But the temple he had spoken of [in that particular case] was his body. At other times spanning the OT and the NT he was referring to His Father’s House or Dwelling.
What he was reorienting the remnant of Israel on was the importance of the living Messiah, not their dead practices in the temple which by their own actions, lack of authority and loss of knowledge they’d desecrated. They wanted to shut God’s mouth, but lacked the authority and power to do so.
The Christian expectation is in the least a steady state of apostasy. That’s the entire story of the Bible from start to finish. We live in a world of lost knowledge.
I look at the entry for "temple" found on pp. 451-452. Per this source, the Helaman and Alma references are to "unholy temples."
That leaves only three Book of Mormon books that references "temple"...2 Nephi 5:16, Jacob 1:17; 2:2; and 3 Nephi 11:1; 24:1...the last one is about the Lord coming to his temple...The first one is about a temple being built...3 Nephi 11:1 is about being around a temple...which leaves only the book of Jacob telling anybody what was done in a temple...Jacob 1:17 says teaching was going on there...and the word of God was declared in the temple in Jacob 2:2...
That, my friend, is the full extent of Book of Mormon teachings on the temple!
If Mormonism is some "restoration" of what they were doing in BoM times, then where did all of this ritualism come from???
And why all these Lds temple ceremony ritualistic changes (Why change something supposedly revealed 'directly from Mormon god?')
1. We live in a world of lost people.
2. God has -- thru the Bible -- given people enough revelation to relate to Him.
3. People have not been good stewards with the knowledge they have.
And, no, people didn't need to get married in a Mormon temple in order to be re-connected with God the Father as fellow eternal "gods".
Nor did they need to have a "testimony" about Joseph Smith being the "living prophet" in order to be re-connected with God the Father.
These are two examples -- of many ritualistic things (other ordinances, laws, tithing, etc) -- that Mormons add on to the Gospel.
The Gospel is Good News -- an announcement if you will -- about what God has done in Jesus Christ. Lds make the Gospel things that we have to do. That is distortion, plain and simple.
lds would not know the Bible if it smaked them in the face.
From the beginning Joseph Smith distorted the Bible and the Word of Gid Almighty.