Why Mormons Build Temples

In light of the recent media coverage about our temples, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has put out this publication.
“The Public Dilemma”

The reason you will never see me post specific information regarding the ceremonial clothing or the things that take place inside the temple IS NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE SECRET – They are VERY SACRED! As an expression of RESPECT we do not speak of it. We have made covenants/promises with God. Anything that goes on in our temples can be read about and found in the Bible. It is nothing new, but has been practiced since Adam and Eve.

The Doctrine of Callings & Elections Made Sure

I’ve been interested in this topic as of late while studying. There’s been quite a bit of interesting information I’ve found, too.

“Although the process of obtaining exaltation continues even into the spirit world, the knowledge that one will become exalted with the privileges of continuing on to eternal life can be certain in this life. This is what making one’s calling and election sure is all about.” – Roy W. Doxey

One really great talk I’ve been carrying around with me in my bag but finally was able to read was “Accepted of the Lord: The Doctrine of Making Your Calling & Election Sure” written by Roy W. Doxey and published in the July 1976 Ensign.

“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39.)

In other words, the Lord’s work is to bring about the resurrection (immortality) of all of his Father’s children and to make it possible for them to receive exaltation or godhood (eternal life). When one comes to understand these purposes, one’s heart rejoices in the knowledge that the greatest blessing available to man—godhood—may be received by those who desire it with all their hearts.

In a glorious sermon preached by the Prophet Joseph Smith, this same fundamental purpose of earth life was expressed—except that this time the other side of the matter, mankind’s responsibility, was emphasized: “You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Deseret Book Co., 1938, p. 346.)

If you were to ask me when I knew about making your calling and election made sure a few years ago I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you anything. To me, that doctrine was purely unattainable and made no sense but to those who were highly favored of the Lord.
Quite simply the doctrine is to be able to accept every covenant, commandment, trial, temptation, etc, and pass with acceptance by the Lord. You will have the knowledge given to you that your calling and election will be made sure. Your calling and election made sure is the knowledge before death that you will receive your exaltation.

What, then, is the calling and election made sure? The following scripture gives the definition:
“The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood.” (D&C 131:5.)

As expressed by Elder Bruce R. McConkie:
“To have one’s calling and election made sure is to be sealed up unto eternal life; it is to have the unconditional guarantee of exaltation in the highest heaven of the celestial world; it is to receive the assurance of godhood; it is, in effect, to have the day of judgment advanced, so that an inheritance of all the glory and honor of the Father’s kingdom is assured prior to the day when the faithful actually enter into the divine presence to sit with Christ in his throne, even as he is ‘set down’ with his ‘Father in his throne.’ (Rev. 3:21.) (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Bookcraft, 1973, 3:330–31.)

As Elder McConkie goes on to indicate, the “unconditional guarantee” means that a person’s actions have been fully approved, that “there are no more conditions to be met by the obedient person.” (P. 335.) When one has been thus sealed up unto eternal life, he is “sealed up against all manner of sin except blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and the shedding of innocent blood.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:46.)

The Prophet Joseph Smith’s exhortation to press forward to this goal of assured exaltation is as follows:
“I would exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your calling and election sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it.” (Teachings, p. 299.)

“Wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it” implies that every effort will be made by the member of the Church to obtain it. An eternal compact was made in the premortal world that the sons and daughters of God would receive an eternal exaltation provided they were true and faithful to covenants made in this life. (See, e.g., Titus 1:1–2.) Keeping in mind Peter’s injunction to his dispensation, Joseph Smith said:

“We have no claim in our eternal compact, in relation to eternal things, unless our actions and contracts and all things tend to this. But after all this, you have got to make your calling and election sure. If this injunction would lie largely on those to whom it was spoken, how much more those of the present generation!” (Teachings, p. 306.)

Some more articles that I enjoyed:
“The Light of Christ”
Written by: President Marion G. Romney; Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
Published: May 1977 Ensign

“Patterns Of Prayer”
Written by: Elder Bruce R. McConkie; Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Published: May 1984 Ensign

“Peter’s Letters: Progression For The Living And Dead”
Written by: Richard L. Anderson
Published: October 1991 Ensign

“Prophecies and Promises of The Doctrine and Covenants”
Written by: By Rodney Turner; Professor of Church History and Doctrine – Brigham Young University
Published: December 1972 Ensign

“The Ten Blessings of the Priesthood”
Written by: Elder Bruce R. McConkie; Of the Council of the Twelve
Published: November 1977 Ensign

“After The Temple”
Written by: Carole Osborne Cole
Published: April 1978 Ensign

“Be Ye Clean That Bear The Vessels of the Lord”
Written by: President Marion G. Romney; Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Published: May 1974 Ensign

