Some Q's about LDS temples?

Question

i once visited an LDS temple before its dedication, the Winter Quarters temple. i remember it being decorated like a house, everything looked very expensive. the baptismal font was on the back of oxen, what is the purpose of this? there was also a room with rows of chairs, like a movie theater. i think your temples are very fascinating, there were just a few things that i saw that i was not familiar with. and i respect if you don't go into detail about rituals, as i know they are sacred.

Answer 1

Brian gave you a good answer about the oxen. Pretty much everything in the temple is symbolic of something pertaining to God or to eternal life.

The room with the chairs is called an endowment room. The endowment is presented in an audio-visual (read film type) format in all temples in the world except for Manti and Salt Lake City, where it is still read live.

In the temple we make covenants with God. These covenants are sacred to us and so we don't discuss them freely (particularly with people who would make fun or misunderstand them). However, the temple endowment is not a secret. It has been included in the Library of Congress.

One of the main roles of the temples is to unite families eternally. LDS believe that families are eternal and sacred. We do baptisms for our kindred dead so that those who have not had the opportunity to receive the ordinance of baptism may. It bears stating that any work done for any person in the temple may be rejected by that person. So if your great aunt Mildred didn't want to have a baptism performed, it is not applicable to her. We have no way of knowing, however, whether or not Aunt Mildred wants the ordinance performed, so we do it anyhow, and God leaves the choice to her.

Everything in the temple brings us back to Jesus Christ.

The Church website has a lot of good information about temples and their purposes.

Answer 2

Indeed they are very expensive to out fit and maintain. The memebership pays tithing, and that is suppose to help pay the bills. However the truth probably comes closer in that all the big businesses owned by the Church ??? pays a goodly portion of the bills.

It has been reported that after the "open to public" period is over the halls must be recarpeted do to the traffic of visitors.

Yes there is a large room, where in are located rows of seats. They are used for the instructional portion of ceramonies. Some do have a movie theator in them, the Salt Lake Temple is suppose to still have live actors portraying the various parts of the instructions.

In so far as the oxen are concerned, yes they support a large baptismal font, use in services of..."Baptism for the dead". There are also other rooms for weddings and gender specific dressing rooms.

All in all it is meant to be a very special place for all of the faithful membership holding Temple Recomends. Obtaining such a recomend does require consider effort on the part of each member and man-wife combination.

Answer 3

I think that the oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

The room with theh rows of chairs is the ordinance room.

I don't know about expensive, but everything is top quality. Not only does it show extreme respect for God and His house, it's also good investment, as quality stuff lasts longer.

This is the house of the Lord, and a place to escape the pressures of the world for a little time. IT is all conducive to helping one concentrate on Christ and God, rather than the world.

Answer 4

The temple baptismal font is patterned after the "molten sea" included in the temple that Solomon built. The 12 oxen undoubtedly represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

1st Kings 7:23-26
23 ¶ And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
24 And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

Answer 5

Babtism for the dead...1 cornithians 15:12 talks about babtizing the dead, most bible scholars are not sure what Paul is talkign about here, this is one of the few passages Jo smith uses to establish his chruch out of the orignal KJV bible, Jo smith says he knows what it means, he says it mean to literally babtize the dead so they can in the next liek except the babtism into the LDS church or not, and says that sometimes the dead will show up in the temples and thnak them for this ordinance (They see dead people-LOL) They also Marry for eternity as well. I am not sure about the rams. The theater is for the "other" garden of Eden story thy have to present to the people getting their temple endowments done, there are two theologies runnnin in the churh, one for the ones who have been to the temple and one for those who have not. I am not sure if there is more info for those who are higher up int he chain of command, say the 12 apostles maybe, thats just an assumption from my army days.

Answer 6

I've often wondered about the symbology of the oxen supporting the baptismal fount. It has always struck me as sort of animistic or pagan. They are representative of the 12 tribes of Israel, but the connection to oxen isn't clear (to me).

Per Todd Compton, "Because it has some unique scriptures and theology and because it has both correspondence with, and independence from, its Judeo-Christian roots, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will continue to have its own unique symbolic system."

There you go.

Answer 7

They are very beautiful. I have only seen pictures. I haven't actually been able to go through one because I just converted and I am not "ready". But soon I will be and I can't wait.

Answer 8

Very pleasant Q

Others above have answered well