Mormon Temples: Purposes and Promises

Those not of the Mormon faith (officially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) may very well feel stymied by the fact that Mormons will not share in detail what goes on inside the temple. Regarding the confidential nature of temple ordinances, Boyd K. Packer wrote the following:

“A careful reading of the scriptures reveals that the Lord did not tell all things to all people. There were some qualifications set that were prerequisite to receiving sacred information. Temple ceremonies fall within this category.

“We do not discuss the temple ordinances outside the temples. It was never intended that knowledge of these temple ceremonies would be limited to a select few who would be obliged to ensure that others never learn of them. It is quite the opposite, in fact. With great effort we urge every soul to qualify and prepare of the temple experience” (The Holy Temple, booklet adaptation [1982], 2).

By way of comparison, I’d like to share a personal experience.

As a college student I had a summer job working at a nationally run research lab. My second summer at the lab I was granted a heightened security clearance, given a new badge, and trained on complicated procedures for closing specialized locking drawers and safes. I was excited about the new distinction and advertised to all my co-workers that I was now available to “work classified,” meaning I could now work on projects requiring this higher security clearance. As it turns out, most of my days working classified that summer were spent proofreading page after dreary page of safety documentation. After a few days at my new post, a co-worker who’d worked classified many years must have read my face because he jokingly commented, “You never knew the government’s secrets were so boring.”

It is easy to fantasize and perhaps sensationalize what goes on behind secured doors. In the case of my summer job, the classified work taking place was certainly important, but it lacked the prestige, romance, or drama that I looked for as a twenty-year-old. Entering the temple for the first time was, in many ways, a similar experience. It felt wonderful to be there, but for the most part the temple wasn’t anything shockingly new or different from what I’d learned in church all my life. It was like one step up in security clearance. I had reached a point in my life when I could accept more responsibility and was eager to do so, but the religious work that took place in the temple, important though it is, felt like a familiar extension to that which I’d already done in my life to that point. And while I’ve come to appreciate the temple more and more with time, at times it still proves to be less than earth shattering when I fail to have “ears to hear” (see Matthew 13:9).

Boyd K. Packer continues:

“The ordinances and ceremonies of the temple are simple. They are beautiful. They are sacred. They are kept confidential lest they be given to those who are unprepared. Curiosity is not a preparation. Deep interest itself is not a preparation. Preparation for the ordinances includes preliminary steps: faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation, worthiness, a maturity and dignity worthy of one who comes invited as a guest into the house of the Lord.”

The temple is a place for members to further commit themselves to carrying out the work of God. It is worth every sacrifice to prepare oneself to enter. While it is true that those who take part in the temple agree not to divulge what takes place inside, those who have yet to attend may be assured, it isn’t to prevent hoards of twenty-something’s from lining up to be in on the excitement.

My husband, daughter, and I recently attended the Rexburg Idaho Temple Open House, which went on during the month of January. For those of you who may not know, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed the Mormons) builds temples for the performance of special religious rites which are not open to the public. However, whenever a temple is first completed or has been newly renovated, they will for a time host tours and invite the general public inside.

Because of restrictions on the number of people per tour, we had to obtain tickets online ahead of time. Our trip to Rexburg was last minute, so our tickets were for an 8:10 AM tour—not exactly sleeping in on your day off, but more than worth it! The last time I attended a temple open house was the Columbia River Temple in Richland, Washington, October 2001. They don’t happen very often, so I wanted to share a few of the highlights of our visit.

When we arrived we were directed by volunteers to a parking spot at a chapel adjacent to the temple property. I didn’t expect to see so many local church members braving the cold for the sake of orderly parking, but each was intent on his or her assigned task and didn’t seem to mind. We were guided to the appropriate entrance where a volunteer took our ticket and showed us into one of several video rooms set up to accommodate the various tour groups going through. Just to be clear, the “video rooms” were simply church classrooms set up with several rows of chairs all facing a sizeable television positioned at the front of the room. We were greeted by a sister missionary, who took a few moments to greet the group and explain what we could expect on the tour. We then were shown a 10 minute video about the purpose of temples.

After the video we were introduced to our temple guides, a man and his wife who were also local members volunteering their time. They guided us out of the chapel and up a walkway about 100 yards or so to the rear temple entrance. The walkway was completely enclosed by a white canvas covering, like a long tent with plastic windows and large portable heaters to keep out the cold. The middle of January hardly seemed like the ideal time to host an open house, and the effort that went into having one in the winter impressed me. The message was clear: Some things are too important too wait for nice weather.

Just before entering the temple, there was a wide tent enclosure where more volunteers waited to help us into disposable foot covers or “booties” as they are often called. Our gentleman guide explained that the booties had no religious significance, but were merely used to keep the new temple carpet clean.

