What Do You Want To See on TempleStudy.com?

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Some of you may remember the survey I posted here on TempleStudy.com back in May.  It was a huge success.  Many of you responded to my request for feedback, even those of you who don’t normally comment.  Some of you gave me great compliments, for which I am very thankful, and many also gave suggestions of improvements to the blog and topics that you’d would like to see addressed here, including many “other” requests.  I have taken those suggestions to heart and have already written on several of the topics that you submitted.  Thank you for your participation!

The feedback went so well that I would like to make it a more permanent feature of the site.  I have integrated a service called skribit that will allow just that.  This new service will facilitate interaction with all of you in multiple ways, including the following:

  • Submit Suggestions – You may submit any topic that you’d like to see addressed on TempleStudy.com – i.e., themes you’d like me to write about, ideas that you have, questions you may have, suggestions for improvement to the site, etc.  I have already added 15 suggestions that were given in the prior feedback (some of which I’ve already blogged about somewhat).
  • Vote – Once suggestions are added, you can all vote on them.  If you see a suggestion that you’d also like to see written about or changed on the site, then just click the little green arrow next to that item to add your vote.  Those items that receive the most votes will be higher on my list to write about or do on TempleStudy.com.

All of the above can be done anonymously.  You don’t need an account or a login to submit suggestions or vote on them – anyone can add suggestions or vote.  If you sign up for an account with skribit, you can also do the following:

  • Discuss – Each suggestion allows a discussion for that item.  If you’d like to add your comments to a suggestion, click on the suggestion or on the “discuss” link next to it, and then add your comments in the box provided.
  • Notification – If you submit a suggestion or question while you are logged in, then you will be notified by email when I write a post about it, or do whatever thing the suggestion is about.  This will help you easily stay on top of whatever you submit, and be made aware if I ever address it.

To access the suggestions feature, go to this link, or just click on “Suggestions” on the top navigation bar.  I only ask that you skim the already listed suggestions first before adding a suggestion, in case yours has already been added by someone else.

Let me know if you like this new feature or not in the comments below.

The Egyptian Ankh, “Life! Health! Strength!” – Part 4

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Front Wall, Right Part, Tutankhamun's Burial Chamber - god Anubis, on left, leads Tutankhamun before goddess Hathor, on right, who gives the breath of life to King Tut through the nostrils with the ankh. The symbols of life, prosperity, time and eternity are directly over Tut's head.

(Continued from Part 3)

In the last parts of our series on the Egyptian hieroglyph of the ankh, and other related symbols, I’d like to look at where these symbols are found on the extant portions of the Joseph Smith Papyri, related documents, and the facsimiles of the Book of Abraham, to see if Joseph Smith was correct in any of his interpretations, or even on the right track.  I’ve written a brief into to these documents here.

As we’ve noted before, the themes that show up in the rituals of the Egyptians have unique parallels to our modern temple practices and ordinances.  This is not to be interpreted as an adoption of pagan rites, plagiarism of ancient rituals, or a belief in Egyptian polytheism, for the Egyptians had a corrupt imitation of the true order of God, and Joseph knew it.  Indeed, such attacks leveled at Joseph might actually be counterintuitive to our critics’ position, for such would mean that Joseph understood what he was looking at in the papyri, yet such inspired translation is precisely what our critics claim he could not do.  Note that the field of Egyptology had just recently been born in the 1820s, and the reading of hieroglyphics was only barely in its infancy in Europe at the time Joseph was translating the papyri in the 1830s, ruling out any scholarly approach to reading the papyri.  The critics have yet to explain, therefore, if Joseph did not receive the temple ordinances by revelation from God, and he could not read the papyri, then how did he teach temple rites that have remarkable parallels to the Egyptians which were written on the papyri?  Could he read the papyri or couldn’t he?  Either way our critics find themselves in a quandary.

Instead of being detrimental to Joseph, such a connection between the papyri and the temple actually serves as evidence of his divine calling, and that he was inspired to translate the papyri.  As in many instances of the early experiences of the prophet, Joseph had a question about something that he experienced in his life, and inquired of the Lord about it ((See the history behind the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood and baptism)).  What followed was a restoration, through revelation, of the true and perfect ordinance or teaching of that particular thing.  The papyri quite possibly were such a springboard for the restoration of the temple endowment, as H. Donl Peterson has noted:  [Read more…]

Which is Greater – The Temple or Service to the Poor?

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Mormon Helping Hands is a priesthood-directed Church program for providing community service and disaster relief to those in need.A member of another faith asked me the following question:

In the [LDS] service that I attended, the speaker said that service to the Temple is the most important service that we can provide.  Is this opinion common across members of the LDS church?  Why is service to the Temple held in higher regard than, say, service to the poor?

This is how I replied:  [Read more…]

The Founding Fathers’ Temple Work

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The Prayer at Valley Forge - by Arnold Friberg (1976)

Since tomorrow is Independence Day, I thought I might say a word about our Founding Fathers.  We are deeply indebted to all the noble men and women who sacrificed their lives to establish this country of the United States of America some 232 years ago, and to make this country a free land.  Through their efforts this country was set on a sure foundation of certain personal irrevocable rights and freedoms which they believed were given by God himself.  The Declaration of Independence solemnly proclaimed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness))  [Read more…]

Brief Intro to the Joseph Smith Papyri and Book of Abraham

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Original papyrus of Facsimile 1 (Joseph Smith Papyrus I). Acquired by the LDS Church in 1967. (Click for a larger view)Note:  This was going to be the next part of the series on the Egyptian ankh, and its relationship with the papyri and Book of Abraham, but I thought an intro to these first would be a better place to start.

Let’s return again to the subject of the ankh, and related symbols, that we’ve briefly studied, and look to see if these symbols figure at all on the Joseph Smith Papyri.  As we’ve seen, these particular hieroglyphs have a strong connection to temple themes, being bestowed by the Egyptian gods in a manner reminiscent of the way eternal life is portrayed symbolically in the temple today.  But do these symbols appear on the papyri from which the Book of Abraham was translated, or in the facsimiles, and what does that mean?  [Read more…]