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Source of the temple endowment: Difference between revisions
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|H=Mormon belief in the deification of Man
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|L1=Gospel Topics: "Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense"
|L2=Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that they will one day 'supplant' God?
|L3=Question: What were the views of early Christians on the deification of man?
|L4=Question: Was the Latter-day Saint concept of deification derived from Greek philosophy?
|L5=Question: What Biblical scriptures discuss the doctrine of the deification of man?
|L6=Question: If a person faithfully practices Mormonism during this life, do they become a god after they die?
|L7=Question: Do Mormon men believe that they will become "gods of their own planets" and rule over others?
|L8=Question: If God was once like us, does that mean that God was once a sinner?
|L9=Question: What do Mormons believe regarding the nature of angels?
|L10=Theosis
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{{:Source:Gospel Topics:Becoming Like God:Latter-day Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense}}
{{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:10:Preexistent Jesus and a divinized humanity‎}}
{{:Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that they will one day 'supplant' God?}}
{{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:21:Joseph Smith's theosis does not supplant God or veer into polytheism}}
{{:Question: What were the views of early Christians on the deification of man?}}
{{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:15:Christian beliefs do not need to have Neo-Platonic influence to be true‎}}
{{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:6:Mormons retrieved early Christian beliefs rejected by creeds}}
{{:Question: Was the Latter-day Saint concept of deification derived from Greek philosophy?}}
{{:Question: What Biblical scriptures discuss the doctrine of the deification of man?}}
{{:Question: If a person faithfully practices Mormonism during this life, do they become a god after they die?}}
{{:Question: Do Mormon men believe that they will become "gods of their own planets" and rule over others?}}
{{:Question: If God was once like us, does that mean that God was once a sinner?}}
{{:Question: What do Mormons believe regarding the nature of angels?}}
{{:Theosis}}
<embedvideo service="youtube">ECtHwKpUD-U</embedvideo>


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{{endnotes sources}}
 
==Question: Did Joseph Smith make up the temple ordinances or borrow them from an earthly source?==
===No, there are many statements by the Church and its leaders that indicate that the temple ordinances were revealed by the Lord and restored from antiquity===
 
It is claimed that the LDS temple ordinances were either made up by Joseph Smith or borrowed, by him, from an earthly source. However, there are many statements by the Church and its leaders that indicate that the temple ordinances were revealed by the Lord and restored from antiquity.
 
'''This collection of quotes has been divided into two sections. The first section consists of statements from the LDS Church's official website indicating that the temple ordinances were 'revealed' by the Lord and 'restored' from antiquity. The second section consists of statements from scripture and the General Authorities of the LDS Church.'''
 
===Section 1===
 
*Apostle Russell M. Nelson, “Prepare for Blessings of the Temple,” ''Ensign'', March 2002.
<blockquote>
“The temple endowment was given by revelation. . . . Temples, ordinances, covenants, endowments, and sealings have been restored, precisely as prophesied. . . . A review of the Old Testament and the books of Moses and Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price may be especially enlightening after one is more familiar with the temple endowment. These books of ancient scripture underscore the antiquity of temple work and the enduring nature of its ordinances.”
</blockquote>
 
*Temple Preparation Seminar Manual, 2003 / Lesson 3.
<blockquote>
“the Lord has always commanded His people to build temples. He has revealed the work to be done in temples. . . . Temple work in its fulness has been restored in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
</blockquote>
 
*Apostle Neal A. Maxwell, ''Ensign'', September 1993.
<blockquote>
“Isn’t it marvelous to ponder how much the Prophet Joseph Smith learned throughout the extended process of restoring the holy apostleship, the holy priesthood, the holy endowment, the holy sealing power.”
</blockquote>
 
*Temple Preparation Seminar Manual, 2003 / Lesson 6.
<blockquote>
President Harold B. Lee: “The temple ceremonies are designed by a wise Heavenly Father who has revealed them to us in these last days.”
</blockquote>
 
*Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple, 2002 / “Taught from On High,” adapted from The Holy Temple by Apostle Boyd K. Packer.
<blockquote>
Apostle John A. Widtsoe, “The endowment and the temple work as revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
</blockquote>
 
