Very sensitive cameras capture light emitted from the body. Kyoto University, Tohoku Institute of Technology / Livescience.com

That’s right.  Our bodies actually emit a minuscule amount of real light.  This is not just radiation or infrared body heat, but actual photons are released from the surface of the skin:

Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.

New research indicates that the amount of light varies throughout the day: 

The researchers found the body glow rose and fell over the day, with its lowest point at 10 a.m. and its peak at 4 p.m., dropping gradually after that. These findings suggest there is light emission linked to our body clocks, most likely due to how our metabolic rhythms fluctuate over the course of the day.

The face glows more than the rest of the body, but research is showing that this light may be indicative of the condition of the whole body:

“If you can see the glimmer from the body’s surface, you could see the whole body condition,” said researcher Masaki Kobayashi, a biomedical photonics specialist at the Tohoku Institute of Technology in Sendai, Japan.

And it is not just humans that exhibit this quality, but all living things emit low levels of actual light.

This research brings new meaning to many scriptures which deal with light, particularly section 88 of the Doctrine & Covenants:

11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;
12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space--
13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. (D&C 88:11-13)

49 The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him.
50 Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound. (D&C 88:49-50)

58 And thus they all received the light of the countenance of their lord, every man in his hour, and in his time, and in his season-- (D&C 88:58)

67 And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. (D&C 88:67)

It would be very interesting to see further research that tests if the light that is emitted varies not only by metabolic rhythms, but according to the character and lifestyle of each person.  Furthermore, is it possible that we can detect this light from each other, even if not with our eyes?  Hugh Nibley once wrote of the discernment abilities of Brigham Young:

A big black leather chair stood in Brigham Young’s office by the Lion House; it faced the window on the opposite wall and the President’s desk in the middle of the room. First-time visitors to the office were invited to sit on that chair, facing the strong light of day and the calm blue eyes of Brother Brigham, who sat there at his desk, his back to the window, quietly waiting for his guest to say something. After all, the man had come to see him, and it was only right to let him state his business. President Young, according to Grandfather [Charles W. Nibley], would never say a word for the first three minutes. And at the end of those first three minutes he always knew exactly the sort of man he was dealing with, and the nature--greedy, benign, or sinister--of his business. “And he never (here Grandpa smote the arm of his chair) had to change his mind!”--his psychoanalytical techniques, black leather couch and all, were deadly accurate. Brigham Young used to say that no man, if allowed to speak, could possibly avoid revealing his true character.

Human Bodies Emit Visible Light

San Salvador El Salvador Temple. © 2008, Intellectual Reserve. All rights reserved. (click for larger view)

The announcement of the building of the San Salvador, El Salvador, temple was particularly moving for me since that is where I served my mission (‘00-’02).  The closest temple for members in the country when I served there was the Guatemala City Guatemala Temple.  Making the trip to Guatemala typically took members years of saving, a week long trip in a bus, and usually only happened once in a lifetime.  This temple will be a great blessing for them.

LDSChurchTemples.com reports that the temple groundbreaking ceremony took place just a few days ago on September 20, 2008.  Elder Don R. Clarke from the Quorum of the Seventy, and president of the Central America area, presided at the meeting.  Photos of the ceremony can be seen here.  The temple will be dedicated in 2010 or 2011.

See the approximate location of this temple.  If you know more precisely where it will be going, please let me know.

San Salvador El Salvador Temple Groundbreaking

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994)

In recent weeks I have encountered what I consider to be one of the most damaging forms of criticism of the Church.  You might think that it is from all the anti-Mormon literature or propaganda.  Or perhaps it is those who are so vocal as to picket the curbs at our General Conferences with signs, profanity, and filth.  You might think it is those who have become disaffected, have left the Church, and are now eager to tear it down or “expose” it for what they see as serious problems.  You might think it is the work of scholars who have been excommunicated, and now find intellectual haven in promoting arguments against the learned.  You might even think that it is those tribulations that come from the adversary himself.  But this is not the case.

There is a much more gross and pernicious form of criticism of the restored gospel and of the Lord’s restored Church.  It is that criticism which comes from within the Church.

I know that this runs in the same current as several of my latest posts, but I strongly believe that “it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor” (D&C 88:81).  And it also has a direct relationship to the covenants we make to God in the temple. 

Our beloved Prophet and President Ezra Taft Benson once strongly warned:

Sometimes we hear someone refer to a division in the Church. In reality, the Church is not divided. It simply means that there are some who, for the time being at least, are members of the Church but not in harmony with it. These people have a temporary membership and influence in the Church; but unless they repent, they will be missing when the final membership records are recorded.

It is well that our people understand this principle, so they will not be misled by those apostates within the Church who have not yet repented or been cut off. But there is a cleansing coming. The Lord says that his vengeance shall be poured out “upon the inhabitants of the earth. . . . And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me. . . .” (D&C 112:24-26.). I look forward to that cleansing; its need within the Church is becoming increasingly apparent.

The Lord strengthened the faith of the early apostles by pointing out Judas as a traitor, even before this apostle had completed his iniquitous work. So also in our day the Lord has told us of the tares within the wheat that will eventually be hewn down when they are fully ripe. But until they are hewn down, they will be with us, amongst us…

Yes, within the Church today there are tares among the wheat and wolves within the flock. As President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., stated: “The ravening wolves are amongst us, from our own membership, and they, more than any others, are clothed in sheep’s clothing because they wear the habiliments of the priesthood. . . . We should be careful of them. . . .” (Conference Report, April 1949, p. 163.)

The wolves amongst our flock are more numerous and devious today than when President Clark made this statement.  [And it is even worse yet in 2008.]

