Attributes of a Temple

 Many look at the attributes of a temple as spelled out in Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 and apply them to a home. I think it is fine to do so, even though it is meant to apply to a holy temple that the Lord was commanding the saints to build in Kirtland, Ohio. Our homes should be temples and the attributes specified in this scripture should be those of a holy home, as well.

However, I was impressed during this last conference to determine if I am missing something in my personal temple worship by looking at these attributes as they apply to the temple. If the temple is a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, and a house of God, am I receiving all the attendant blessings? I think I am receiving only a small portion of them, so I want to look at them more closely.

Prayer

We are cautioned that we should not use the Celestial Room as a place for personal prayer, nor any other place in the temple for that matter. However, there are a couple of areas that are most appropriate. First, the prayer circle is where a temple ordinance worker offers a prayer on behalf of the company that is there for the endowment session, as well as those whose names are on the prayer roll. It is, or should be a prayer offered by listening to the promptings of the Spirit. The first few times I offered that prayer, I felt the promptings and there were new thoughts and words that came to me. I have used those phrases on several occasions since, but I have to be cautious not to make them vain repetitions and miss important promptings. Second, there is no more appropriate place to have a prayer always in my heart. I have had some very important promptings as I have prayed before, during and after a session of temple worship.

Fasting

We have been told not to fast excessively. The scripture seems to imply that every time we go to the temple, we should go there fasting. That could be excessive, depending upon how often we go to the temple and the time of the session(s) we attend. We are, however, invited to attend the temple when we seek answers to our challenges, seek relief from the hurts and inequities that life may bring, seek insight when making decisions or when we will be attempting to offer counsel or relief to others. There are, of course, a myriad of other special reasons for attending the temple. Any of those may receive more clarity if we attend the temple while fasting.

To me, though, it seems that we should always go to the temple fasting from worldly concerns, fasting from anger, from frivolity, from evil thoughts, from petty hurts, from anything that would take us from the promptings that are available while in a holy place. Those promptings are available, but if our worldly concerns are dominating our minds, those promptings are unavailable. So just like putting aside our concerns for  food and hydration can enhance our worship during a fast, other worldly concerns can be left behind to enhance our temple worship. We can fast from them.

Learning

All of the ordinances in the temple are rote. The words are the same with the exception of the prayers given in the prayer circle. Often, the sealers will convene a teaching session along with their performing the sealing ordinances, but there is no such opportunity in endowment, initiatory, baptism, confirmation, or any other ordinance performed there. The temple presidency give instruction for those receiving their own ordinances, which is usually the first time the patrons have been in a temple. So, when President McKay said that he attended the temple every week and learned something new each time, how did he do that? What was he learning? Are the ordinances so multifaceted, that I am missing the nuances available? Are there so many facets that I could learn a new one each week for over 80 years?

I think there are, in fact, many facets that I do miss. When I hear someone talk about something they just realized in a session, I wonder how I managed to miss that. I am certain that there is much to be learned from deeply listening to the words of the ordinances and pulling out the information there. I am also certain that the teacher is the Holy Ghost and that it is not just the meanings found within each ordinance, but much is learned just from being in a holy place, with a holy attitude, ready to hear what the Spirit would teach.

I have had glimpses of what I should do, where I should be, or who I should contact while attending a session in the temple. I suspect that many (probably most) who attend regularly, have had similar experiences. John A. Widstoe reported that he had a particularly troubling problem related to his professional life that was solved by revelation in the temple, though he had set that issue aside to attend the temple. He stated that the temple is the place where revelation may be expected. He stated that if we attend the temple these revelations will come to us in or out of the temple and provide solutions to the problems that vex our lives.

Glory

The literal meaning of glory is related to a great light. That is why Christ, Mary, the saints and other religious people in the medieval paintings are given a halo, or light around their heads. In the Bible and even now, it is a term used in a much broader sense. Glory and glorious now means a high degree of honor, reputation, resplendence, beauty, and so forth. 

In the beginning of this dispensation, the glory of the temple was literal in the case of the Kirtland Temple. Many of those in the community reported a great light coming from the temple during the dedication ceremonies. Angels and the Savior were seen in the interior, and the glory of the Lord was present. Today, the temple is a place of glory in many of its aspects. Certainly, the beauty is resplendent, from its architecture, landscaping, cleanliness, and care. There is great glory for those who enter to have their marriages sealed under the New and Everlasting Covenant. Glory is an appropriate term for those who receive their ordinances and perform ordinances for the deceased and are given a glimpse of the purpose and efficacy of those ordinances. It is also the appropriate term for those who are given additional light and truth from inspiration received there. 

The real promise of glory is found in a couple of sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, primarily in Section 97:15 - 16 Where the Lord promises that if no unclean thing is permitted to come into it, "...my glory shall rest upon it; ...my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God." 

Order

Early in Church history, following the revelations related to baptism for the dead, there was a lot of disorder. Women baptized for their deceased fathers, and men for their mothers, baptisms done without any record being made, and so forth. Quickly, the Lord revealed the need for accurate records, ordinances for the dead to be conducted in the temples, and other steps taken to insure that all was done in order. 

Today, order in the temple is paramount. Records are kept with great precision. Ordinances are performed verbatim. Those who are entering for their own ordinances are given instruction by the temple presidency and are given escorts to make sure order is maintained. 

The result of this degree of order assures that not only are the ordinances less likely to be duplicated or invalid, but it is a source for patrons' positive experience. Reverence is possible because orderliness allows them to focus on the Atonement, rather than chaos. Focus on prayers, language of the ordinances, sensitivity to the presence of the deceased, and internal peace are all magnified by the orderliness of the House of the Lord.

House of God    

This, according to the Doctrine and Covenants, is meant to be literal.  Sections 36,42, and 133 state that the Lord will come suddenly to his temple. Section 88 says that the temple is to be the house of God. Section 97says he will come into it. Section 110 says the Lord will manifest himself to his people in his house. I have not personally seen his face as promised in Sections 93 and 97. Has anyone? Of course, we know about the appearance of the Lord in the Kirtland temple. We know that Lorenzo Snow saw the Lord in the Salt Lake temple when he doubted his being prepared to assume the presidency. Others certainly have. Elder Boyd K. Packer said "Those who know don't tell and those who tell, don't know." That we can be in the presence of God in the temple is quite literal when you remember that the Holy Ghost is a god. While we look forward to the literal presence of Jesus Christ in the temple and have faith that we can, we do have the presence of the Holy Ghost any time we attend the temple worthy and prepared.

As I review this a little more closely, I realize that I have received many of the promised blessings that I had not thought of before. I also realize, however, that there are promised blessings of which I should be more aware as I enter the temple in the future. What a blessing for this generation!