*Apostle Marion G. Romney, ''Ensign'', March 1971.
<blockquote>
Prophet Joseph Smith: “What was the object of gathering the Jews, or the people of God in any age of the world? . . . . [T]o build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house.” 
</blockquote>
 
*Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple, 2002 / “Come to the Temple,” adapted from The Holy Temple by Apostle Boyd K. Packer.
<blockquote>
“In the temples members of the Church who make themselves eligible can participate in the most exalted of the redeeming ordinances that have been revealed to mankind. There, in a sacred ceremony, an individual may be washed and anointed and instructed and endowed and sealed.”
</blockquote>
 
*Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, ch. 44, 2007.
<blockquote>
“During the Prophet’s ministry, all things were restored that were necessary to lay the foundation of the greatest dispensation of all time. The priesthood, with its essential keys, was restored; the Book of Mormon was translated; the Church was organized; and doctrines, ordinances, and covenants were revealed, including the ordinances and covenants of the endowment and the marriage sealing.”
</blockquote>


<!--Extra quotes not yet integrated into article
*“Endowed with Covenants and Blessings,” ''Ensign'', February 1995.
<blockquote>
It was through the Prophet Joseph Smith in the nineteenth century that the Lord restored again to earth the holy ordinances of temple covenants and blessings. The following recollection of President George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency describes the intense interest that members of the Church had in the 1840s when the blessings of the temple were again made available to mankind:
“When the Prophet Joseph [Smith] first communicated that the Lord had revealed to him the keys of the endowment, I can remember the great desire there was on every hand to understand something about them. When the Prophet would speak about his desire to complete the temple in order that he might impart unto his fellow servants that which God had delivered to him, a thrill went through the congregation and a great desire for this filled their hearts” (Gospel Truth, Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, 2 vols., comp. Jerreld L. Newquist, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974, 1:228).
</blockquote>


In an early Jewish document (mid. Alpha Beta dir. Akiba, bhm 3.32) the concept of
*Apostle Mark E. Peterson, ''Ensign'', January 1972.  
deification can be found. “the Holy One... Will in the future call all of the pious by their names,
<blockquote>
and give them a cup of elixir of life in their hands so that they should live and endure forever.
“As the gospel was restored in these last days, temple building and temple ordinances also were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.”  
..and He will also reveal  to all the pious in the world to come the ineffable name with which new
</blockquote>
heavens and a new earth can be created, so that all of them should be able to create new
worlds.” (The Messiah Texts, pg. 251)


The catechism of the Catholic Church, part 1 Profession of Faith reads “The Word became flesh
*D&C and Church History Teacher’s Manual, 1999, Lesson 18.
to make us "partakers of the divine nature": (2 Peter 1:4) "For this is why the Word became man,
<blockquote>
and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the
“Explain that the Kirtland Temple was not like today’s temples, where saving ordinances are performed for the living and the dead. The Lord restored temple ordinances a few years later while the Saints were in Nauvoo.”
Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." (St. Irenaeus, Adv.
</blockquote>
haeres. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1, 939)"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."
(St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3: PG 25, 192B) "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make
us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods." (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57, 1-4)


===Section 2===


The noted Christian author, C.S. Lewis, also expressed his views on the deification of
“I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid . . . . let [the Nauvoo Temple] be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people.”
man. “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that
:Jesus Christ (D&C 124:38, 40).
the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you
saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.” (In Cross and Livingstone, Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church, pg. 1319)


Again he states “It is so very difficult to believe that the travail of all creation which God
“God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood.”
Himself descended to share, at its most intense, may be necessary in the process of turning finite
“the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.”
creatures (with free wills) into--well, Gods.” (C.S. Lewis’ letter to Mrs. Edward A. Allen, 1 Nov.
:Joseph Smith, explanations 3 and 7 for Facsimile #2 in the Book of Abraham.  
1954, in Letters of C.S. Lewis, pg. 440)


He also writes “the command be ye perfect  is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to
“These [temple] ordinances have been revealed to us; we understand them, and unless we attend to them we shall fall under condemnation.”
do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in
:Wilford Woodruff, ''Journal of Discourses'', 13:32.  
the bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good his words. If we let Him-for we can
prevent Him, if we choose-He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess,
dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom
and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God
perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and
goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for.
Nothing less. He meant what he said” (Trinitarian Controversy, pg. 6, Mere
Christianity, p.174)