President David O. McKay said that “the Church is little, if at all, injured by persecution, and calumnies from ignorant, misinformed, or malicious enemies. A greater hindrance to its progress comes from faultfinders, shirkers, commandment-breakers, and apostate cliques within its own ecclesiastical and quorum groups.” (Conference Report, October 1967, p. 9.)

Not only are there apostates within our midst, but there are also apostate doctrines that are sometimes taught in our classes and from our pulpits and that appear in our publications. And these apostate precepts of men cause our people to stumble. As the Book of Mormon, speaking of our day, states: “. . . they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men.” (2 Ne. 28:14.)

Let me give you some examples of what I see as the hallmarks of these types of apostates within the Church:

• They claim to be active, temple-attending, members of the Church
• They claim to have served faithful missions and currently have callings in their wards or stakes.
• Somehow they have become disaffected from what the prophets and apostles teach, whether it is through anti-Mormon literature, peer pressure, other apostates, being offended by someone in the Church, losing their testimony, becoming too infatuated with Babylon/world, or other ways, but they remain in the Church for social/familial/political/monetary or other reasons.
• They believe that we can’t trust that the leadership of the Church are the Lord’s anointed servants.
• They believe that we can’t trust what the leadership teaches is truth.
• They believe that we shouldn’t believe that the Church is the “one true Church.”
• They believe that we can’t trust that what the prophets and apostles teach us is the mind and will of the Lord for our day.
• They don’t believe in continual revelation through the authorities of the Church.
• They believe that the prophet and apostles have taught and continue to perpetuate false precepts and doctrines, and they focus all there efforts and attention on these controversial subjects.
• They believe that the Church is engaged in intentionally covering-up or hiding its history from its members.
• They believe it is more important to question, doubt, be skeptical, have suspicion, uncertainty, mistrust, waver, fear, and hesitate about the teachings of the Church and its authorities rather than have faith, seek answers, believe, trust in the Lord, have confidence, seek increased learning by study and faith, pray for confirmation, look to ecclesiastical leaders and the authorities of the Church for answers, trust that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is guiding this work by and through his chosen and anointed servants, and that they will never lead the Church astray.
• If they think that the prophets and apostles are teaching incorrect or false principles, they believe they have a moral obligation to teach and tell others within the Church about it, and thereby lead them into the same mode of belief in opposition to Church leadership.

Now, they are expertly subtle about the way they go about much of this.  Their use of words is impeccable, and they sound as if they are full supporters and sustainers of the Church and its leadership.  But you’ll notice that many of the above points are precisely the same arguments as our most vocal critics on the outside of the Church.  The only difference is the first three points.  These are still members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and in many cases they hold high callings and serve in positions of leadership, professorship, or influence among our brethren and sisters.  This is what makes their criticism ever more powerful, deceitful, and destructive among members of the Church.  They are wolves in sheep’s clothing (the priesthood), who are much more easy to believe than those who voice their opinions outside the Church.  Their seduction is unsurpassed in its nefariousness and effectiveness.  Members accept them as their brethren or sisters, trust they are teaching correct principles, fall into the trap of believing their false ideologies, are pacified by their worldview and with their relaxed take on the restored gospel, and are lulled away into the carnal security of believing in their own selves and not on Christ and His restored Church, and thus they are in a most deadly way cheated by the adversary, and if they do not come to a realization of the truth and the deception they have fallen into and repent, they will be led by the adversary down to hell (2 Nephi 28:21).  It is the tares among the wheat within the Church that have done and will continue to do the Church the most harm, particularly as Babylon spirals uncontrollably downward in wickedness, lies, and corruption which has been foretold will precede the Second Coming of the Savior.

This is none other than pure apostasy which the prophets and apostles have warned us about time and time again since the beginning.  Those are precisely the things that we have been told are the hallmarks of apostasy.  If we believe in these philosophies of man which are mingled with Church concepts, and associate ourselves with such persons and corruption, we have built our house on a sandy foundation, and when the horrendous storms come, we will most certainly fall:

24 ¶ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matt. 7:24-29; see also 3 Ne. 11:39-40, 3 Ne. 14:24-27, and 3 Ne. 18:13)

Such apostasy took place among the membership of the early Christian church too.  The Apostle Paul warned the Romans:

16 Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.
17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. (Rom. 16:17-19)

Paul also warned Timothy:

3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;
7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; (1 Tim. 1:3-4; see especially D&C 52:9, 36)

It is precisely these kinds of divisions, false doctrines, and a break between those who were teaching and those who were the authorities of the Church that caused the early church to fall into the Great Apostasy.  The Lord even warned Joshua in the Old Testament:

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. (Josh. 1:7)

What is the rock that we should built upon in our day?  Jesus Christ taught us clearly in the New Testament:

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt. 16:18)

The rock is the authority of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the revelation which He gives through that priesthood to those who profess His name.

There is a reason why Christ has established disciplinary councils within the Church.  Elder Ballard has taught why we have them:

[Their] purpose is threefold: to save the soul of the transgressor, to protect the innocent, and to safeguard the Church's purity, integrity, and good name.

