Mormon Temples: Purposes and Promises

On my 22nd Birthday I went through the Mount Timpanogos Temple to receive my Endowments in preparation for serving a Full-time mission for the Church. That morning before we left the house my mother gave me one of the best birthday presents I have ever received. She gave me a journal. However this wasn't just any journal my mother explained. This was to be my temple journal.

For the next few weeks before leaving on my mission, I tried to go to the temple as often as I could. And every time I went to the temple, I would record in my journal, which temple I went to, what ordinance I did, who I went with, and whom I did work for. Along with these records I wrote any impressions, and feelings I had that went along with each visit.

I loved going to the temple. Each time I went I felt surrounded in Love, filled with the Spirit, and strengthened in my desire to live righteously. Later while on my mission, I missed being able to go to the temple, due to there being no temples within the boundaries of my mission. However, though I could not attend the temple, I brought a bit of the temple with me in the form of my temple journal.

I cannot tell you how often I would open that sacred journal and reread those entries I had made. I can tell you that each time I did so I felt an echo of that Love, Spirit, and Strength I had felt while in the House of the Lord. Each time I read the names of my dear ancestors, whom I had served by doing their work, it was as if they were right there with me, helping me to accomplish the work I was called to do.

I felt the spirit of Elijah working in me, and I know that it is in fulfillment of the prophesy found in the book of Malachi, in the Old Testament which says,

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Malachi 4:5-6

Now I have been home from my mission for almost two years. I still carry that temple journal with me, and make entries in it often. Each time I do, I am reminded of the fact that as the Prophet Brigham Young put it,

"Our fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without them. They have done their work and now sleep. We are now called upon to do ours; which is to be the greatest work man ever performed on the earth. Millions of our fellow creatures who have lived upon the earth and died without a knowledge of the Gospel must be officiated for in order that they may inherit eternal life (that is, all that would have received the Gospel). And we are called upon to enter into this work." Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, Temple Service

Just what does it mean to be "saviors on Mount Zion?" Thankfully, we have modern-day prophets and apostles to shed a little light on the subject.

Elder John A. Widtsoe highlights an agreement we made concerning the eternal welfare of all of the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father:

“In our preexistent state, in the day of the great council, we made a[n] … agreement with the Almighty. The Lord proposed a plan. … We accepted it. Since the plan is intended for all men, we became parties to the salvation of every person under that plan. We agreed, right then and there, to be not only saviors for ourselves but … saviors for the whole human family. We went into a partnership with the Lord. The working out of the plan became then not merely the Father’s work, and the Savior’s work, but also our work. The least of us, the humblest, is in partnership with the Almighty in achieving the purpose of the eternal plan of salvation.”

“That places us in a very responsible attitude towards the human race. By that doctrine, with the Lord at the head, we become saviors on Mount Zion, all committed to the great plan of offering salvation to the untold numbers of spirits. To do this is the Lord’s self-imposed duty, this great labor his highest glory. Likewise, it is man’s duty, self-imposed, his pleasure and joy, his labor, and ultimately his glory.” (“The Worth of Souls,” The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Oct. 1934, p. 189.)

We become saviors unto ourselves by living our lives in such a way that we are worthy, when the time comes, to enter a temple of the Lord and make further covenants with Him. In so doing, we are then able to perform proxy work for our ancestors. It is through that process, known as redeeming our dead, we become saviors on Mount Zion so that they are able to make covenants with the Lord on the other side of the veil between heaven and earth as we perform the ordinances on this side.

Many have wondered why Mormons are so enthusiastic about our family history and genealogy as a whole. We believe it is necessary to have one solid unbroken chain from Adam down to every last person on earth. This is a long, involved, indeed very painstaking, process. I myself, have two of my family lines back to Adam . . . I can't begin to tell you how blessed I felt when I hit royal lines, because those people kept a record of every birth, marriage and death, thank goodness.

Because we understand that Jesus Christ would not penalize those who lived on the earth when His gospel was not in full force, it is a labor of great and lasting love for those who lived before us. Thus a way has been provided for all to return to the Father, and it is through the willingness of Mormons to attend the temples regularly to serve their ancestors by performing those ordinances on their behalf.

One of the greatest privileges of my life is the ability to be able to perform this work for my ancestors within the walls of the holy temples of the Lord. Every time one more name is checked off my list a small thrill goes through me. Because I have a deep and abiding testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I could not live with myself if I did not remain worthy and diligent in performing this labor of love for those lived so long ago.

I would like to close with the words of Elder Widtsoe:

“I believe that 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 … [do] the temple work for himself and for his dead, he will confer a mighty blessing upon those who have gone before, and … 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.” (“Temple Worship,” The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Apr. 1921, pp. 63–64.)

One of the greatest blessings God has given us is the ability to serve our ancestors in this sacred and holy work. How could anyone walk away from that?