Tag Archives: bible

The First and Oldest Temple in the World? - Göbekli Tepe

Grandpa Enoch over at Pronaos wrote a few days ago that Archaeology Magazine’s latest issue has a cover article by Sandra Scham entitled “The World’s First Temple”.  The magazine Science also did an article on the same subject back in January 2008.  There are many articles that are being published, all focused on one archeological [...]

The Fall of Adam and Eve in the Armenian Aprocrypha

The account of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Bible is relatively succinct, particularly in the vocal exchanges between the serpent, Eve, and Adam (bolded below).  What details we know of the Fall come primarily from chapter 3 of Genesis:
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which [...]

Preview: “The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple,” by John Welch

Last night at the Third Nephi conference held at BYU, Professor John W. Welch gave the keynote address.  His topic was “New Insights Into the Temple Setting of the Sermon on the Mount in Reference to the Sermon at the Temple.”  It was an excellent address, after which Paul Y. Hoskisson, the director of the [...]

Job’s Covenant: Hebrew Tav and “Behold my sign!” in Job 31

A few days ago I wrote about a post I read over at Lehi’s Library which quoted a paper by Kevin Christensen in which he referenced Margaret Barker.  The subject was the use of the Hebrew word/letter tau or tav, translated as “mark” in Ezekiel 9:4-6, and what it meant in Ezekiel’s day, and what [...]

Blowing out Birthday Candles

As most people know, it is a tradition in many parts of the world to bake up a birthday cake for a friend or family member celebrating a birthday.  Typically this cake is decorated nicely and topped with birthday candles, one for every year of the celebrant’s life.  When the time comes to eat the [...]

Service on Earth & Worship of God

The account of the garden of Eden in Genesis is a very interesting story indeed.  We learn much about the experiences of our first parents and their interactions with God.  It was a very intimate relationship, one in which God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:8).
When Adam was first [...]

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” - Part 3

(Continued from Part 2)
The ankh symbol appears frequently with several other hieroglyphics in certain formulas and invocations that immediately call our attention.  These are wedja, seneb, djed, & was.
This table summarizes the different possible explanations for these hieroglyphics that I have been able to find: 

John Gee (June 19) and Avraham Gileadi (June 26)

There are a couple good firesides/lectures coming up, for those of you who are in the Salt Lake/Provo area.
First off, there will be a lecture given by John Gee this Thursday, June 19th, at 7:00pm at the Olivewood Bookstore in Provo (3330 N. University Ave., Suite C).  He will be speaking about the message of [...]

Consecrate = “A Filled Hand” in Hebrew

One of our readers, Dr. Kathy Larsen, pointed out a scripture yesterday that intrigued me. It is Leviticus 21:10:
And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;
There [...]

God Dwelleth Not in Temples Made with Hands? - Part 2

(Continued from Part 1)
To continue our discussion on whether God may dwell in temples on earth, and whether there exists a need for further temples after Christ, we might look again to the Bible to see if God dwelled in those sacred edifices which He commanded to be built in ancient times.
The first example that [...]

God Dwelleth Not in Temples Made with Hands? - Part 1

A respectful evangelical protestant reader of TempleStudy.com has asked this question:
Paul tells us in the sermon at Mars Hill that the Lord does not “dwell in houses built by hands” (Acts 17:24-25, Stephen echoes this in ch 7 of the same book) but rather that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us; that is, [...]

King Benjamin and the Temple

The other article that impressed me from the latest Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 16/2 (2007), was Donald W. Parry’s “Service and Temple in King Benjamin’s Speech.” Why did it impress me? Because it related subjects in the Book of Mormon to the temple, something that we haven’t seen a lot of [...]

Why Don’t we Find Our Modern Temple in the Old Testament?

I used to ask myself that question, and I believe that many others probably still do. We believe that our current temple ordinances as revealed by the prophet Joseph Smith are as old as the human race, and were first revealed to Adam, the Ancient of Days. So why don’t we read more [...]

Sacrifice Continues in the Temple

One of the criticisms leveled at the LDS (Mormon) practice of temple worship is the seemingly dissimilar forms of the ordinances when compared with those found practiced by ancient Israelites in the Bible. It is true that the forms of the ordinances and sacrifices are different, but their meaning and symbolism remain the same. [...]

Joseph’s Coat of Many Marks

Genesis 37 recounts the story of when Jacob gave a special coat to his son Joseph, which was said to have “many colours.” Later, Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brothers, his coat stripped from him, and returned to his father Jacob. Hugh Nibley gives us some interesting insight into this episode, [...]

Tallit Katan - The Sacred Undergarment of Judaism

Mormons wear sacred undergarments as part of our religious worship. I thought it might be good today to take a look at a well-known religious tradition, Judaism, and the very similar practice that they have, like us, of wearing certain sacred clothing. I, for one, highly respect the Jews’ practice of this in [...]

The Pope Receives a New Name

There is an established practice throughout history and in many areas of the world when someone is elevated to royal, or otherwise elevated status and position — they are given a new name. This name is often referred to as a regnal name, or a reign name, and is different than the given name [...]

“Between Heaven and Earth” Videoclips

In 2002 the Church released a documentary on LDS temples that was originally broadcast between sessions of General Conference. It is entitled “Between Heaven and Earth” and is available on VHS or DVD at Deseret Book, Church Distribution, or the BYU Bookstore. It is being shown at temple open houses and in temple [...]

The Presidential Oath of Office

Since today is Presidents Day, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at the inauguration of the President of the United States into office. It is rightly called an oath of office or presidential oath. Wikipedia defines such an oath:
An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before [...]

The Intercessory Prayer - Back to the Greek

The great intercessory prayer of John 17 is one of the great treasures in all of holy scripture. Dr. Hugh Nibley has given us a pearl of knowledge concerning a reinterpretation of John 17:11 when Christ prayed to the Father, going back to the Greek text in which this verse originally came to us:
As [...]