By promoting the false ideologies that I have listed above, apostates within the Church are circumventing these very three purposes that God has established in His Church for members to repent of wrongdoing, increase their faith in Christ, and become perfected in Him.  It is not OK to just be a “Sunday” member of the Church.  It is not OK to be on the rolls solely for social interaction.  It is not OK to believe that the Church is only “mostly true” or only “good.”  It is not OK to disregard the counsel of the prophets and apostles and to be swayed by every wind of doctrine.  It is not OK to believe more in the philosophies of man or your own arm of flesh than in the word of God as He delivers it through his anointed servants.  It is not OK to not have a testimony of the truth of this work.  It is not OK to half-heartedly obey the commandments.  It is not OK to publicly and openly discredit the prophets and apostles that the Lord has set at the head of this Church, or to otherwise criticize the Lord’s anointed.  These are damnable offenses, contrary to the word and will of God, and are violations of the sacred covenants that we make with God in the holy temple.  When the Bridegroom comes, those who have so lived will not find a place at the wedding supper.  It would be much better for these to receive ecclesiastical guidance and, if necessary, disciplinary counsel from the Lord’s representatives to help them on their journey of progression and faith in Christ, than for them to hide in the pews behind this façade of false faith, complacency and carnal security which gets them nowhere, and which leads others down the same path of darkness.

Having said that, do not think that I am being “anti-intellectual.”  A prophet has declared that “to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God” (2 Nephi 9:29).  But, if we do not hearken to the “counsels of God,” their “wisdom is foolishness,” for they suppose they know the truth “of themselves,” and it “profiteth them not” (2 Nephi 9:28).  We’ve been criticized, inside the Church and out, that we follow the General Authorities by blind obedience.  As has been taught many times by Christ and His servants, we don’t obey because we are blind.  We obey because we can see.  Faith is the oil which lights our lamps (Heb. 11).  We have received a testimony and witness from the Holy Ghost that this Church is true.  It is the Church of Christ.  We know that it is led by prophets and apostles of God.  We know that they converse with the Lord, face-to-face.  We know the countless blessings we have received by following their counsel.  We know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, for we have tested it.  We know that this is the kingdom of God on the Earth today.  We know that by following the teachings of the living prophets that we will find safety and security in the turmoils of our day and time.  We know that there are miracles upon miracles that occur daily throughout the Church because we have the faith to participate in them and witness them.  We know that Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, is leading this Church, and none other.

Do not be deceived.  We have been warned about these times.  The Apostle Paul again cautioned the Church:

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Tim. 3)

Members of the Church should be doubly aware that the most damaging deceit that we will have in the last days will be that which comes from within the shadows of the membership of our very Church.  In the Book of Mormon we are told that “priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the Welfare of Zion… But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion…” (2 Nephi 26:29, 31).  Many of these same points of apostate criticism were also used by the anti-Christ Korihor in Alma 30, and Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah when they sought to destroy the church of God.

Trust in God.  Trust that God has called those who preside over His Church, and that He will not let them lead it astray.  Pray to Him to know with a surety of these things.  If you will do this, you will in nowise lose your reward.

27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.
30 Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?
31 Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
32 I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
33 Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above. (D&C 58:27-33)

I bear my testimony once again, that this is the one true Church of Jesus Christ on the Earth today.  I know that.  I know many who know that.  God has called those who have led the Church, from Joseph Smith to President Thomas S. Monson, and the apostles.  Christ leads it today.  Christ suffered in Gethsemane and on the cross so that we could be forgiven for all our shortcomings, weaknesses, faults, and sins.  If we come unto Him with full purpose of heart, thirsting and hungering after the word of God, He will bless us immeasurably, and we will eventually be crowned with immortality and eternal life in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.

And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall. (2 Nephi 28:28; cf. 1 Nephi 16:2)

The Grossest Form of Church Criticism

Book cover

“The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Vol. 1: 1832-1839″ is available for pre-ordering at Deseret Book.  The description reads:

“The Joseph Smith Papers project is the single most significant historical project of our generation.”  --Elder Marlin K. Jensen, LDS Church Historian

Joseph Smith is known to history as the founder and first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The publication of his papers, 200 years after his birth, will open a window on a life filled with what he called “marvelous experience.”

For one who had little schooling, Joseph Smith left an extensive legacy of letters and other written records. Now, the full collection of that documentary heritage is being made widely available.

The Joseph Smith Papers is not a “documentary history” project composed only of important documents relating to Joseph Smith. Instead, it is a comprehensive “papers” project that will publish, according to accepted scholarly and documentary editing standards, all documents created by Joseph Smith and by those whose work he directed.

The Joseph Smith Papers Project will eventually constitute approximately 30 volumes, organized into six series. This first volume is a part of the Journals Series.

Volume by volume, you can build and enhance your personal library with these crucial studies of the life, leadership, and legacy of Joseph Smith.

In the works for several decades, The Joseph Smith Papers will be the largest, most authoritative collection of original Smith documents in the world, replacing and transcending many earlier published works.

With access to texts not previously available, and certainly never in one collection, the Papers project provides new information and insights about Joseph Smith, early Mormonism, and nineteenth-century American religion.

Documents include correspondence, journal entries, revelations, translations, discourses, official histories, court cases, and business dealings--qualitatively researched and carefully annotated.

Although vast in scope, the aim of the Project is relatively simple: to make available to general readers and scholars the sources essential to the study of Joseph Smith--the religious leader, the city builder, the pioneer, the husband and father--a truly visionary man.

The ambitious Joseph Smith Papers is the inaugural publishing project of The Church Historian’s Press and sets new standards for the organization and editorial presentation of historical documents by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In recognition of the high scholarly standards being employed in all phases of this project, The Joseph Smith Papers Project has earned an endorsement by the National Archives’ National Historical Publication and Records Commission (NHPRC).

For more information on The Joseph Smith Papers Project, visit JosephSmithPapers.org.

The Joseph Smith Papers Volume 1 Available for Pre-Order!

Hugh Nibley in 2000.

