Temple Blessings for ourselves and our ancestors
Sister Crouch began her lesson by having Autumn Hadley sing, I Love to See the Temple. That beautiful
children's hymn shares the message of the importance of temples in our lives.
There are examples in the scriptures of temples used anciently, such as, Herod's temple in Jerusalem,
the temple where King Benjamin gave his speech, and children of Israel in the wilderness who carried
around tents they used for temples.
Joseph Smith helped restore the use of temples to our day. The Kirtland temple was the first temple
built by the early saints in this dispensation. It was used much like a meeting house but it served an
important purpose. . ."It was there that the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw the Savior
upon the breastwork of the pulpit. It was there that Moses committed to them the keys of the gathering
of Israel; and that Elias and Elijah came in the power and majesty of their great callings, and delivered
the keys that had been committed to their care in the days of their ministry on the earth."
children's hymn shares the message of the importance of temples in our lives.
There are examples in the scriptures of temples used anciently, such as, Herod's temple in Jerusalem,
the temple where King Benjamin gave his speech, and children of Israel in the wilderness who carried
around tents they used for temples.
Joseph Smith helped restore the use of temples to our day. The Kirtland temple was the first temple
built by the early saints in this dispensation. It was used much like a meeting house but it served an
important purpose. . ."It was there that the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw the Savior
upon the breastwork of the pulpit. It was there that Moses committed to them the keys of the gathering
of Israel; and that Elias and Elijah came in the power and majesty of their great callings, and delivered
the keys that had been committed to their care in the days of their ministry on the earth."
In 1905, as a new Apostle, George Albert Smith toured several important Church history sites, one of
which was the Kirtland temple. As he walked through the temple he thought about the devoted Saints
who built it. "When we realized that the building was constructed by people in extreme poverty, how
courageous men worked during the day to lay the foundations and build the walls of that structure, and
then at night stood and defended it with weapons against those who had sworn that the building should
never be completed, [he] could not help but feel that it was no wonder the Lord received their offerings
and blessed them as few people have been blest upon the earth."
Doctrine and Covenants 110 tells that the purpose and importance of the temple was to restore the
keys to the sacred ordinances.
In the temple we receive sacred ordinances, including ordinances that bind families for eternity.
In order that we might be prepared for the [celestial] kingdom, the Lord, in his mercy, in this latter day
restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and placed in it divine authority, and then gave understanding to his
children that certain ordinances may be received and performed. For this purpose temples were built
and into those temples those who desire a place in the Celestial Kingdom have the opportunity to go and
receive their blessings, to enrich their lives and prepare them for that kingdom.
We are the only people in the world who know what temples are for.
Each [temple] has been built to one great eternal purpose: to serve as a House of the Lord, to provide
a place sacred and suitable for the performing of holy ordinances that bind on earth as in heaven --
ordinances for the dead and for the living that assure those who receive them and who are faithful to
their covenants, the possession and association of their families, worlds without end, and exaltation
with them in the celestial kingdom of our Father.
There are only a few places in the world where we can be married for eternity, and that is in the temples
of God.
Ideas were shared of ways we can help our children have the desire to prepare to enter the temple:
Have pictures of temples in their individual rooms.
Attend a temple open house when a new temple is built.
Share the special magazine publications from the Church about temples that show pictures and
explain the purpose of temples.
Show by example by attending regularly and sharing your feelings about the importance of the
temple in your life.
"Let us instruct our young people in these matters from their earliest youth, so that when they approach
the time of marriage, there will be no question in their minds as to where or how or by whom that sacred
ordinance should be performed -- and the only place in which it may be performed for time and for
eternity is in a temple."
Sister Crouch reminded us that we are so fortunate to have so many temples continually being built. She
remembers the day that when a temple was announced to be built in an area, those living in that temple
area would have to raise money (by different means - even having bake sales and such) to help provide
some of the money needed to have the temple built.
Through temple work we make eternal blessings available to our deceased ancestors.
. . .After we have been to the House of the Lord for our own blessings, let us think of our responsibility to
our forebears. What will be your reception when you go on the other side?
Think of the devotion and the faithfulness of those who day after day go into these temples and officiate
for those who have passed to the other side, and know this that those who are on the other side are just
as anxious about us. They are praying for us and for our success. They are pleading, in their own way, for
their descendants, for their posterity who live upon the earth.
We need to do those things necessary for us to be prepared and worthy to go to the temple.
Thank you, Sister Crouch, for this beautiful lesson reminding us of the importance of temples!
- Sister Snow