Mormon Temples -
Temple Ordinances
There are three major ordinances that are performed in these temples. The first is probably the one over which there is the most confusion. This is baptism for the dead. This doesn’t mean that we baptize corpses, or that those for whom the ordinance is being performed automatically get ‘Mormon’ stamped on their heads in the afterlife. It does, however, reflect the love of God for all of his children regardless of their location or whether or not they hear his gospel in this life.
In John 3:5, Christ states that a man must be born of water, and of the spirit, or he can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. That’s pretty unequivocal, you either have it or you don’t. Well, what about Joe the farmer, who is out on some remote island in the pacific, and hasn’t ever heard about any of that? In death, the spirit and the body separate, so after this life is over, there is no opportunity for Joe to receive that ordinance on his own. Is it fair to require someone to live by a law they’ve never even heard of? That doesn’t seem like justice to me. God is described as perfect, so how could a perfect being be so unfair? God isn’t unfair, and he is perfect as this ordinance evidences. Heavenly Father provides a mediator, a go-between if you will, for those who live and die without being able to keep that commandment.
The ordinances are performed in the Mormon temples by proxy for those who have already died. If those working in the temples have the authority to perform these ordinances, then they will be efficacious not only now but in eternity. It is my feeling that the authority does exist today in the restored priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Through baptisms for the dead, Heavenly Father allows his children to have another chance to choose to follow his commandments. As I mentioned earlier, this does not force anyone to accept that baptism. However, it does preserve that individual’s agency, or the right to choose for themselves who they will elect to follow. This ordinance is not new-in a discourse to the people of Corinth Paul himself speaks of this doctrine. Paul is responding to a group of individuals who do not believe in a resurrection, but are following the practice of being baptized for the dead anyway. After his discourse on the necessity and doctrinal certainty of the resurrection, Paul essentially says, if there is no resurrection, what’s the point? 1st Corinthians 15:29 states:
- Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?
This ordinance is not a new invention, but a restoration of an original gospel practice.
The second ordinance is called the endowment. An endowment is a gift, generally given to help a group or individual financially. This endowment is a gift from Heavenly Father to help his children navigate through life. In the endowment the worshipper is taught the truths as outlined in the Bible and other scriptures.
These truths teach us the fundamentals about who we are, what we can do in this life, and where we are going. We make promises to our Heavenly Father that, if kept, will help us to really live the gospel of Jesus Christ, not just profess a belief in it. How does this relate to ancient temples? As you can see, the ordinance room is filled with light. At the front of the room there is an altar. As the altar of incense was a symbol of sending an offering to heaven, prayers are offered on the altars of modern Mormon temples. The sacrifice today is one of time, and instead of offering animal sacrifice, we offer our own lives. The altar is not pictured in the ordinance room because it is sacred. I have seen them, and they are not weird or scary-they aren’t even ornate. They are simple and beautiful, and sacred. At the end of the endowment, each individual passes through the veil of the temple-another similarity between the ancient and modern temples. There is no ark of the covenant on the other side of the veil, but the place on the other side-called the celestial room-is remarkable. It is designed to be like the Holy of Holies in the sense that it is symbolic of a throne room. It is also symbolic of what heaven might feel like. It is a place of peace, beauty and quiet. Worshippers may sit and ponder, or read the scriptures, pray, or simply feel the serenity of being away from the world.
Elder Jeffrey R.Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, states, “We all need first aid. We all need an infusion every now and again. We all need hope, and help, and holiness. And the temple does all of that for me”(Holland, Between Heaven and Earth).
The third and final ordinance performed in the temples is temple marriage, also called a sealing or eternal marriage. I was able to participate myself in this ordinance earlier this year when I married my very best friend, Matt. Sealings are incredibly simple and sweet. At ours, a very kind older gentleman stood at the head of an altar (again not pictured here for the reasons explained earlier), and my fiancé and I knelt across it.
There were high mirrors that we looked into, and saw ourselves reflected in them together, going on as far as we could see. It is a symbol of a union that can last throughout eternity, not just for this life only. I could not imagine my life without Matt. We have been friends since high school. We met when we were only 14, and he has become so much a part of who I am. He is my true love, my hero and my inspiration. I don’t want to spend my existence, wherever or whatever it is, without him in it (and how lucky am I, he feels the same way!). Again, to quote Elder Holland, “I don’t know how to speak of heaven in the traditional, lovely, paradisiacal beauty that we speak of heaven…I wouldn’t know how to speak of heaven without my wife, or my children. It would not be heaven for me. Now, you can say that’s wishful thinking, you can say, ‘ Well that’s just because you love each other and you’ve gotten cozy here on earth and you like each other’s company.’ It’s a lot more than that. There is something eternal in the statement that neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord. That isn’t just good sociology, it’s good theology, it’s eternal” (Holland, Between Heaven and Earth).
Being sealed in the Mormon temple gives a perspective that ‘till death do us part’ can’t quite live up to. My parents lost a son to an extremely rare childhood cancer. I was almost four, he was almost two. My mother was 25, my father was 28. Neither of them had graduated from college, though they are both exceptionally bright individuals. However, there is no way their marriage would have survived losing my brother Scottie, were in not for the eternal perspective being married forever gave them. They fought to stay married, even when divorce seemed easier and at times inevitable. Over 90 % of parents who lose a child to cancer end up divorced. My parents are a statistical anomaly in so many ways, and it is due to the fact that they know they will be able to be with our family forever if they live as they believe. Four kids later, their marriage is not perfect, but it is better than it has ever been. The family is the very heart of everything about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the temple fortifies and strengthens families in the particularly turbulent times in which we live.
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