If you have not been able to tell, one of my top role models and mentors is Dr. Hugh Winder Nibley, former BYU professor and highly esteemed LDS scholar.  He was and is still considered the foremost LDS scholar and apologist of this century, and perhaps of all time.  And he was a genius.  Once at a Biblical Society meeting the Jesuit scholar George MacRae, former dean of the Harvard Divinity School, heard Hugh expound lengthily on a Greek text without notes including sporadically quoting thirty lines of the original, for which MacRae covered his face and confessed – “It is obscene for a man to know that much”.  Hugh Nibley passed away in 2005 at the age of 94.

A a couple decades ago a film documentary was produced about Hugh.  Son-in-law Boyd Petersen notes:

During the early stages of FARMS, Jack Welch began to consider producing a documentary about Hugh’s life and work.  Jack felt that a good production could be done for the modest sum of about five thousand dollars.  The idea took on a life of its own, led to hundreds of hours of personal interviews with Hugh, his family, friends, associates, and consumed a budget of a quarter-million dollars.  Welch approached Hugh’s son, Alex, who had studied at the American Conservatory Theater and was working at Sundance on what would later ecome the Sundance Film Institute.  Alex liked the idea and talked it over with his supervisor at Sundance, Sterling Van Wagenen.  Soon they added a cinematographer named Brian Capener to the team.  As they began to plan the film, Alex hoped it would show the more conversational side of his father.  “I wanted to show the public part of what I saw in private,” stated Alex.

Although Alex had informed Hugh about the project, Hugh didn’t fully appreciate that the project would actually become a reality until Paul Springer wrote him giving “broad hints and well-justified jibes.”  Needless to say, Hugh was furious: “What in hell is going on?  Charles (Alex) is being maddeningly uncommunicative.  Here I was, sinking into the grateful obscurity of a somewhat benign old age, and this thing breaks loose.  I must put a stop to whatever Charles is up to.  I did not settle in and for the suffocating obscurity of Provo to attract public notice.”

But cooperate he did, and the documentary became a profound success.  I think far too many people inside the Church and out have ignored the weighty contributions of the scholarship and faithful example of Hugh Nibley.

You can watch the full documentary “Faith of an Observer” by clicking this link.

Also, Nibley’s newest book Eloquent Witness is said to have a transcript of this video.

Hugh Nibley: The Faith of an Observer

Someone recently asked me the following:

Perhaps you can explain how a person who finds the [temple experience] to be … troubling should express those feelings.

This was my reply, with additional edits: 

I think that would depend on if they are a member of the Church or not.  I also think it goes beyond how they should express the feelings, to what should they do about them.

If not a member, I'm not sure why something that we do in the sacred seclusion and confines of our temples should disturb such a person at all since they don't participate in it, and it in no way affects their way of life or beliefs. I would submit that someone like this doesn’t really know the temple even if they think they do, since they do not have first-hand experience, and so it is difficult for them to rightly discern.  The sacred things of the temple, when purloined from that holy environment, lose their godly nature and divine sanction. This is why we refrain from speaking of their details outside of that sacred space.  In a profane context, the temple doesn’t make sense.  If this truly disturbs someone, a careful inventory of how they react generally to external factors outside their control in their life might be in order.  There are a great many things that other people do in private that have no bearing whatsoever on the way I live my life.

If they are a member of the Church, then I believe further learning of the extensive history of temples and temple worship since the beginning of time is great counsel, since similar worship practices, rituals, ceremonies and liturgies have been practiced by mankind since their creation.  A reading list of books on the temple would help familiarize them with the language of symbolism, ritual, formal worship, the covenant-making process, parallels among early Christians and other ancient civilizations, religious mysticism, and the meaning behind the temple ordinances.  Professor Andrew Skinner’s latest book Temple Worship is an excellent first recourse.

Even with this understanding, a member’s first experiences in the temple may still be peculiar to them in some regard.  I think this is natural, and may be by design.  The Lord's ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8-9" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/comment/scriptures.lds.org');" href="http://scriptures.lds.org/en/isa/55/8-9#8">Isa. 55:8-9). The things of God and His temples are not even remotely aligned with the ways of the world, because they are a reflection of heaven, and are always found starkly in contrast with all mundane trivialities. This could potentially strike new temple attendees as odd or different. But such ceremonies have always stood out in distinctiveness from the rest of man’s affairs, even in one of the earliest sacred structures, Moses’ Tabernacle.  How would the rest of the world have viewed that form of Israelite worship?  The earliest Christian initiations were likewise extraordinary, and for a divine purpose. Edward Yarnold, a research lecturer at Oxford University, has written about the early Christian ordinances thus:

'The awe-inspiring rites' – the words recur several times in these pages. Without being unfaithful to the Greek, I might have called this book 'The Spine-chilling Rites of Initiation.' It takes the form of a collection of sermons, all preached about the second half of the fourth century, explaining the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and Holy Communion by which a Christian became a full member of the Church. The ceremonies took place at night some of them in the dark, after weeks of intense preparation; they were wrapped in secrecy, and the candidate knew little about them until just before, or even after, he had received them. Everything was calculated to inspire religious awe, to make these rites the occasion of a profound and life-long conversion.

Prayerful and scriptural introspection and study would be valuable to any temple-going Latter-day Saint to consider in order to gain personal testimony that the temple is the House of the Lord. Discussion with a bishop, teacher, friend, or family member about such feelings might also help. Generally, the more one knows the ways of the Lord, the more the temple fits perfectly into His model of the eternities and the more one recognizes the profound blessing it is to worship and serve in His temple.

I testify that the temple is the Lord’s House, His presence dwells there, His angels abide there, He has revealed the ordinances in our day, and such revelation is evidence of the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  The atonement of Jesus Christ is epitomized in the teachings and ritual experience of the temple, and one can grow nearer to God, our Heavenly Father, by serving and sacrificing personal will there, just as Christ did, in the House of the Lord.