Temple Experiences With Family Names

Last night I had the most amazing temple experience while there with my friend Sarah. I had 12 female family names left to do initiatories for. I split them between Saran and myself and we waited patiently for our turn. Before working on all of these names 2 weeks ago my mom had told me to do a woman very first. Her name was Minnie E. Jenkins and from what she knew was as an avid geneologist. I did her name first 2 weeks ago, as requested. But last night I felt and experienced the true binding tie of genealogy work and family love. As Sarah was doing names she got to a batch of 4 sisters. As she did the names I heard “That’s my family!” and I became filled with love towards them. When the second sister’s work had been done I knew that the family of women were there. The spirit was so strong I couldn’t even control my tears. One of the women helping with the ordinance had felt my family’s presence and when I had to stop for a moment to try and collect myself I told her that Sarah was doing my family names. She, in shock, announced she felt it too and looked as though she might cry!
When the 4 sisters names were finished overwhelming calm seemed to counter act undeniable spiritual and physical exhaustion.
When we left the room and went back to the dressing rooms I looked over Sarah’s cards. 4 Jenkins Sisters… I had no idea why they were the ones who showed up and no idea why they were so important, but I knew they were. So after leaving the temple I called my mom to tell her about the experience.
“Who was it?” she asked.
“It was the Jenkins sisters.”
“Jenkins! Those are the sisters of Minnie Jenkins, the woman I told you to do first when I gave you the cards! That’s wonderful!”…

Well this morning I was going through my cards and happened to find this connection:
Minnie E. Jenkins is my ancestor through my Harris family line. She was the daughter of Palmer B. Jenkins and Henrietta Cronkhite, born 3 Aug 1897 in Queensbury, NY. Minnie had married a man named Louis Reginald Bidwell June 19, 1918.
I believe her cousins were Abigail Jenkins (born abt 1880), Inez Abby Jenkins (born abt 1878), Ellen Eliza Jenkins (born abt 1876), and Augusta W. Jenkins (born abt 1874) all of Queensbury, NY and daughters of Freelon H. Jenkins and Jane M. Harris. Augusta W. Jenkins married John J. Barlow abt 1899.

Lay Offs

Have you ever just had days when you feel like you should be in the temple today? Yeah, I had that feeling Wednesday… I have it today but it’s a demand now. Wednesday was maybe just a nice thought I had. Now I need to go. I feel like that luster I had 2 weeks ago is sparking and sputtering and just about to die. I NEED TO GO…

The Mount Timpanogos Tempe (American Fork, UT)
Photographer: Marie Zamora
Contact: ldsmarie@gmail.com
Website: www.mariezamora.net

http://radiochick.deviantart.com

Yesterday my company let go of 3 people from our production team. The head person over our art department promised us all during Christmas that she was never going to touch the production team with lay offs. They’d already let 2 people go in our I.T. department… Well yesterday it was all very sudden. I got to work, was doing my normal morning routine of statusing my ads to work on for the day when my coworker started really bothering me. He was always very blunt and rude and cared little for peoples feelings. Sometimes I felt like punching him… Well today he started out nice, then got mean when another coworker (who I’m friends with) showed up for work. I ignored him, ending our conversation, and got back to work. An hour later our boss came up to him and asked to have him come with her for a meeting. Just as they left the room another manager ran into the room and said “All editors and designers in the large conference room for a meeting now.” I assumed we were in trouble again because lately we’ve been warned on our errors in our ads. We waited in the room 45 minutes without a word from any manager. Finally the two managers came back to the room and announced “As most of you have noticed we’ve gotten rather slow with our work. We’ve been asked to cut back on our staff and had to let 3 people go…. We’ve asked you all to wait here while they cleared out their things because we didn’t want them to have on-lookers asking what’s going on”… The man I was annoyed by this morning was one of the 3 to be let go. The room turned quiet and uneasy. The tension was thick. Everyone was scared. We never realized how badly this economy would hurt us. Some people were thinking “It’s okay, we have job security.” But now we felt the possibility of losing our jobs.
When we returned to our desks everyone was quiet. Normally you could hear down the halls people talking or laughter, but now no one wanted to speak. 3 people were gone from production! I instantly felt the sting and wanted to start looking for a new job. The only problem is, would I be able to find one? I thought of all my ads I’d built in the 9 months I’d been working there and wondered if I could get them all copied to a disk…

The economy is hitting home now… It wasn’t a huge fear until now.

Make up!

Needed to add something about make up since I dedicated a whole post to my favorite hair.

I like smokey eyes:

Vintage Hair

So I’m a really big fan of the 1940s, just ask all my friends. I’ve decided to make a post quickly of some of my favorite hair styles that I like to do.

