Temple Study – Page 36 – Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

The Virtual Design of Temples

May 20, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 9 Comments

Have you ever wondered what goes into the design of new temples? How much is planned ahead of time? To what extent do they know what the temple will look like when it is finished? What level of detail is thought about even before construction begins?

I have thought those things many times before, and I believe they have now been answered in large measure by something fascinating that Elder Bednar shared in his CES fireside address just a couple weeks ago on May 3, 2009. His talk was entitled, “Things as They Really Are,” and he spoke about how the virtualization of reality through modern technology can take particularly pernicious forms that can have damaging eternal spiritual effects. It is an excellent talk, and one that every member of the Church should read and study carefully.

He also spoke of the good that can come through these technologies. One of the positive influences of our modern advances in virtual reality was shown in architecture, engineering, and design planning. Elder Bednar showed two sets of images of how computer graphics technology is used in the design of temples, and they are incredible:

Left: Computer rendering of sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. Right: Photo of sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. (click for a larger view)

Left: Computer rendering of sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. Right: Photo of actual sealing room in the Newport Beach California Temple. (click for a larger view)

As you can see, an extremely detailed plan of the Newport Beach California Temple was conceived before construction even started, even down to the fabrics, textures, colors, lights, windows, and furniture. Here is another:

Left: Computer rendering of lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. Right: Photo of lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. (click for a larger view)

Left: Computer rendering of lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. Right: Photo of actual lobby in the Copenhagen Denmark Temple. (click for a larger view)

Again, the attention to detail is astounding in the lobby rendering of the Copenhagen Denmark Temple before it was constructed. Needless to say, the Church knows a great deal about what a temple will look like before the dirt is stirred. Coming from a computer graphics background, I am greatly impressed.

The Church spares no expense in doing things right, particularly where the Lord’s temples are concerned. As in ancient times, the House of the Lord is only built with the finest of materials, craft, and skill available, and the most painstaking efforts are made beforehand to ensure that the Lord’s most holy house ends up being what it should be—the most sacred place on earth.

The Creation, God Introducing Adam and Eve – An Illustration by Jean Fouquet

April 18, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 20 Comments

Ms Fr 247 f.3 The Creation, God Introducing Adam and Eve, from 'Antiquites Judaiques', c.1470-76, Jean Fouquet, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France

Every once and a while I’ll come upon an antiquarian painting, print, fresco, sculpture or other art piece that peaks my interest. This is one of them.

This is an illustration by Jean Fouquet from a french translation manuscript of Josephus‘ Jewish Antiquities. It is entitled, “The Creation, God Introducing Adam and Eve,” and dates to 1470-76 C.E. Currently it is maintained at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France.

There are several things that are interesting about this illustration:

God is portrayed in the center, joining the right hands of Adam and Eve in a sacred handclasp, likely the dextrarum iunctio, a symbol of the eternal marriage of the two.
Angels on both sides of the group seem to clothe Adam and Eve in the sacred garments worn by God.
The Garden of Eden is symbolized as a walled city/fortress, with the rivers beginning at a fountain and exiting through the walls.
Since this is also representative of the Creation, we note God and his angels at the top holding the instruments or tools of creation, including God holding a compass and one of the angels a square. (See Isa. 44:13)
Is God represented here twice, or are there 2 Gods?
God is depicted as a man, in both cases.

You can see a similar representation in a 16th century sculpture called The Garden of Eden or Love.

Anything else interesting that you see in this illustration? Does anyone know anything else about this particular work, or similar ones?

Update (4/20/09): I found a scan of the entire page from a book entitled “Jehan Foucquet, native of Tours” by Trenchard Cox (page 88). You can see the full page image here. It is interesting to note that in this book the title of the illustration is “The Marriage of Adam and Eve.”

Update (4/20/09): I found another very similar illumination from the same time period. This one is entitled “The Marriage of Adam and Eve” from “Des Proprietes De Chozes” by Jean Corbechon around 1415 C.E. You can see very similar symbolism here.

