Posted on 04/24/2012 1:28:27 PM PDT by Jeff Head
As I stood in front of the new Mormon Temple in Liberty, Mo., it struck me as ironic that close to 175 years ago, Mormons were forced out of this same state.
Whereas the Missouri public once urged their governor to force Joseph Smith and his followers out of the area surrounding Kansas City, Mormons began to return to the region in the 1900s, eventually gathering in such large numbers that the Church organization decided the region needed a temple.
Which is why I came to visit.
Latter Day Saints restrict temple access to members of their denomination who have proven themselves to be faithful and dedicated adherents. Because Mormons believe temples are the most sacred places on earth, one needs to be prepared to enter them by being an active member of the Church. (In contrast, chapels, where Mormons hold Sunday worship, are open to everyone. Temples are used only for certain rituals and are not open on Sunday so that Mormons can be at their chapel services.)
When a new temple is built, anyone may enter prior to its dedication. So, always curious to learn about the faith of others, I didn't want to miss an opportunity to see a site normally closed off to an Episcopal priest like myself.
My visit seemed all the more timely because Mormons have been in the news a lot lately, and so have their temples. Elizabeth Smart recently married her husband in a temple in Hawaii during a ceremony called a sealing, in which the couple and close Mormon friends and family gather together to witness God joining the couple together for time and all eternity. In less complimentary news, Elie Wiesel took Mitt Romney to task for his faith's practice of baptisms of the dead, which also take places within temple walls.
These headlines, in addition to my own curiosity, motivated my visit to the new temple in Kansas City, and with my curiosity came some questions:
What does a Mormon temple look like, and what happens inside it?
Would I feel God's presence in this space, even though it's not a space that's sacred for me?
Before I go any further -- and because I know it's the question at the front of your mind, dear reader -- no one tried to convert me. In fact, everyone was very welcoming. Members volunteered en masse, clad in pressed suits and dresses. They offered guided tours, bent down to put protective boots onto my feet so my shoes wouldn't dirty the carpeting, and offered me a chewy snickerdoodle at the end of the tour. They showed me every space from changing rooms to sealing rooms where marriages take place and answered every question I asked, no matter how challenging or controversial.
And in the end, yes, I did have a God moment.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Mormons go to temples to be close to God. Much like the ancient Jewish people believed God lived at the heart of the temple in Jerusalem, Mormons believe that followers can meet God most intimately in the temple. The reasons they visit temples vary: In addition to having their marriages sealed in the temple, Mormons also have sealing ceremonies that unite parents and children for time and all eternity. Others come to participate in baptisms of the dead, which are intended to be used only for deceased family members of active Mormons, though the Church acknowledged in the wake of Elie Wiesel's comments that others -- such as Anne Frank -- have had baptisms performed on their behalf. These baptisms are not intended to convert the deceased but rather to give them a choice in the afterlife to embrace the revelation of Mormonism: Assuming an afterlife exists, the baptized deceased are free to say yes or no as they please. Finally, Mormons come to the temple to receive their endowment, a ritual ceremony where followers make promises to God and receive knowledge about God.
Unlike a cathedral, which is primarily composed of one large worship space, a Mormon temple has a variety of smaller rooms that serve different purposes. There are sealing rooms and rooms for men and women to change into white clothes (every male or female Mormon who enters a dedicated temple wears the same white clothing) and instruction rooms where individuals learn about God in preparation for receiving their endowments.
It was in these rooms, and the final Celestial Room, where I caught a glimpse of God.
You see, as part of our final stop on the tour, our guide took us to a room with a mural of the Missouri countryside painted by a local artist. The room had earthy colors, browns and greens and rows of cushioned seats. This was the first instruction room. From there, we took a step up -- as if ascending closer to heaven -- and entered a second room, similar to the first in shape and size but all white. This was the second instruction room. When we left that room, we took another step up and entered the Celestial Room, a space designed to give those who sit in it a foretaste of heaven.
It was a simple room yet ornate at the same time, all white with sparkling crystal chandeliers, large mirrors, and plump sofas and chairs reminiscent of those that must have existed in Joseph Smith's day. Our guide asked us to be silent and said we were welcome to sit wherever we liked and take a moment to pray. So I sat down on a sofa that seemed to envelop me, folded my hands on my lap and closed my eyes.
Like Dante, who saw God face to face but had no words to describe the encounter, I have few words to describe what I felt in that moment. But I can say this: While it did not convert me, nor did it make me want to be a Mormon, the silence and peace I felt reminded me of the many other times I've felt close to God, whether in an Episcopal cathedral, in a clear, warm ocean or in my ratty old car. And because of that, I came to understand why temples exist and why they are so important to Mormons across the world.
