Thoughts on Temples and Families

Thoughts on Temples and Families -  22 March 2009

These thoughts were originally written in 2009 but since I have been recently working in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple I have reviewed them and added the last bit.  Sorry it has become rather long but I hope valuable to all.

On this day of the dedication of the Draper, Utah Temple I have had the following thoughts on temples.

These thoughts have to do with what the rest of the world might think about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building temples.

Why does the LSD Church build temples?  The short answer is this.  The Church builds temples because God commands us to, and He commands it because, among other things certainly, families are the basic organization in the Kingdom of God, both on the Earth and in the next life.  The purpose of the Earth for us to learn how to live in families and that we might be sealed together as great extended families.   We know that without the sealing work that goes on in temples the earth would be utterly wasted in its purpose.  This is unwelcome news to the world, which would like to eliminate or at least devalue the family as archaic, obsolete, and irrelevant to today's way of life.

The world's misunderstanding of the value of family is a symptom of a deeper problem.  It stems from their denial of the true nature of God; that He is a real person with a real Son, the two representing members of a heavenly FAMILY.  As long as God is defined as a Great Alone, a solitary influence consisting of three influences that cannot be separated, understood or explained (the ancient Greeks were actually much closer to the truth with their understanding of many gods living in families, albeit imperfect families), then families are nothing more than a temporal inconvenience, something to be avoided if possible and certainly only a hindrance to one's real purposes.   For many believers today godliness and wisdom are to be found in the sequestered life of contemplation, removed from obligations or constraints that require meaningful association with others.  So, a misunderstanding of the Trinity leads to a misunderstanding of families.

Now, back to temples.   There is something very strange going on in the LDS Church.  They keep building more of these strange, exotic building all over the planet.  Why build all these expensive temples when there are crying needs all over the earth for Christian, humanitarian help?  Well, the LDS Church is in the van in that area also, but why this strange obsession with temples?  The church certainly is not lining up with popular, contemporary Christian trends.  They do not participate in ecumenical councils, they continue to send proselytizing missionaries into good, Christian neighborhoods, and they build these inexplicable temples.

When asked why they build temples church leaders always give the same answers; a House of God, a place where sacred ordinances can be performed for the living and the dead, a place for marriages to be performed; but those reasons are not very satisfying to justify such great expense.  It is the implication of these things for the world that is misunderstood. 

Temples are not built to gain popularity or to show off.  What could be the reason for the church to continue with temples, ignoring suggestions, criticism, even opposition, while quietly but relentlessly moving across the globe building and dedicating temples?  There are no apologies, no attempts at trendy justifications, only the same, simple reasons, which happen to be the true and the best reasons we know.  As the world watches this curious trend surely they must wonder; "Does this church know something we don't know"?  "There must be some explanation for this that they are not telling."

The truth is we probably do not know all the reasons we are instructed to build temples, but we know enough and we see that the results are good.  The eternal consequences of what we are doing probably lie beyond the grasp of even our leaders, but God knows, and we have learned to be obedient.

The work of temples is the great work of this dispensation.  Temples are not built because members need a place to go for a spiritual uplift, although that is a wonderful side effect that we all treasure, but it is a side effect.  Temples are built for sacred work that matters to God and to all of His children.  This final dispensation is charged with the task.   One day, if we are faithful, the temples will operate round the clock and the work will never pause until it is done.  Records will come forth; families will be sealed together.   A careful observer would conclude that the Church does know something that the rest of the world does not.

There has again been a recent interest in some of the sacred things that pertain to the inside of the temples being revealed and made public.  These things are surely a curiosity to the world, much like any bit of news on the cover of the National Inquirer.  Here are two thoughts about that.

First, a person who shares with the world something that he or she has seen or heard in the temple is sharing only a symbol, and though they may knowingly violate their covenants to gain the attention of a curious audience, they cannot share anything truly sacred or valuable because they have not acquired anything truly sacred or valuable to share.  They do not understand the meaning behind the symbol.  If they did, it would be of such value and sanctity to them that they could not share it.  In other words, those who have only seen the symbols have not yet gained knowledge of anything sacred, for that knowledge comes only after long service in the temple, hundreds or even thousands of obedient visits with much pondering and study, prayer and seeking.  

The symbols have long been available to the inquiring public through libraries and now the internet, and any student of history will recognize them as similar to things found in records available in ancient sources from all corners of the globe.  Although those who attend the temple make solemn covenants not to reveal the symbols, one who violates those covenants is not giving the world any understanding they could not get from other sources.  The violator has nothing truly valuable to give.  If they did, the high price they had paid to get it would have also earned them the wisdom not to reveal it!

This situation could be likened to a delivery boy in a large company sneaking into the engineering offices and stealing a slide rule that he finds there.  He takes the stolen tool back to his fellow delivery drivers and, brandishing it before them exclaims, “Hah, look what I have!  I now know all the secrets of Engineering!  Here is their emblem, and it looks pretty silly to me.  I don’t think they’re so smart!”

The symbols have no meaning to one who has not paid the price to understand what they can do for us.  When one foolishly reveals to an outsider something sacred from within the temple ordinances, that person condemns him or herself to consequences that only the Lord knows, but the person does not hurt God nor does he hurt the church or even hinder the work, and he may only increase the curiosity of the person to whom the sacred item was revealed so that they will want to know more.  After all, why would the church continue to build these multi-million dollar buildings to pursue such trivial and strange practices and teachings?  Thinking men and women would naturally want to know more about what is really behind it all.

