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Sustaining and Defending the LDS Temple

salt lake temple

Revelations to Build Temples

April 4, 2013 by Bryce Haymond Leave a Comment
Building the Kirtland Temple. Walter Rane, 2003.

Building the Kirtland Temple. Walter Rane, 2003.

Professor Daniel C. Peterson wrote a column in the Deseret News today about temples.  In particular, he focuses on how temples have anciently been revealed through prophets of God, and how that pattern continues in these latter days.  Examples include:

  • Kirtland Temple as was revealed to Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams
  • Salt Lake Temple was revealed to Brigham Young
  • Smaller temples design was revealed to Gordon B. Hinckley

Peterson concludes, “Temples are a central element in the restoration of all things, and, often even in the details of their origins, they represent powerful evidence for the divine calling of Joseph Smith and his successors.”

Read the article at the Deseret News.

Posted in: Temples Today Tagged: brigham young, building, gordon b. hinckley, joseph smith, kirtland, prophet, revelation, revelations, salt lake temple

Video: Mormon Temples – A Walkthrough Tour of LDS Temples

September 27, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 4 Comments

The LDS Church Public Affairs has just published a fantastic video explaining what temples are all about to Mormons.  In it they have a conversation with Elder William R. Walker, Executive Director of the Church Temple Department.  Elder Walker gives a great walkthrough tour of LDS temples, somewhat like a video walking tour through many of the rooms and parts of modern day temples, very similar to what you might see during an open house of a new temple.  Some of the video shown of the interiors is some I’ve never seen before, including video of inside the Salt Lake Temple celestial room and baptistry.  It is gorgeous, in full 1080p Hi-Def resolution.

I’m very pleased and excited about this new video from the Church.  I’m glad that we are taking this opportunity now, with such a great spotlight on us as a people, to explain our beliefs, particularly about the temple, and have this kind of open “conversation.”  We too need to learn how to similarly converse with others about the temple.  There are so many misconceptions that abound, even still today, and it is great to see the Church use such innovative media to help explain things.  Some believe that by taking our temple practices out of context, in exposé fashion, they might do damage to us.  I have always felt that those who are honest in heart, who truly want to learn about something, will go to the source.

The video is unusually quite lengthy, at 15 minutes, which is great!  I hope that everyone that sees this video shares it, and helps pass it on to others.  I think things like this will go a long way in helping others learn what LDS beliefs truly are, and what the temple is all about.  Watch the video below.

Posted in: Temples Today Tagged: celestial room, conversation, exposé, inside, interior, media, rooms, salt lake temple, source, temples, video, watch, youtube

The Seal of Melchizedek – Part 5

July 14, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 16 Comments
The seal of Melchizedek as seen on the entrance doors of the Salt Lake Temple

The seal of Melchizedek as seen on the entrance doors of the Salt Lake Temple. (Click for larger view)

(Continued from Part 4)

It’s been a long time coming, since September 2008 to be exact, and I’d like to finally complete this series of posts on the seal of Melchizedek.  It is probably one of the most trafficked series of posts on this website.  It’s drawn a lot of attention, and may have even been part of what compelled a BYU scholar, Alonzo L. Gaskill, to publish an article about it in The Religious Educator at BYU in 2010, which article I’d like to talk about.

But first, there are a few other artifacts related to the symbol that I’d like to share.  As I pointed out in Part 2, this seal is most prominently found as displayed in the mosaics and iconography in the basilicas of Ravenna, Italy.  Indeed, this is very likely where Hugh Nibley saw this symbol originally, as perhaps did Michael Lyon, and where he may have coined the name the “seal of Melchizedek.”  The symbol is shown on the altar cloths in these mosaics, shown next to Melchizedek, Abel, and Abraham, in making sacrificial offerings to God.  The altar cloth also shows gammadia in the corners, right-angle marks like the Greek letter gamma, which is also very interesting, and worthy of a study in and of itself.

To begin, I want to note again that to date I have not found any evidence for this symbol being called the “seal of Melchizedek” by any other scholar, historian, or historical figure in recorded history before Hugh Nibley and Michael Lyon.  That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, but it is likely a conception that began with the Latter-day Saints, making a logical connection between the symbol and the Biblical figure found adjacent to it in the mosaics. [Read more…]

Posted in: Artifacts, Scholarship Tagged: alonzo gaskill, altar, andrew skinner, BYU, catholic, circle, compass, daniel c. peterson, dome of the rock, earth, egypt, egyptian, fayum, gammadia, garments, heaven, hinduism, holy of holies, hugh nibley, jerusalem, joseph smith, margaret barker, markings, marks, masonry, melchizedek, new name, offerings, origin, painting, priesthood, prophet, representation, royal, sacrifice, salt lake temple, source, square, star, symbolism, symbols, veil

Attacking Hugh Nibley’s Work

July 2, 2012 by Bryce Haymond 44 Comments
Hugh W. Nibley (1910-2005)

Hugh W. Nibley (1910-2005)

As if going after the present-day apologists in their current awful circumstances is not enough, yes, those apologists alive today that can actually still defend themselves against spurious arguments, some have now turned their attention to one of the Church’s most beloved apologists, the late Hugh W. Nibley (1910-2005).  See “Fundanibleists and Fauxpologetics,” at Faith Promoting Rumor.  It should be well noted that those bloggers are members of the Church.