And along the lines of Mormons being across the world: As I wrote earlier, Mormons were ironically driven out of Liberty, Missouri and the surrounding region nearly 175 years ago. It cannot be lost on those who visit the new temple that almost two centuries later, Mormons are often still held in suspicion by society, but they are far from being as vulnerable as they were in their early years. They are building stronger foundations every day, and striving, as they do so, to catch a glimpse of heaven.
Yawn...It’s almost cocktail hour. Plus had some true believers from Colorado City spray about five acres for weeds on both properties. Didn’t bring their wives though.
Propaganda indeed!
The Southern Baptists Convention at the time was changing...indicating that Baptism was no longer required...at least it was filtering down to us at that time.
My parents began looking around for another Baptist Church that conformed more to their feelings about the gospel.
We had a rancher who had land abutting ours and one summer (1970) there was a large fire that burned on both of our lands through a large stand of timber and fields we shared.
While fighting the fire, he invited his wife and self over to meet us. He was a large scale rancher in the area and was very well respected by the local people.
He got to talking religion with my parents. A few days later they attended an LDS Cottage Meeting and invited missonaries who were also there to come by and talk to us.
I walked in during their presentation of the Jospeh Smith story and listened to all the discussions over time.
I talked with our paster oand others and ultimately prayed to God in Heaven in the name of Christ if the message, the Book of Moromon and other issues were true.
I had been given all sorts of anti-mormon literature, quotes, and sentiments by others I knew in the mean time.
I attended LDS meetings and found that the people there were committed to Christ and not at all like they were represented to be by most of the literature.
Ultimately, I received an answer to my prayers through the power of the Holy Ghost in the affirmative. It was a very pwoerful and personal experience in the late summer of 1970. One I have never fogotten and to which I have been true to this day.
That’s why...and I have talked of Christ, taught Christ, lived for my Savior, taught my children and now grand children the same ever since.
That’s my story.
My parents and brothers also joined. The oldest, who is the Evangelical Assoiciate Pastor now, left the church after his marriage to his high school sweetheart and returned to the Baptist Church. He was not happy there and ultimately found his home and his calling in an Evangelical Church in Denton, TX where he has done much good.
He is a professional Engineer by trade, but works hard to bring others to Christ...and I love and respect him for it.
It is that feeling, that love, that sentiment of knowing that any ground we can make, any progress we can make with our brothers and sisters in bringing them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior is a good thing. My brother and I both understand this and accept each other as we go about doing so.
He knows I am a Chrsitian from a life-time of observation and living...and I know the same about him.
In the end, Christ will lead us to the complete truth...and you know how I feel about that, and I am content to let it occur in Christ’s way and in His time...and of course, hehehe, my brother feels ecxcatly the same about me.
We are fine with that and it enables us both to work together doing good and helping our communities and others around us.
There...that’s the tale and the sentiments.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Brigham Young
1 wife 49 mistresses 80 children
Hardly an example of virtue and “worthiness”
Would he be allowed in his own temple ???
If the people [of Missouri] come on us to molest us, we will establish our religion by the sword. We will trample down our enemies and make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Quran or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us – Joseph Smith or the Sword – History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 167.
From the article: As I stood in front of the new Mormon Temple in Liberty, Mo., it struck me as ironic that close to 175 years ago, Mormons were forced out of this same state.
Considering that, according to their indictment, Smith, Rigdon and other Mormon leaders committed "treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, larceny, and perjury" and were ordered held without bail until they escaped from custody by bribing the sheriff with $850 and a keg of whiskey, it is not especially ironic that many believe that the Mormons forced themselves out of Missouri.
Considering that Joseph laid the cornerstone of his temple in Independence, Missouri, and prophesied that it would be the site of the Second Coming of Christ, it is indeed ironic that the Latter-Day Saints would give up and build the new Mormon Temple in Liberty, Missouri ... especially considering that vacant building sites are available in nearby Far West, Missouri and Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri ... both of which are also sites where Joseph prophesied that Mormon temples would be built within his lifetime and would be scenes of the Second Coming ... sometime before 1891.
I am content to let it occur in Christ’s way
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OK Jeffie
If thats true then Christ has already told you and the time is now...
Here ya go...
The LORD Jesus Christ said to Jeff, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man or woman comes to the Father except by Me.” John 14.6
Interesting my lds family dropped my siblings and myself when we refused to convert to lds.
