Mormon Beliefs: Mormon Temples
Mormon temples are literally God’s home, so Mormons treat them as very sacred buildings. They are built with the greatest of care to show their love and respect for Him and ensure that only those who have proven their commitment to love and obey God can enter into them. They work very hard to protect the sacred ordinances that occur in the temple from the mockery of those who do not yet understand them. This is why Mormons explain that temple ordinances are sacred, not secret.
The purpose of temples is to allow practicing Mormons to make participate in sacred ordinances and to make sacred covenants with God. A covenant is a two-way promise between God and His children. God sets the terms of the covenant, not man, and if we honor our part of it, God will honor His. These covenants involve keeping the commandments of God as taught in the Bible and through revelation and caring for our families.
The ordinances help prepare us to live with Heavenly Father again someday. One ordinance is called the endowment, a word which means “gift.” The endowment, then, is a gift from God, because it leads us back to Him. Being with God for eternity is the greatest gift a Christian can be given. Through the endowment, Mormons learn about Jesus Christ and His role in our lives and are given instructions about the commandments. They are taught to honor their marriage vows, to raise their children well, and to serve God. It is not true, as some allege, that there is a blood oath taken in the temple. The penalties for not obeying the commandments are those any Christian faces for not keeping commandments—the loss of ability to return home to God unless he repents. However, since those admitted to the temple are those with the greatest knowledge, God expects a higher level of obedience from those who make temple covenants, and therefore, when the final judgment occurs, they will face greater condemnation for willfully disobeying commandments.
Because God’s expectations are so high for those who attend the temple, Mormons may not go into one until they have been members of the church for one year. During this time, they learn the gospel and practice living it. This ensures they understand what they are committing to when they make the covenants and that they have mastered the basics of living a Christian life. This is similar to taking an introductory course in physics before attempting to a master’s degree course. It would be unfair to toss a student into a high-level advanced class with no preparation, and God is never unfair. Prior to entering the temple, and each year thereafter, they are interviewed by priesthood leaders and asked if they remain worthy to enter.
The temple also enables Mormons to make their families eternal. God commanded us to make our families a priority in our lives and gave us the ability to love them in a very powerful way. Marriage is sacred and divorce is discouraged, so we understand that God would not force His children to divorce at death without giving them a way to make them eternal. Who can truly be happy without those they love? In Heaven we are promised we will be happier than we could ever imagine and so we will want our families with us there.
In the temple, Mormons who are worthy can marry for eternity, rather than just until someone dies. These eternal promises are contingent on obedience to the gospel commandments and on honoring their commitments to their families.Their children are then “sealed” or joined with them for eternity as well. If they become Mormon or become worthy to marry in the temple after a civil or non-temple religious wedding, they may go to the temple and have the marriage made eternal. Any children they already have are then sealed to them, one of the few times children may enter the temple. Children who are adopted may go into the temple as well to be sealed to their new parents after the adoption has been finalized.
Because Mormons know their families can be forever, they are motivated to work especially hard at their family lives. They understand that the rough times, the serious illnesses of a spouse, and the inescapable trials are minor when viewed in the eternal scheme of things. Temple marriages have a divorce rate far below the national average for this reason.
Knowing that families can last forever is a powerful comfort to Mormons when a child or spouse dies. Mormons know they will one day be with their family members again, and while they still grieve, they are comforted to know their child is still their child and will be forever. This knowledge is planted deep in the hearts of everyone. At funerals, it is common to hear people of all faiths say they are happy to know their parents are together again or that they will be with their children again someday. This is God’s gentle testimony to us that families are meant to be together forever, and not just until death.
Those who attend the temple are permitted to wear a special garment under their clothing. Although some outside the church refer to it as Mormon underwear or Magic Underwear, this is an extremely disrespectful way to refer to sacred items. Many religious people wear sacred items to help them remember their commitment to their faith and their God. Some Christians wear crosses. Jewish men sometimes wear tzitzis, which one Jewish website says, “But consider this: The Commandment of Tzitzis is unlike most other Commandments, in that it involves something that surrounds us. When we wear tzitzis around our torsos, holiness surrounds us from head to toe. Therefore, the Rabbis taught that whenever possible one should try very hard to perform this Commandment, and make or purchase a garment with four corners, so he can keep the Commandment and put tzitzis on it and wear them. For after all, the Torah ties in the Mitzvah of Tzitzis with all the Mitzvos of the Torah, and says, ‘You will have these tzitzis, and when you see them you will remember all the Commandments of Hashem and you will do them…’” (See Tzitzis: What Are Those Strings Jewish Men Wear?)
Like crosses and tzitzis, sacred garments allow Mormons to have a reminder with them at all times that they have made sacred covenants to God. Wearing them under the clothing ensures they can wear them even if they live in a country or work in a place where visible religious items are prohibited. They do not have magical powers and the protection they offer is not physical, although some like to tell of times they feel the garments offered physical protection. However, the protection is actually a spiritual protection—if we wear them and honor the commandments and covenants they represent, God will watch over us and help us to live the gospel and return home to Him.
Taking on ourselves sacred covenants, including baptism (which is not done in the temple for the living) is a commandment. The Bible tells us we must accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and be baptized in order to return to Heaven. However, many people die never having had the opportunity to do so. Many died before Jesus Christ lived, many died never having heard of Him or never having a fair opportunity to gain a testimony or to accept the covenants required. Because God is just and loving, He would never deny anyone the blessings of the atonement of Jesus Christ or eternal life without first giving Him a chance to accept or reject them.
How can a person receive the required ordinance of baptism and the other ordinances if he has died? We know these ordinances must happen on earth. The Bible demonstrates that vicarious ordinances are valid. When Jesus Christ took on our sins and died for us, this was a vicarious ordinance—He did it on our behalf. This tells us vicarious ordinances can be valid when done by someone who has the authority to do so. Only Jesus Christ could die for our sins, but many others are authorized to perform less powerful ordinances on behalf of others.
Mormons do genealogy and then perform vicarious baptisms on behalf of those who died without becoming members of the Lord’s church. This does not automatically make them Mormons, any more than Jesus’ atonement automatically guaranteed everyone would return to God. While some aspects of the atonement apply to everyone automatically, such as being able to rise from the dead and to live forever, a person must specifically accept and “activate” the full measure of the atonement to be able to return to God. In the same way, when a vicarious baptism is performed, the person who died must accept that baptism. If he does not, it is as if it has never happened. If he does, it is accepted as if he’d done it himself on earth.
Mormons are commanded to do these vicarious ordinances only for their own ancestors. The names of those who receive a vicarious ordinance are not recorded as members of the church because Mormons don’t know who accepted and who did not. They are only recorded as having been completed.
Mormon temples are not used for regular Sunday worship. Worship services are held in meetinghouses that are open to the public.