Is the Temple Troubling?

Since tomorrow is Independence Day, I thought I might say a word about our Founding Fathers.  We are deeply indebted to all the noble men and women who sacrificed their lives to establish this country of the United States of America some 232 years ago, and to make this country a free land.  Through their efforts this country was set on a sure foundation of certain personal irrevocable rights and freedoms which they believed were given by God himself.  The Declaration of Independence solemnly proclaimed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

The phrase was an expansion from John Locke’s 1689 publication entitled Two Treatises of Government in which he identified these liberties as “life, liberty, and estate (or property).”  Locke further qualified this by saying that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”  Wikipedia notes that George Mason used this tripartite motto in May of 1776 in the Virginia Declaration of Rights:

That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, … namely the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Being shortly before the Second Continental Congress, this statement may have largely influenced Thomas Jefferson in his writing the Declaration.  In Mason’s draft he added, “all men are born equally free,” and hold “certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity”.  Other countries had also adopted a similar triptych such as France’s “liberté, égalité, fraternité” (liberty, equality, fraternity).

The existence of a belief in such endowments as these, bestowed by the “Creator” himself, seems to go back to the earliest history of mankind, even the Egyptians, as we have recently noted in our series on the ankh, who constantly portrayed the gods bestowing “Life! Health! Strength!” or “Life! Prosperity! Health!” as part of their religious rites of regeneration, resurrection, eternal life, and becoming one with deity.  Could Jefferson have been repeating an ancient formula?

One thing is certain, we believe that the Founding Fathers were raised by the hand of Almighty God for a divine purpose.  President Ezra Taft Benson taught:

The foundation of the United States of America is spiritual. We must never forget this vital truth. This country was founded on a belief in the sovereignty of God, and He, not man, granted man his rights. This was possible because the Founding Fathers of this nation were God-fearing men disposed to deliberately acknowledge the hand of God in the events that brought about the nation’s independence.

The Lord raised up the founders of the United States, sanctioned their work, and designated them “wise men.” His approbation of their work is recorded in section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants: “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80).

In 1877 the Founding Fathers appeared in vision to Elder Wilford Woodruff, president of the St. George Temple at the time and one of the Twelve Apostles, and desired their temple work to be done for them:

Before I left St. George, the spirits of the [Founding Fathers] gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.” These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. . . . I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon Brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others.

In the April 1898 General Conference, President Woodruff recalled this sacred experience:

Those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord. . . .

Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with General Washington, called upon me, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George, two consecutive nights, and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them.

President Benson also added his witness:

Shortly after Spencer W. Kimball became president of the Church, we met together in one of out weekly meetings. We spoke of the sacred records that are in the vaults of the various temples of the Church. As I was soon to fill a conference assignment to St. George, President Kimball asked if I would go into the vault at the temple and check the early records. In so doing, I realized the fulfillment of a dream I had had ever since learning of the visit of the Founding Fathers to this sacred place. I saw with my own eyes the records of the work that was done for the Founding Fathers of this great nation, beginning with George Washington. I was deeply moved on that occasion to realize that these great men returned to this promised land by permission of the Lord and had their ordinance work done for them. If they had not been faithful men, if they had not been God-fearing men, would they have come to the elders of Israel to seek their temple blessings? I think not. The Lord raised them up, sanctioned their work, and proclaimed them “wise men.” Moreover, a president of the Church declared them to be the “best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth,” and testified that they were “choice spirits” and “inspired of the Lord.”

That these men were God-fearing cannot be denied:

George Washington: “The success, which has hitherto attended our united efforts, we owe to the gracious interposition of Heaven, and to that interposition let us gratefully ascribe the praise of victory, and the blessings of peace.” (To the Executive of New Hampshire, November 3, 1789, Writings 30:453.)

Alexander Hamilton: “The Sacred Rights of mankind are not to be rummaged from among old parchments or musty records. They are written . . . by the Hand of Divinity itself.” (An Essay, “The Farmer Refuted,” 1775.) “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

Thomas Jefferson: “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” (Rights of British America, 1774.)

John Adams: “As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation.” (In God We Trust, p. 75.)

Benjamin Franklin: “The longer I live the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth. That God Governs in the Affairs of Men!--And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?--We have been assured, . . . in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this;--and I also believe that without his concurring Aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than Builders of Babel.” (Prayer during Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787.)

James Madison: “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.” (Federalist Papers, no. 37.)

Samuel Adams: “Revelation assures us that ‘Righteousness exalteth a Nation’--Communities are dealt with in this World by the wise and just Ruler of the Universe. He rewards or punishes them according to their general Character.” (Letter to John Scollary, 1776.)

Charles Pinckney: “When the great work was done and published, I was . . . struck with amazement. Nothing less than that superintending hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war, . . . could have brought it about so complete, upon the whole.” (P. L. Ford, ed., Essays on the Constitution, 1892, p. 412.)

President Benson adds, “It was not just incidental, nor was it mere political platitude, that the name of God was mentioned in the Declaration of Independence four times and that our inspired national motto became ‘In God We Trust.’”

This nation was founded on certain principles, chief among which was the expressed statement that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” This pronouncement recognizes God as the Creator of man and that man’s rights are an inherent gift from their Creator.

The founders further recognized that if the new nation were to survive, there must be reliance on the protection of God. The Declaration of Independence concluded with this affirmation: “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

I know that God had his hand in the establishment of this great country.  It was the foundation for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a base for the kingdom of God on earth to roll forth to the world.  May we always remember the Fount from whence we sprung, even Jesus Christ, for if we do not, we will assuredly be swept off (Ether 2:9-10, 12).