After decades of being shunned by them, they consented to reconnect on a very limited bases.
When my son-in-law preached for the first time, I invited them to attend the service, they refused because lds does not accept any other message but mormonism.
Interesting that these lds helped your family out.
When one of my lds aunts was in the hospital with a suspected brain tumor for more than ten weeks, not even their own ward helped out my uncle and his four teenagers.
With one exception someone brought a pizza for Thanksgiving.
Oh, yea and that uncle was the bishop of his ward.
Your experiences are so very different than what most people experience and they sure are different than mine.
The LDS church has been "changing" since the first day that Joseph Smith claimed to have had a vision. In fact his story about that Vision changed several times before his death. The LDS Church of today is not the same LDS Church that I left back in 1969. They didn't pretend to be just another Christian church and those who left the LDS Church to join Christian Churches, like your brother, were shunned and called "sons of perdition" and when people told the truth about Mormon History (like the Tanners) they were shunned and slandered.
Jerold and Sandra Tanner left the Mormon Church and then started a ministry which not only told the truth about Mormonism, but also sought to lead people to Christ.
Has their ministry lead people to the same Christ you worship? If so, then why should they be so condemned by the LDS Church and why should anyone join the LDS Church?
If it is just another Christian Church as YOU claim, then why don't you go to another Church on occasion and consider membership in some other church?
Why did you have to get baptized again after you joined the LDS Church? Wasn't the Southern Baptist baptism that you received (before you claim they "changed") good enough? My baptism by a long haired hippie preacher in the ocean was good enough for every other "Christian" Church that I've ever attended, but it's not good enough for the LDS Church, is it?
If you decided the leave the Southern Baptist Church because it "changed" then why haven't you left the LDS Church after all their changes?
Pretty much stopped reading there, the kymbaya all paths are equal bit was sure to follow....
place marker
lds jesus - created
Biblical Jesus - eternal
lds jesus - not sufficient for salvation
Biblical Jesus - sufficient for Salvation
lds temples - secretive
Biblical temples - open to all, after the Cross Jesus/God tore the temple veil from top to bottom, so all may enter.
lds jesus - must work for salvation
Biblical Jesus - Grace is offered
I still have to nearly puke when I drive by that temple of deception.
Really T, that is a stretch, that questioning why lds are so concerned about their carpet is translated by you into mormon hate.
I wonder that myself. I have been to dozens of houses of worship and not once have I been asked to cover my shoes or take them off.
If it (dirty carpet) is such an issue, why not use tile or laminate wood products.
You claim to be an lds christian, why do so often accuse others of hate, where is your compassion or reason?
Why is there so much concern for carpet at the lds wards and “temples”?
"as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
- Romans 3:10
It is a made up, pagan custom of "temples", which is not commanded or instructed in the New Testament.
It is a made up fiction that anyone can be worthy.
The whole point of Christ's death was because no one is worthy, nor can anyone ever become worthy through human works - even mormonic works. Salvation doesn't come through personal worthiness, but via the amazing Gospel of Grace - and apart from human worthiness.
Thanks Jeff, for the opportunity to use a mormonic thread to teach readers what he Bible teaches.
We are more than happy to answer "tests" regarding mormonism
Since this is a temple thread, follow this link for an in depth account of what happens in the temple and remember, Mitt Romney has taken part in these rituals.
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PLAN OF SALVATION
In the premortal existence, Heavenly Father prepared a plan to enable us to become like Him and receive a fulness of joy. The scriptures refer to this plan as "the plan of salvation" (Alma 24:14; Moses 6:62), "the great plan of happiness" (Alma 42:8), "the plan of redemption" (Jacob 6:8; Alma 12:30), and "the plan of mercy" (Alma 42:15). The plan of salvation is the fulness of the gospel. It includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel. Moral agency, the ability to choose and act for ourselves, is also essential in Heavenly Father's plan. Because of this plan, we can be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fulness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last throughout the eternities.
We are participants in Heavenly Father's plan, and our eternal experience can be divided into three main parts: premortal life, mortal life, and life after death. As we come to understand the plan, we find answers to questions asked by so many: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go after this life?
Premortal Life
Before we were born on the earth, we lived in the presence of our Heavenly Father as one of His spirit children. In this premortal existence, we attended a council with Heavenly Father's other spirit children. At that council, Heavenly Father presented His great plan of happiness (see Abraham 3:22–26).
