A Terrestrial Home for a Celestial Destination

Paris, France Temple Sealing Room.

 

Critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints often point to the temples as a wasteful extravagance, of neglecting the poor, or some other such assertion of frivolity.

In the New Testament we read a similar assertion played out a long time ago from one who was similarly minded, same thinking, same thing:

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,

5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. (John 12)

It is not as if we are on the very verge of solving the issues with the poor but the money spent on temples is the one thing that is keeping there from being the elimination of issues. As Jesus said, the poor you always have with you, but me you have not with you always.  This was a special occasion, and so special dedication, effort and cost were devoted to his anointing.  So it is with temples.

The Church receives nothing and makes zero money off the temples.  Financially, the people gaining are the contractors and laborers who work to build it, the residents whose property values that most often go up with the temple construction, the taxes that are gained on a number of fronts (and someone out there will think themselves so smart as to go find some example somewhere where this is not the case as if the exception is the rule all the while missing the point).  The apostles and prophets don't reside there, and all members are invited to go there - indeed the whole world is invited to prepare themselves to go in.  Like the oil that was used to anoint the Lord, the temple construction is an act of holy devotion. 

If the temples are what they say they are - the House of the Lord - and our pathways back to him, then by very practice, they have to be built to the best quality they can be.  They are a terrestrial building, they have to conform to terrestrial law in a step towards the celestial.  They cannot be built of common materials to lower craftsmanship in a common mentality of a telestial abode and yet fulfill their celestial-purpose.  

Payson, Utah Temple Celestial Room

Now, we needn't make the mistake of thinking that extravagance sanctifies, or that ostentatiousness equals holiness - this is another fallacy, part of which we see in the example from the Book of Mormon:

5 And it came to pass that Riplakish did not do that which was right in the sight of the Lord, for he did have many wives and concubines, and did lay that upon men’s shoulders which was grievous to be borne; yea, he did tax them with heavy taxes; and with the taxes he did build many spacious buildings.

6 And he did erect him an exceedingly beautiful throne; and he did build many prisons, and whoso would not be subject unto taxes he did cast into prison; and whoso was not able to pay taxes he did cast into prison; and he did cause that they should labor continually for their support; and whoso refused to labor he did cause to be put to death.

7 Wherefore he did obtain all his fine work, yea, even his fine gold he did cause to be refined in prison; and all manner of fine workmanship he did cause to be wrought in prison. (Ether 10)

Riplakish built himself a very fine palace but he afflicted everyone with his building and adorning it, he wasn't interested in glorifying anyone but himself at everyone's else's expense.

The temples of the Lord, on the other hand are built with consecrated voluntarily sacrificed funds, and they have but one purpose: to allow people to draw nearer to the Lord's spirit, and to prepare to return home to their Heavenly Father. 

In ancient times the temples were the center of civilization, they were the center of life!  And indeed, they are!  Literally, spiritually, as well as figuratively.  Ancient civilizations built wonderful temples and can trace their origins back at some point to the Lord's temples - including the ancient Egyptians beginning with Ham for righteous purposes: 

 

26 Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood. (Abraham 1). 

(The priesthood lineage was determined through the mother, not the father, and Ham's mother, Egyptus was not of the lineage pertaining to the priesthood.  So though Ham held the priesthood, under the patriarchal law, Pharaoh could not, because his father married outside the lineage covenant).  

 

However, the Egyptian temples were built to elevate man's mind above the common, above the coarse, to lift them up above the mundane - with the finest craftsmanship that could be obtained (before they deviated from the original teachings).  

 

Their foundations were laid at night by Pharoah himself with his astronomers so that the temple could line up with the stars, often pointing towards the North Star, orienting the temple towards the center of the earth's revolutions, symbolizing that all the kingdom and religious life would similarly rotate around the temple which was lined up with God's center of the world.  And so were most civilizations temples designed to signify the connection between civilization with the divine.

 

Modern temples are also built to the best quality available in conjunction with the consecration of the place with the Holy Spirit by suffering no unclean thing to enter therein so that the whole experience is one that raises man up to a higher world. Indeed, the Lord's temples are a first step up towards that world.  Not only do we build with our best, we also prepare and enter with our best selves, and there receive His best.

 

And so it should be that for the temples to do this, and the values and virtues that are taught therein by covenant, that they should all be of the finest quality and be the pinnacle of man's capability that God has blessed him with as an act of devotion to Him, and in an effort to draw closer to Him, so that all things therein remind man of his creator, and point man back to Him. 

Where the saints have been poor, they still built to the best of their ability, including in their wanderings in the desert where they made the Ark of the Covenant and then the portable Tabernacle and even the Breastplate with the twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel - twelve sons, twelve covenants, all were precious stones of the day in one fashion or another (and some were not to be found anywhere near where the ancient Israelites were when this was made, so the stones either had been traded there by commerce or an expedition had to be sent to find them), and all were unique: sardius (ruby), topaz, carbuncle (garnet), emerald, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx and jasper.    

