Going a bit aside again, I think…
What if you attend the wrong ward meeting, do they toss you out and tell you to go elsewhere? Let’s say there’s a meetinghouse four blocks from my house and another a mile from my house. How do I know which one my residence is in? (Where I live, these distances aren’t exaggerations either!)
Not if you’re a visitor. If you’re a member, you’re supposed to attend the ward you belong to, and there are maps showing the ward boundaries (like school districts); several people would be able to tell you. There are several reasons for that, which I will enumerate if you so desire.
Four blocks and a mile away? What, you live in Utah? My church building is 3-4 miles, and it’s pretty close as these things go. Actually our town is funny in that all 3 chapels are on the north end of town for some reason. So although my parents live a half-mile away from one chapel, which they used to attend, they actually now attend one 5 miles away. Not normal, but just how things are here.
If you are a non-member, they won’t throw you out. If you’re a non-member interested in baptism and eventual membership, you will be directed to your ward (if the one you were attending isn’t in fact yours). If you are a member, someone from the bishopric should be able to help you determine which ward is yours. Unlike the Catholic Church, where parishioners may attend at another parish’s church, Latter-day Saints attend the ward they are in. It’s all part of the organization of the Church: areas into stakes into wards into families.
As far as exclusivity in concerned, remember that this is not only the Latter-day Saints. An example: only Nizari Ismailis may enter a jamatkhana, which means that all other Muslims may not attend any event - prayers, wedding, Id celebration - in a jamatkhana. Daudi Ismailis restrict who may attend their events. If people think Latter-day Saints carry cards certifying their compliance is weird, Daudi Ismailis are issued a card (green, yellow, or red) that indicates the person’s compliance with the Dai al-Mutlaq’s directives. Compliance requires a lot of things: daily prayers, wearing standard clothes, hat for men or chador-like thing for women, beard for men, paying one’s dues to the dawah - it goes into great, great detail.
In addition, attending the Temple, even though it is a duty for Latter-day Saints, is a privilege and not a right. No one has a right to enter the Temple.
The Temple’s sacredness is carried to such an extent that members, such as myself, who technically have a Temple recommend but are de facto not in good standing with the Church will not attend the Temple. When I become active again, then I may go. Otherwise, I dare not think about going.
WRS
WRS and dangermom, thanks for your answers. I [hope] obviously wasn’t asking for any secrets, but when I get a chance to learn something from someone in the know, I ask. 
I’ll ask another question and qualify it by saying this, I’ve never had a problem with anyone knocking on my door. If they want to spread the Word, they’re doing more than me. And no LDS member has ever come to my door at odd hours. And when they do show up, I tell them we’re Catholic and they politely ask if they can leave literature for perusal(sp?) and leave.
I always accept because us Dakotans are mostly polite. Plus, it’s a pretty good read. I usually read The Watchtower cover to cover. I love to read, so gimme something I can get into, right?
Now the question (in my convoluted, drawn-out way): If I was baptised in the Catholic Church, would that count in LDS, or would it require another baptism upon becoming a member of LDS? Does LDS recognize formalities from other faiths? In addition (or maybe to clarify), if my wife and I converted to LDS, would we have to re-marry under LDS law?
Argh! I forgot to ask, what part of ND is the stead? Don’t have to give specifics, just wondering what area. We have land near Edinburgh.
Well, you can certainly get a beer there. Wasatch still gots the micro.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, only baptisms performed by those having authority (which also entails doing it in the right way, in the right place, by the right people, to the right people, with the right witnesses) are valid. In this day and age, only the Church has a priesthood with authority (usually called “keys” in the Church’s lingo). Therefore all people who join the Church must be baptized, regardless of prior baptism. In the same vein, all ordinances must be performed in the proper manner, by the proper people, in the proper place. Therefore, ordinances (“sacraments” in Catholic/Orthodox terminology) by others are not considered to be valid.
Now, as far as marriage is concerned, the Church reocognizes the validity of marriages outside the Church. This means that if two people were married in the Catholic Church, they are recognized as being married. If they join the Church, they are still recognized as being married. However, the marriage is not a sealing. A sealing is an ordinance whereby marriages and families may exist for ever, even after death. As such, a non-Temple marriage is a marriage “for time only.” Temple marriages, or sealings, are only done in the Temple. Therefore, only those eligible to go to the Temple may be eligible for a sealing. When married couples convert and join the Church, they go have their ordinances done in the Temple, including being sealed. Thus their marriage changes from being “for time” to being “for time and eternity.” This ordinance is performed for the dead as well. When families convert, the children are sealed to their parents after the parents are sealed to each other as spouses. Any other children born after this sealing are considered to be “born in the covenant”: these children are automatically sealed to their families. The same applies to the children of members who get married in the Temple: their children are “born in the covenant” and do not need to be sealed to their parents.
WRS
You’re welcome; anytime. You’re Catholic? So are my Irish North Dakota relatives! :dubious: Are we gonna turn out to be cousins or something? I don’t actually know where the farm is; I’ll ask tomorrow.
