Why We Marry In The Temple (The Right Place)

Why We Marry In The Temple (The Right Place)


President Ezra Taft Benson
“The temple is a sacred place, and the ordinances in the temple are of a sacred character. Because of its sacredness we are sometimes reluctant to say anything about the temple to our children and grandchildren. As a consequence, many do not develop a real desire to go to the temple, or when they go there, they do so without much background to prepare them for the obligations and covenants they enter into.”
(“What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children about the Temple,” Logan Temple Centennial, May 17, 1984.)

(temples) “represent the ultimate in our worship and the ultimate in blessings offered” (Ensign, Nov 1999, 6)

"Your chances for a happy and lasting marriage will be far greater if you will date those who are active and faithful in the Church. Such dating is most likely to lead to marriage in the House of the Lord."

(Gordon B. Hinckley, "Four B's for Boys," Ensign, Nov. 1981, 41)
President Howard W. Hunter
“Establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership” (Ensign, July 1994, 5)

“Truly, the Lord desires that His people be a temple-motivated people. It would be the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the church to be temple worthy. I would hope that every adult member would be worthy of - and carry - a current temple recommend, even if proximity to a temple does not allow immediate or frequent use of it.

Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow.” (Howard W. Hunter (Ensign, October 1994)

President Hinckley
“There is no substitute for marrying in the temple. It is the only place under the heavens where marriage can be solemnized for eternity.”
“To every man and woman, to every boy and girl, prepare now to go to the House of the Lord. Let a resolution come into your heart that you will put your life in order and bring about such reformation as may be needed to qualify yourself to go to that beautiful House” (Church News, 6 Nov. 1999, 2)

President Gordon B. Hinckley
“Everything that occurs in those temples is concerned with the eternities, with everlasting life” (Messages of Inspiration from President Hinckley,” Church News, 6 February, 1999, 2)

President Gordon B. Hinckley
“If there were more temple work done in the Church, there would be less of selfishness, less of contention, less of demeaning others. The whole Church would increasingly be lifted to greater heights of spirituality, love for one another, and obedience to the commandments of God” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 1997, 622)
Temple Worship

James E. Faust 1988
“The ordinances and covenants of the temple are absolutely essential for the fullness of life on this earth and to qualify for exaltation with our Father in Heaven.
“Stated in the most fundamental terms, each of us should receive our temple ordinances and provide temple ordinances for our ancestors.”

Elder Boyd K. Packer
“How important are (the ordinances of the gospel) to us as members of the Church? Can you be happy, can you be redeemed, can you be exalted without them? Answer: they are more than advisable or desirable, or even than necessary. More even than essential or vital. They are crucial to each of us” (The Holy Temple, 1980, 145-46).

Elder Boyd K. Packer
If you will go the temple and remember that the teaching is symbolic, you will never go in the proper spirit without coming away with your vision extended, feeling a little more exalted, with your knowledge increased as to things that are spiritual (The Holy Temple, Ensign, February, 1995, 32-36)

President Ezra Taft Benson
“The temple ceremony was given by a wise Heavenly Father to help us become more Christlike. The endowment was revealed by revelation and can be understood only by revelation. The instruction is given in SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988, 250-51)

Elder John A. Widtsoe
“We live in a world of symbols. No man or woman can come out of the temple endowed as he should be, unless he has seen, beyond the symbol, the mighty realities for which the symbols stand” (Temple worship,” 62. Manual 314)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SEE “BEYOND THE SYMBOL”?

Preparatory Temple Ordinances:
Baptism: I Cor 15:29
Washings – Ex. 29:4-7; 124.
Anointings – Kings and Queens of Israel – Ex. 28:41; 29:30, 30:19-21, 25, 31.
Washings & Anointings called “Initiatory”
Endowment:
Sealings:
Garments – Ex. 29:5, 29.
Veils and altars: Ex. 30:1, 6.