Victory Rolls:
Items needed

Hair Rats:
You can either buy these or make your own. What they did back in the day was actually use their own hair. How? Well you’ve got a brush you use every day, take the hair that’s built up on there and pull it off in a batch. Wad it up, place it in a nylon or in a hair net, stitch that up, and use that as your rat.
Or you can find them online – http://www.amazon.com/Hair-Rat-Brown-6-5101B/dp/B000CBNGI0
You can usually find them at most beauty stores.

Bobby Pins

Round Brush

Comb (to section off hair if you need one)

Hair Spray (Super Hold works best for all day hold)

Rollers (it’s best to roll your hair to get volume. I’m used to doing the foam rollers and sleeping with them over night the way my mom used to do with my hair when I was younger.)

http://www.sydneyswingkatz.com/hair.html

Video

This one is a little more complex, but I kind of liked it so I thought I’d add it.

Bangs

When I’m in a rush or am having a bad hair day, I’ll usually just do this with my hair and pull it all back into a pony or half up.
Usually what I’ll do is pull all my bangs forward and pull what I want back. Then I’ll brush my bangs up into my hand and pull them away from my head. Take hair spray, spray the bangs. Wait for it to dry so you can let go and have them stand almost completely on their own. Then pull them back and bobby pin them down with a poof. My room mates call it “the poof” so I guess that’s what the name of the hair style is.

This is a little smaller than normally because I’d recently cut my bangs. But here’s the idea. Yeah, that’s me people. Sorry about the stupid face I’m making.

Other videos that I love:

But if you’ve got time and like volume, try this!

Temple Worker

So life seems to be going in an order that I’m extremely content with. You know what that means? Trials are going to come soon. Just kidding. Either way, I thought I’d document to remind myself that even with the blessings there will still be trials.
I got my recommend on Wednesday evening. It’s an amazing feeling, as though the part of me that was missing is finally whole. A friend convinced me that I should take the day off work and spend it at the temple. So I did! Thursday morning I dressed and drove to the Mount Timpanogos temple where I waited 30 minutes before I could even go wait a little more to do initiatories. I completed 10 of my own family names and when I finished it was time for me to head back to Provo to pick up my friend Sarah from UVU. We drove back to American Fork to do some endowments but when she got home she noticed she had the keys to her mom’s car, which she needed to bring back to her in Provo. So we grabbed her things and rushed back to Provo. We took a break and went to dinner at the Olive Garden before heading to the Provo temple.
That whole day, no matter where we went the temple was full! We’d arrived in time for a 7pm session but didn’t get into a session until 8. We were there until 10:30pm. The best way to get ready for bed, I think. But I must admit I could hardly focus through the session because I was so tired. 2 years ago I’d been given temple names belonging to a woman in Kanab, Utah. I didn’t know her and I actually don’t even remember how or who gave me the names. But I was able to complete the work for the two women that evening.
That next day at work I was so tired. I never realized how exhausting working at the temple all day way. That evening I received an email from my bishop looking for help with his temple work. His wife and he were going to be doing sealings and had people from the ward coming but one of the girls who had offered to come had to bow out. So I offered to come help Saturday morning. I’d never done sealings before.
I did my own family names too! My friend Kenny had brought 3 of my cards – a couple and 2 male names. So my ancestors, Carrie E Brown and John J Harris were sealed together and to their 2 sons. It was so much fun! After the sealing session I went to look at my other names and noticed that Carrie E Brown’s endowments weren’t completed. So I rushed upstairs and went through an endowment session on my own for the first time. I must admit I was a lot less flustered and actually remembered a lot more doing my own family names. I can’t wait to go back and do more.

This morning was my interview with the bishop to become a temple worker. I’m so excited! It felt like interviewing for my mission papers all over again. I need to make an appointment to meet with the stake president now and then to meet with the temple president. It’s interesting, I know as surely as I knew I was supposed to go on a mission that I’m supposed to work at the temple. Yes, there’s a part of me that’s nervous. But I know the Lord will help me.
The bishop told me that it’s very important that I encompass my life with the things that will keep the spirit with me. For example how I got rid of movies that were bad and don’t want to watch them. He talked about how patriarchs will have homes that are peaceful and calm – which made me think of my mission and how it was a rule to keep the place clean and in order so it’d be conductive of the spirit… which then made me think of how messy my room is now and I need to clean it. HAHA! I’ve made a lot of changes in my life this year and can already feel the change in myself. I’m to pretty much keep doing what I’m doing… and clean my room. haha! I cleaned my car yesterday. Made me feel a lot better.

Anyway, I’m excited to for the opportunity to go to the temple again and do my family history. I’m happy that I can walk through those temple doors and feel worthy to enter them. I don’t ever want to experience the lose of a temple recommend EVER again.