'm living the way that a Latter-day Saint
is expected to live.
I'm being faithful to my wife.
I'm honest in my dealings with others.
And that's an opportunity for me to say to my ecclesiastical
leader, and really to say before God, that yes, I'm
doing those things, and I feel like I'm worthy to go to the
temple and participate in this temple service
and this temple worship.
So you can see why the temple is not open
to the general public.
This is a very sacred, holy commitment that we take.
We build a new temple, we have an open house, and tens of
thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people come,
and we take them through the temple.
It really is about sacred.
When I see a sacred shrine or temple or cathedral of another
faith, it causes me to admire those who are followers of
that faith and religion, when I see that their faith and
their religion meant so much to them that they would build
a beautiful, magnificent building which would be
symbolic of their faith in God, whoever that God may be
that they worship.
But that causes me to have admiration and respect for
those people.
And regardless of whether I espouse their beliefs or their
philosophy, it causes me to admire and
respect those people.
And I would hope that others would feel the same way about
us when they see our beautiful temples--that they would
admire and respect the devotion that it took to build
a beautiful building to God.