Mormon Handbook

A REFERENCE TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

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Mormon Temples

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The Mormon church uses temples for various ceremonies. As of this writing, the church is on target to have 300 temples around the world:


Judaism — Solomon’s Temple

TIMELINE
1440 BC 957 BC 586 BC 516 BC 20 BC 70 AD
God gives Moses designs for the Tabernacle Solomon builds the first temple Babylonians destroy the temple The temple is rebuilt Herod the Great renovates the temple Romans destroy the temple

The Tabernacle

The origin of Solomon’s temple began in 1440 BC with the Tabernacle—a mobile tent and courtyard.

[Jesus] offered one sacrifice for sins for ever.

Holy Bible

— Hebrews


10:12


Christianity — Believers are the Temple


If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


1 Corinthians 3:17

For we are labourers together with God: you are God's field, you are God's building.

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


1 Corinthians 3:9

In whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


Ephesians 2:22

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


Romans 8:9

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


1 Corinthians 6:19

Book of Mormon, 1830 Joseph Smith, 1843

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.

— Alma 34:36

The idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false.

— Doctrine and Covenants 130:3




Mormon Temples

Endowments

Endowments are ceremonies for Mormons to make solemn promises of personal obedience and secrecy. Endowments are a prerequisite for missionary service and temple marriages.

Baptism for the Dead

During subsequent endowments, Mormons perform baptisms on behalf of the deceased.

Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


1 Timothy 1:4

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

Holy Bible

— Apostle Paul


Titus 3:9

No one can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him.

Holy Bible

— Psalm


49:7

And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.

Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.

Book of Mormon

— Alma


34:33-35


Weddings

LDS temples are reserved for Mormon-only weddings and are not open to non-Mormon participation.

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