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To: Elsie

If you criticize Mormons for temple worship then you must what the Apostles did after Christ ascended! You guys are making this too easy!


Unfortunately for [critics] it is quite clear that the New Testament apostles continued to worship in the Jerusalem temple after Christ’s ascension (Acts 2:46, Acts 3:1-10, Acts 5:20-42). Even Paul worshipped there (Acts 21:26-30, Acts 22:17, Acts 24:6-18, Acts 25:8, Acts 26:21). Paul is explicitly said to have performed purification rituals (Acts 21:26, Acts 24:18), and prayed in the temple (Acts 22:17, cf. Acts 3:1); he claims that he has not offended “against the temple,” implying he accepts its sanctity (Acts 25:8). Indeed, Paul also offered sacrifice (prosfora) in the temple (Acts 21:26, cf. Numbers 6:14-18), a very odd thing for him to do if the temple had been completely superceded after Christ’s ascension. Finally, and most importantly, Paul had a vision of Christ (”The Just One” ton dikaion) in the temple (Acts 22:14-21), paralleling Old Testament temple theophanies, and strongly implying a special sanctity in the temple, where God still appears to men even after Christ’s ascension.
Hamblin elaborated further on Paul’s vision of Christ in the temple during which he received his prophetic call:

Ananias says Paul will “see the Just One.” (Acts 22:14)
Paul then goes to Jerusalem (Acts 22:17)
“When I [Paul] was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance” (Acts 22:17)
Then he sees Christ/The Just One (Acts 22:18)
Christ tells him to leave Jerusalem (Acts 22:18) and go preach to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).[1]
Hamblin then illustrates that Paul continued to offer “sin offerings” in the temple his conversion to Christanity:

Paul’s prosfora was participation in the fulfillment of a Nazarite vow taken by four men (Acts 21:21-26). The sacrifices required to fulfill this vow are described in Numbers 6:13-18. They include making a “sin offering” (Numbers 6:14). Therefore, Paul’s prosfora included a sin offering. (See Bruce, Acts of the Apostles, 3rd ed, p. 443-8.) Furthermore, Christ’s sacrifice is called a prosfora in Hebrews 10:10,14,18, and is directly correlated to the Temple sin offerings (Acts 10:3-9). Given all this, it is rather blatant special pleading to claim that Paul’s prosfora in the Temple did not include a sin offering.[2]
One non-LDS text notes the frequent use of temple language:

In general, any cultic activity to which the biblical text applies the formula ‘before the Lord’ can be considered an indication of the extence of a temple at the site, since this expression ... belongs to the temple’s technical terminology.[3]


1,074 posted on 08/01/2007 12:24:09 PM PDT by nowandlater
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To: nowandlater
Unfortunately for [critics] it is quite clear that the New Testament apostles continued to worship in the Jerusalem temple after Christ’s ascension

I will surprise you and say yes indeed they worshipped at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Now let me ask you this; did they perform washings and annointings, celestial marriages, endowments? Of course they did not!

Were any who wished, able to have free access to the Jerusalem Temple, the house of the Lord? Of course they were. There were no restrictions upon access - no one was kept from worshipping in the Temple.

The Temple (one and only) in Jerusalem in no way resembled the holy , exclusinve McMovie houses that the Mormon Church calls Temples that dot the entire world. Not the same at all!

1,075 posted on 08/01/2007 12:44:33 PM PDT by colorcountry (To pursue union at the expense of truth is treason to the Lord Jesus. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon -)
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To: nowandlater
If you criticize Mormons for temple worship then you must what the Apostles did after Christ ascended! You guys are making this too easy!

What CRITICISM??

It's YOU guys that need to criticize YOUR leaders for failing to put the authority for your sacred Temple rites in your Scriptures!

1,097 posted on 08/01/2007 1:29:09 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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