Month: May 2008

Educating the Media (and Others) about the LDS Temple

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The television station KREX Channel 5 from Grand Junction, Colorado, aired a news piece yesterday about the “Sacred Secrets of the LDS Church.”

I think that the news anchors, save being as objective and unaffected as anchors could possibly be, did a decent job of trying to understand what the LDS temple is all about. The members interviewed, on the other hand, I think missed a tremendous opportunity to share more and clarify our beliefs and practices of the temple. Stake President Richard Landes did a substantially better job than Elder Smith in explaining some of the reasons for the temple, but it still left the anchors with misconceptions.

At one point the anchor asks Elder Smith, “What goes on in the temple?”

Our missionary unfortunately replied, “I don’t know how to explain that. . . . I’m going to pass on that one.” [Read more…]

Baptism for the Dead: An Erroneous Practice? – Part 3

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Marcion of Sinope(Continued from Part 2)

Another early Christian evidence for the practice of baptism for the dead is from texts that reference the practice among a group known as the Marcionites. This group was a separate Christian body from the Church of Rome, who followed the teachings of Marcion (ca. 110-160) as their spiritual leader (sometimes referenced as Marcion of Sinope). The writings of Marcion are lost, so the information we have about him and his followers comes largely from the writings of others. Marcion was a Christian theologian, a ship owner, may have been the son of the bishop in Sinope, and was consecrated a bishop himself. He gathered a large following but was excommunicated from the Church of Rome in 144 as a heretic, apparently because his beliefs about the gospel clashed with the bishops of Rome. His following was strong, however, and continued to expand even after Marcion’s death for quite some time. Marcionism was a major rival to the Catholic Church.

So why do we use an example of a practice among a “heretical” group of Christians? Dr. John A. Tvedtnes has taught, [Read more…]

Non-Temple-Goers as Swine and Dogs?

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Fifteenth century woodcut from Rouen Cathedral

I posted my thoughts a couple days ago as “Approaching the Temple” on the Mormon Apologetics & Discussion Board (MADB), which concerned what is appropriate to discuss and talk about with temple subjects, and what is not, and how we might find that voice. A reader responded:

You said, “The temple ceremonies and ordinances are sacred and secret. There is a level of secrecy connected with anything that is sacred … Christ once taught, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you (Matt. 7:6)”.

Why would temple-going Latter-day Saints view non-temple-going Latter-day Saints as swine and dogs?

This is how I responded: [Read more…]

New LDS Temple Videos Page

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There is a very well done 44-minute professional video about LDS temples, and why the LDS Church builds temples, entitled “Between Heaven and Earth.”  Above is a preview of this video.  It is an excellent overview and introduction of the Mormon temples.

Also, yesterday lds9999 posted on LDS.net an awesome collection of 125 videos that he has been putting together of all the temples around the world. The amount of work he must have put into this project is staggering to think about.

I have made a new permanent page, Videos, to begin collecting all of these great videos in one place. I have placed a link to this Videos page on the top navigation bar. On this new page I will continue to gather links to all temple videos as I come across them.

Mike Batie has also contributed fantastic videos of temples (including interiors) on YouTube, and I have included those also. In particular, I have added his video of the Nuku’alofa Tonga temple, and another video of Various temples, that I haven’t featured here before.

Thanks to all who are sharing their testimonies of the gospel and of the temple online in so many different ways.