The Purpose of Temples

One of the principal questions asked by reporters, newsmen, and by people
generally is, "What is the difference between your temple and your other
Church edifices?"  As all members of the Church know, the answer is that
temples are built for the performance of sacred ordinances - not secret,
but sacred.

One of the distinguishing features of the restored Church of Jesus Christ is
the eternal nature of its ordinances and ceremonies; for example, generally
in civil as well as in church ceremonies, couples are married "for time" 
only, or "until death do you part."  But love is as eternal as the spirit of
man; and if man continues after death, which he does, so will love. This 
interests nearly every intelligent inquirer and investigator, especially
when he or she realizes the truth, that love - the divinest attribute 
of the human soul - will be just as eternal as the spirit itself.  
So whenever any person dies, the virtue of love will persist, and if any 
inquirer believes in the immortality of the soul or in the persistence 
of personality after death, he must admit that love will also persist.

Logically, there follows another question: Whom shall we love in the next
world?  In response to this question, an American woman, whom, with her
husband, I met many years ago on a journey in the South Seas, replied,
"We should love everybody."

"Yes," I replied, "we should also love everybody here."  That is the 
injunction of the Saviour, to love our neighbour as ourselves.  But if 
earthly things are typical of heavenly things, in the spirit world 
we shall recognize our loved ones there and know them as we loved 
them here.  I love my wife more than I can love other people.  I love 
my children.  I can have sympathy; I can have a desire to help all 
mankind, but I love her by whose side I have sat and watched a loved 
one in illness, or, perhaps, pass away.  Those experiences bind heart 
to heart, and it is a glorious thought to cherish that death cannot 
separate hearts that are thus bound together; for each of you 
husbands will recognize your wife in the other world, and you will love 
her there as you love her here and will come forth to a newness of
everlasting life in the resurrection.  Why should death separate you, 
when love will continue after death?

It should not, and it need not, for when Jesus was upon the earth he told his
apostles: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 
(Matt. 16:19.)  And with the restoration to earth of the Holy Priesthood, the
Church asserts that this power was again given to chosen men, and that in
the house of the Lord where the marriage ceremony is performed by those
who are properly authorized to represent our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
the union between husband and wife and between parents and children is
effected for time and all eternity, and that for those thus married 
the family will continue into the eternities.

That is one purpose of temples.

There is another purpose - not so easily understood by inquirers until they
get a glimpse of the justice of God or until we ask them: "Do you think that
a just God would require me to conform to certain principles and ordinances
in order for me to enter into the kingdom of God, and that he would permit
you to enter the kingdom of God without complying with those principles and
ordinances?"

Those who accept Jesus Christ our Lord as the author of salvation: those
who accept his statements - unqualified statements - regarding the necessity
of obedience to certain principles, are bound to admit that everybody must
comply with certain fundamental ordinances or else nobody need comply
with them.  Now that is the plain fact.

We have as you know in holy writ ample evidence that the Saviour referred
to one eternal plan; for instance, when Nicodemus, a member of the
Sanhedrin - a man who had evidently listened to the Saviour speak and who
had probably followed him - called on Jesus, impelled by the desire to know
what Jesus had that the Sadducees and Pharisees did not have, and bore
his testimony, saying, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from
God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with
him."  And then ensued the conversation in which Nicodemus undoubtedly
asked, "What must I do?"  And one of the most remarkable statements we
have in scripture was given as an answer: "Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."  And "Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a
man be born when he is old?"  All Christians believe or should believe in the
words that Jesus answered: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:2-5.)  And that is true.

The words of the Saviour to Nicodemus are accepted in their literal sense by
faithful members of the Church.  The scriptures make no distinction between
the living and the dead.  This law is of universal application, exemption 
being granted only to children who die in infancy, having no sin to expiate. 
To provide a means of salvation for all, facilities are made available 
in the temples whereby the living may be baptized in behalf of the 
deceased.

Evidence that such vicarious work was performed in the early Christian
church is found in the words of Paul to the Corinthians: "Else what 
shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at 
all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" (1 Cor. 15:29.)
The pseudo-Christian world has stumbled over the meaning of this
simple text, and not a few commentators have tried to explain away its true
applicability to all mankind of the Saviour’s teachings.

To repeat, if baptism is essential for one man, it is essential for 
all.  Then the question may be asked as was asked by a Chinese student, 
a graduate of one of our leading colleges, who in conversation with 
a Protestant minister said, "What about my ancestors who never heard 
of the name of Jesus Christ?" "Oh," was the reply, "they are all lost."
The Chinese student’s sense of justice was offended, for he immediately said, 
"I’ll have nothing to do with a religion so unjust!"  
Had that Chinese professor, or doctor, asked a Mormon elder that question, 
the latter would have answered, "They will have an opportunity to hear the 
gospel, and to be baptized, to be born of the water and of the Spirit, 
that they might also enter into the kingdom of God."

What about your great-great ancestors who never have heard of the name of
Jesus Christ?  What about the millions who died without having heard his
name?  They are all our Father’s children as much as you and I.  Is it the act
of a loving Father to condemn them forever outside of the kingdom of God
because they have had no opportunity to hear the name of Jesus Christ?
No, it is not.  "We believe that … all mankind may be saved, by obedience to
the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."  And we also believe that those who
have died without having heard the gospel here in mortality will have an
opportunity to hear it in the other world.

Where did Christ’s spirit go while his body lay in the tomb?  The apostle
Peter tells us that he went to preach to the spirits who were in prison, who
were once disobedient in the days of Noah when the ark was being prepared
(See 1 Pet. 3:19-20.)  Those who died thousands of years ago were still
living in the spirit world, and the gospel was taken to them as it will be taken
to all of our Father’s children.

This, then, is another purpose of the temple.  You may have the opportunity
of gathering the names of your ancestors, who, being baptized by proxy, may
become members of the kingdom of God in the other world as we are
members here.

Since the restoration of this principle and practice, Church members have
zealously searched the records of the world for the history of their ancestors
that their forefathers might receive vicariously the blessings of the gospel of
Christ.  In connection with this work the Church maintains an extensive
genealogical organization.

These two great purposes - eternal marriage, binding the family for time and
eternity, and opening the door of the kingdom for those who have died
without an adequate opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and its
essential ordinances - when preached properly, earnestly, and sincerely to
the honest in heart, will appeal to the justice of those who love the truth.
In addition there is the temple "endowment," which is also an ordinance
pertaining to man’s eternal journey and limitless possibilities and progress
that a just and loving father has provided for the children whom he made in
his own image - for the whole human family.


That is why temples are built.

God help us to appreciate the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in its all-
embracing justice and mercy and glorious eternal plan.  The whole purpose
and meaning of life is contained in it, with is great saving and ennobling
ordinances that will take the individual to his highest possibilities here and
hereafter with an everlasting association with his loved ones in the presence
of God.

I pray with all my soul that all the members of the Church, their children, and
their children’s children - and all men everywhere - may at least glimpse the
glory of the house of the Lord and have wisdom to understand and strength
to apply the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which are eternal and
applicable to every person living, in developing that spirituality which will
bring peace on earth and goodwill toward men.