The Rexburg Idaho Temple is one of the larger temples I have visited, standing five stories high. On the main floor of the temple is the front desk, where temple workers check the credentials (known as recommends) of members to make sure they have approval to enter. One of the first rooms we were able to view was a room known as the baptistry, where a large round font of water rests on 12 statues of oxen, all facing outward. The oxen, one of our guides explained, represent the 12 tribes of Israel spoken of in the Bible. The font is used for church members to perform baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors. While Christ was on the earth, he taught that baptism was prerequisite to salvation (see John 3:5.) Church members research their genealogy so they may perform baptisms in behalf of ancestors who have never been baptized.

The main floor also consisted of separate changing rooms for men and women. The rooms had rows of private stalls with lockers where patrons could change their regular street clothes for the white clothes worn in the temple—the men wearing white shirts and slacks and the women wearing white dresses. Our guides indicated that white clothing represents purity and equality in the sight of God.

One the second floor we saw one of several instructional rooms, sort of like a small movie theater but with the look of a nice chapel. The highlight was the celestial room, which is essentially a large sitting room, tastefully decorated with vases, flowers, and chandeliers, as well as couches and chairs situated around the room. The celestial room is the Mormon conception of heaven on earth, a place where one may sit quietly and feel God’s presence near.

The third floor had several of what are known as “sealing rooms.” These are rooms where couples come to be married. Together man and wife kneel at an altar and are pronounced man and wife for eternity. Couples that have not been sealed previously may come with their children and be sealed, thereby becoming an eternal family unit. There are a few rows of chairs on the each side of the sealing room where invited family members and guests may sit and observe the ceremony. The décor of these rooms is very similar to the celestial room, elegant and invoking a sense of reverence.

By this time my poor husband’s arms were about to fall, and for good reason. He’d been carrying our little girl the entire tour, including three flights of stairs. Luckily we were almost done. Our guides took us back down to the main floor of the temple, out to the tent where volunteers helped us out of our booties, and we made our way back to the church building. Our final destination was the gym, where they had tables and chairs set up and served cookies and punch. Sister missionaries wandered the room, visiting with guests and answering questions.

We passed on the idea of cookies before breakfast and collapsed into the last two available chairs, taking a moment to fill out a comment card while a sister missionary chatted enthusiastically with the people next to us about the quality of the wood and tile in the temple interior. A few moments later we gathered up our things to go, eager to get on with the rest of our weekend plans. Our feelings, however, could well be summed up by the note we left scribbled on our comment card: It was worth the trip.

The temples of God dot the land from sea to shining sea and across the globe, 136 having been or in the process of being built. Much as the synagogues of ancient Israel, these temples hold sacred and precious truths which are revealed to those worthy to receive them.

President Gordon B. Hinckley, the living prophet, seer and revelator of God, and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) said of temples:

"The work that goes on in these buildings sets forth God's eternal purposes with reference to man — God's child and creation. For the most part, temple work is concerned with the family, with each of us as members of God's eternal family and with each of us as members of earthly families. It is concerned with the sanctity and eternal nature of the marriage covenant and family relationships.

"It affirms that each man and woman born into the world is a child of God, endowed with something of His divine nature. The repetition of these basic and fundamental teachings has a salutary effect upon those who receive them, for as the doctrine is enunciated in language both beautiful and impressive, the participant comes to realize that since every man and woman is a child of Heavenly Father, then each is a member of a divine family; hence, every person is his brother or sister." (Why These Temples, Gordon B. Hinckley

My husband and I were sealed in one of these temples, the Bountiful Temple located in Bountiful, Utah in the United States of America.

Why did we choose to live our lives in such a fashion that we were worthy of entering into a temple of the Lord and be married? Simply because we knew that within the walls of that holy and sacred temple, one holding the sacred keys of the priesthood, would unite us for all time and eternity.

We are, my husband and I, as President Hinckley said, filled with a divine spark. In nurturing our testimonies, studying the gospel of Jesus Christ and learning of the eternal aspects of our natures, we loved each other so much that we wanted to be sealed through all eternity, not just for this brief moment we call mortality. And so we lived by the gospel principles, practices and precepts so that we would be worth to enter that temple.

President Hinckley continued:

"Was there ever a man who truly loved a woman, or a woman who truly loved a man, who did not pray that their relationship might continue beyond the grave? Has a child ever been buried by parents who did not long for the assurance that their loved one would again be theirs in a world to come? Can anyone believing in eternal life doubt that the God of heaven would grant His sons and daughters that most precious attribute of life, the love that finds its most meaningful expression in family relationships? No, reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death. The human heart longs for it, and the God of heaven has revealed a way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it.

"But all of this would appear to be unfair indeed if the blessings of these ordinances were available only to those who are now members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fact is that the opportunity to come into the temple and partake of its blessings is open to all who will accept the gospel and be baptized into the Church. For this reason, the Church carries forward an extensive missionary program in much of the world and will continue to expand this program as widely as possible, for it has the responsibility, under divine revelation, to teach the gospel to "every nation, kindred, tongue, and people." (Why These Temples, Gordon B. Hinckley

And so this is the purpose of the holy temples of God which have been built across the world: To unite families, to redeem our dead (perform the saving ordinances for them that they were not able to do in life) and to build upon our own testimonies and knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.