 And so the criticism  that too much is spent on the temples when the money could be spent on the poor is an empty argument. Indeed, money should be devoted to the poor, and much is - by last account nearly one billion dollars in one year from the church, not even counting all the free hours and devotion and service to the communities that are unpaid through volunteer efforts.   

 

But, there are things that the poor can't receive from donations but which are necessary for their eternal progression and that make them rich in eternity, and that can only be conferred through a consecrated, and holy, properly built and dedicated temple: the covenants of eternity.  And the temples are a forerunner of an enlightened world where the Lord provides us His best, and so as we strive towards them, we need to build and dedicate our best in a reminder of Him.  

 

All the rest of the world can also donate money to the poor, but only the Lord's church and priesthood can build a temple, and the Lord has specified how the temples are to be built and has taught why. And the entire world, rich and poor, are invited to come therein to partake of His spirit which isn't found anywhere else like it is in His dedicated house.  

 

Indeed, I was a tour guide for the Meridian, Idaho Temple before its dedication.  It was very strange to lead tours of people while yelling so the back of the group could hear me while we walked through the temple - but without the Holy Spirit that accompanied its dedication, it was (intended purpose aside) just another building. It was very odd just how used to the spirit I was in the temples, but now it was not (yet) there. 

We need to give the Lord our best, not just in money, but in energy, effort, focus, devotion, sacrifice, and he in return has promised us His.  The temple is just another of the very special symbols of Heavenly Father where this can take place - between Heaven and Earth. If we point to the cost or size of the building alone as an indicator of its value or lack thereof, we will truly miss the Lord's temples.

Temple Reflections.......

I got this in an email - don't know where it came from, but thought I'd post it here in an attempt to save it somewhere on the World Wide Web.....

A few months after my accident, I got a call from a headhunter telling me that he had a position for which he wanted me to interview.  I was a little surprised by the call since I wasn't actively looking for a job at the time.  As a matter of fact, I was still learning to walk again and use my reconstructed hands.  I politely declined and thought that was it. 

It wasn't.

The man called again and every time I told him why I was unable to accept a job at the moment, he kept telling me that it wasn't important.  After a while I decided to go on the interview. I f nothing else, it would stop the annoying phone calls every few days.

The interview was with one of the largest HVAC contractors in Houston .  I've never worked for a contractor before and, quite frankly, contractors and engineers often find themselves at complete odds with each other.  I knew for a fact that, in my years of experience, I had been in more than one shouting match with a few project managers at this firm..

The interviewer brought me into a conference room and expressed his thanks for me coming in.  He told me that I had come recommended to him as someone uniquely qualified for the job he had.  He described the job and, I had to admit, it sounded like a pretty good gig.  As a matter of fact, if I had to describe my dream job, this would be it.

I started asking questions about the firm... what kind of projects they were working on and so forth.  They were one of the biggest contractors in Houston and so he ran down a pretty impressive resume of projects.  Then he said, "Oh... and we're doing this church.  It's the strangest church you've ever seen."  I'd designed some pretty strange churches in my time.  One of them was made entirely of pink glass.  When you're especially bored some time, you should try and run down the thermal transfer properties of pink glass.  If you find out, get back to me on it because I never was able to figure it out.

The interviewer continued with his description of the strange church. "Another weird thing is that they're spending WAYYYY too much money on this thing.  You know how, whenever we do a church, we're asked to figure out ways to cut costs?  Well, not on this job.  In fact, they keep asking us for ways we can make it even better" 

(It's called 'value engineering'.  It happens on almost every job when the owner gets hit with the sticker price of the project and we have to go back and try and work with contractors to hold down prices and yet still keep in a modicum of quality... that's where the shouting matches usually occur.  Churches are especially notorious at this game and the end result is usually a facade of flash over substance.  You build this really impressive-looking church and pray that the next big wind won't come along and blow it all down).

Then the interviewer said something that sealed the deal.  "...and the strangest thing of all is that we're not going to even be allowed back in this church to fix any problems.  Only members with a special piece of paper will be allowed in."

I fished into my wallet and pulled out my temple recommend, "Is this the piece of paper you're talking about?" I asked. 

And so I went to work on helping to build the Houston Temple .

The first job meeting was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life.  We all met in a little shack on the temple building site.  It was an odd sensation to look out at earth moving equipment shoving mounds of dirt around and get tears in your eyes.

I didn't tell anyone at the meeting that I was LDS.  For one reason, I didn't want them to think I was going to come off as a know-it-all..  Another reason is that there were some pretty strong protests against building this temple and I wanted to see where everyone stood on the issue.  You kind of want to know where all the land mines are before you go traipsing off into the clover. 

You may or may not know this but the church sends its own project manager to the site when a temple is built.  It's his job to make sure that the specifications are followed in every way.  As it happened, the church's representative, a man named Leon , was called away to Salt Lake and so the project manager for the general contractor got up and started the meeting.

" Leon 's been called away to Salt Lake and so I'll be running the meeting."  He looked around and his eye settled on the Plumbing Contractor, "Gill, why don't you offer us an opening prayer?"

My jaw dropped.  First of all, prayers just aren't the standard way that construction meetings are called to order.  And another thing is that, I'd known Gill for fifteen years and anyone even mildly acquainted with the man was aware that he was incapable of stringing four words together without cussing twice. 