Second, as temple attenders we should not feel personally compromised when a brother or sister chooses to mock God by revealing sacred symbols.  When one chooses to voluntarily break sacred and solemn covenants that he has made, he has only two choices of rationalization that will allow him peace of conscience:  Either he had been forced to make the covenants under duress and should not be held accountable, or the covenants were false and meaningless in the first place.  Whichever story the person adopts, their behavior is not directly our problem.  The covenant we make is that "I" will not reveal.  We don’t covenant to stop others from revealing.  We are accountable for our own actions in such things, not for the actions of others.  It is sad to think of the future of one who chooses to violate sacred covenants, but as far as general harm being done, refer to the first thought above.  I think this fits with the counsel given by the Church to ignore those who foolishly mock sacred things.  In most cases they "know not what they do".  We should not give them the satisfaction of becoming alarmed.

The critic may say, “What is so grand about baptizing vicariously for the dead, or sealing the dead to their families, or sealing couples together for eternity.  Anyone can do it!”  “I will do it if you like”, says the preacher.  “Just sit here and I will make up some words and say them.  I can seal you together for eternity if you like; I can do it as well as the next man”.

That was not Joseph Smith’s approach.  He had no thoughts of his own regarding such ordinances.  These things were revealed a half step at a time, just as all doctrines, practices, and priesthood powers are.

It is an exceedingly long and dear process to get to the point where a couple can kneel at an altar and be sealed for time and eternity.  It is certainly not a casual thing.  It requires years of effort by multitudes of people and great expense to be able to do it.  Consider the effort and preparation needed in each of the following elements.

1. There has got to be a clear doctrine.  This has got to come from God.  Who is eligible to seal and to be sealed?  How do you deal with couples, and what about children?  Is there a difference between sealing the living and sealing the dead?  Who can serve as proxy for the dead?  Are we forcing these things on the dead or just giving them an opportunity to accept?  These are a few of the many doctrinal questions that need to be answered from heaven.
   
2. Related to the doctrine are the words to be used in these ordinances.  These include doctrine and need to be given by inspiration.  The Lord has given beautiful, inspiring words that could not have been conceived by any man.  They uplift and exalt the hearer.  They explain doctrines that have been hidden since before the world was.
   
3. The authority to administer and to be eligible to receive the ordinances must also be revealed from Heaven.  Various Heavenly messengers had to visit the Earth to restore this authority.  It was not invented by any man.  In addition to priesthood power, keys are necessary to authorize this work.  There must be a complete Presidency of the Church for those keys to be in place that authorize this work.  It could be mentioned here that centuries of preparation were necessary to bring the world to the state where its inhabitants could receive this authority and not immediately extinguish it from the earth through bigotry and religious intolerance.  The restoration would not have had a chance anywhere on earth throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods.  Many lives had to be given to accomplish this preparation.
   
4. Those who officiate in these ordinances, temple sealers, are only produced over a lifetime of dedication and sacrifice to the work of The Lord.  They are not easy to come by.  A man must have a lifetime of preparation to be entrusted with the keys of sealing power.  In our day no young men are entrusted with this authority.  Sealers are rare and unusual men.  They come at a dear price.
   
5. Those who are to be sealed, either for themselves or for the dead, must qualify for the blessing.  They must have clean hands and a pure heart.  They must have made previous sacred covenants and be faithfully keeping those covenants.  There can be no mockery of God in these things.  The patron must be worthy and prepared to receive temple ordinances.  This is no small expectation or accomplishment.  The worthy patron in the temple must be living so that the spirit of the Lord accompanies him or her into the temple.  The temple cannot function without the Spirit of The Lord present and an unworthy participant drives the spirit out from their presence.  Others will sense that departure and the ordinance will not be sealed by the Holy Spirit.  This is a sensitive requirement of temple ordinances and one that requires the patron to show a proven record over years of obedience to covenants.
   
6. A temple must be available in which to perform the ordinance.  Only in unusual and rare circumstances have these sacred ordinances been accepted outside of a temple.  Temples are not easy to come by.  The location and floor plans of temples must come again from Heaven.  They must be built using resources donated by members out of sacrifice.  They must be built using the finest materials of construction and the best workmanship available.  Their upkeep and maintenance is a continuing expense requiring sacrifice of church members.  They are often built and maintained today in the midst of persecution from the world, even as in the days of Zerubbabel.
   
7. A system must be in place to record, in the most accurate and permanent way possible, all the ordinances performed.  This is not a casual record shoved in a drawer, but one that must be preserved, catalogued, indexed, and made retrievable for generations to come.  A Heavenly record is also made backing up the earthly.  The earthly must be worthy of duplication in Heaven.
   
8. Perhaps finally, all participants in the work must have faith that what they are doing is sacred and dictated from heaven.  On the one hand there can be no coercion on the part of any one to participate, while on the other no one should participate just to please or humor another.  All must be sincere in performing sacred, timeless, everlasting acts that will follow them into eternity.  Though the work is joyful it is not light-minded.  It is taken seriously and with the understanding that one will keep the covenants throughout their life and into eternity.  The intent is to produce joy in both.