The Founding Fathers’ Temple Work

As I was researching for the posts on the ankh, I came across some information which was interesting, describing the Egyptian concept of “time” and “eternity.” These concepts almost seem repetitive and redundant to our modern way of thinking, but to the Egyptians each of these terms represented something concrete and distinct, and both were invoked in certain rituals, texts, and illustrations.  It is clear that the Egyptians considered these two ideas as unique, but they often used them together, and so it seems difficult for our present Egyptologists to distinguish or disambiguate what the Egyptians meant by them individually.  There has been plenty of speculation.

The two symbols used for the commonly translated “time” and “eternity” are neheh (nhh) and djet (dt), respectively, and looked something like this:

Jan Assmann described the difficulty of pinning down an understanding of these hieroglyphics: 

The meaning of this disjunctive concept of time and its two components cannot be translated by any pair of words in Western languages. The Egyptian terms in no way correspond to our “time” and “eternity”; this distinction deried from Greek ontology (eternity as the punctually concentrated presence of being, which unfolds in time as the process of becoming) was not only foreign to Egyptian thought, but even contrary to it. Neheh and djet both have properties of our “time,” as well as of our “eternity,” and as a practical matter, either can sometimes be translated as “time” and sometimes as “eternity.”  The terms refer to the totality (as such, sacred and in a sense transcendent and thus “eternal”) of cosmic time.  To clarify this concept of time and its religious implications or semantic range, we must heed an important distinction.  We are so accustomed to the notion of infinity that we think of “totality” as finite and bounded. The Egyptians, however, viewed “totality” as the opposite of finite and bounded. To them, the boundaries of totality were not contrasted with the unbounded, but with the “whole,” with “plenitude.”

As foreign as these concepts seem to Western and modern thought, Assmann proposes further understanding, going back to the Book of the Dead:

In chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, a compendium of Egyptian mortuary beliefs in the form of a series of questions and answers (an initiate’s examination?), the expression “all being” is explained as “neheh and djet.”  What this means is that neheh and djet designate the comprehensive and absolute horizon of totality.  They refer to the temporal totality of the cosmos, but it was in this way that the concept of “cosmos” or “being,” that is, of reality, was comprehensible to Egyptian thought and capable of articulation.  This totalization of being on the temporal level is so foreign to us that some scholars have proposed that djet and neheh mean “space” and “time.”  This is not correct, however; both are unequivocally temporal concepts, and in Egyptian thought, they represented the whole of reality.

So how are we to understand neheh and djet?

The closest we can come is a pair of concepts such as “change” and “completion/perfection” . . .

We can also illustrate the Egyptian disjunction of time with the help of the concepts “come” and “remain.” It is often said of neheh-time that it “comes”: it is time as an incessantly pulsating stream of days, months, seasons, and years. Djet-time, however, “remains,” “lasts,” and “endures.” It is the time in which we distinguish the completed, that which has been effected in the stream of neheh-time, which has matured into completion and has changed into a different form of time that will undergo no further change or motion.

The concept neheh can still best be connected with our everyday notion of time. For us, time is less something that comes than something that goes by, but in any case in motion. . . . djet signifies . . . the enduring continuation of that which, acting and changing, has been completed in time.

Modern Kemeticism offers more explanation:

The term neheh refers to the cyclical nature of time as expressed in the passage of seasons and celestial events, the time that is not linear, but goes in a spiral with the repetition of certain events: day and night, seasons, holidays, and the natural cycles of life. Neheh’s cyclical nature can be observed in the hieroglyphs that make up its symbol, all of which are characterized by curves or non-linear surfaces: the top wavy line standing for water, the two hieroglyphs at each side that are the wick of oil lamps that burn in the night, and the circle with a point in the middle, universal symbol of Ra, the sun itself. . . .

This term, djet, specifically refers to the concept of linear, or nonrepetitive time, and this can be seen symbolically in its hieroglyphs: the long, linear snake of the dj sound, the flat loaf of bread which supplies the feminine t ending, and the long island symbol being the determinative for “land.” Thus, djet is earthly time, the time of the land.

The sum of the two was always used to finish the ritual:

Djet and neheh are symmetrical concepts and are almost always used together, “eternity and everlastingness” in English, or perhaps the same as our idiomatic “forever and ever.” In ancient times, the act of ritual purification was shown with the gods pouring water jars containing the symbol ankh, or life, over the person being purified. A person was then said to be pure forever (djet) and ever (neheh), or in both manners of counting of time, both in years and in memory.((ibid.  See the second part post on the ankh for a representation of this.))

So we begin to get this conceptualization of a time which belongs to this earth, and a time that belongs to the cosmos, or celestial events, equinoxes, the movement of the sun and stars, etc.  Neheh is generational time and repeats, whereas djet is permanent and unchanging in eternity.  The model of “one eternal round” illuminates both views, eternal repetition and permanence (cf. 1 Ne. 10:19, notice also the dual usage of “times of old” and “times to come”; Mosiah 3:5; Alma 7:20; Alma 37:12; D&C 3:2; D&C 35:1; D&C 39:22; D&C 72:3; D&C 132:7, 18-19).  This also conveys the thought that the gods were capable of eternal change while still being unchanging, since both symbols were bestowed by them upon the kings and queens, the repitition of an enduring process ad infinitum.  This perception of time does not have a place in Western thinking, but hearkens back to the ancients.  Such an explanation of time seems perfectly in keeping with Abraham’s discourse on the multiplicity of time measurements in Abraham 3.  More home runs for Joseph Smith.

Of course, Hugh Nibley also adds his thought-provoking voice to the conversation:

Otto avers that, while nhh conveys the idea of “unending recurrence of the same, the concept of becoming, something like our ‘development,’” dt denotes “ineradicable endurance,” a state of being established to last forever. Thomas Allen’s translation of the Book of the Dead supports this, rendering nhh as “endless occurrence” or “endless recurrence” and dt as “changelessness.” … while A. Bakir has the idea that “… nhh connotes the concept of infinity associated with time before the world … came into being,” while “dt refers to the other infinity … the time when the temporal world comes to an end” … Gardiner has much the same idea, i.e., that dt is “eternity in the past” and nhh “eternity in the future” [see 1 Nephi 10:19] . . .  A clear distinction is made in Book of the Dead chapter 17: “Others . . . say that the things which have been made are Eternity (nhh), and the things which shall be made are Everlastingness (dt).” . . .

“The nhh-eternity thus designates the unceasing recurrence of the same, the endlessness of time.” He agrees with Thausing that nhh is divisible into years, while dt cannot be so divided. . . .

There is a general agreement that time as nhh has an end, being bound to the conditions and cycles of this world, whereas eternity as dt is something solid and final, written with the earth symbol, which denotes the ultimate in unshakable solidity.  But everyone seems to feel the rightness of both making a distinction and of closely associating the two ideas to make sure that the ordinances shall be effective both “in time,” by whichever means we choose to measure it, and “thoughout all eternity,” which is not to be measured at all.  This is the expression that closes all major ordinances . . .

Time and Eternity: An Egyptian Dualism

(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: 

Symbol	Names	Interpretations	Possible Origins
	wedja (wd3) wdja udja utcha uza	prosperity to be whole to be intact well-being dominion healthy whole endurance	??
	seneb (snb) senb	health to be well to be healthy to have ’soundness’	??
	djed (dd)	stability strength potency and duration of rule protection endurance	backbone of the god Osiris base or sacrum of a bull’s spine
	was (w3s)	power dominion control priesthood authority luck lordship rule	represents the Set-animal (god Sutekh) scepter a staff made from a dried bull’s penis that was the symbol for the goddess Wosret

There are two typical combinations of the ankh with these figures: ankh, wedja, seneb and ankh, was, djed.

Wikipedia notes:

The Ancient Egyptian phrase ankh, wedja, seneb “life, prosperity, health” is a formula often suffixed to the names of ancient Egyptian kings-(the Pharaohs). It is frequently abbreviated in Egyptian-A.U.S. or a.u.s. with just three hieroglyphs (or with their equivalent forms in Demotic and Hieratic), making it possibly one of the oldest acronyms used in written language, although strictly speaking the first word ankh is not truly abbreviated.

English translations of Egyptian often use the abbreviation “L.P.H.” for “Life, Prosperity, Health.”

That the pharaohs often included these symbols in their name is quickly evident from the popularized name Tutankhamun (Tut-ankh-amun), which means “living image of Amun.”  Amun (also spelled Amen) was the name of one of the Egyptian deities.

In other cases, the inclusion of the epithet “life! prosperity! health!” onto royal names was more thorough, as in this example:

The eternal horizon of King Zeserkere, (Life! Prosperity! Health!) son of Re, Amenhotep I, (Life! Prosperity! Health!) which is 120 cubits deep (measured) from its superstructure which is called: ‘The High Ascent’ north of the House of Amenhotep I (Life! Prosperity! Health!) of the Garden.

This combination of hieroglyphics was used by the Egyptian gods to bestow certain rights, powers, dominions, and eternal life upon the pharaohs and their queens.  Indeed, it was part of the concluding rites of the Egyptians that these words would be spoken to the king while in a “royal embrace” with the deity:

The words spoken are most commonly designated in the reliefs by three enigmatic symbols: the ankh, the was-scepter, and the djed-column . . . showing the three “‘virtues of the creative sun”: “life, power, stability.”

The word combinations have been found and translated in many variations.  Nibley gives us:

• The king . . . receives the royal embrace from Amon-Re, who says, “I give to thee all life and power.”
• In the royal embrace at the coronation and sed-festival, the beloved one “gives all ‘nh, dd, w3s, and health [every] day.”
• Ptah the creator embraces Ramses III, and says to the king, “I have received thee in an embrace of gold; I enfold thee with permanence, stability, and satisfaction; I endow thee with health and joy of heart; I immerse thee in rejoicing, joy, gladness of heart and delight forever.”
• Amon whispers into the king’s ear as he embraces him, “I give thee all ‘nh and w3s.”
• The god clasps the king and says to him, “The giving of all life, endurance, authority, health, joy (expansion of heart) to the king.”
• The Glorious One says “Life belongs to thee. . . . Thou hast strength on earth. Mayest thou be exalted in thy posterity (lit. those who come after thee).”

The normal combination is ‘nh (ankh), dd (djed), and w3s (was), and expresses “all life, all endurance, and all power”.  Nibley comments on the situation:

What is common to all the bestowal formulas is, surprisingly enough, not a spiritual endowment, as we would expect, or lofty, abstract, and mysterious phrases, but the simple declarative or optative sentence promising or endowing the initiate with the earthly gifts of physical strength and enduring vigor and posterity.  The words are not written out but are represented by the three symbols, which in this context may well have a special significance.

One particularly intriguing example of this pervasive formula is found, of all places, on the Rosetta Stone, one of the most prominent artifacts of Egyptian antiquity and was the very key to deciphering the hieroglyphics themselves.  Ironically, this passage from the Rosetta Stone is written in response to King Ptolemy V refurbishing, repairing, and restoring the temple to proper order and beauty:

As a reward for these things the gods and the goddesses have given unto him victory, and might [or power], and life [ankh], and strength [wedja], and health [seneb], and every good thing of every kind whatsoever and his great position [eternal rank or kingdom] is firmly established upon him and upon his children for ever [djet = all eternity].

