One element of Latter-day Saint Christianity that fascinates (and baffles and misleads) people is the Temple. Called the House of the Lord, the Temple is the most sacred edifice that the Church erects anywhere. It is different from a meetinghouse/chapel: in a meetinghouse Saints and visitors gather together to learn, worship, fellowship, and consult with leaders. They are also used to listen to and view broadcasts from general conferences to temple dedications (when meetinghouses become extensions of the Temple, with the restrictions applying to the Temple are applicable to meetinghouses). Within Temples, rituals (called “ordinances”) are performed for the living and the dead, rituals that inform and bless its participants.
To help explain this crucial element of Latter-day Saint Christianity, I invite others to ask about the Temple. I will do my best to answer them, and call upon other Latter-day Saints to correct any mistakes and to add anything I may have missed (or reword beautifully what I clumsily write).
I should mention upfront that there is certain information about the Temple that I will not discuss. Most of this deals with specifics. The reason is simple: I promised to keep the details to myself, and I intend to honor that promise. I will discuss the whole “secrecy/sacredness” issue, although my bias in this regard should be clear.
Can anyone go in a temple?
Are there areas that are off-limits to some people?
Who?
Are there regular services - like Sunday services with sermons in a temple? Or is it just the ordinances that happen?
Only ordinances are performed in the Temple. As a matter of fact, the Temple is closed on Sunday. (Some are also closed on Monday to encourage members and permit Temple workers to observe Family Home Evening, which is supposed to be one evening when the family comes together for either a devotional or some other activity together.) “Sacrament service” (what Catholics would refer to as the Eucharist, Orthodox as the Divine Liturgy, Protestants as the Lord’s Supper) is not held in the Temple.
Regarding off-limit areas: people usually go to the Temple to do certain work. They know beforehand what they will do, approximately how long it will take, where it is done, etc. (Exception, of course, is when someone goes to a Temple for the first time. But most Temples operated in the same manner: if a member does work in one, he/she can navigate in another.) For the most part, wandering around would cause Temple workers to enquire if the patron needs assistance. Temple workers (I was one for a short period of time) take great pains to be courteous, helpful, yet effective and contributing to the Temple’s sanctity. The Temple is, after all, a house of order.
Only Latter-day Saints in good standing - certified by a recommendation card from their local ecclesiastical leaders - may enter the Temple. Special certification is needed for ordinances peformed for oneself (which are scheduled in advance as well, as the protocol is a bit different with work done for oneself).
Um, WeRSauron, last I checked you weren’t in good standing in the church, is that correct? Hence you’re not really the best authority on the topic.
Why did you choose to open this thread? Especially on a subject so sensitive to LDS members and so often abused by critics?
False. It is not uncommon to have inspirational meetings there as well, typically before or after ordinaces. Our local ward had one of these recently.
All temples are closed on both Sunday and Monday IME. Which do you claim aren’t? (Note: I wouldn’t be surprised if some outside the US were, but I’m unaware of any.)
Two interviews are required to get the recommend. Replacing it is just a matter of having the interviews again.
I don’t know if this is too sacred to ask, so I suppose I’ll ask and see what can be told!
How is the ceremony for proxy baptism conducted? I get the notion that you look someone up and then you have a baptismal ceremony with someone standing in for the deceased, but that’s about all I know. Is it possible to describe a proxy baptismal ceremony in detail? What scriptures are read? What actions are performed? How do you find a person and schedule a proxy baptism?
A young friend of mine (BYU master’s student) was married in the SLC temple. However, her grandmother, father and mother (all practicing Mormons) were not allowed to attend the ceremony. The bride was told that they could not attend.
Under what circumstances can a practicing Mormon not enter the Temple for a ceremony involving their daughter/grandaughter?
“Only Latter-day Saints in good standing - certified by a recommendation card from their local ecclesiastical leaders - may enter the Temple.”
Which gave an ecclesiastical answer to my question, though not a non-Mormon understandable answer as to why a bride’s parents and grandparent would be barred from seeing her married in a church.
I think you should ask a mod to move this thread to wherever the “Ask the ???” threads live. It’s currently in Great Debates and it seems like your intent is to answer questions about Mormon Temples. Which is a good topic, but not one that is open to debate.
Although I am currently not in good standing in the Church, I was for quite some time, and was a Temple worker. I believe the last phrase makes me able to answer questions about the Temple.
Why did I open this thread? Because people have questions and it would do us good to answer them. Additionally, a lot of animosity to the Temple is because of misunderstanding: answering questions openly, hoenstly, yet respectfully may be able to help others understand this aspect of our worship.
Such a question should also help others understand one reason why Latter-day Saints are reluctant to discuss the Temple: the Temple is special to us, and we don’t take comments against it very lightly.
Pretty much exactly like a living baptism, with one exception. The text for the baptismal prayer can be found here (side note: only this prayer and that on the Lord’s Supper are given by rote). The only difference is that that the person being submerged in water is stated as being baptized for the person who is dead.