Elder John A. Widtsoe Why Marry in the Temple?
It is the Lord’s desire and will
It is in harmony with the sacred nature of the marriage covenant.
It tends to insure marital happiness.
It permits the association of husband and wife for time and for all eternity.
It provides the eternal possession of children and family relationship
It acts as a restraint against evil.
It furnishes the opportunity for endless progression.
It places the family under the protection of the power of the Priesthood.
It provides a God-like destiny for human beings.



An earlier First Presidency explained the meaning of ‘eternal lives:’

ENDOWMENT
Latter-day Saints learn their purpose in life in endowment ceremonies. They make promises or covenants with God, pledge to keep his commandments and receive his blessings in return. Typically, a young adult goes through the ceremony before becoming a missionary or getting married.
1. In the first endowment room, people watch a film which dramatizes the human journey, from premortality through the Garden of Eden and Christ's sacrifice for the sins of the world.
2. Participants move into a brighter and more beautiful endowment room, where they learn about the blessings God will give them.
3. After agreeing to the conditions of their covenants with God, they pass through a veil which symbolically separates mortal and immortal life.
4. The celestial room symbolizes the highest degree of glory in heaven where God and Jesus Christ dwell. It is the most beautiful and sacred room in the temple. Patrons pray and meditate here only after going through endowment ceremonies, which last about 90 minutes.

To “take out your endowments”
What does it mean to “take out your endowments”?
“Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinel,…and gain your eternal exaltation”
Temple Endowment
“The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant, and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the [human] race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King, - the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.”James E. Talmage,The House of the Lord (1968), p. 83-84

INSIDE A MORMON TEMPLE
USA Today
30 April 1997
TEMPLE MARRIAGE
Spouses and families are joined for eternity in sealing rooms. Only faithful church members may attend.
1. The bride and groom kneel across from each other. The bride usually wears a traditional wedding gown.
2. Mirrors hanging on opposite walls reflect the couple infinitely, symbolizing eternity.
3. Rings are usually exchanged, although they are not required.
4. Children born before a temple marriage must also be sealed for the family to remain together forever. The children kneel around the altar with their parents.

Temple Sealings
Elements of the Sealing Ordinance
Having already received your individual endowment and dressed in appropriate temple clothing, both of you will kneel on opposite sides of an altar in the sealing room and there you will receive good and proper counsel. Then, under the direction of the officiator—one of those few men on the earth upon whom the prophet of the Lord has authorized the sealing power to be conferred—you will participate in the ordinance of celestial marriage.

1. Individual covenants and blessings. Each of you will individually and separately make promises, commitments, and covenants with your Heavenly Father and will individually receive promises of blessings conditioned on your individual worthiness. The individual nature of these promises is such that even if one of you were to cease being obedient following your participation in the sealing ordinance and so lose the promises made to you, the other partner who remained faithful would continue to be eligible to receive the promised blessings.
2. Joint covenants and blessings. The two of you jointly will make promises, commitments, and covenants with your Heavenly Father and will make covenants to receive each other as husband and wife. You then will jointly receive promises of blessings conditioned upon your joint faithfulness. The continued faithful obedience of both of you is essential if the promised blessings are to be received jointly. This is because the promises are made to you as one—that is, as a single unit consisting of two halves.

3. Joining in celestial marriage. This element qualifies you to live together as husband and wife under the laws of the land. It is here that you are united forever, becoming one flesh before the Lord and forming a new family unit that, if you are faithful and obedient, will last forever.
4. Blessings for children born in the covenant. All children born to the two of you are born under the blessings of the sealing covenant; thus, it is common to say that your children are “born in the covenant.” They are entitled to blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, including:
a. The gospel
b. The priesthood
c. Celestial marriage
d. Eternal life


(see Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 13).

“Those who endure in perfect faith, who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and who gain the blessings of the temple (including celestial marriage) are eventually (anointed now to become) anointed [or ordained] kings and priests. These are offices given faithful holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and in them they will bear rule as exalted beings during the millennium and in eternity.”

(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [SLC: Bookcraft, 1966], 599.)