We don’t recognize other baptisms, but we do recognize any legal marriage. The special part about a temple marriage is that it is both civil (legal, ordinary) and an eternal sealing, which means that we are bound on earth and in heaven, a family for eternity. That part can be done at any time, not just during a wedding. It is quite common for married couples to be sealed years after their weddings (my best friend did it, since she married a non-LDS who later converted). But you’d have to be baptized, for several reasons.
On preview, I see it’s already been said. Oh well, off to bed for me.
If you are married in the temple, and then leave the church entirely, are you marriages still sealed for time and eternity?
An important belief is that the blessings of the Temple, in this life and after it, are on the condition of a person’s faithfulness to their promises and to the faith. So, if they leave the Church, the blessings associated with the Church, including Temple blessings, would cease to be in effect. In other words, being sealed does not guarantee an eternal family: it opens up the possibility, the fulfillment of which depends on the faithfulness of both partners.
WRS
To “leave the church entirely” can mean either stop attending and associating with the church, or excommunication (which includes removing your name from the membership rolls of the church).
Simply not attending, participating, etc. isn’t a good sign but judgement is the Lord’s, not ours.
Excommunication is initiated by a church court for serious sin (including sexual sins, serious crimes) or by the member if he wishes to remove himself from fellowship with the church. If a member is excommunicated, all covenants are null and void (including baptism, temple ordinances, etc.).
Actually, it is, if you go before it’s been consecrated.
I wanted to get in and see the interior of the Temple they opened in Belmont, Massachusetts, not far from me, but too many things were happening then, and I missed the opportunity. Before the Temple has been properly solemnized anyone can go and see it, and gratify their vulgar curiousity. (I have plenty of vulgar curiousity) One reason I’d like to see a Temple interior is because you can see ecclesiastic art in at least some of the Temples, something that’s pretty rare in most current LDS buildings. (You can see a lot in the Church Museum across from Temple Square, and on the outside of the SL Temple, and in the Tabernacle at St. George. But the interiors of new chapels and the outsides of the new Temples are devoid of Church Art. )
OK, I’ve got two questions, one more in line with the OP than the other.
As a lifelong Southerner, I’ve never seen a Temple. Are there architectural details that will set it apart, both interior and exterior? I’m thinking of things along the lines of the cross-shaped sanctuaries of many Catholic cathedrals…
Back to the baptism by proxy. When would this be used and do you have to show that the family member had any intent to join the church? What if I join the church and get baptized. My sister disagrees and remains Gentile. After she dies, can I have her baptized by proxy to save her even though she wouldn’t have done it while alive?
apologies for extending the hijack…
Why don’t Momon temples display the cross? My undrstanding is that mormons recognize Jesus as the son of God…so why no crosses?
Well, usually they’re of white/light stone, and have a steeple of some kind. Many of them have a golden statue of an angel blowing a trumpet on the highest steeple, but not all of them. They differ widely in architecture. Some are big, some are tiny. Here is a picture of the Oakland temple, where I got married. The Salt Lake temple is the famous one. Here’s the Mesa Arizona temple. Somewhere there’s a website that has photos and information on all 100+ temples, but I can’t find it right now, so I’m sorry about the schmaltzy nature of those images.
The reasoning behind baptism for the dead is to give them an opportunity to accept those ordinances. Your sister would not be automatically saved by your hypothetical actions, but she would be able to accept them if she wished. We do this for our ancestors because many of them never heard the gospel while alive, and this gives them the chance. It’s the way out of the old Christian dilemma of a) the Bible states that baptism is necessary for salvation and b) many people never get baptized or even hear of such a thing.
Yes, we are Christian, but we don’t use the cross as a symbol (though there isn’t official objection to wearing one–it would be unusual but not improper). The reasons why are vague and lost in the mists of time…but here are some reasons often given. We aren’t big on imagery like that; we haven’t really got a “Mormon symbol” (though the trumpeting angel is the closest we have). We tend to keep symbolism in the temple, I guess you would say? We focus more on Gethsemane in the Atonement than on the cross (also important, but our pictures are usually of the Garden). Maybe it’s just to differentiate ourselves, but we don’t use it, although we affirm strongly that Jesus is the Son of God.
I was under the misapprehension that one needed a new temple recommend for each visit to the temple. I can see now how that wouldn’t be practical. Are recommends issued for specific terms (i.e., do they have expiration dates)? Are there specific recommends for specific ordinances?
Is it true that you have to prove you’ve paid 10% of all your income for the year to keep getting a recommend?
Recommends are issued for two-year terms. Teenagers do actually get new recommends for each visit they make, since they’re fairly infrequent, and theirs are specific to baptisms. Adults’ are all the same, and used for any ordinance.
One of the conditions for getting a recommend is that you must be a full tithe-payer. They do not actually check up on this; the question is asked and you answer, and if it’s a lie that’s your problem. The LDS Church does not ask for proof of income at any time for tithing purposes.
Sure, enumerate away.
No, I’m in Arizona. In my area, there’s about one meetinghouse per square mile.
I was quite surprised by the plethora of wards in Utah.
Also, for the interested, LDS Temples. The one in NYC is pretty wild – it’s just some floors of a building. I wonder if you can go in there as a non-LDS to visit the non-sacred floors. Would the elevators be consecrated or not?
Here’s the temple in Atlanta.