“Only Latter-day Saints in good standing - certified by a recommendation card from their local ecclesiastical leaders - may enter the Temple.”
So why can’t I enter the Temple being a non-Mormon? I can enter a catholic church for ceremonies or weddings, go to a baptist church for a ceremony, enter a bhuddist temple, etc.
There aren’t two answers, just the one. The temple is a sacred place for making solemn covenants. No one gets special priority.
I suspect she knew this before she was “told” (you make it sound like she was surprised). From your description, it’s not clear what the circumstances were precisely, but the only reason they wouldn’t have been allowed in to the ceremony is that they weren’t qualified to go into the temple themselves.
Because non-Mormons don’t qualify for a temple recommend (one of the qualifications is having been a member for at least a year).
The LDS temple is not a place for sightseeing. It’s a place for making solemn covenants (more so than baptism). If you’re not willing to commit to baptism, then you wouldn’t be willing to commit to the covenants there.
You’re more than welcome to attend LDS services at your local chapel, and occasionally weddings are performed there (though not under the same covenants as in the temple). The temple is reserved as a special place apart from the local meetinghouse.
Well, not to get into specifics, but in any baptism ceremony there are no scriptures read during the ritual itself. Baptism simply consists of a formulaic invocation of the three Persons of the Trinity as the person is being immersed. Simple!
In ordinances for the dead, there is no difference compared to ordinances for the living. The only variance is stating that the person for whom the work is being done has deceased. (In every ordinance, the name of the recipient of the ordinance is mentioned.)
When members do geneological research, they submit the names (and other information such as birthdate and nature of relationship with other names submitted) to the Church. Temples print out slips with the names; patrons who come in without their own slips are given a slip with the name of the one of these submitted names. If I submit the names of my ancestors to the Temple, I will have no idea who did the work for them.
If a person does research and wants to do the ordinances by himself/herself for his/her ancestors, he/she takes a disk to the Temple, the Temple prints out the names onto special slips, and the patron uses those slips. This takes a bit more work: the patron must ensure the work is done in proper order, which takes time and may be difficult to arrange at times. For names the Temple has, the right order is done by the Temple.
The policy of the Church is that members may only do work for those to whom one is related. One is not permitted to do work for those to whom one is not related. So, a member cannot look up some random name (say, Hitler, Stalin, Mother Teresa, Tchaikovsky), check if the work has not been done, and if it had not been done go to the Temple and do the work for the person or the person’s relatives. As it is, geneology work is so difficult and time-consuming for one’s own relatives that going off and doing it for unrelated people isn’t worth it.
If by losing you mean misplaced, emarkp answered it well.
If by losing you mean that a person is disqualified from holding a recommend, well, the person will not be able to enter the Temple. Or at least get very far.
From what emarkp said, I must conclude that all Temples are closed on Monday. There are some exceptions: on a few days of the year the Temple is open on Monday. But otherwise they are closed on Monday. Sunday = day for the Lord. Monday = evening for the family. Observing both are very much stressed in the Church.
I should note that I speak confidently of what I know confidently. I do not want to misstate anything. Latter-day Saints who may know better or more than I do will, hopefully, come and fill in any blanks.
WRS - “LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth” (Psalm 26:8). I really, really, really, really miss the Church and the Temple.
I’ll ask a few. I have a relative that was LDS was lax and since converted. Plus I trust you all more as he’s a lawyer. Just kidding.
How does one join? I assume an invite since it seems you need sponsors to get in, but how do you get an invite? Do you have to somehow “pledge” the Church to be qualified?
Living in North Dakota, there aren’t a whole lot of LDS members walking around which prompts these questions. If part of the plumbing or mortar is in need of repair and no LDS members are qualified to fix it, can a contractor enter to repair it? (Sounds like a riff on an old joke, but I’m serious.) And also, what about building code inspectors? It seems that, in the US anyway, city inspecters would need full access to every part of the building. I’m sure there must be a way to handle this, but how? Fly in LDS members certified in respective fields? (This would seem reasonable so long as the people were qualified.)
Also, what would keep people from joining just to learn the secrets? The secret part of the faith seems to be a big part of interest in LDS and yet, I haven’t seen any credible cites stating the inner workings of the Church.
Of course you can. As long as you comply with what the Lord has commanded. (There’s a saying I’ve heard often: It’s false that we forbid people from entering the Temple. As a matter of fact, we want everyone to enter the Temple. That’s why we send missionaries all over the world.) The building is the Lord’s, He has set His admission requirements, and therefore we comply.
Just as non-Muslims may not enter Mekkah, non-Zoroastrians may not enter fire temples, and most people may not enter the inner sanctum of a Hindu mandir (in most mandirs, only pure Hindu Brahmin priests may enter the inner sanctum), Latter-day Saint Temples have admission requirements.
