• About
  • Contents
  • Tag Cloud

Temple Study

Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

evil

Unfreezing Our Hearts: Choosing to See the Beauty in Disney’s Frozen

February 20, 2014 by Guest Blogger 10 Comments
Anna and Elsa embrace at the end of Frozen.

Anna and Elsa embrace at the end of Frozen.

This is a guest post by Raven Haymond, my dear wife.

This life, we are taught, is all about choices. Ultimately, this existence can be framed by the choices made in three gardens. It almost reads like a fairy tale.

Once upon a time, there was a garden, blooming with all the beauty this world could hold. In this garden lived a prince and a princess who spent their days in the light of the sun, in the shade of the tree, and in the company of Gods. One day, a jealous serpent whispered into the princess’s ear, hissing truths encased in mischief. After listening to the serpent’s words, and after considering the beauty of her present life, the princess made the choice to disobey one of the rules of life in this garden and eat the fruit that would cause her and her children to know the bad with the good, the sorrow with the joy, the toil with the happiness. When her prince found out what she had done, he, too, ate that heavy fruit, for he knew that a life without her was not really a life at all. When their choice was found out, the prince and the princess were cast out of their beautiful garden, into a world of isolation and strife. However, this choice to leave perfect beauty allowed them to know the miracles of family, faith, and repentance. [Read more…]

Posted in: Tidbits Tagged: agency, art, children, choice, choose, embrace, evil, family, film, literature, movie, movies, sacrifice, watch

What is Guile?

March 24, 2010 by Bryce Haymond 3 Comments

The word guile may date back as early as the 12th century, but is not very common in our vernacular today.  At first it seemed to me this might mean “lies,” but there is more to it.  Webster defines it as “deceitful cunning : duplicity.”  This doesn’t get us very far unless we understand those words too:

  • deceitful – having a tendency or disposition to deceive, not honest, deceptive, misleading
  • cunning – dexterous or crafty in the use of special resources (as skill or knowledge) or in attaining an end, characterized by wiliness and trickery
  • duplicity – contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; especially : the belying of one’s true intentions by deceptive words or action

The word comes from the Middle English gile, from Anglo-French.  It’s related to the Old English/French wigle or wigila, which refer to sorcery or witchcraft.  It’s also related to the Old English word wil or wile, meaning a trick. [Read more…]

Posted in: Temples Today, Texts Tagged: anointing, beguile, endowment, eve, evil, evil speaking, garden of eden, guile, initiation, meridian magazine, psalms, scriptures, washing

Can You Accidentally Worship the Devil?

June 18, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 7 Comments

Now that is an odd thing to say, and sounds silly, yet it is precisely what some of our critics claim members of the Church are doing, especially in the design and function of our temples.  This is the premise of a great new blog post by James Carroll at Amateur Scriptorians called “The Language of Symbolism.”

Carroll notes the common reaction of our critics to our temple symbols.  They usually say something like:

…you are actually worshiping the Devil, you don’t know it, but you are doing it on accident, if you only knew what your own symbols meant, then you would understand that you are worshiping the Devil. I know YOU don’t think that the symbols are about the Devil, but they are, and by using them you are actually accidentally worshiping the Devil.

Well, to them the symbols might mean that, and to someone in sometime and someplace, it might have.  But symbols don’t stand alone, isolated from the environment in which they are found.  They are not static figures which can only be interpreted in one way.  They are dynamic representations.

In Carroll’s article he addresses why you cannot say that a symbol means something to someone unless you ask that person.  Symbols are flexible, and change over time, and often mean different things to different people.  It is the meaning assigned to a symbol by a people that gives it significance, otherwise it remains an empty shape.  This is something that many people don’t seem to understand about symbols.

Click the link below to read the article:

The Language of Symbolism

Update: James Carroll has written a continuation of his post that complements nicely the first – The Language of Symbolism Continued

Posted in: Artifacts, Temples Today Tagged: church, critics, design, devils, evil, representation, satan, satanic, symbolism, symbols, worship

The Temple is a Fortress of the Lord

March 28, 2009 by Bryce Haymond 4 Comments

Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone

Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone

Note: Below is an excerpt from a book entitled “The Incomparable Christ: Our Master and Model” by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone, an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, that he entitled “Holiness to the Lord.”  The book was published in 1995.  It is powerful in its vision of the future need of temples as a refuge from a wicked world.  After being released from the Seventy, Elder Featherstone served as the president of the Logan Utah Temple. (The emphasis below is my own.)

