Mormonopia» Mormon Temples

Philadelphia’s Mormon Temple: An Affront to Modernism

Graham — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:16:17 +0000

The Philadelphia Weekly Press has a mostly positive article about the new temple being built there. It’s worth a read:

When it comes to church or temple architecture, Mormons have it all over Catholics and mega-church Protestants, whose modern churches frequently overemphasize cold, hard lines and sterility.

The proposed Mormon temple at 18th and Vine Streets near the Philadelphia Parkway won’t be a utilitarian warehouse. The design is one of many temple designs currently in use throughout the Mormon world. Currently there are 133 Mormon Temples in operation. When the Philadelphia Temple is completed, that number will rank in the high 130s. The Temple will have two spires, one hosting an image of the Angel Moroni, the angel whom, according to Mormon belief, appeared to Mormon founder Joseph Smith in Palmyra, New York, sometime after Smith asked God which church he should join.

Awesome Lego model of the Bountiful Utah Temple A few days ago the Deseret News had an article...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Awesome Lego model of the Bountiful Utah Temple

Graham — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:52:52 +0000

A few days ago the Deseret News had an article about a temple made from Lego. The man was asked by the local Primary President to make a model of the temple. Well, it took it several months and used over 13,000 pieces. The end result was an absolutely amazing replica of the Bountiful Utah Temple. Here is a reduced size picture. You should read the whole article to get more details, see this picture larger, as well as a couple of other pictures.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

181st Annual General Conference – Saturday Morning General Session

Graham — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:00:48 +0000

The first session of conference had the traditional announcement of new temples. One of them is in Canada, so we were excited. We also pointed out the kids that President Monson thanked them for paying their tithing.

We enjoyed our lunch during the first part, and then we let the kids go and play. We’re going to have them watch some of each session, and all of the Sunday Morning General Session.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang Rejoice, the Lord is King!

President Dieter F Uchtdorf conducted. He noted that this conference marks the 75th anniversary of the welfare program of the Church.

The choir sang Glory to God on High

Elder Allan F Packer offered the invocation

President Thomas S. Monson

opened the conference
shared thoughts on rededication of the Laie Hawaii Temple
announced 3 new temples
- Fort Collins, Colorado
- Meridian, Idaho
- Winnipeg, Manitoba
he thanked us for our devotion
missionary work is the lifeblood of the kingdom

The choir sang We Listen to a Prophet’s Voice

Elder L Tom Perry

Christ had dual citizenship, in heaven and on earth
the world is saturated with the doctrines of men
keep the sabbath holy
it is a glorious thing to be a Christian
now is the time to teach your children to be examples of the believers

Sister Jean A Stevens

children are the first to love, and the first to forgive
the Savior has a special appreciate for little children
“behold” the little ones, don’t just glance at them. Embrace them, see and appreciate them

Elder Walter F Gonzalez

anyone from any background can learn that Joseph Smith saw God
followers of Christ are loving people
followers of Christ make and keep covenants
following Christ might mean forsaking certain things
the power of our covenants is greater than an trial we may face

The choir and congregation sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Elder Kent F Richards

thought abut the purpose of pain
people cope differently
pain is a gauge of the healing process
sometimes a healing lifts our burdens; other times we are healed by being able to cope
all souls can be healed by His power; all pain can be soothed

Elder Quentin L Cook

LDS women are incredible
spoke a lot about how female members of the church are
they succor the weak, lift up the hands that hang down, strengthen the feeble knees
no woman should apologize because she is devoting her time to raising her children
we should all be careful not be judgmental if a woman chooses to work out side the home (we don’t know people’s circumstances)
the errand of angels is given to women

The choir sang I Know That My Savior Loves Me

President Henry B Eyring

consecrate your time and means to join with God in serving others
gave examples of people helping others
everyone is happier when they can provide for themselves
when we join hands to serve people in need, the Lord unites our hearts

The choir sang High on the Mountain Top

Elder Dale G Renlund offered the benediction

Read the recaps and other notes from the 181st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

181st Annual General Conference – Pre-conference notes
181st Annual General Conference – Saturday Morning General Session
181st Annual General Conference – Saturday Afternoon General Session
181st Annual General Conference – Priesthood Session
181st Annual General Conference – Sunday Morning General Session
181st Annual General Conference – Sunday Afternoon General Session
181st Annual General Conference – Post-conference notes

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The temple recommend of a prophet, seer and revelator

Graham — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:00:31 +0000

I mentioned before that back in March, Elder M Russell Ballard came to do some training. He was physically at the stake centre beside the Toronto Ontario Temple, but the training was for all of Eastern Canada. Leading up to the meeting, we were told that there would be a special temple session that Elder Ballard would attend. We were to let the temple know if we could go so they knew how many people to expect.

I know the person who was checking the temple recommends that day, and he told me that Elder Ballard had a special recommend. It was NOT the same as ours. There was no barcode on it, no expiry date and all three members of the First Presidency sign it. Neat!

This of course brings to mind a few questions:

Did he have an interview when he first got it?
Does he have the same recommend since he first became an apostle?
Do they get new ones if something on the recommend changes, like a change to the First Presidency, or even the new Church logo from a while ago?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Toronto Ontario Temple at night

Graham — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:59:43 +0000

We have a Ward Temple Night on the 3rd Thursday of each month. We are in the Toronto Ontario Temple district. In November, this was last Thursday. It was rainy and kind of foggy/misty, and this is what we saw (taken with my cell phone camera) as we approached the temple.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sealing work at the temple

Graham — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:26:01 +0000

Last night was our monthly ward temple night. Instead of going through an endowment session, we had arranged for a couple of sealers to be available, and 16 of us did sealings. I’ve attended several sealings, and have done work once before for the deceased, but I had never done sealings for an hour and a half. It’s tough work!

The sealer that was with our group (we divided into two sealing rooms) spoke almost non-stop for the entire time, and only coughed or cleared his throat once. I told him I was impressed, and he just laughed. I had forgotten that the entire ceremony (including the pronouncement of blessings) is repeated, not just the basic initial part. This makes the sealing of spouses kind of long. The sealing of a child to their parents is relatively quick, but even that is about 4x as long as the baptism prayer (I went over it in my head as the sealer was speaking).

As my wife and I finished up the sealings we were doing, the sealer said we could kiss each other. Apparently I made a funny face. It just caught me off guard. It’s not that I don’t like kissing my wife, but I didn’t know we were done, and in my head I was trying to figure out what a kiss had to do with anything, and I didn’t know if he was joking or not. Thankfully my wife has already forgiven me for the look

Overall, the 16 of us did about 400 sealings. It was a nice evening.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

173rd anniversary of dedication of Kirtland Temple

Graham — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:55:01 +0000

I am located near the Ontario/New York border, and am 2 hours away from Palmyra and 4 hours away from Kirtland. Since we are so close, I’ve been to both places many times. I love visiting them. The Church does an incredible job in restoring the sites, and making them quality destinations. I’ve always been a fan of Church history (the “wacky” stuff doesn’t bother me at all), and there is something special about visiting these early Church locations. The early saints had such faith in Brother Joseph. They walked with him and talked with him. He must have been quite the charismatic leader.

Today (March 27) marks the anniversary of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. The Kirtland Temple itself is a great example of what they would do for their leader. An announcement of a temple today is almost boring. It seems like every General Conference has a couple of them announced. But back then, hearing that they were going to build a temple must have been exciting and terrifying at the same time. They built it at great cost, and were only able to enjoy it for a brief period of time. One of my favourite things is going to the quarry up the street. You can see marks in the rocks where previous people were working. These are NOT marks from the early saints, but it gives you an idea of what they had to do to get the stone out. You can imagine Brother Joseph working shoulder to shoulder with the others to make the vision become a reality.

The prayer offered at the dedication of the temple is contained in D&C 109. The prayer is beautiful, but I particularly appreciate verse 22:

And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;

I do enjoy my time at the temple, and do feel more “powerful” after attending. Those words seem applicable to all temples.

You can see some pictures of one of trips to Historic Kirtland (taken several years ago) here and here, pictures of the Kirtland Temple here, pictures of the Newel K. Whitney store here, and the John Johnson farm here.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

My co-worker’s response to Big Love

Graham — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:32:47 +0000

I commented before that I had some co-workers who watch Big Love and I was curious to see if they would ask me about it. Well, I just had a nice conversation with one woman. We’ve talked about religion before. There have been a few members who have worked with her in the past, and she knows that I’m currently the bishop of my ward. She asked if I’d seen Big Love and I said that I had, and so she asked if the temple scene was true. I explained that it was basically true, but that it missed the point of the ceremony, which is to learn about the Plan of Salvation from the beginning to the end. She asked if the “muscle thing” was true, and when I gave her a confused look, she clarified that she was talking about what was said at the veil. I said that most of what was in the episode was accurate. She asked about what the blue apron. I told her it was actually green, and that it represented the “fig leaves” they used to cover themselves. She accepted that without hesitation. She also wanted to confirm that is what we do in the temple in Toronto (I’ve referred to that before), and I told her it was.

Without me trying to justify anything, she said that at first it seemed weird, but then she figured that all other churches have rituals, and it was no different than that, so she thought it was fine. She said she wanted to see the white room at the end. We laughed and I explained a few things she might have to change in her life in order to do that, and she said she was fine with most things other than the gambling (we work in Niagara Falls, and she likes to frequent the casinos). She said she’d let me know when she was ready.

We spoke about the “love court”, and I told her I’d never heard that phrase before. I explained that I’ve had to run a couple of those sorts of things, and that I didn’t think it was portrayed well. That made her think of when the woman was questioned about her garments, and wanted to know what that was. I wear crew neck garment tops, so I pointed to the white “undershirt” I have on, and told her it wasn’t magic underwear, but that I wear them every day. That was good enough for her. She didn’t ask any more about why, or what they represented. She did say she was going to check every day to make sure I had them on!

We talked for a little longer, and I explained a bit about Joseph Smith, and mentioned how he must have been influenced by what he learned as a Mason. I explained that the method was similar, but that what is taught is different. She thought that was very interesting, as her grandfather was a mason and it always fascinated her.

So, based on this one conversation, the episode did not hurt her impression of the Church, and it helped her learn some more about the Church.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

My (simple) thoughts on the Big Love episode

Graham — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:48:38 +0000

I have to be honest, when I first heard that Big Love was going to show parts of the temple endowment ceremony, I didn’t get very upset. It was going to happen sooner or later in some main stream movie or TV show. As others have commented, the information is all out there anyway. Out of all of the people close to me who found out about it, my mother-in-law was particularly upset about it. I received a couple of email forwards from various church leaders who wanted to ensure that the show wasn’t mentioned in sacrament meeting, and suggesting that if people have questions, they could watch the MormonMessages clip on YouTube.

Anyway, I did see the relevant parts today, and it just seemed so bizarre to hear those words spoken so freely when we as members never speak them other than in the temple. Generally, what they showed seemed pretty accurate. However, of course the problem is that only showing a few minutes doesn’t really help anyone understand the purpose of the temple. I know that the physical actions have a place in the ceremony, but I’ve always been fond of the presentation as a whole as you progress from the creation to the eternities.

There are a few people at work who watch the show. I have to say, that in trying to watch the show for entertainment, it was just too much of a soap opera for me. It definitely isn’t my type of show. It will be interesting to see if my co-workers approach me with any questions.

On a related (but side) note, the MormonMessages clip is from the longer movie Between Heaven and Earth. I saw it a few years ago, and at the time I thought it was excellent and very well done. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Baptisms for the Dead

Graham — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:00:01 +0000

I know there has been some discussion on various Mormon blogs recently about baptisms for the dead, and how other church’s perceive the practice. I’m not interested in debating that right now, but I figured I’d just share a little about our most recent trip.

My ward is about 120km away from the Toronto Ontario Temple. We try to take the youth there 4 times a year. Last Thursday night was our first trip of 2009. Overall we had 43 people from the ward there that night (I think we had at least two other people there earlier in the day).

16 youth (12 YM, 4 YW)
1 YSA
8 men on “team” (2 bishopric, 2 YM leaders, 1 EQ presidency, 1 ward clerk, 1 WML, 1 seminary teacher)
3 YW leaders
5 members of the ward serving/working
10 other ward members doing some form of temple work

All of the baptisms that were done were family file. The couple “running” the baptistry that night said it was the first time during their time of service (I’m not sure how long that has been) that every baptism was family file. Apparently there were over 250 baptisms and confirmations done.

After going to the temple, the tradition used to be that we’d all end up going to some fast food joint (usually McDonald’s) and get something to eat. A couple of years ago one of my counselors suggested that we use the cafeteria at the temple and bring our own “treats”, so that we can stay together and still feel the spirit of the temple. It has worked out great. It obviously is less expensive than having 20 extra value meals purchased by the members. The ward foots the bill for the food now which is always less than $50 for all of us. The treats are healthier. We usually get away earlier than we would if we had to pack up, drive to a restaurant, and pack up and leave again. But like I said, the best part is we are still in the temple.

The youth love going to the temple. It’s great to see. Hopefully we keep having positive experiences with them so they are strengthened, and have that desire to return often.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.