"And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple ... and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi ..." -- Malachi 3:1,3.
Please tell me, if temples are part of the old covenant, done away with, and the Mormons are wrong to build them, then how will this Millennial prophecy be fulfilled? To where will the Lord suddenly come?
The Lord repeated a portion of this prophecy in December, 1830, in direct first-person revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, just a few months after the Church of Jesus Christ was restored on the earth.
Showing posts with label temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temple. Show all posts
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Almost a fool
It is true, Latter-day Saints can tend to have an overly sensitive persecution complex.
But what can you say when dozens of webpages, hundreds of books and even special sessions at other churches are devoted specifically to attacking us?
Still, I have to laugh at myself for what happened the other day. And also, be grateful for what didn't happen.
A friend of mine on Facebook posted about how she and her husband were now preparing to go to the temple. Someone chimed in, in capital letters: BUT WHAT PRIESTHOOD DOES DAVID HOLD NOW?
Silly me. I immediately assumed this was some kind of a weird attack on LDS priesthood conceptions, based on the Biblical David, along the lines of Christians are all a priesthood of believers or the Mormon Aaronic priesthood is an anachronism or some such thing.
But I held my Internet tongue.
A day later, the original poster replied that her husband, David, was an elder now.
That's what it was all about.
But what can you say when dozens of webpages, hundreds of books and even special sessions at other churches are devoted specifically to attacking us?
Still, I have to laugh at myself for what happened the other day. And also, be grateful for what didn't happen.
A friend of mine on Facebook posted about how she and her husband were now preparing to go to the temple. Someone chimed in, in capital letters: BUT WHAT PRIESTHOOD DOES DAVID HOLD NOW?
Silly me. I immediately assumed this was some kind of a weird attack on LDS priesthood conceptions, based on the Biblical David, along the lines of Christians are all a priesthood of believers or the Mormon Aaronic priesthood is an anachronism or some such thing.
But I held my Internet tongue.
A day later, the original poster replied that her husband, David, was an elder now.
That's what it was all about.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Temple
The cool rain fell on my face as I looked up at the elegant marble building before me. The hot car engine pinged beneath its hood, protesting the punishing drive that had brought me here, through some of the worst traffic in the United States.
We were at the temple, my dear wife and I, after too long away.
The sacred, the ceremonial, is nearly extinct in the modern world. The temple preserves it.
Someday, our Virginia will have a temple and no longer will we have to endure the D.C. Beltway drive nor set aside an entire day for such a trip.
Holy to the Lord is the House of the Lord, a place of simplicity, a place of peace, a place where heaven and earth meet.
We were at the temple, my dear wife and I, after too long away.
The sacred, the ceremonial, is nearly extinct in the modern world. The temple preserves it.
Someday, our Virginia will have a temple and no longer will we have to endure the D.C. Beltway drive nor set aside an entire day for such a trip.
Holy to the Lord is the House of the Lord, a place of simplicity, a place of peace, a place where heaven and earth meet.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Lady is a recommend
In Commentary, Part 2, (pp185-186) of the late LDS apologist Hugh Nibley's "Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri," we are introduced, albeit briefly, to Maat.
This chapter, and the book itself, is a subtle and appropriate comparison of the revealed LDS temple doctrines with the ancient, rather garbled Egyptian equivalent.
Maat is an Egyptian goddess but not really. Like so many of the earliest deities in myth, she is more concept than a specific being. She is truth, justice and order.
I remember encountering this phenomenon in Hesiod's "Theogony" and in the "Enuma Elish."
Justice, Victory, Wisdom, Discord, even Vengeance all had quasi-divine or anthropomorphic status among peoples of the ancient world -- perhaps this was the missing link between the original religion revealed to Adam and the degenerate, pagan theologies which ruled the world by Abraham's day.
Wisdom is even personified within the pages of the Bible.
Writes Nibley: Maat's presence [with the initiate in the temple] signifies that all is correct and in order -- the equivalent of a temple recommend. Maat herself is not a regular deity: she has no temple, cult [reader, please understand this term in the classical sense, not the modern notion of a"spurious religion"] or mythology of her own.
This chapter, and the book itself, is a subtle and appropriate comparison of the revealed LDS temple doctrines with the ancient, rather garbled Egyptian equivalent.
Maat is an Egyptian goddess but not really. Like so many of the earliest deities in myth, she is more concept than a specific being. She is truth, justice and order.
I remember encountering this phenomenon in Hesiod's "Theogony" and in the "Enuma Elish."
Justice, Victory, Wisdom, Discord, even Vengeance all had quasi-divine or anthropomorphic status among peoples of the ancient world -- perhaps this was the missing link between the original religion revealed to Adam and the degenerate, pagan theologies which ruled the world by Abraham's day.
Wisdom is even personified within the pages of the Bible.
Writes Nibley: Maat's presence [with the initiate in the temple] signifies that all is correct and in order -- the equivalent of a temple recommend. Maat herself is not a regular deity: she has no temple, cult [reader, please understand this term in the classical sense, not the modern notion of a"spurious religion"] or mythology of her own.
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