Oudenos argues that the “Nibley approach to apologetics and its reception have, in part, had long term and still expanding negative effects on church members” [emphasis mine].  I completely disagree with Oudenos, and his arguments, some of which he presented but somehow failed to explain why they are “negative”.  Hugh Nibley has been profoundly influential in charting the course of LDS scholarship in the 20th and 21st centuries, taking it up to a whole new level unthought of before, and giving members bountiful evidences for the truth of the gospel, from dozens of cultures and time periods worldwide, which has helped strengthen the faith and testimony of countless people, inside and outside the Church.  Indeed, many have joined the Church after reading Nibley’s work, and then receiving a witness of the truth of the gospel.  Daniel Peterson’s own father had a conversion experience like this.

So this was my comment, with a few minor edits, addressing each of his seven points:

My comments, as founder of TempleStudy.com, a blog dedicated to the work of Hugh Nibley:

1) [Nibley’s writings] are authoritative (with a lower case “a”) if you consider what even priesthood Authorities (capital “A”) have said about him and his work. Nibley was incredibly smart, educated, and knowledgeable about an almost endless number of subjects and languages. He had a tremendous amount to say and teach, even being personally invited to teach the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve within the Salt Lake Temple. I know of no other scholars who have done that. I believe President Kimball once cleaned the dust off of his shoes, for what it’s worth [see Boyd J. Peterson, Hugh Nibley, A Consecrated Life]. All these things lead one to become authoritative in some degree; in Nibley’s case, it made him very authoritative in the subjects he addressed.

2) Nibley’s work is elevated, no doubt, but I would not say it is dense and impenetrable. I’ve poked some at it, and I have a degree in Industrial Design (i.e. nothing related to ANE studies, ancient languages, Near Eastern cultures, history, or the like). He has taught me worlds. His book Approaching Zion completely changed my life, teaching me unlike any other that this life is our time to prepare to meet God, and that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing in this life. By the way, there is more being uncovered that Nibley first discovered all the time. He opened the door to many rooms which we have now just begun to enter into. His work will be updated (see also #6).

3) Why is finding ancient parallels and sources for modern LDS temple ritual a bad thing? Just because ancient things may not always equal genuine or divine has nothing to do with it. It does mean that these things have had their counterparts in history, even before Joseph Smith. Hugh Nibley once wrote, “Latter-day Saints believe that their temple ordinances are as old as the human race and represent a primordial revealed religion that has passed through alternate phases of apostasy and restoration which have left the world littered with the scattered fragments of the original structure, some more and some less recognizable, but all badly damaged and out of proper context…” (Intro in Hugh Nibley, The Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment).

4) Again, why is looking into non-biblical records for that which shines light on Joseph Smith’s work a bad thing? I would see it as a vindication of the Prophet. These “nuggets” are especially interesting to Latter-day Saints, in the sense of apologia. But I would hardly call Hugh Nibley’s work a disregard for everything else those texts had to offer. Remember, Nibley published in many academic journals and periodicals about his findings, which were all peer reviewed and valuable to scholars everywhere.

5) Again, why is [searching for pre-Joseph Smith “nuggets”] bad? Please explain your arguments, and why this is “negative.” If something truly ancient and archaic that was not known at the time of Joseph Smith crops up in Church doctrine, ritual, or scripture, could that not be interesting evidence for the divine calling of the Prophet, revealing things he himself could not have known except by revelation? Even Harold Bloom was amazed by the Prophet’s ability to do this: “I can only attribute to his genius or daemons his uncanny recovery of elements in ancient Jewish theurgy that had ceased to be available either to Judaism or to Christianity, and that had survived only in esoteric traditions unlikely to have touched Smith directly” (Harold Bloom, The American Religion, 101).

6) I’ve noted on TempleStudy.com recently that Nibley and his contemporary LDS scholars hardly made absolutist claims about Abraham, Egypt, or anything else. Nibley quipped that he couldn’t be held responsible for anything he said three years ago, because things were constantly changing in scholarship and knowledge. John Gee noted where Nibley was mistaken in the second edition of An Egyptian Endowment, and carefully pointed where new information was now available. I do not believe I’m always accurate in what I say on my blog, but I try my best. The absolute truth and nothing but the truth will come later (see my recent post on alethiology).

7) Drive by blog it? Really?

For valuing so much of what Nibley wrote, and changing your life, you do him and his work a true disservice here, sir. You dishonor his name, his work, and his life.

I think it’s quite odd the way these members of the Church will write such critical things, but quickly follow them up with affectionate words, for example, “I value much of what Nibley wrote. His writings inspired a younger version of me and altered my life trajectory.”  Sometimes the flowers come out before the criticisms, like “I have nothing against Daniel Peterson.”  Really?  Then what are you doing calling his work “violent“?  Perhaps this is to help soften the blow?  Or is it a kind of Trojan Horse, to hook unsuspecting members or others?  There’s a disingenuousness to it all.

Posted in: Scholarship Tagged: apologetics, book, comment, egyptian, endowment, first presidency, harold bloom, hugh nibley, john gee, joseph smith, joseph smith papyri, salt lake temple, scholar

Seeing the Face of God in the Temple – Part 1

April 10, 2011 by Bryce Haymond 23 Comments
The Israelite high priest sees God face-to-face upon the Ark of the Covenant

The Israelite high priest sees God face-to-face upon the Ark of the Covenant

The Doctrine and Covenants section 93 verse 1 reads:

Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am; (D&C 93:1)

This superlative promise was one of the foundations of Joseph Smith’s restoration, and whose revelations repeated throughout his calling as God’s prophet:   [Read more…]

Posted in: Church History, Temples Today Tagged: calling and election, dwell, election, endowment, face, jesus christ, joseph smith, margaret barker, physical, presence, revelation, revelations, salt lake temple, theophany, veil, visit
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