I speak from experience when I say that an understanding of and familiarity with Latter-day Saint theology, beliefs, doctrine, and scriptures is crucial to understand the ordinances of the Temple. Without these foundation blocks, one may easily miss the point. Hence, the admission requirements.
Remember that everyone is welcome to come to our services in our meetinghouses. The doors of our meetinghouses are open to everyone and anyone.
One of many parallels between the Latter-day Saint Temple and the Jewish Temple is that in both only believers may enter. Gentiles were forbidden on the pain of death from entering the Jewish Temple.
Just as only Catholics in good standing and Orthodox Christians in good standing (both word it as being “in a state of grace”) may partake of the Eucharist, so only Latter-day Saints in good standing may do ordinances in the Temple.
Yes. Both receive the same ordinances. As a matter of fact, the equality between men and women is very striking in the Temple.
The bride may have known but I still have problems with a religion who won’t let the parents and grandparents attend her church wedding because the weren’t “qualified”. YMMV.
I will say that any non-Mormons who travel through Salt Lake City should make it a point to catch the open (public invited) practices of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It’s an awesome building and a great choir.
But I’ll be more accepting of Mormonism when I can get a beer and a bump at the SLC airport. And go to Amy’s wedding just like I can take my non-beliver self to a wedding of my friends who are Catholic or Shinto or Jewish or Protestant or Luthern or Baptist or Taoist or Unitarian or Methodist or Revivalist or . . .
Join what? The Church? Joining the Church is easy. Contact the missionaries, tell them of your interest, listen to the preliminary lessons, learn the commandments incumbent upon members, be baptized, be confirmed, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and one is a member. One remains a member in good standing by complying with the commandments incumbent upon members.
Many people are introduced to the Church by missionaries or friends or relatives who are members. I contacted the Church. Works either way.
How does one join the Temple? One does not “join” a Temple. Based on where one lives, one resides in the territoriy of a Temple - the closest Temple. One simply goes there. In some areas, only the closest Temple is practical to reach. In Illinois, the difference between going to the Chicago Illinois Temple or to the Nauvoo Illinois Temple is a matter of hours. In Utah, the distance between Temples is much, much less.
If non-members need to enter for repairs or an emergency, they are able to do so. If such an emergency occurs, patrons would be directed to change back into their street clothes (members wear all-white clothes in the Temple) and either leave or wait. I believe all Temples close down twice a year for repairs and maintainance, during which no ordinances are done. If the Temple is in an area where eligible members may work, I am sure that is the preferred method.
I’m sure people do. But it’s so much information! How can one retain all that? Besides, if someone joins just to learn the “secrets,” they will be very, very disappointed. There’s nothing spectacular, from an outside view, to what goes on. It’s all very utilitarian, almost. Members, in tune with the Holy Ghost, are able to appreciate what goes on and to realize the sacred nature of the ordinances. Without the Spirit, there’s nothing special. With the Spirit, it’s all exhilirating.
Besides, for inner workings of the Church hierarchy, the Temple will reveal nothing.
Well, you’ve probably seen those missionaries walking around at some point, right? A pair of young guys or girls, wearing nametags? All you have to do is talk to them. Go on, try it. Or there’s a phone number you can call. Actually what happens is the missionaries give you a short series of lessons on the basic doctrines, and ask you if you want to be baptized. Then you get baptized and confirmed, and voila, you’re a Mormon. (Or you can keep them explaining for a year or so. No problem. Or send them away.) Nobody needs to sponsor you, but someone does have to do the baptizing. The baptism would, I guess, be the ‘pledge’ part. You can also just go to LDS meetings on Sundays for as long as you want; anyone is welcome.
I presume you mean the temple? There are maintenance teams, but paramedics and other necessary people can come in under certain circumstances; the ordinances wouldn’t be going on for something like that, so exceptions can be made. The building itself isn’t particularly secret, just the ordinances. You can see photographs of temple interiors, and even tour one yourself before it is dedicated (should one be built in your area, be sure to go to the open house!).
Well, it’s an awful lot of trouble to go to just to learn some, quite frankly, not very exciting secrets. In order to go to the temple, you have to be baptized into the Church and be a member in good standing for a year. No extramarital sex, no booze, no smoking, attend all your meetings and serve in a volunteer position that you don’t get to choose. Then you have to lie a lot, if you’re only pretending, in order to get a recommend. And what do you get? A lot of people taking their promises very seriously, very quietly.
Hey, my family roots are in North Dakota. My Irish great-grandfather homesteaded there, and the farm is still in the family.
The bride and groom aren’t allowed unless they’re qualified. Why should it be different for the guests?
It seems an odd way to judge a church. You’re welcome to attend if you’re prepared. If not, you would be mocking the covenant itself. Why do people think their attendance is more important than the beliefs of the couple making the covenants?
It’s a place for making solemn covenants (more so than baptism). If you’re not willing to commit to baptism, then you wouldn’t be willing to commit to the covenants there.
Just kidding.