Month: February 2008

Rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem

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The Jews anxiously await the day that they will be able to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, often referred to as the third temple, as a holy house of worship of God. There has been a Jewish institute established, The Temple Institute, in Jerusalem for the very purpose of researching the history of the temple and its eventual reestablishment on the temple mount, and making steps toward that end goal. The Jews plan to reinstitute or “restore” daily temple prayer and sacrifice, as was prophesied in the Bible, and they speak with fervor about the “restoration” of the divine service of worshiping Almighty God in His holy house. It is interesting that in ancient Israel the building of the temple was always directed very carefully by abundant revelation of God to His prophet on the earth. In a different sense, The Temple Institute today seeks understanding in ancient prophesy and tradition as found in the Torah to restore the architecture, vessels, ordinances, worship, and other characteristics that will accompany the temple of God. ((See a video of the restoration of the menorah, and the restoration of the crown of the high priest.))

The Latter-day Saints also see the reconstruction of a temple in Jerusalem as one of the signs of the times of the Second Coming of the Savior. Whether it will be built by the Church or the Jews or the Jews under the direction of the Church or will later come under the direction of the Church after the Jews are converted to Christ is unclear (Do you know of any studies clarifying this?). What is clear is that the saving ordinances of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will be performed therein at some point, under the authority of the priesthood of God, as they are performed currently in 125 temples around the world.

Joseph Smith once taught: [Read more…]

New FamilySearch to Advance Temple Work

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New FamilySearch.org websiteFor those who may not know, for the past few years the Church has been overhauling and rebuilding FamilySearch, one of the world’s premiere family history and genealogy websites, to expand its features and functionality significantly. It has been several years in the making, and is slowly being rolled out to members in selected temple districts across the world. From what I have been able to gather, the new FamilySearch will enable members to do much more family history and temple ordinance preparation work from home online. Some of the new features will include:

  • Add, correct, and manage family histories online
  • See what temple work needs to be done for ancestors
  • Prepare names for temple ordinance work at home over the internet
  • Easily see ordinance information and status of work in progress
  • Significantly reduce duplication of research and ordinance work
  • Correct personal submissions/data in real time
  • Dispute the submissions of others
  • Work collaboratively with family members and relatives
  • Find living relatives not known to exist
  • Print temple ordinance cards at home ((http://www.beyondproject.org/2006/06/12/the-new-familysearch/))

The new FamilySearch has not been rolled out to [Read more…]

Stephen Ricks On The Ancient Sacred Marital Handclasp

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Grave stele of Philoxenos with his wife, Philoumene, about 400 B.C.The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU posted a short featured article on their homepage yesterday by Dr. Stephen Ricks on the subject of the dexiosis (Greek) or dextrarum iunctio (Latin), which was a peculiar Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and Early Christian practice of joining the right hands in a solemn and ceremonial handclasp. In antiquity such a practice was often associated with marriage and fidelity. It is often seen in artifacts and art dating from these time periods.

Dr. Ricks explains what this practice of clasping the right hands meant to the Romans:

In the Roman world, the right hand was sacred to Fides, the deity of fidelity. The clasping of the right hand was a solemn gesture of mutual fidelity and loyalty at the conclusion of an agreement or contract, the taking of an oath of allegiance, or reception in the mysteries, whose initiates were referred to as syndexioi (“joined by the right hand”). ((“Dexiosis and Dextrarum Iunctio: The Sacred Handclasp in the Classical and Early Christian World,” <http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=616>.))

Why is this practice so common among the early Christians? Dr. Ricks informs us:

They did so in part because they agreed with the non-Christian Romans that “fidelity and harmony are demanded in the longest-lasting and most intimate human relationship, marriage.” But they also did so because they accepted, perhaps, the ancient Israelite view that marriage was a sacred covenant and, further, because they understood “marriage,” in the words of the Protestant scholar Philip Schaff, “as a spiritual union of two souls for time and eternity.” A sacred handclasp-the dextrarum iunctio-was a fitting symbol for the most sacred act and moment in human life. ((ibid.))

Dr. Ricks’ article is entitled “Dexiosis and Dextrarum Iunctio: The Sacred Handclasp in the Classical and Early Christian World.” Read the full study here. The PDF version contains several more illustrations of the dextrarum iunctio.

I have found additional material in conjunction with this practice that I will share in a future post.

Anglican Bishop Offers LDS-Like Perspective on Heaven

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Bishop Wright on Nightline

Bishop N.T. Wright is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. He is considered one of the world’s foremost theologians. Last night he was interviewed by Martin Bashir on ABC’s Nightline program about his new book “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church,” in which he gave his perspective on death and what heaven is like. Borrowing a Niblyism, Latter-day Saints will “hear the ringing of familiar bells” in what Bishop Wright has to say. [Read more…]

A 12th Century Baptismal Font Upon Twelve Oxen

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Liège (Belgium), St. Barhélemy (Bartholomew) - Baptismal font of Renier de Huy (first part of the XIIth century). Author: Jean-Pol Grandmont (Private collection).

Liège (Belgium), St. Barhélemy (Bartholomew) - Baptismal font of Renier de Huy (first part of the XIIth century). Author: Jean-Pol Grandmont (Private collection).

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.

It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths. ((1 Kings 7:23-26))

I came across this interesting artifact while touring through Liège, Belgium, a few years ago. Unfortunately, we were in a rush and could not see it in person, but we spoke with members of the Church there who told us about it and who gave us pamphlets of the city which included it as one of the city’s premiere landmarks.

It is a baptismal font that was fashioned by the goldsmith Renier de Huy in the first half of the 12th century and now sits in the Eglise Saint Barhélemy (Church of St. Bartholomew). Originally it was made for the Eglise Notre-Dame-aux-Fonts (Church of Our Lady of the Baptismal Font), and was the only font in Liège where the faithful could be baptized for a time. The moldings which surround the font are all centered on a baptismal theme with five different baptismal scenes, including the baptism of Christ. It is a great example of Mosan or Rheno-mosan art.

The most unique thing about the font is that it was designed upon the backs of twelve oxen, in accordance with the description of the molten sea given in the Old Testament. One commenter describes it:

The font is placed on four stones and is carried by 10 oxen (originally 12 oxen) that symbolize the twelve apostles. ((http://www.trabel.com/luik/liege-baptismalfont.htm))

I’m not sure why the commenter chose to select the twelve apostles as the symbolism, as most scholars would probably agree that they represent the twelve tribes of Israel, but it is interesting nonetheless. The members of the Church in Liège consider this landmark as an evidence of the truth of the restoration of the gospel. It shows that others did, in fact, baptize in a font upon the backs of twelve oxen, just as the Latter-day Saints do within every temple of the Church throughout the world.

Read more here – http://www.trabel.com/luik/liege-baptismalfont.htm.