Month: March 2008

Permablogging at Millennial Star

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I am honored to be invited as a permablogger at Millennial Star, which I’ve graciously accepted.  Of course, most of my blogging will still be here at Temple Study.  But for those Church subjects not directly related to the temple, I’ll probably blog about at M*.  That will help keep this blog focused on the subject of the temple.  I will probably still drop a note here when I post there, just to help keep continuity with my readers.

See my first post at M* introducing my highest interest, entitled “The Temple Stigma.”

A Reply to Sonnet 18

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William Shakespeare once wrote a sonnet about love, probably the best-known among the 154 he wrote – Sonnet 18. I heard a beautiful song on YouTube this morning sung by David Gilmour and put to the words of this sonnet. It inspired me to write this reply:

What would thy lines in memory provide,
When life’s dear moments in our presence shine?
Thy constant words recall a former tide,
But lasting coupled souls far more we pine.
In heaven’s home where flames eternal glaze,
A thought so pleasant swiftly warms a heart;
Yet hand in hand together we’ll be raised,
A perfect seal upon our heads support.
The pen makes her a summer sun so bright,
Still there’s one Son whose gift comes most supreme;
Atonement brings us to the Source of light,
And further binds our love in endless beam.

So don’t chance breath or eyes alone to save,
That which the Christ can keep beyond the grave.

-Bryce Haymond

The Culminating Sealing Ordinance of the Temple

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No, it isn’t being sealed to your spouse on wedding day, although that is a prerequisite (preparatory and required) to receive this highest and most sacred sealing ordinance. The priesthood sealing powers of Elijah, as restored in this last dispensation (D&C 110:13-16) and vested in the presiding high priest of the Church (D&C 132:7), are truly infinite in their application, being enabled to promise eternal life and exaltation to the faithful saints while yet in this life, as Peter explained to the ancient saints (2 Pet. 1; Eph. 1:13-14). Those saints who so receive are they who are of the church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:54, 94), and who may then receive the Second Comforter (D&C 88:3-5).

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:

After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted.

When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses. ((TPJS, 149-151.))

I would exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your calling and election sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it. ((ibid., 299.))

Dr. Andrew C. Skinner, currently Executive Director of The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU, provides more insight into these sacred principles in his recently published book, Temple Worship: [Read more…]

Joseph’s Coat of Many Marks

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Diego Velázquez, Joseph’s Bloody Coat Brought to Jacob; 1630, Oil on canvas, Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

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, and the special coat that Jacob gave Joseph. Apparently, Andrew Lloyd Webber was mistaken, as well as a number of other modern commentators: [Read more…]

The Resurrection and The Temple

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On this bright Easter morning I thought we might reflect on the glorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly how this miraculous gift and triumph over death by the Savior has a very central theme and part of our temple. I don’t think we recognize just how inseparably tied are the realities of the resurrection and the temple. We don’t often mention the two in the same sentence, yet this might be excusable given that they represent very much one and the same eternal ideals and principles.

More often than not our thoughts are drawn to and focus on the Lord’s atonement, without spending much time on the other. This is also understandable—the resurrection is an unconditional gift to all who have received bodies in mortality, whereas there are certain laws and ordinances which we must abide by in order to receive a fullness of what the atonement has to offer us. But the atonement and the resurrection are connected principles, both enabling us to return to the presence of God, for no untransfigured or unquickened mortal flesh can withstand God’s presence and live (D&C 67:11, D&C 84:19-22, D&C 76:118, Moses 1:5).
[Read more…]