I have heard that the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City is off-limits to non-Mormons, much as Mecca is off limits to non-Muslims. My questions:
-How do they screen people who wish to enter; and
-Has a non-Mormon ever managed to sneak in?
-If so, What’s it like?
After the front doors, there is a recommend desk, where someone will ask you to show your “recommend”, a piece of paper that says you are a member in good standing and can enter. If you don’t have one, I’m sure you will be asked to leave but other than that I don’t know. If you steal a recommend, they will still be able to tell if you did because you will have no idea what to do next (and first-timers are always accompanied by someone else). There are photos of the inside of that and other temples online, try lds.org. And this question seems to come up a lot.
Before a temple is dedicated there is an “open house” for about a month when the public is allowed to tour the temple and get an idea what is inside. There is currently a new temple in San Antonio which will have an open house in April and be dedicated on May 22nd.
You get an interview with your bishop, who asks you some questions (some are pretty probing, such as “Do you masturbate?” I always said no, and they believed me. Suckers, heh heh heh.) It’s actually rather painless, but I guess that depends on the individual bishop. Anyway, then he gives you a temple recommend.
I’m sure it’s happened. I mean, you just need a little piece of paper and some nice clothes. There’s not much to see, though… although I was always impressed by the baptismal font they have in the basement.
Pretty much like any other church… really big inside, high ceilings, really quiet atmosphere. Pretty peaceful, in my opinion.
For more details, have a look at this recent thread: