TEMPLES OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS


I hope this page is everything that you expect it to be. I truly have a love for Temples and want to pass that on to everyone who visits here. I pray that this site will inspire you to learn more. I have included a few links below that have a lot of information on specific Temples. If you wish to learn more about my beliefs, visit my FAITH page.

Nick's LDS Temples Page


Nick has done one of the best pages for and about the LDS Temples that I have seen yet!! He has listed every dedicatory prayer along with the picture of the Temple. There is also a page of links to other LDS sites.

The following series of articles appeared in the 1 May 1997 Online issue of USA TODAY. I found it to be extremely well written and emailed the staff of USA Today and asked for permission to post it on this page. Much to my surprise, permission was granted.

Copyright 1997 USA Today. Used by permission

 

Mormons provide glimpse into temple

The public is getting a rare glimpse into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church is holding a series of open houses at a new $18.5 million temple in suburban St. Louis. Officials expect more than 300,000 visitors. Once the temple is dedicated June 1, only faithful church members will be allowed inside. Mormons go to temples to be married and to conduct ceremonies such as baptisms for the dead. Temples are not places of regular Sunday worship and instruction. That takes place in local chapels.

 

Earth tones, golden ceilings grace temple

TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo.  Motorists zipping along Highway 40 near St. Louis can't miss the nation's newest Mormon temple. The large white building is poised above the highway, its 150-foot spire topped by a golden angel.

For most Americans, that's the only view they'll get of a Mormon temple. For a few weeks, though, the public is getting a rare chance to satisfy its curiosity about the temples and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are known as Mormons. An open house began last weekend and runs through May 24, a week before the temple is dedicated and closed to all but church members.

More than 300,000 visitors are expected to don white plastic shoe coverings and traipse across the thick, beige carpets. They will glimpse richly furnished rooms where Mormons perform ceremonies for the living and the dead.

"We have no intent to be secretive about what goes on in here, but we are trying to preserve what is sacred," Elder J. Richard Clarke says.

Mormon temples are unlike any church, synagogue or mosque in the world. There are no grand meeting spaces or sanctuaries. They are not even used for regular weekly worship. Instead, believers meet Sundays at local chapels for receiving the sacrament, instruction and worship.

The St. Louis temple resembles a luxury hotel. The style of the sofas and chairs is "transitional," between contemporary and classical. Domed ceilings are decorated with gold.

The earth-tone color scheme becomes lighter toward the upper floors, symbolically representing progress toward heaven. As always, the baptismal pool is on the bottom floor. The Celestial Room, representing the highest degree of glory in heaven, is on the top floor. Mormons undergo sacred ceremonies in their temples, including baptisms for the dead. Weddings, called "sealings," also are performed there. And Mormons exchange promises with God in rituals called endowment ceremonies.

Mormons, who wear white inside the temple to symbolize purity and equality, believe these ceremonies are necessary to reach the highest degree of glory in heaven.

After performing them once for themselves in the temple, they stand in many more times for deceased ancestors. Mormons believe it is up to the immortal spirits to accept or reject the ceremonies performed for them.

"These temples are symbolic centers of what it means to be Mormon," says Jan Shipps, a Methodist scholar who has studied the church.

There are 50 Mormon temples worldwide; the St. Louis temple is considered a medium-size one. Fifteen more are planned, including six in the USA, to accommodate the church's fast- growing and far-flung membership.

Most temples have a spire topped by the angel Moroni (moh-RHON-eye). Moroni was said to have appeared to church founder and prophet Joseph Smith, then a New York farm boy, in 1823 and told him where to find engraved plates that became The Book of Mormon.

Sitting in the gold and white Celestial Room, under a crystal chandelier, Elder Clarke is momentarily at a loss for words. A floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window bathes Clarke in light. Its panes are shades of gray and white except for a few clear prisms that bend the rays into colorful sparkles. It is not a window for seeing out. Mormons go to the temple to get away from the world.

In this room, Clarke says, believers try to get very close to heaven, to review promises they've made and the lives they've led. "I'm not generally an emotional man," Clarke says, "but the temple always melts me."
By Lori Sharn, USA TODAY

 

TEMPLE MARRIAGES

Spouses and families are joined for eternity in sealing rooms. Only faithful church members may attend.

1.The bride and groom kneel across from each other. The bride usually wears a traditional wedding gown.
2.Mirrors hanging on opposite walls reflect the couple infinitely, symbolizing eternity.
3.Rings are usually exchanged, although they are not required.
4.Children born before a temple marriage must also be sealed for the family to remain together forever. The children kneel around the altar with their parents.

 

ENDOWMENTS

Latter-day Saints learn their purpose in life in endowment ceremonies. They make promises or covenants with God, pledge to keep his commandements and receive his blessings in return. Typically, a young adult goes through the ceremony before becoming a missionary or getting married.

1.In the first endowment room, people watch a film which dramatizes the human journey, from premortality through the Garden of Eden and Christ's sacrifice for the sins of the world.
2.Participants move into a brighter and more beautiful endowment room, where they learn about the blessings God will give them.
3.After agreeing to the conditions of their covenants with God, they pass through a veil which symbolically separates mortal and immortal life.
4.The celestial room symbolizes the highest degree of glory in heaven wher God and Jesus Christ dwell. It is the most beautiful and sacred room in the temple. Patrons pray and meditate here only after going through endowment ceremonies, which last about 90 minutes.
Source: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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