Mormon Temples -
More than Mormon
Judaism, Hinduism, Egyptology, ancient American history, Buddhism, and Christianity could not be more different, yet all unite under the banner of the temple. Judaism’s temple history includes the Tabernacle, a portable temple that the Israelites carried with them in their wanderings. Buddhist temples are spacious and built for congregational worship. Hindu temples are ornate yet smaller, intended for individual worship. Egyptian temples as well as those of the ancient Americas are often associated with the grim practice of human sacrifice, though there is evidence to suggest that loftier ceremonies took place there.
Despite these differences, there are some striking similarities between these temples. All of them are a place set apart, or in other words, holy. Holy, sacred-both of these words are indicative or something or somewhere that is set apart from the every-day. Each of these edifices was originally built for the purpose of tugging at the spiritual heart strings of the practitioner, drawing their thoughts towards higher purposes. These temples often share common symbols: spires that draw the eye upwards, beautiful landscapes that remind us of the wonder of creation, ordinances-or ceremonies-that focus the mind on a larger picture. Indeed, the temple concept is a global one.
Fig. 2: These red dots denote just a few of the areas where one can either find the culture or the creed spoken of in the above paragraph.
Christians like myself (remember, the official name of my church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, not the Mormon Church) follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was Jewish. He grew up in a temple culture. The Tabernacle was a very hallowed place, as were the later constructed temples of Solomon, Zerrubabel and Herod. Christ was born after the reconstruction of the latter. On the occasion of his circumcision, Joseph and Mary brought their son to the temple to offer sacrifice. At the age of twelve, Jesus and his parents returned to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, an annual tradition in his family (Luke 2:41-42 KJV). Was the temple important even to a child of twelve? The fact that Christ knew as a boy where to go to speak of holy things is indicative of that. His later cleansing of the temple shows understanding of its sacred (or set apart from the world) nature.
Temples, therefore, must play a role in Christian worship. This brings forth other important questions, such as who has the authority to build something like that, how should it be built, and what happens inside once it’s built? David and Solomon were given specific charges by God to build the temple or perform temple building related tasks. Clearly, I can’t just build a temple and stamp Gods’ seal of approval on it without being given the authority to do so. Yet the scriptures are plain on the necessity of modern temples. Often in the scriptures, and especially in the Old Testament, the temple is referenced to by a metaphor or symbol of a mountain. Moses received the law near the top of Mt. Sinai. Other prophets have had similarly holy experiences high in the mountains-away from the world. In Isaiah 2:2-3, it states:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above all the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
This scripture is referring to the time just prior to the return of the resurrected Jesus Christ. It is clear that if the symbol of a mountain is referring to a temple, then there must be a restoration of temple worship in modern Christianity before Christ comes again.
To draw connections between ancient temples and modern Mormon temples, in order to go forward, one must first go back. Let us therefore step back into the time predating Herod or Solomon’s temple-back to the days of the portable Tabernacle. To more fully understand temples, and why a restoration of temples might be necessary, it is important to know what the Tabernacle was like and what happened inside of it.
Next - The Tabernacle