The three symbols of the ankh, djed and was were so often grouped, they sometimes became one and the same symbol, the ankh-djed-was scepter carried by the gods.  Ptah is usually shown carrying this all-inclusive scepter.

Dr. Nibley sums it up nicely:

Thus taken together, the three signs that appear in combination as the words of bestowal at the ritual embrace--’nh, dd, w3s--originally stood for the navel string [ankh], the backbone of Osiris [djed], and his priestly power [was], and with the accompanying inscriptions--which invariably promise health and strength to the candidate--bring to mind the verses of Proverbs 3:1-3, 8, strongly reminiscent of the Egyptian Wisdom literature, and opening with the typically Egyptian embrace of the Two Maats. . . .

The symbols are exchanged in the concluding rite of the mysteries as a means of identification--not as between members meeting in the street, but the means by which the initiate identified himself “as someone whose life had been united to that of the god” . . .

Next we will look to see if any of these temple-related symbols appear on our facsimiles of the Book of Abraham.

(Continued in Part 4)

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

(Continued from Part 1, which has been updated)

As I mentioned in Part 1, the more interesting aspects of the Egyptian ankh are not necessarily what it means standing alone, but how the Egyptians used it in their texts and illustrations.

There are three principal ways that the Egyptians used the ankh symbol, by itself, in their drawings:

1. Probably the most common depiction of the ankh is being clutched in the hand by the gods and goddesses on the upper loop portion of the symbol.  Wikipedia notes:
   

   The ankh appears frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings and other art, often at the fingertips of a god or goddess in images that represent the deities of the afterlife conferring the gift of life on the dead person’s mummy…

   In other words, the Egyptians believed that their gods “held” eternal life in their hands, and could bestow it upon certain persons at their pleasing.  Chevalier and Gheerbrant note: 

   Gods, kinks and Isis (almost invariably) are depicted holding the ankh to show that they command the powers of life and death and that they are immortal. The dead also carry it at the time their souls are weighed  or when they are aboard the Boat of the Sun God, as a sign that they seek this same immortality from the gods. Furthermore the ankh symbolized the spring from which flowed divine virtues and the elixir of immortality. Therefore to hold the ankh was to drink from that well. It was sometimes held upside down by the loop – especially in funeral rites when it suggested the shape of a key and in reality was the key which opened the  gateway of the tomb into the Fields of Aalu, the realm of eternity. Sometimes the ankh is placed on the forehead, between the eyes, and then it symbolizes the duty of the adept to keep secret the mystery into which he has been initiated – it is the key which locks these secrets away from the uninitiated. Blessed by the supreme vision, endowed with clairvoyance to pierce the veil of the beyond, he cannot attempt to reveal the mystery without losing it for ever.

2. The act of giving the ankh to the king or pharaoh is also depicted, in two different ways.  First, it is shown in the introductory baptism or purification ritual of the king, where he receives a type of washing and anointing by the gods pouring the life-giving water over him, represented by ankh symbols.  Hugh Nibley explains:
   

   But water does more than purify--it gives life, literally, to all organisms; the water of life is a worldwide concept. “The ramifications of the subject are enormous,” Gardiner observes.  There is no mistaking the meaning of the little ankh (life) symbols which pour from the sacred vases in Egyptian baptismal scenes such as in the temple of Ramses II at Karnak, which shows the king being baptized with ankh and was (divine power) symbols as he enters the temple and which bears the inscription, “Water for his father, that life might be given to him.”

   Here is another representation of the same.

3. The second way the ankh is given to the Egyptian royalty was by the god or goddess holding the symbol to their mouth or nose.  One commenter notes:
   

   We find Anqet, Ptah,  Satet, Sobek,  Tefnut, Osiris, Ra, Isis,  Hathor,  Anibus and many other gods often holding the ankh sign, along with a scepter, and in various tomb and temple reliefs, placing it in front of the king’s face to symbolize the breath of eternal life.

   So in this sense, the god or goddess is bestowing or endowing the king, queen, or pharaoh with eternal life, or breath of life, by touching the ankh to their nose or lips.  What is interesting, as we’ve shown in part 1, is that the ankh also represents an “utterance of life” or an oath, symbolized by the binding of the knot, and as such also possibly depicts the god or initiate at the same time uttering words of eternal life, or making an oath or covenant in order to gain eternal life.

Hugh Nibley noted that the ankh symbol was also used to represent the gods or goddesses.  In describing the Egyptian House of Life he wrote:

The four houses that are the main part of the prehistoric cult-complex of Papyrus Salt 825 stand for Shu, Tefnut, Geb, and Nut--”that is to say, the four oldest gods, proceeding forth from the demiurge, who are here wind, fire, earth, and sky, the four elements of which life is comprised.” The four houses--with Osiris squarely in the middle of them, represented by the ankh-symbol--make up the House of Life, which seems to go back to an old tent or reed hut of purification.

Those that received the ankh were basically receiving the gods, and the rights, powers, and associations of the same:

There can be no doubt, Morenz insists, that the Osirianized dead receives the full status of godhood--indeed, that “to be divine (Göttlich-Sein) is the characteristic quality of the ba of the deceased.” Hence washing, anointing, censing, clothing, and nourishing are all rituals of deification, whether in the temple or the funerary services. The resurrection process is, in short, a deification process.

In the next part we will explore how the ankh was used in combination with other hieroglyphics, which gives us a glimpse of the substance of what was perhaps spoken by the god and the initiate as eternal life was bestowed.

(Continued in Part 3)

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” – Part 2