| Temples are not regular places of Sunday | | | | world. They provide a place where Church |
| worship for members of The Church of Jesus | | | | members make formal promises and commitments |
| Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are quite | | | | to God. They are also the place where the |
| different from the thousands of regular | | | | highest sacraments of the faith occur - the |
| chapels or meetinghouses all over the world | | | | marriage of couples and the "sealing" of |
| that are used for Sunday services. | | | | families for eternity. |
| | | | |
| Anyone, regardless of religion, may enter a | | | | Temples serve as the only place where |
| Latter-day Saint meetinghouse and attend | | | | ceremonies such as baptism and eternal |
| services. However, because of the sacredness | | | | marriage can be performed in behalf of those |
| of temples as "houses of the Lord," only | | | | who have died -a practice that Latter-day |
| members of the Church, who are in good | | | | Saints believe was followed in New Testament |
| standing are allowed to enter the temples. A | | | | times but that later was lost. |
| member must be observing the basic principles | | | | |
| of the faith and attest to that fact to his | | | | Temples point Latter-day Saints to Jesus |
| or her local leaders once every two years in | | | | Christ and their eventual life with Him, |
| order to enter a temple. | | | | their Heavenly Father and their family |
| | | | members on the condition of faithfulness to |
| The sacredness of the temple anciently can be | | | | Christ's teachings. |
| seen in both the Old and New Testaments. In | | | | |
| the Old Testament, Moses had the children of | | | | In a modern-day revelation, Joseph Smith |
| Israel carry with them the Tabernacle (a | | | | received direction to build a temple in |
| large, portable temple) as they wandered in | | | | Kirtland, Ohio (dedicated in 1836). Later he |
| the wilderness. King Solomon built and | | | | was instructed to build a temple in Nauvoo, |
| dedicated the great temple that was destroyed | | | | Illinois (1846). So important were temples to |
| by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. It was rebuilt | | | | early Church members that within days after |
| and later substantially expanded, but again | | | | arriving in Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young |
| destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The great | | | | selected the site of the Salt Lake Temple. |
| Western Wall can still be seen in Jerusalem | | | | |
| today, and even after millennia, remains a | | | | There are 134 temples throughout the world |
| sacred site for Jews. The New Testament gives | | | | either in operation, under construction or |
| an account of Jesus Christ clearing the | | | | announced. On most temples there is a golden |
| temples when its sacredness was violated by | | | | statue of a man in flowing robes, with a long |
| people using its courts as a common market. | | | | horn pressed to his lips. The statue depicts |
| | | | the angel Moroni, an ancient prophet and a |
| Latter-day Saint temples are considered | | | | central figure in the Book of Mormon. The |
| houses of God, a place of holiness and peace | | | | statue is symbolic of the preaching of the |
| separate from the preoccupations of the | | | | gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. |