The marriage of Adam and Eve, from 'Des Proprietes De Chozes' by Jean Corbechon, c.1415.

Update (4/20/09): Here is a detail of an engraving by Jean Duvet cerca 1540-1555 which depicts the same – “The Marriage of Adam and Eve.” You can see the full engraving here.

Detail from engraving "The Marriage of Adam and Eve" by Jean Duvet, cerca 1540-1555.

TempleStudy.com Now on iPhone, iPod Touch, Android & Blackberry Devices

April 16, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 7 Comments

TempleStudy.com on the iPhone

In honor of my purchase of an iPhone a few days ago, I decided it was time to make TempleStudy.com more mobile. Now you can access and read TempleStudy.com in a much more reader-friendly way just by visiting the website in your browser on your mobile device. The website will automatically detect the type of device, and will reformat the design of the site to load much faster, and look much nicer, on the small screen.

Hopefully this will make TempleStudy a much better experience for you folks who live on-the-go. Of course, you can always fetch the RSS feed too, but that doesn’t offer as much functionality. With the website on your mobile you can browse categories, tag clouds, do searches, leave comments on posts, subscribe to posts, and more. Be sure to check out the menus on the navigation bar.

On a side note, I love now being able to stream General Conference talks to my car on the way to and from work. I truly believe these emerging technologies are helping the work of the Lord roll forth in remarkable ways.

Mosaic Tabernacle as an Aaronic Temple

April 12, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 24 Comments

The Tabernacle at Sunset - by Pat Marvenko Smith (click for larger view)

Note: I taught our Elders Quorum class today, and was assigned the topic of the Mosaic Tabernacle as a Temple. Below are the notes and illustrations I used for my lesson.

Review of prior lesson on the exodus:

Children of Israel escape Egyptian bondage (Ex. 14)
Moses leads them out
Parting of the Red Sea, Pharoah’s armies are drowned
Lord begins to organize his people
Manna rains down from heaven, sends Quail for meat (Ex. 16)
Moses strikes the rock, and water comes out
Lord covenants to Israel a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, an holy nation (Ex. 19:5-6)
10 commandments and Mount Sinai (Ex. 20)
The people start to refuse to become what the Lord had offered them – “Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Ex. 20:19). Foreshadowing…
Many instructions, laws, covenants, etc. are delivered to Moses, which he delivers to the people, who all answer with one voice, “Yes, we will be obedient (Ex. 24:3, 7)

Moses goes up Mount Sinai again to receive instructions for 40 days and nights (Ex. 24:18). Matthew Brown – “As part of his ascension experience, Moses is said to have been washed, anointed, clothed in heavenly garments, called with names of honor, enthroned, and initiated into heavenly secrets” ((Brown, Matthew B. The Gate of Heaven: Insights on the Doctrines and Symbols of the Temple. American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communication, 1999. 58)). Joseph Smith noted that Moses received the “keys of the Kingdom,” and “certain signs and words” ((ibid.)). [Read more…]

10 Reasons to Remove your Watch When You Enter the Temple

April 10, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 11 Comments

Remove your watch when you enter a house of the Lord. -Elder Richard G. Scott

This last weekend in General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott gave an incredibly good talk about the temple and the importance of temple attendance. I will break down more of this talk in a future post to glean more from the great insight he gave us.

One of his “interesting suggestions” for gaining more benefit from temple attendance was this — “Remove your watch when you enter a house of the Lord.” I immediately took notice of this counsel, as you might have also. I have not heard the General Authorities recommend this before. I did find it “interesting” because it is something that I have already practiced since the first time I went to the temple. It didn’t feel right for me to wear that piece of apparel into the sacred space.

But how could something as trivial as wearing a watch affect what we gain from the temple? While it is unlikely we can easily know why Elder Scott counseled us so, let me offer some personal reasons why I don’t wear my watch when I enter the temple, and why it might be a good idea for you too. [Read more…]