The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Satan will unleash every evil scheme, every vile perversion ever known to man in any generation. Just as this dispensation of the fulness of times brought the restoration of all that is good and holy, so also did it bring the fulness of evil. As parents, spouses, children, and members of Christ’s church, we must find safety. Unfortunately, many will struggle mightily before recognizing this bitter truth: there is no safety in this world—wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot ensure it, even membership in the Church will not guarantee it.  [Read more…]

Posted in: General Authorities, Temples Today Tagged: attendance, christ, covenant, election, ensign, evil, faithfulness, garments, protection, purpose, satan, second coming, seventy, trials, visit

Casting out Satan

June 3, 2008 by Bryce Haymond 1 Comment

Denying Satan - Carl Heinrich Bloch (1875)I was driving in my car on Saturday listening to a radio program called “The Other Side” with Steve Godfrey. Steve believes himself to be a psychic medium, someone through whom people can connect with loved ones who have passed on to the “other side.” I do not deny the possibility of communicating with those who are on the other side of the veil, as many have done just that within the Church, but the way these so-called psychics say they connect with relatives on the other side just seems a little shady to me. To me it seems like more of a show than any actual communication going on – Steve asks the person lots of questions in order to divine what the person on the “other side” might be saying. A lot of “wait a minute,” and “hold on,” and “just a second,” are thrown into the mix as Steve receives his revelations from passed loved ones. His website says his “mission in life is to help you believe that there is life after death, and love eternal,” which is a good cause, but I am very skeptical of his methods and motives.

But he said something on the program that night which resonated with me, and with LDS beliefs. [Read more…]

Posted in: Practices, Texts Tagged: casting out, cyril of jerusalem, devils, early christian, evil, excorcism, hinduism, islam, jews, lucifer, matthew brown, oath, priesthood, rituals, satan, scientology, unclean spirits
1 2 Next »

About TempleStudy.com

This blog is dedicated to the exemplary LDS (Mormon) scholar Dr. Hugh Nibley, whose landmark temple studies have strengthened the faith of many. Read more on About page. Email me. Click on the widget in the lower-right corner of the window to chat with me.

Support TempleStudy.com

Recent Comments

  • Miguel David Gedo on The Black Robes of a False Priesthood
  • ellen north on Pondering the Temple Experience Through Scripture
  • Corey on Who were the Shepherds in the Christmas Story?
  • Lori allred on Creed Haymond Story of the Word of Wisdom, in His Own Words
  • Aleta G on Homeward Bound: Interpretations of Marta Keen Thompson’s Music

Recent Posts

  • ThyMindOMan.com – Exploring the Mind’s Relationship to God
  • Videos of 2014 Temple on Mount Zion Conference Now Available for Free Viewing
  • Gratitude Precedes Zion
  • Official Church Video on Temple Garments and Robes
  • The Temple on Mount Zion 2014 Conference

Categories

  • Announcements
  • Artifacts
  • Church History
  • Favorites
  • General Authorities
  • Practices
  • Scholarship
  • Temples Today
  • Texts
  • Tidbits
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • April 2017
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • December 2011
  • October 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008

Blogroll

  • Adventures in Mormonism
  • Believe All Things
  • Free Temple Photos Blog
  • Heavenly Ascents
  • Latter-Day Commentary
  • LDS Temples Photo Blog
  • Leen Ritmeyer – Archeological Design
  • Lehi’s Library
  • Millennial Star
  • Mormanity
  • Mormon Insights
  • Mormon Mysticism
  • Pronaos
  • Sacred Symbolic
  • Strong Reasons
  • Temple Photos Blog
  • The Seer Stone
  • Things Unutterable
  • Visions of the Kingdom

Links

  • Barry Bickmore: Temple in Early Christianity
  • Bruce Porter’s Temple Articles
  • BYU Students of the Ancient Near East (SANE)
  • FAIR Wiki
  • FAIRLDS: Mormon Research
  • FARMS: Mormon Scholarship
  • Jeff Lindsay: Temples and Masonry
  • Jesus Christ
  • LDS Church News
  • LDS Church Temples
  • LDS Temple Fine Art – Robert Boyd
  • LDS Temple Photography – Aaron Barker
  • LDS Toolbar.com
  • LDS Toolbar.net
  • LDS.org
  • LDS.org Temples
  • Mormon Church Temples
  • Mormon Conferences
  • Mormon Monastery
  • Mormon Temple Ceremony
  • Mormon Temple Ceremony
  • Mormon.org
  • Temple Prints Fine Art Photography
  • Temple Studies Group
  • The Temple Institute

Copyright © 2023 Temple Study.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall