Temples

John 2: 13-16

13 ¶ And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of amoney sitting:
15 And when he had made a ascourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

For those of you who do not already know this, there is a new temple that was just built by our house, the new Draper, Temple. Matt and I are very excited about this. It is right next to our house and it is so beautiful. The temple is now having its open house for the public to go and see the temple and learn more about temples in general. We had the opportunity to take some neighbors who are Catholic and wanted to learn a little more. It was a wonderful night to be able to share that with our friends and to be in the Lord's house. We also had the opportunity to volunteer to help out with the open house. I was on cloud nine that day. It has been so much fun to meet new people and to be able to share this aspect of our life with our friends.

I know I have been writing a lot of posts about the various networks who like to show their version of what sacred ceremonies take place in our temples. I say their version since they are obviously not members and therefore do not know how the ceremonies take place, so they have recreated the ceremonies as to what they think takes place.

There are many who do not necessarily understand why it bothers members of the LDS church that these networks are showing these sacred ceremonies and ordinances on tv. I have attempted to explain why I feel that it is completely inappropriate and wrong as well. However, the other day I could not stop thinking out the versus in the Bible from John chapter two, versus 13 through 16.

Temples are not something foreign or new, they have existed since the beginning of time. They are the Lord's house, where his faithful children go in order to make sacred covenants with him. Hebrews 13:8 "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever." God has never and will never change and we therefore practice the same practices that have taken place since the world began with Adam and Eve. No, or course we do not sacrifice animals. For those of you who are familiar, Christ was the ultimate sacrifice and he therefore fulfilled that commandment and it is no longer necessary to sacrifice animals as they did in Old Testament times.

Each temple is a sacred house of our Heavenly Father. It is a place where a man or woman can leave this world and enter into our Father's house, make covenants with him so that one day we may return to him, and also receive answers to those questions that we may need a little more help with. It is a place of peace and love that cannot be found in our world today.

When you read the versus above in the book of John you can read about the anger that Christ displayed when those merchants were making a mockery of his Fathers house. Do you understand how he felt and why he was so upset and angry? I certainly do. Even more now that there are television networks out there that are doing the same thing. They are making sacred practices into Hollywood shows and therefore making a mockery of the Lords house, so they can put some more money into their pocket books. I truly hope that all of you can see that there is absolutely no difference between what those merchants were doing when Christ was here on earth and what these television networks are doing in our day. I hope that helps all of you to better understand where the members of the LDS church are coming from. Thanks!

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