Mormonopia» Mormon Temples

“The solution of the problems that vex his life [will come]“

Graham — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:42 +0000

A couple of days ago I quoted from Elder John A Widstoe about the power of temple worship and yesterday about the importance of sealings. Here is another good one (the last one from this talk):

I believe the busy person on the farm, in the shop, in the office, or in the household, who has his worries and troubles, can solve his problems better and more quickly in the house of the Lord than anywhere else. If he will leave his problems behind and in the temple work for himself and for his dead, he will confer a mighty blessing up on those who have gone before, and quite as large a blessing will come to him, for at the most unexpected moments, in or out of the temple, will come to him, as a revelation, the solution of the problems that vex his life. That is the gift that comes to those who enter the temple properly, because it is a place where revelation may be expected. I bear my personal testimony that this is so.

Widstoe, John A. “Temple Worship.” Genealogical Society of Utah. Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City. 12 Oct. 1920.

Overcome by the meaning of the words of sealing Yesterday I quoted from Elder John A Widstoe about the...
The power of temple worship A great quote by Elder John A Widstoe: Men grow...

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Overcome by the meaning of the words of sealing

Graham — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:30:23 +0000

Yesterday I quoted from Elder John A Widstoe about the power of temple worship. Here is another good one about the power/meaning of the words of the sealing ordinance:

The mere words of sealing may be easily spoken at the alters of the holy temples, but they are so full of meaning that any man with even a particle of imagination who witnesses or participates in the sealing ordinances must be overcome with the feeling of responsibility and opportunity and enjoyment that it carries with it

Widstoe, John A. “Temple Worship.” Genealogical Society of Utah. Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City. 12 Oct. 1920.

The power of temple worship A great quote by Elder John A Widstoe: Men grow...

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The power of temple worship

Graham — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:00:09 +0000

A great quote by Elder John A Widstoe:

Men grow mighty under the results of temple service; women grow strong under it; the community increases in power; until the devil has less influence than he ever had before. The opposition to truth is relatively smaller if the people are engaged actively in the ordinances of the temple.

Widstoe, John A. “Temple Worship.” Genealogical Society of Utah. Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City. 12 Oct. 1920.

Philadelphia’s Mormon Temple: An Affront to Modernism The Philadelphia Weekly Press has a mostly positive article about...
Awesome Lego model of the Bountiful Utah Temple A few days ago the Deseret News had an article...

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The brouhaha over baptisms for the dead

Graham — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:00:54 +0000

Sometimes I think I’m pretty with it, and other times I just don’t get it. I don’t get all the commotion recently about the practice of baptisms for the dead in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don’t understand why some outside the church are so against it, and I don’t understand why some inside the church seem to intentionally break the “rules”.

If you haven’t been following it, for the last couple of decades the Church has had an agreement with Jewish groups that we will not baptize people who are proxy for holocaust victims. Unfortunately, there are members who keep submitting these names, along with the names of celebrities. Recently the First Presidency stated again these rules (the letter was read in our Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday).

Like I said, I just don’t get it. Why would anyone care what we do with a name? If someone came up to me and said that they had baptized my grandfather (who is deceased) as a Lutheran, it wouldn’t bother me in the least. If they don’t believe in what we teach, then I just don’t get why it matters what we do when they don’t believe it has any effect. On the other hand, if we have this agreement with these Jewish groups, then we need to keep our agreement. I don’t mean to downplay anyone’s concerns. The brouhaha is on both sides.

I think one of the problems that we have is trying to help non-members understand why we do these baptisms for the dead. Terryl Givens, professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond (and one of my favourite writers/authors) posted an article on the First Things web site called The Heavenly Logic of Proxy Baptism

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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...

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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.

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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

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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?

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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.

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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.

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