The Mormon Temple Part 2

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And now, your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. So, anxious to build temples? That's what we're talking about this week, because temple worship is very important to the Latter-day Saint. It's actually essential to the Latter-day Saint. In yesterday's show, that question that I was citing comes from a man by the name of George Q. Cannon, who was a member of the First Presidency, when he talked about the importance of attending to ordinances necessary for the salvation of the living and the dead. And of course, the context is these ordinances are only to be performed in temples that are owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Springboarding off that statement by George Q. Cannon, I have a citation here from the 10th president of the LDS Church, Joseph Fielding Smith. He said, If you want salvation in the fullest, that is, exaltation in the kingdom of God, you have got to go into the temple of the Lord and receive these ordinances which belong to that house which cannot be had elsewhere. If you want to find that citation, it's in the book Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith, page 221.

This is a manual that the church produced back in 2013. Today we want to talk about another aspect of temple worship in the context of Mormonism that certainly we do not find in the New Testament. Now, in yesterday's show, we were making a very strong point that even though members of the LDS Church feel that their worship in the temple and temples in and of themselves, we don't find the early Christians in the Epistles of the New Testament, or even in the Gospels of the New Testament, where a statement similar to what George Q. Cannon can be found. We don't find, for instance, first century Christians asking the question, Why are we so anxious to build temples? The first century Christians were not interested in that at all.

We don't see any such pattern as that. But yet, as I cited yesterday, you have Mormon apostle Mark Peterson saying that in biblical times, sacred ordinances were administered in holy edifices for the spiritual salvation of ancient Israel. The buildings thus used were not synagogues nor any other ordinary places of worship.

They were specially constructed for this particular purpose. And then he went on to say, Following the pattern of biblical days, the Lord again in our day has provided these ordinances for all who will believe. Folks, that statement just is not true.

There is no pattern of biblical days in the Mormon temple ceremonies. It's just not there. This has been made up and given that kind of a description, but we don't find any evidence for that at all. Now, let's look at this idea of personal worthiness. Russell M. Nelson, the 17th president of the church, gave a talk in General Conference titled Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings.

This can be found in the Ensign magazine for May 2001 on page 33. He said, Our Redeemer requires that his temples be protected from desecration. No unclean thing may enter his hallowed house.

Yet everyone is welcome who prepares well. Each person applying for a recommend will be interviewed by a judge in Israel, the bishop, and by a stake president. Now, a temple recommend is a little card that is necessary if you hope to get into a temple. You have to show this temple recommend. You qualify for a temple recommend when you answer various questions by your ecclesiastical leaders. If you answer the questions correctly, you are awarded this temple recommend, which allows you to attend any temple that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns anywhere in the world. It does not have to be a temple that's close to where you live or anything like that. To have a temple recommend is a big deal if you're a member of the LDS Church.

But what about this personal worthiness? The reason I ask this is that the Book of Mormon itself states this in Alma 7 21. And he, speaking of God, doth not dwell in unholy temples. Now, what's interesting is that phrase is very similar to what we find in the Book of Mormon in Alma 34 36, where it says, And this I know, because the Lord hath said, He dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell. Now, I know a Latter-day Saint could probably argue, Eric, but our temples are not unholy. We believe our temples are holy. In fact, on the outside of the temples, it says holiness to the Lord.

Well, why would I disagree with that? I would disagree with that because we find in the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament in chapter 19 verse four, God is chastising the Jews of that time, saying, Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place and have burned incense in it unto other gods. Now, why would I personally believe that every single temple owned by the LDS Church is unholy? It's because they worship a false God. I'm not saying that their God is different. They have said their God is different. What upset God in this 19th chapter of Jeremiah was his people were going to the temple and they were offering incense unto false gods. Well, who are Latter-day Saints worshiping when they go in their temples?

Well, they're worshiping this God invented by Joseph Smith, this God who became God at a particular point in time, a God who has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's. This is not the God of the Bible. So their temples would certainly qualify as unholy buildings. Now, when we get to this idea of being worthy and Nelson saying that our Redeemer requires that his temples be protected from desecration, no unclean thing may enter his hallowed house. First of all, if you are worshiping a false God, you would be most certainly an unclean thing because false gods cannot redeem you. False gods cannot cleanse you of your sin.

So we have a problem there to begin with. And let's just talk about how a Latter-day Saint gets his temple recommend. He has to go to the bishop. The stake president has to be able to answer a series of about 14 questions. They're going to ask you questions about your church attendance, about wearing the garments, about tithing. And if you haven't tithed, you can actually be forced to pay what's called tithing settlement. So you can keep that recommend.

You can't have hot drinks. There's a whole list of things. But I have personally talked to Latter-day Saints who have admitted they haven't even told the whole truth. You wonder how many people would hide those things from their ecclesiastical leader because it's embarrassing, like if they might be on the internet looking at pornography. They're probably not going to admit that to this man who is his church leader. And so they'll say, of course, I'm not having adulterous affairs.

He doesn't think of that. But Jesus said that if you lust in your heart, you actually committed adultery. So how many Latter-day Saints consider themselves to be worthy, but really are not? Well, let's look at what the New Testament has to say. Jesus tells this parable in Luke 18, starting with verse 9.

He says, To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

It's interesting when you look at that prayer, quote unquote, of this Pharisee. He's talking about himself. He's comparing himself to others that he feels are lesser than he is. There's a pride factor here.

Let me ask any Latter-day Saint that might be listening to this show. Have you really stripped yourself of all pride? Do you struggle with pride? The reason I ask is because Alma 5.27 has something to say to people like that. Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

Verse 28, behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not, ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold, ye must prepare quickly, for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.

Such an one hath not eternal life according to the Book of Mormon in Alma 5.27 and 28. But let me ask you, folks, when you read this story that Jesus tells in Luke 18, when he compares the difference between the Pharisee and this tax collector who were looked upon as the lowest of the low in that society, which one more closely represents what we would assume could be a Latter-day Saint? Is it the Pharisee or is it the tax collector? Because remember, the Latter-day Saint must prove that he's worthy to go to this temple by that citation we gave from President Russell M. Nelson. Our Redeemer requires that his temples be protected from desecration. No unclean thing may enter his hallowed house. And sadly, a lot of Latter-day Saints, when they are given their temple recommend or their recommend has been renewed, they feel like they have arrived, that they are, in fact, worthy to go into this building. But if worthiness is what is necessary in order to go into the temple, and what they're doing there is supposed to be an image of what was done anciently, how did that tax collector get in there? Did that tax collector really sit before his ecclesiastical leaders and answer all these questions to see whether or not he was worthy to go into the temple?

Of course not. In fact, he's in there knowing he's unworthy. He is pleading for the forgiveness of his sins that he fully recognizes, but yet the Pharisee, nowhere do we see that he ever talks about his personal sins. It's all about his accomplishments. So if, in fact, worthiness was something that was necessary in the first-century church, why do we see this disparity? We hope you will join us again as we look at another Viewpoint on Mormonism.