In harmony with the plan of happiness, the premortal Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son of the Father in the spirit, covenanted to be the Savior (see Moses 4:2; Abraham 3:27). Those who followed Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were permitted to come to the earth to experience mortality and progress toward eternal life. Lucifer, another spirit son of God, rebelled against the plan and "sought to destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3). He became Satan, and he and his followers were cast out of heaven and denied the privileges of receiving a physical body and experiencing mortality (see Moses 4:4; Abraham 3:27–28).
Throughout our premortal lives, we developed our identity and increased our spiritual capabilities. Blessed with the gift of agency, we made important decisions, such as the decision to follow Heavenly Father's plan. These decisions affected our life then and now. We grew in intelligence and learned to love the truth, and we prepared to come to the earth, where we could continue to progress.
Mortal Life
We are now experiencing mortal life. Our spirits are united with our bodies, giving us opportunities to grow and develop in ways that were not possible in premortal life. This part of our existence is a time of learning in which we can prove ourselves, choose to come unto Christ, and prepare to be worthy of eternal life. It is also a time when we can help others find the truth and gain a testimony of the plan of salvation.
Life after Death
When we die, our spirits will enter the spirit world and await the resurrection. At the time of the resurrection, our spirit and body will reunite, and we will be judged and received into a kingdom of glory. The glory we inherit will depend on the depth of our conversion and our obedience to the Lord's commandments (see Kingdoms of Glory). It will depend on the manner in which we have "received the testimony of Jesus" (D&C 76:51; see also D&C 76:74, 79, 101).
Blessings through Knowledge of the Plan
A testimony of the plan of salvation can give us hope and purpose as we wrestle with the challenges of life. We can find reassurance in the knowledge that we are children of God and that we lived in His presence before being born on the earth. We can find meaning in our present life, knowing that our actions during mortality influence our eternal destiny. With this knowledge, we can base important decisions on eternal truths rather than on the changing circumstances of life. We can continually improve our relationships with family members, rejoicing in the promise that our families can be eternal. We can find joy in our testimonies of the Atonement and the Lord's commandments, ordinances, covenants, and doctrines, knowing that "he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come" (D&C 59:23).
Plan of Salvation from LDS.org
This "Plan of Salvation" in many ways directly contravenes the message given to Christians by Jesus Christ. It is a "works based" rather than "faith based" belief. Christ never commanded, "Work your way to Me."
The Author said that slippers were put on her feet to keep the carpets clean.
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TeePee
No she didnt
she said
“bent down to put protective boots onto my feet so my shoes wouldn’t dirty the carpeting,”
Nothing there about slippers Grasshopper...
Nothing there about keeping the carpetsa clean
It was so that she, an apostate, wouldnt dirty the dumb carpet...
Noot that the shoes of Tommy Monson wouldnt also dirty the carpet...
but maybe he has magic dirt on his shoes...
BTW kid there aint anything Holy about a clean carpet...
Sandals perhaps?
The author simultaneously diminishes the reality of the Holy of Holies and the claims by LDS inc to have established such locations on earth. It was not just the Hebrews who believed God came into the Temple, into the Holy of Holies, the heathen around the area when confronting the Hebrews came to believe it also, and to place great wonder upon the single piece of 'furniture' in the Holy of Holies. So great was their wonderment that they took that piece of the Temple when they defeated the Israelites. But they bit off more than they could ever swallow and tried to send it back on an ox cart.
There is ONLY one Melchizedek High Priest at a time. If one reads what Paul explained in his letter to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ is the ONLY Melchizedek High Priest and because He is alive forever more, He is the last of the Melchizedek High Priest line and He functions in the Heavenlies as OUR Great High Priest forever more, standing in the Holy of Holies making intercession for those trusting in Him alone for redemption. Could someone who claims to be a high priest in the same office as Jesus afford to 'see the truth' of what making such a claim means?
The author of the article Jeff so admires is implying that 'the Jews believed', as if that is their personal testimoy but of little importance to her personally. And of equal value in her mind is the claim that the LDS inc make regarding their pagan temples being 'holy places'. THE Holy Place is now in the Heavenies, where The Great High Priest stands as our Redeemer having entered into the Holy of Hlies by His own blood shed for us.
Claiming a Mormon Temple is anything even remotely similar is blasphemous. And to assert a similarity of the Jewish Temple and Holy of Holies where God absolutely came in His timing, to the pagan temples of LDS inc built around the world and functioning for pagan, blasphemous rituals founded by a peepstone sexual predator of married women, well, the author is too dead in soul to realize she is committing blasphemy against The ONLY High Priest standing in the True Holy of Holies.
:-)
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