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Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

Month: November 2008

The Importance of Temple Work

November 30, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 3 Comments
The sealing power has been compared to links in a chain which bind families together eternally.

The sealing power is compared to links in a chain which bind families together eternally all the way back to our father Adam.

Last week I was asked by our bishop to present a 10-15 minute portion of a lesson today on the importance of temple work in our combined priesthood/relief society meeting.

Our stake is preparing for a “temple month” theme for January, and our meeting today was meant to inspire us to be thinking about family history, genealogy and temple work and to do more of it.  Our bishop wanted me to present some general information about the reason for the temple and why the work performed there is of such supernal import. After my part of the lesson, two sisters were to give instruction on family history work, FamilySearch, indexing, and preparing and submitting names to the temple.

Since I only had about 10 minutes, I considered carefully what I wanted to present to introduce this topic.  Below are the notes from my portion of the lesson:  [Read more…]

Posted in: General Authorities, Temples Today Tagged: altar, ancestors, boyd k. packer, brigham young, bruce r. mcconkie, creation, elijah, eternal, exaltation, family, family history, genealogy, general conference, gordon b. hinckley, joseph smith, ordinance work, ordinances, organization, priesthood, seal, sealing

Living the Law of Consecration – Part 2: The Law & The United Order

November 29, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 14 Comments

(Continued from Part 1)

One of the common misconceptions concerning the law of consecration is that it is often conflated with the United Order.  When we think that these two are one and the same thing we run into difficulties understanding them.  When we don’t properly understand the law, we can’t live it.  When we don’t properly understand the United Order, we can’t learn from it.  The law of consecration is not the United Order.  The United Order was an economic and administrative method of living the law of consecration, but even as such is commonly misunderstood and blended with the law of consecration.  President Benson explained:  [Read more…]

Posted in: Church History, Scholarship, Temples Today Tagged: celestial, church, consecration, covenant, ezra taft benson, hugh nibley, love, money, neal a. maxwell, obedience, principles, riches, sacrifice, steward

Salt Lake Temple Symbols

November 27, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 4 Comments
Symbols on the Salt Lake Temple

Symbols on the Salt Lake Temple

There is an article this morning in the Mormon Times about the symbolism in the architecture of the Salt Lake Temple.  It is written by Lynn Arave who used as a reference Dean R. Zimmerman’s article in the New Era entitled “The Salt Lake Temple” from June 1978.

The article cites a brief description and explanation of several of the symbols found on the temple, and includes some interesting details that I did not know before, including this:

Not all the symbolism originally planned for the Salt Lake Temple became a reality, either. For example, an early sketch of the temple by Angell found hanging today in Brigham Young’s guest room at Cove Fort shows that two Angel Moroni statues, one each on the east and west ends, were initially envisioned. Only an eastern statue was ever used for reasons unclear….

For perhaps its first few decades, the Salt Lake Temple used to have statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, one each in niches at the top of the two eastern stairways. These bronze statues were later removed and placed elsewhere on the temple block, according to Elder Talmage in “The House of the Lord.” The empty spaces for these two statues remain and are popular photography spots for wedding parties today. ((Lynn Arave, “Symbolism can be seen in architecture of S.L. Temple,” Mormon Times, November 27, 2008.))

For a more extensive treatment of the symbols of the Salt Lake Temple see Matthew Brown and Paul Smith’s excellent book Symbols in Stone.

Posted in: Artifacts, Church History, Temples Today Tagged: architecture, book, brigham young, matthew brown, moroni, salt lake temple, symbols

Hypaethral – A Roofless Temple

November 26, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 11 Comments
Hypaethral Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey. (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/architecture1.html)

Hypaethral Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey. (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/architecture1.html)

I came across a new word today in my inbox – hypaethral (\hye-PEETH-rul\).  Webster defines this adjective as:

1  : having a roofless central space
2  : open to the sky ((“hypaethral.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 26 November 2008
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypaethral>))

What caught my interest was that this word is applied mostly to ancient temples.  The example sentence that was given was:

During our tour of Egypt, we visited the hypaethral temple of Philae, which was dismantled and relocated after the construction of a dam caused its original site to be submersed.  ((Email – “hypaethral: M-W’s Word of the Day,” November 26, 2008.))

Webster’s given etymology of the word explains why it is often associated with temples:

Ancient Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius used the Latin word “hypaethrus” to describe temples in which the “cella” (the part of the temple housing an image of the deity) was wholly or partially uncovered. “Hypaethrus” is a word sculpted from the Greek prefix “hypo-,” meaning “under or beneath,” and the Greek word “aithēr,” meaning “air or heaven.” In the late-18th century, English classicists adopted the remodeled form “hypaethral” in their writings of ancient architecture. Another adjective that they occasionally employed is “cleithral,” which designates temples having roofed central spaces. (“Cleithral” comes from “kleithra,” the Greek word for “lattice.”) ((ibid.))

In other words, the innermost sanctuary of ancient temples (known in the Israelite tradition as the Holy of Holies) was sometimes open to the sky, hyp-aethral, or “under heaven.”  This was likely due to the temples’ often association with the cosmos.  While although the “Hypaethral Temple” at Philae may not have actually been open to the sky in its heyday, a couple examples of this scenario might be found in Stonehenge and Göbekli Tepe.

Read more in the Wikipedia article on hypaethral.  Dr. William R. Long also has a good description and study of this word, including this interesting quote from Henry David Thoreau ((Elder Perry spoke of this philosopher in the last General Conference)), who used the term figuratively:

Shall the mind be a public arena, where the affairs of the street and the gossip of the tea-table chiefly are discussed? Or shall it be a quarter of heaven itself – an hypaethral temple, consecrated to the service of the gods? ((Hentry David Thoreau, “Life without Principle.”))

Posted in: Artifacts Tagged: architecture, construction, design, etymology, greek, heaven, holy of holies, latin, open

Final SANE Symposium Videos Available

November 18, 2008 by Bryce Haymond Leave a Comment

The last of the lectures given at the SANE Symposium have been made available online.  They are all listed at this link:

http://templestudy.com/2008/11/11/videos-of-sane-symposium-lectures-on-temples-and-ritual-in-antiquity/

Some of the lectures are only currently available on YouTube, but will be also be made available uncut on Google Video in the coming days.

Posted in: Tidbits Tagged: lecture, online, SANE, symposium, video
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