Covenants:

Satan hates us to make covenants. When we re-commit ourselves to be better---based on an eternal perspective and our sacred promise--- he re-commits to destroy us.
‘Now that I understand my purposes in this life and the doctrines of the gospel, and have given my sacred vow, I will do my best to handle the challenges of mortality’ (1 Nephi 4:37.) Zoram


Joseph Smith, HC, 5:391. “Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die: that is they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life (and are faithful to their covenants) continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory.”

Joseph Smith
“The question is frequently asked ‘Can we not be saved without going through with all those ordinances?’ I would answer, No, not the fulness of salvation. Jesus said, There are many mansions in my Father’s house, and I will go and prepare a place for you. House here named should have been translated kingdom; and any person who is exalted to the highest mansion has to abide a celestial law, and the whole law too” (Teaching of the prophet Joseph Smith, (1976), 331).

Elder Carlos E. Asay
Temple garment:
Properly wear it
“Armor of God
Wearing it day and night serves 3 purposes: 1)it is a reminder of the sacred covenants made with the Lord; 2) a protective covering for the body; 3) symbol of the modesty of dress and living that should characterize the lives of all the humble followers of Christ.”
“Garments bear several simple marks of orientation toward the gospel principles of obedience, truth, life, and discipleship in Christ.”
Garments have been worn throughout the ages. (Ensign, August 1997, 18-23)

Temple Blessings and Applications Carlos E. Asay
Blessings of an Examined Life
Blessing of Perfect Pedagogy
Blessing of understanding our ministries
Blessing of Holy Endowment
Blessing of walking on the bridge spanning Heaven and Earth
Blessing of precious teachings, feelings, and resolves
Blessing of becoming better acquainted with God

Elder J. Ballard Washburn
“We go to the temple to make covenants, but we go home to keep the covenants that we have made. The home is the testing ground. The home is the place where we learn to be more Christlike. The home is the place where we learn to overcome selfishness and give ourselves in service to others” (Ensign, May 1995, 12)

If you believed that you and your children were the very best spirits being sent to the earth in this final dispensation to: (1) take the gospel to the world; (2) perfect a group of people who could survive the 2nd Coming to do temple work and fix all the problems from the first 6,000 years; and (3) redeem the dead – some of who have waited for millennia to have their work done, how would such information affect:
Dating to find an eternal companion
Treatment of spouse and children
Missions
Personal worthiness
Seminary & Institute
Family history labor
Morality & cleanliness
Temple marriage and worship
Eternal potential
Parenthood and family size

How should we view:
Video games
Television
Leisure time
Inappropriate movies
Music
Expenditures (tithing, fast offerings)
Scripture study
Computer use
Priorities
Prayer

Arrangements for a temple marriage
Do you need a marriage license to be married in the temple?
How many temple recommends do you need to be married in the temple?
Do you have to make an appointment to be married in the temple?
Do you need a civil ceremony prior to your temple marriage?

Arrangements for a temple marriage
Are blood tests required to be married in the temple?
Do you need parental consent?
How long do you have to wait to be married in the temple if you choose to be married civilly first?
What must your wedding dress be like?

Pres. Brigham Young
“There is one principle that I would like to have the Latter-day Saints perfectly understand–that is, of blessings and cursings. For instance, we read that war, pestilence, plagues, famine, etc., will be visited upon the inhabitants of the earth; but if distress through the judgments of God comes upon this people (the Saints), it will be because the majority have turned away from the Lord. Let the majority of the people turn away from the Holy Commandments which the Lord has delivered to us, and cease to hold the balance of power in the Church, and we may expect the judgments of God to come upon us; but while six-tenths, or three-fourths of this people will keep the commandments of God, the curse and judgments of the Almighty will never come upon them---though we will have trials of various kinds, and the elements to contend with---natural and spiritual elements. While this people will strive to serve God according to the best of their abilities, they will fare better, have more to eat and wear, have better homes to live in, better associations, and enjoy themselves better than the wicked ever do or ever will do.” (Journal of Discourses 10:335-36, emphasis added)



Elder Boyd K. Packer
“Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality” (Ensign, May 1987, 24)