"For now the critical moment has arrived. Century by century God has guided nature up
“the Prophet Joseph . . . communicated that the Lord had revealed to him the keys of the endowment.”
to the point of producing creatures which can (if they will) be taken right out of nature,
:George Q. Cannon, ''Gospel Truth'', 179.  
turned into gods." (ibid. p.187)


He says in his book The Grand Miracle that “The people who keep on asking if they
“I think that portion of this revelation which I have read, will give you a general idea of the sacredness of the house of the Lord, which is to be built in the latter times, a place wherein the angels may come and visit, as they did in the ancient Temple; a place wherein you can receive all those ordinances which the Lord has revealed and which He will hereafter reveal from time to time.”
can’t lead a good life without Christ, don’t know what life is about; if they did they would know
:Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 16: --; 7 October 1873.
that ‘a decent life’ is mere machinery compared with the thing we men are really made for.
Morality is indispensable: but the Diving Life, which gives itself to us and which calls us to be
gods, intends for us something in which morality will be swallowed up. We are to be remade. All
the rabbit in us will be swallowed up-the worried, conscientious, ethical rabbit as well as the
cowardly and sensual rabbit. We shall bleed and squeal as the handfuls of fur come out; and then
surprisingly, we shall find underneath it all a thing we have never yet imagined: a real man, an
ageless god, a son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy.” (The Grand
Miracle, by C.S. Lewis pg. 85)


He goes on to say “Christ has risen, and so we shall rise. St. Peter for a few seconds
“When the [Kirtland] Temple was built, the Lord did not see proper to reveal all the ordinances of the endowments, such as we now understand. He revealed little by little.”
walked on the water, and the day will come when there will be a remade universe, infinitely
:Orson Pratt, ''Journal of Discourses'', vol. 19: ---, 20 May 1877.
obedient to the will of glorified and obedient men, when we can do all things, when we shall be
those gods that we are described as being in Scripture.” (The Grand Miracle, C.S. Lewis, pg.
65)
"Sometimes, Lord, one is tempted to say that if you wanted us to behave like the lilies of
the field you might have given us an organization more like theirs. But that, I suppose, is
just your...grand enterprise. To make an organism which is also spirit; to make that
terrible oxymoron, a 'spiritual animal.' To take a poor primate, a beast with nerve-endings
all over it, a creature with a stomach that wants to be filled, a breeding animal that wants
to mate, and say, 'Now get on with it, become a god.' (A Grief Observed, p.84-5)


Even Martin Luther spoke of the "deification of human nature," although in what sense it
“We build temples. What for? To administer the ordinances of God. What ordinances? Those that God has revealed, and those that the world know nothing about.”
is not clear. (Jack R. Pressau, I'm Saved, You're Saved…Maybe (Atlanta: John Knox, 1977), p.
:President John Taylor, ''Journal of Discourses'', 21:&mdash;2 January 1881.
57; A. Nygren, Agape and Eros, trans. Philip S. Watson (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press,
1982), p. 734.)


The seventeenth-century Anglican thinker Ralph Cudworth remarked, “The gospel is
“Today we enjoy the great happiness of having . . . these sacred structures completed, dedicated to and accepted of the Lord, wherein the Saints can enter and attend to those ordinances which He, in His infinite goodness and kindness, has revealed.”
nothing but God descending into the world in our form and conversing with us in our likeness
:Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, ''Messages of the First Presidency'', 3:--, 18 March 1893; cited by James E. Talmage in ''The House of the Lord.''
that He might allure and draw us up to God and make us partakers of His divine form, Theos
   
gegonen anthropos (as Athanasius speaks) hina hemas en eauto Theopoiese; ‘God was
“In Kirtland, the brethren were not endowed with the same ordinances that are now bestowed upon the people, because they had not yet been revealed. It was in the days of Nauvoo that these blessings and ordinances of endowment were made known to the Prophet Joseph.”
  therefore incarnated and made man that He might deify us’’ that is (as St. Peter expresseth it)
:Franklin D. Richards, ''Collected Discourses'', 5:--, 5 October 1896.
makes us partakers of the divine nature” (cited in Allchin, Participation in God, pg. 14)


Another non-LDS clergyman named Father Jordan Vajda agrees with this doctrine when
“the pattern of endowment garments was revealed from heaven.”
he stated “Members of the LDS Church will discover that there fundamental belief about human
:Joseph F. Smith, ''Messages of the First Presidency'', 5:--, 1918.  
salvation and potential is not unique of a Mormon invention. Latin Catholics and Protestants will
learn of a doctrine that, while relatively foreign to their ears, is nevertheless part of the heritage
of the undivided Catholic Church of the first millenium. Members of Eastern Orthodox and
Eastern Catholic Churches will discover on the American continent an amazing parallel to their
own belief that salvation in Christ involves our becoming ‘partakers of the divine nature’” (as
quoted in FARMS Review of Books, vol. 13, pg. 14)


Then referring to the anti-Mormon video the godmakers, Father Vajda said: “The
“the endowment and the temple work as revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
Mormons are truly ‘godmakers’: as the LDS doctrine of exaltation explains, the fullness of
:John A. Widtsoe, "Temple Worship," in ''The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine'', 12 [April 1921]: 58; cited in Boyd K. Packer, ''The Holy Temple.''
human salvation means ‘becoming a god’. Yet what was meant to be a term of ridicule has
turned out to be a term of approbation, for the witness of the Greek Fathers of the Church...is
that they also believed that salvation meant ‘becoming a god’. It seems that if one’s soteriology
cannot accommodate a doctrine of human divination, then it has at least implicitly, if not
explicitly, rejected the heritage of the early Christian Church and departed from the faith of first
millenium Christianity.”(ibid pg.94-95)


Jaroslav Pelikan notes, "The chief idea of St. Maximus, as of all Eastern theology, [was]
“The Ancient Order of the Endowment Revealed . . . . The ancient order of the endowment restored.”
the idea of deification." (The Spirit of Eastern Christendom, p. 10.)
“He tried to impress upon the Saints the great responsibility which was upon them in having a house of the Lord where these sacred ordinances which had been revealed to him could be given to the Saints.”
:Joseph Fielding Smith, ''Church History and Modern Revelation'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1949), 4: lesson 133/34 and 138/39; Melchizedek Priesthood quorum manual; copyrighted by LDS Church President George Albert Smith.


John Calvin said “From this follows the other point: since Christ exercises the office of
“The temple ritual as revealed to Joseph Smith and communicated by him to his brethren is essentially symbolic. Its ordinances are not only ancient but also represent profound truths.”
Teacher under the Head [the Father], he ascribes to the Father the name of God, not to abolish
:John A. Widtsoe, ''Joseph Smith – Seeker After Truth'' (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1951), --. 
his own deity, but to raise us up to it by degrees” (Institutes I.XIII.24)


Around 1300 A.D., the Dominican Meister Eckhart preached the doctrine that “the seed
“temple ordinances for the living and the dead were revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
of God is in us. Given an intelligent farmer and a diligent farmhand, it will thrive and grow up to
:Presiding Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin, ''Conference Report'', October 1956.
God whose seed it is, and accordingly, its fruit will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear
trees; nut seeds grow into nut trees, and God-seed into God” (Plancher, A History of Christian
Theology, pg. 169)


“In 1836 Elijah came and restored the sealing power, the power to bind on earth and have it sealed eternally in the heavens (D&C 110:13-16; 132:45-47). At a still later date, temple endowments and other ordinances were revealed&mdash;all of which are a necessary prelude to the performance of an eternal marriage.”
:Bruce R. McConkie, ''Mormon Doctrine'', 2d ed. 1966.


Origin (185-254) wrote “everything which, without being, ‘God in Himself’ is deified by
“The temple ceremony was given by a wise Heavenly Father . . . . The endowment was revealed by revelation.”
participation in his Godhead, should strictly be called ‘God’, not ‘The God’. The firstborn of all
:''Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson'' (chapter on Temples and Temple Work).
creation, since He by being with God first gathered Godhood to Himself, is therefore in every
way more honored than others besides himself, who are ‘gods’ of whom God is the god, as it is
said, ‘God the Lord of gods spoke and called the world’. For it was through His ministry that
they became gods, since He drew divinity from God for them to be deified, and of His kindness
generously shared it with them. God, then, is the true God, and those who through Him are
fashioned into gods are copies of the prototype.” (The Early Christian Fathers, pg. 324)
Lactantius (about 325 A.D.) ,an ancient Christian scholar and apologist, affirms that the
chaste man will become ‘identical in all respects with God’ (The Mystery Religions and
Christianity, S. Angus,  pg. 106-107)


Tertullian (160-230 A.D.) ,who was a Christian Apologist, and Theologian, wrote: “If,
“the Prophet Joseph Smith . . . the endowment ceremony was given to him.”
indeed, you follow those who did not at the time endure the Lord when showing Himself to be
“It is the Lord's house. He directs the conditions under which it may be used. He has revealed the ordinances that should be performed therein.”
the Son of God, because they would not believe Him to be the Lord, then call to mind along with
:Boyd K. Packer, ''The Holy Temple.''
them the passage where it is written, "I have said, Ye are gods, and ye are children of the Most
High;" and again, "God standeth in the congregation of gods;" in order that, if the Scripture has
not been afraid to designate as gods human beings, who have become sons of God by faith, you
may be sure that the same Scripture has with greater propriety conferred the name of the Lord.
on the true and one-only Son of God.” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, p. 608.)
He also said "The first-born of all creation, who is the first to be with God . . . is a being
of more exalted rank than the other gods beside Him, of whom God is the God, as it is written,
"The God of gods, the Lord, hath spoken and called the earth.' It was by the offices of the first-
born that they became gods, for He drew in generous measure that they should be made gods,
and He communicated it to them according to His own bounty. . . . Now it is possible that some
may dislike what we have said representing the Father as the One true God, but admitting other
beings besides the true God, who have become gods by having a share of God. They may fear
that the glory of Him who surpasses all creation may be lowered.”


Clement of Alexandria wrote, "To him who has shall be added;" knowledge to faith, love
to knowledge, and love to inheritance. And this happens when a man depends on the Lord
through faith, through knowledge, and through love, and ascends with him to the place where
God is, the God and guardian of our faith and love, from whom knowledge is delivered to those
who are fit for this privilege and who are selected because of their desire for fuller preparation
and training; who are prepared to listen to what is told them, to discipline their lives, to make
progress by careful observance of the law of righteousness. This knowledge leads them to the
end, the endless final end; teaching of the life that is to be ours, a life of conformity to God, with
gods, when we have been freed from all punishment, which we undergo as a result of our
wrong-doings for our saving discipline. After thus being set free, those who have been perfected
are given their reward and their honours. They have done with their purification, they have done
with the rest of their service, though it be a holy service, with the holy; now they become pure in
heart, and because of their close intimacy with the Lord there awaits them a restoration to
eternal contemplation; and they have received the title of "gods," since they are destined to be
enthroned with other "gods" who are ranked next below the Saviour.” (Henry Bettenson, The
Early Christian Fathers, London: Oxford University Press, 1956, pp. 243-244.)


St. Cyril of Jerusalem “When thou shalt have heard what is written concerning the
mysteries, then wilt thou understand things which thou knewest not. And think not that thou
receivest a small thing: though a miserable man, thou receivest one of God's titles. Hear St. Paul
saying, God is faithful. Hear another Scripture saying, God is faithful and just. Foreseeing this,
the Psalmist, because men are to receive a title of God, spoke thus in the person of God: "I said,
Ye are Gods, and are all sons of the Most High." But beware lest thou have the title of "faithful,"
but the will of the faithless. Thou hast entered into a contest, toil on through the race: another
such opportunity thou canst not have. Were it thy wedding-day before thee, wouldest thou not
have disregarded all else, and set about the preparation for the feast? And on the eve of
consecrating thy soul to the heavenly Bridegroom, wilt thou not cease from carnal things, that
thou mayest win spiritual?” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Prologue to the Catechetical Lectures)-->
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}
{{endnotes sources}}
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[[de:Mormonismus und die Natur Gottes/Erhöhung des Menschen]]
[[de:Frage: Woher hatte Joseph Smith die Tempelverordnungen?]]
[[es:El Mormonismo y la naturaleza de Dios/Deificación de los Seres Humanos]]
[[es:Pregunta: ¿José Smith hizo las ordenanzas del templo o las tomó de una fuente terrenal?]]
[[pt:Mormonismo e da natureza de Deus/Deificação do homem]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Joseph Smith fez as ordenanças do templo ou as tomou de uma fonte terrena?]]
[[Category:Questions]]

Latest revision as of 21:47, 13 April 2024
Articles about Latter-day Saint temples
Baptism for the dead
The temple endowment
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Other topics

Source of the temple endowment

Question: Did Joseph Smith make up the temple ordinances or borrow them from an earthly source?

No, there are many statements by the Church and its leaders that indicate that the temple ordinances were revealed by the Lord and restored from antiquity

It is claimed that the LDS temple ordinances were either made up by Joseph Smith or borrowed, by him, from an earthly source. However, there are many statements by the Church and its leaders that indicate that the temple ordinances were revealed by the Lord and restored from antiquity.

This collection of quotes has been divided into two sections. The first section consists of statements from the LDS Church's official website indicating that the temple ordinances were 'revealed' by the Lord and 'restored' from antiquity. The second section consists of statements from scripture and the General Authorities of the LDS Church.

Section 1

  • Apostle Russell M. Nelson, “Prepare for Blessings of the Temple,” Ensign, March 2002.

“The temple endowment was given by revelation. . . . Temples, ordinances, covenants, endowments, and sealings have been restored, precisely as prophesied. . . . A review of the Old Testament and the books of Moses and Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price may be especially enlightening after one is more familiar with the temple endowment. These books of ancient scripture underscore the antiquity of temple work and the enduring nature of its ordinances.”

  • Temple Preparation Seminar Manual, 2003 / Lesson 3.

“the Lord has always commanded His people to build temples. He has revealed the work to be done in temples. . . . Temple work in its fulness has been restored in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith.”

  • Apostle Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, September 1993.

“Isn’t it marvelous to ponder how much the Prophet Joseph Smith learned throughout the extended process of restoring the holy apostleship, the holy priesthood, the holy endowment, the holy sealing power.”

  • Temple Preparation Seminar Manual, 2003 / Lesson 6.

President Harold B. Lee: “The temple ceremonies are designed by a wise Heavenly Father who has revealed them to us in these last days.”

  • Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple, 2002 / “Taught from On High,” adapted from The Holy Temple by Apostle Boyd K. Packer.

Apostle John A. Widtsoe, “The endowment and the temple work as revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”

  • Apostle Marion G. Romney, Ensign, March 1971.

Prophet Joseph Smith: “What was the object of gathering the Jews, or the people of God in any age of the world? . . . . [T]o build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house.”

  • Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple, 2002 / “Come to the Temple,” adapted from The Holy Temple by Apostle Boyd K. Packer.

“In the temples members of the Church who make themselves eligible can participate in the most exalted of the redeeming ordinances that have been revealed to mankind. There, in a sacred ceremony, an individual may be washed and anointed and instructed and endowed and sealed.”

  • Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, ch. 44, 2007.

“During the Prophet’s ministry, all things were restored that were necessary to lay the foundation of the greatest dispensation of all time. The priesthood, with its essential keys, was restored; the Book of Mormon was translated; the Church was organized; and doctrines, ordinances, and covenants were revealed, including the ordinances and covenants of the endowment and the marriage sealing.”

  • “Endowed with Covenants and Blessings,” Ensign, February 1995.

It was through the Prophet Joseph Smith in the nineteenth century that the Lord restored again to earth the holy ordinances of temple covenants and blessings. The following recollection of President George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency describes the intense interest that members of the Church had in the 1840s when the blessings of the temple were again made available to mankind: “When the Prophet Joseph [Smith] first communicated that the Lord had revealed to him the keys of the endowment, I can remember the great desire there was on every hand to understand something about them. When the Prophet would speak about his desire to complete the temple in order that he might impart unto his fellow servants that which God had delivered to him, a thrill went through the congregation and a great desire for this filled their hearts” (Gospel Truth, Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, 2 vols., comp. Jerreld L. Newquist, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974, 1:228).

  • Apostle Mark E. Peterson, Ensign, January 1972.

“As the gospel was restored in these last days, temple building and temple ordinances also were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.”

  • D&C and Church History Teacher’s Manual, 1999, Lesson 18.

“Explain that the Kirtland Temple was not like today’s temples, where saving ordinances are performed for the living and the dead. The Lord restored temple ordinances a few years later while the Saints were in Nauvoo.”

Section 2

“I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid . . . . let [the Nauvoo Temple] be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people.”

Jesus Christ (D&C 124:38, 40).

“God sitting upon his throne, revealing through the heavens the grand Key-words of the Priesthood.” “the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.”

Joseph Smith, explanations 3 and 7 for Facsimile #2 in the Book of Abraham.

“These [temple] ordinances have been revealed to us; we understand them, and unless we attend to them we shall fall under condemnation.”

Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 13:32.

“the Prophet Joseph . . . communicated that the Lord had revealed to him the keys of the endowment.”

George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, 179.

“I think that portion of this revelation which I have read, will give you a general idea of the sacredness of the house of the Lord, which is to be built in the latter times, a place wherein the angels may come and visit, as they did in the ancient Temple; a place wherein you can receive all those ordinances which the Lord has revealed and which He will hereafter reveal from time to time.”

Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 16: --; 7 October 1873.

“When the [Kirtland] Temple was built, the Lord did not see proper to reveal all the ordinances of the endowments, such as we now understand. He revealed little by little.”

Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, vol. 19: ---, 20 May 1877.

“We build temples. What for? To administer the ordinances of God. What ordinances? Those that God has revealed, and those that the world know nothing about.”

President John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 21:—2 January 1881.

“Today we enjoy the great happiness of having . . . these sacred structures completed, dedicated to and accepted of the Lord, wherein the Saints can enter and attend to those ordinances which He, in His infinite goodness and kindness, has revealed.”

Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, Messages of the First Presidency, 3:--, 18 March 1893; cited by James E. Talmage in The House of the Lord.

“In Kirtland, the brethren were not endowed with the same ordinances that are now bestowed upon the people, because they had not yet been revealed. It was in the days of Nauvoo that these blessings and ordinances of endowment were made known to the Prophet Joseph.”

Franklin D. Richards, Collected Discourses, 5:--, 5 October 1896.

“the pattern of endowment garments was revealed from heaven.”

Joseph F. Smith, Messages of the First Presidency, 5:--, 1918.

“the endowment and the temple work as revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”

John A. Widtsoe, "Temple Worship," in The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, 12 [April 1921]: 58; cited in Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple.

“The Ancient Order of the Endowment Revealed . . . . The ancient order of the endowment restored.” “He tried to impress upon the Saints the great responsibility which was upon them in having a house of the Lord where these sacred ordinances which had been revealed to him could be given to the Saints.”

Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1949), 4: lesson 133/34 and 138/39; Melchizedek Priesthood quorum manual; copyrighted by LDS Church President George Albert Smith.

“The temple ritual as revealed to Joseph Smith and communicated by him to his brethren is essentially symbolic. Its ordinances are not only ancient but also represent profound truths.”

John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith – Seeker After Truth (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1951), --.

“temple ordinances for the living and the dead were revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith.”

Presiding Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, October 1956.

“In 1836 Elijah came and restored the sealing power, the power to bind on earth and have it sealed eternally in the heavens (D&C 110:13-16; 132:45-47). At a still later date, temple endowments and other ordinances were revealed—all of which are a necessary prelude to the performance of an eternal marriage.”

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. 1966.

“The temple ceremony was given by a wise Heavenly Father . . . . The endowment was revealed by revelation.”

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (chapter on Temples and Temple Work).

“the Prophet Joseph Smith . . . the endowment ceremony was given to him.” “It is the Lord's house. He directs the conditions under which it may be used. He has revealed the ordinances that should be performed therein.”

Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple.


Notes


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