"This is going to be some prayer,"  I thought... it was.  Gill bowed his head and folded his hands and gave a prayer like he'd been giving them in sacrament meeting his entire life.  We were grateful for the opportunity to work on the temple.  We were mindful of the sacrifices of The Saints.  We prayed for safety and harmony among the builders and we consecrated and dedicated our actions to The Lord. 

Gill ended his prayer and the General Contractor went on with the agenda.  I wasn't really paying attention, however, because I was still dumbstruck, staring at Gill, and wondering what had happened to him.  I was still staring at Gill when the agenda came to me and I was asked to introduce myself to the group. 

There was a bit of a pause when I got caught still staring, open-mouthed, at Gill. Then everyone started to laugh.

"It's in the specifications," explained the general contractor, "we have to pray before every meeting"

Knowing the crowd, I asked, "And none of you tried to negotiate out of that?"


"Well, we did grumble for a while and then Leon started making us sing an opening hymn as well"

I wished I had accepted the job sooner, I might have been able to see that.

I soon found out that I didn't need to tell anyone I was LDS, they all knew and many times a contractor would sidle up to me to ask me something about my religion or the significance of something in the temple. 

"What's up with the twelve cows and the big Jacuzzi?" one would ask. 
 
 "Is that Gabriel up there with a trumpet?"  (Oh... little known fact but if you'll take a pair of binoculars with you and get far enough away so you can see it from the proper angle, you'll notice a lightning rod sticking out of  Moroni's head)

I took to bringing my scriptures with me so that I could explain the significance of different things and point to their Biblical foundation. 

One question was my personal favorite, "Where's the counting room?"  Remember the churches I told you about that I'd designed?  Well one thing that never got 'value engineered' was the counting room.  It was where they kept and counted the donations and it was always built like a bank vault.

"We don't have a counting room in temples", I said. 

"Why not?"

"We don't take in any donations at the temple"

"You mean to tell me that you put all this money into a building and you don't ever get a nickel out of it?" 

"Yeah, that's pretty much the case"

The contractor went away shaking his head.  No doubt wondering how anyone as foolish as these Mormons had ever amassed enough money to build such wonderful buildings.

Of all my experiences, only one was what I would have categorized as 'odd'.  With an opening prayer at each meeting, design conferences went about pretty much like PEC meetings.  There was a spirit of brotherhood that just wasn't normally present in construction shacks.

One day, however, the meeting got a little out of hand.  Some voices were raised and anger entered the room.  When it made its appearance, I was surprised to notice a letdown that I recognized as The Spirit leaving the room.  It made me sad. I looked about the table and I could tell that others were experiencing the same letdown. 

It was then that the copier behind me started spitting out blank sheets of paper. Nobody was at the copier and yet it churned out about a dozen sheets of paper and then stopped.  It took everyone by surprise and it completely diffused the argument that was going on.  Someone made a small joke, everyone laughed and the meeting went on.  Little by little I felt the warmth of  The Spirit return.

After the meeting, I was going over some items with the General Contractor.  I had to make a few copies and so I went to the copier.  There was a sign over the copier instructing the sub-contractors to write down the number of copies they make so that their companies can be backcharged.  Thinking that I was making a joke, I pointed to the sign and said, "Are you going to give the angels a discount on the copies they made today?"  The general contractor looked at me and said, "You know?  Strange things like that happen around here quite often"

As the temple neared its completion, the general contractor and I had occasion to chat one more time.  I knew that he was a staunch Baptist, one of the churches in fact that was so vocal in its protest over our building a temple in Houston .  Over the months, we had become friends, and so I felt no qualms in asking him just what his feelings were, as a Baptist, building a Mormon temple.  I'll never forget what he told me.



"In ancient times", he said, "building work was overseen by guilds.  The guild masters were the ones who saw to it that the integrity of the craft over which they labored was the best it could be.  If you wanted to enter the guild you had to begin as an apprentice and dedicate long years with little or no pay.  The master under whom you labored, gave you room and board and your tools.  Eventually, you became a journeyman in the guild and you got paid.  However, if you wanted to become a master of the guild, you had to present a sample of your work to be judged by the other masters.  It had to be a work of outstanding beauty and flawless quality for it was the work by which your skills would be judged.  It had to be a work that would weather the ages and it was called, 'a masterpiece'" 

The contractor continued, "Every building I've ever built has been one where money won out over quality.  I've never been able to do the best I'm capable of because of budget restraints..  If I'm grateful for one thing, it's that you Mormons don't skimp when it comes to your temples.  For once, I'm able to build to the quality I'm really capable of" 

Then he looked out over the temple and his gaze came back to me.  His eyes were tearing up a bit and he swept his hand back towards the temple and his voice got a little reverent, "This is my masterpiece," he said. 

"I've been building buildings for almost thirty years.  I have been doing it so long, in fact, that they are beginning to tear down buildings that I was sure would live as a testament to my presence long after I was gone from this earth." 

I'm really grateful I had a chance to work on The Houston Temple.