Mormon temples are primarily places of learning and instruction and likens them to the Lord’s university: “We learn about our relationship with God. We learn about the purposes of our life here upon the earth. Questions such as where did we come from? Why are we here? What happens to us after we die? Those questions are addressed and answered in the instruction that’s presented in the temple. We also make promises to live honest, upright and virtuous lives.” Elder Davide Bednar
Mormon temples are places for the highest sacraments of the faith. “Everything in the temple is focused on the Lord Jesus Christ and on our Heavenly Father and the plan of happiness which He provided for us. Everything in the temple is ennobling and uplifting and edifying. There’s a great peace in the temple.” Elder David Bednar
Frank Moore Cross, the Harvard Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages, Emeritus, and not a Latter-day Saint, says, “Someone who does not know much about temples and Mormons building temples should be directed to the Bible.” He continues, “I am both interested and delighted to see so much of ancient religious tradition, particularly biblical tradition, taken up into the religious structures and rituals of the Mormons.”
The Old and New Testaments include many references to temples. The children of Israel used a portable temple, the tabernacle of Moses, during their journey in the wilderness; later Solomon’s temple was built in Jerusalem, and Jesus Himself was found teaching in Herod’s temple at a young age.
Lawrence H. Schiffmann, undergraduate director of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, says, “Within ancient Judaism and in the biblical period, the idea of a temple is it’s a special place where God’s presence is always to be found.”
Referring to the sacred nature of temples, Elder David Bednar, an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says: “There were particular special ceremonies, rites and sacraments that were administered only in this sacred, set-apart place. That was the purpose of the temples. It provided that supernal special place to be able to perform those sacred rites.”
For More Information from the Church Regarding parts that I have taken from Church documents, see The LDS Newsroom.
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