Month: June 2008

Opening up Comments at TempleStudy.com

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When I first started TempleStudy.com I wanted to be absolutely sure that this blog would not turn into a place of defamation and profanation. I take my temple covenants very seriously, and did not want detractors from posting comments that would destroy the Spirit, the Gospel message, or the insightful discussions that would take place here. Consequently, initially I turned on comment moderation for all comments, so that all comments would have to be approved by me before appearing on the blog.

After having the site for several months now, and having more experience with other blogs that hold comments for moderation, I have found that it seems to be a significant deterrent from not only commenting, but perhaps even returning to the website after an initial visit. I want TempleStudy.com to be a place where we can talk about these fascinating subjects, and where people can add their own insights. I want people to want to return to the site. I want it to be a resource for people to learn more about the temple, in an appropriate and respectful setting, within the bounds the Lord has set.

Therefore, I have turned off comment moderation, so that any comments posted will appear immediately on the site. This will allow more real-time interaction with my readers, and between readers, on the site. To be sure, I will still be moderating comments, and I still hold the right of complete editorial control over what is said and how, but it will be after the fact. If there are inappropriate comments, they will be swiftly deleted. Comments may also be edited for content from time to time.

I hope this adjustment will help TempleStudy.com grow and be a place where we can learn how to appropriately discuss, study, and share the incredible insights that modern LDS scholarship has provided us on the holy temple. And there is still much yet to discover.

The 1978 Temple Revelation of the Extension of Priesthood

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Video created by the LDS Church to commemorate and celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ action in June 1978 to extend its lay priesthood to men of all races – entitled “He Inviteth Us All.”  The revelation from God came quite clear from heaven to prophets and apostles of God, gathered in the upper rooms of the Salt Lake Temple.  I imagine the revelatory experience was somewhat like Peter’s when he was commanded by God to take the gospel to the Gentiles, previous to which it had been taken only to the Jews (Acts 10:9-48).  Surely the Lord God has His own timetable (Isa. 55:8).

The Altar of Incense as an Altar of Prayer

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The high priest making an incense offering.

Some of our critics have been quick to contend that our modern temples and practices have no relationship whatever to the temples of ancient Israel. This is a quick judgment indeed. If one is willing to open their eyes that they may hear, and their ears that they may see, then many marvelous understandings of God’s purposes may be unfolded to their view (D&C 136:32; 3 Nephi 11:5; Isa. 35:5; 1 Ne. 10:19; Mosiah 2:9; D&C 6:7; D&C 11:7).  [Read more…]

Listen to The Book of Mormon (and other books or blogs) from your Phone

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Do you ever find yourself away from a computer with a lot of time on your hands?  Maybe your eyes are just tired from reading too much from the computer screen.  Jott Networks has just recently introduced a new service called Jott Feeds that allows any RSS feed to be read to you over your phone.  It’s very simple:

  1. Sign up for a free account with Jott.
  2. Walk through the simple steps of adding an RSS feed to your Jott Feeds.
  3. Call the Jott number from your phone – 1-866-JOTT-123.
  4. When it asks “Who do you want to Jott?”  Say, “Jott Feeds.”
  5. When it asks “Which feed?” say the name of the feed that you assigned in step #2 (i.e. “Book of Mormon,” or “Temple Study”).
  6. In just a few seconds you will have the feed read to you over the phone by an excellent text-to-speech engine.
  7. To advance to the next post in the feed press 3.  To go back press 1.  To select another feed press 0.

I have added a TempleStudy.com Jott Feed badge in the right-hand sidebar for easily adding a Jott Feed of this site to your Jott account.  Now wherever you are at you can listen to TempleStudy.com with just your phone.  It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good.

The excellent thing about this service is that it works with any RSS feed.  This means that you could listen to any of the following from your phone from wherever you might be:

This works best with feeds that have full content, otherwise it will just read a summary.  Also, make sure you have plenty of minutes on your phone plan if you plan on using this very much, or use it during your unlimited off-peak hours.

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

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The high priest in Israel sprinkling blood of the sin offering upon the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14-15)

(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 we might look at is Paul’s own theophany, which he experienced in the temple of Jerusalem shortly after his conversion: [Read more…]