The Mormon Temple and Ordinances

LDS Church is building temples rapidly all around the world. 300 existing or planned temples worldwide. 168 currently operating, compared to 50 thirty years ago and just 19 fifty years ago. The Bible talks a lot about the temple. Are LDS temples the same? What are they all about?

How Mormons View Their Temples 

• LDS consider temples to be “The House of the Lord”
• Faithful members participate in Mormonism’s highest rites
• See their temples as the most sacred buildings on earth
• LDS President RM Nelson: “every activity, every lesson, all we do in the Church, point to the Lord and His holy house”
• Thus temple is very different from a meeting-house
• Temple is sacred → a seriously holy place
• Not spoken of
• Sacred, not secret
• Potential to be really offensive to LDS if take this lightly / mock / make fun
• Requires level of worthiness to enter
• Interview required / “temple recommend card” issued
• Temple recommend questions
• Because “holy”, general public can enter only prior to temple’s consecration

The Purpose of LDS Temples

• Training - learn how to return to heavenly Father
• Ordinances - perform necessary ordinances to return to Father
• The training takes place in context of those ordinances
• Make covenants (vows / commitments) in temple that you are held accountable to
• This is what makes LDS temple more important than any other element of Mormonism
• Absolutely necessary for the LDS plan of salvation to take place
• Without temples → no way for people to be exalted in eternity
• Reflection
• Temple creates a sort of church within a church → 2 tiers of Mormonism
• Those temple worthy, those who are not → very different experiences of Mormonism

A Look at Temple Ordinances

• The Endowment ceremony
• Seen as one of the most sacred events in a person’s life
• Normally received before serving a mission / before a temple marriage
• Also available to other members if local leaders approve
• Must be at least 18, out of high school
• Be faithful (interview) and prepare themselves
• First part: initiatory ordinances
• Includes rituals of washing & anointing
• Make certain covenants with God → to obey / sacrifice
• Taught secret signs needed to allow entrance into God’s presence
• Second part: group instruction / plan of salvation presented
• After initiatory ordinances → receive and begin to wear temple garment
• Members encouraged to return to temple often
• Do the endowment ceremony for ancestors
• Temple sealings
• Eternal marriage & family is a significant part of Mormonism
• Highest salvation / exaltation is achieved through families
• This kind marriage is only possible through a temple sealing
• Children born or adopted into such marriages are automatically sealed
• Children not “born in the covenant” can be sealed to parents later
• Proxy ordinances for the dead - including the 2 above but also baptism / confirmation
• A stated purpose of the LDS Church = “redeem the dead”
• Salvation requires baptism by someone with priesthood authority
• For the living, these are not performed in temples, but local meeting houses
• For the dead, living people must be baptized by proxy for them if they have any hope of being saved
• They have opportunity to accept or reject this in the spirit world, post-death
• Proxy ordinances must be done in temple
• Reflections
• Biblically: eternal marriage is not a real thing
• There is no marriage in the resurrection
• Matthew 22:29-30 (NLT) Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.
• Bigger picture: no ordinance is required for salvation, whether baptism, endowment, or otherwise
• Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)  God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
• Redeeming the dead is impossible
• Hebrews 9:27 (NLT) …each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment
• So no second chance after death

Temples in the Bible vs. Mormonism

• Purpose of OT Temple: a place where sinful people could draw near to a holy God
• Hence necessity of continual sacrifices made there to cover sin
• Other sacrifices made there to express relationship with God: gratitude, consecration
• How that’s different from purpose and function of LDS temples
• LDS: numerous temples worldwide
• Bible: only one temple (at most) approved
• Deuteronomy 12:5-7 (NLT) Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks. There you and your families will feast in the presence of the Lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the Lord your God has blessed you.
• One authorized place
• Also: tells us what happened in the Temple. None of these things happen in LDS temples. They’re not the same thing at all.
• LDS: temples are necessary in our age to come to God
• Bible: temple part of the old covenant; outmoded when Jesus came
• LDS: temple ordinances necessary to receive eternal life with God the Father
• Bible: genuine faith in Christ alone is the only requirement; NT expresses no concern that Christians far from Jerusalem had no access to temple, nor commands them to come to Jerusalem to use the temple.
• LDS: temples today serve the same purpose as in biblical times
• Bible: biblical temple included none of the distinctive rites of LDS temple
• LDS temples include none of the distinctive rites of biblical temple
• How NT makes physical temples obsolete → the temple is the people of Christ
• Temple destroyed as part of the passing of the Old Covenant
• NT treats temple worship as outmoded at best; under God’s judgment at worst
• The sacrifices practiced there to cover sin are no longer needed after the cross
• Hebrews 10:11-12 (NLT) Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
• John 4:21-24 - Jesus tells Samaritan woman that a time is coming when people will not worship at Mt Gerizim OR in Jerusalem temple; but “in spirit and in truth”
• The people of God are now the new temple of God. Believers together are the dwelling place of the Spirit
• Ephesians 2:20-22 (NLT) Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
• 1 Peter 2:5 (NLT) And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests.
• 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NLT)  Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.