Why Should We Go to The Temple?

I just came back from a visit to the temple. For us it’s not a trivial thing to go there — think 9-10 hours one way — and it tends to require certain sacrifices to get there. But the rewards are worth more than any sacrifice I have made so far.

I reread the Kirtland temple dedication prayer on both days we were there (see D&C 109). What especially touched me — again — was the message of verses 22 and 23 (read them here). It sort of looked quite natural that one should be endowed before going on a full-time mission — it was evident for me after I had received my endowment. It should be noted for the benefit of the conspiracy theorists, that nothing is taught or said in the temple that is not available to everyone in the Scriptures. There are other people, who could explicate that better than I can, so that much for that for now (okay, read Mosiah 18:8-10 for starters). What was new was the simplicity and a much stronger sense of the Sacred within.

Well, I wonder if I have really gone “forth from [His] house armed with [His] power”, but at least I have tried to be worthy of having His name upon me. However, try as I might, I find myself always falling short. He promises Himself, that if we come to Him, He will show us our weakness (see Ether 12:27). I have found also that if I try by myself, I not only accomplish less, I feel often stressed and anxious; whereas if I lean on Him I can do more — and I can have joy in what little I’m able to do.

The Savior says in Matthew 11:29-30: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” I have tried to go it alone more than once — apparently I’m not a very fast learner — and  I would like to believe that the lesson is gradually sinking in. If you know what a yoke is, and what it’s used for, you’ll know how unintuitive it is for natural man to ease his burden by being yoked. It’s as logical as it is to find my life by losing it; if I’m always looking out for “what’s in it for me?” I will miss the greatest reward imaginable.

The irony is, that for every step I take, He carries me further than I can even see — but often not the way I thought I was supposed to be taking. As a teenager in the 1970s I spent some time around the Amish heartland in Lancaster County, PA. A family I stayed with had a simple note posted on their fridge door: “The hurrier I go the behinder I get.” This is kind of like that. The harder I try without Him, the harder it gets. If I don’t take Him with me, I usually take the wrong direction.

(As an aside it should be said, that the people I met that year somehow gave me an idea that you can be religious without being a freak. No, they weren’t Amish or LDS or anything exotic, but that’s not the point. That was a time in my life when I felt very disappointed in all organized religion — at least as far as I knew it — but their example showed me a different kind of side to religion and religious people by being un-hypocritical. They tried to do what they believed was right without looking down their noses at others, whose standards were different.)

Anyhow, what I wanted to say could have been said just by saying that the standard answer you usually get to the question asked in the title of this post is, although true, not the whole story at all. Helping our deceased relatives is only a part of the answer. I figure the more often I visit the temple the more the power referred to in D&C 109:22-23 I have with me.

Virtue is said to be its own reward. As far as I have seen and experienced, that is true. And the same could be said of charity and a lot of other things we’re supposed to develop. Our Savior will carry us, if we but let Him.

Are Faith And Doubt Always Mutually Exclusive?

First off, I want to say, that it is not my intention to be negative about what has been said about the subject.

We heard in the conference – again – that faith and doubt can not coexist in the same heart. I both agree and disagree, based on my personal experience and from reading the Scriptures and Church magazines and literature.

I Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet

I realized something yesterday, that was not surprising, but it somehow still surprised me a little. I’ll have to do some explaining, to let you know what I mean.

Last year, when Pres. Hinckley died, I felt as if I had lost a friend. No, I didn’t know him personally, in all honesty, but after following him for over 20 years, I knew enough about him – had read the books written by and about him – to feel that I did know him. Pres. Kimball was the president of the Church, when I was baptized, and had been for a few years, so that I didn’t hear very much about any other presidents. I was a missionary, when Gordon B. Hinckley was called as third counselor in the First Presidency – presidents Romney and Tanner were incapacitated because of illness, as was Pres. Kimball.

A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief

I have heard, that this was a song, that the Prophet – not Muhammad, Joseph Smith – loved. I have no reason to doubt the truth of that. Actually, it’s quite easy for me to believe, because of my own experience.

Hosanna, Rejoice!

Every now and then, someone in a Sacrament Meeting speaks about an issue that touches me deeply. This time around, it was about rejoicing. To start, let’s look at Psalms 118:25-26: “ Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. ^aBlessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord”. The first expression there is Save now (usually transliterated from Hebrew in modern time as Hosanna). Think about salvation for a little while.

Can You Make Mormons Simple?

Laurel and Doug are trying to. They have a site, MormonsMadeSimple.com, which “uses simple, explanatory videos to explain the Mormon faith”. I checked out the ones they have put out so far, and I liked them. So you’ll get to see them, too. At least they are simple, and to me, it seems they explain fairly well the stuff I’d spend a lot of time explaining.

Why We Must Die In Order to Live

[Edit on Mar 11: I have seen some weird search terms repeatedly sending traffic to this post, so I decided to add this by way of disclaimer: If you're looking for justification for suidice or worse, don't bother. None here. This deals with accepting mortality when it's time, not seeking death.]

I had an interesting experience yesterday. Last week, a friend I had known for 10 years passed away because of heart failure. He was the first priesthood holder in this branch (before it was a branch, actually; it was just missionaries holding meetings), and served as a full-time missionary in the mid-1950s. He was a very gentle and thoughtful man.

An Acceptable Batting Average?

Okay, I’m no “sports enthusiast” (the quotation marks signify my somewhat snide observation that people, who are called sports enthusiasts, mainly participate by swigging beer on a Lay-Z-Boy), but just following popular culture has introduced me to the subject of batting averages. Furthermore, I am not all too fond of sports analogies, partly because I regard sports trivial at best, and a vehicle of chauvinistic provincialism and xenophobia at worst, partly because they tend to be too simplistic. On the other hand, their simplicity is what makes them useful. So there you are.

The Power of Thought – A Thought of Power

If you’re like me (and I realize that I actually wish most people aren’t – there’s always the individualist that wants to be special), you will have noticed that there are more self-help books than anyone would wish to see. One of the trends in self-help books is promoting positive thinking, starting – in my awareness – from Dr. Eric Berne’s I’m Ok, You’re Ok book-turned-series. I have no beef with the idea itself – that purposefully focusing on positive things benefits you – it is the “magic wand” way that you’re supposed to wield this “positive thinking”. At times it takes on an almost comical form, when you’re told that you can use stuff like that in a purely selfish way.

Can I Forgive – And What About Forgetting?

Okay, after being sick for two weeks, I am coming back to life. I had to do a little studying last week while trying to get going, and I came up with some ideas I think may be interesting (and maybe not).

For starters, I got my first spiritual insight reading the New Testament long before I ever met a Mormon. I’m saying that just to say that it’s something that people have come up with this independently. In Matthew’s chapter six, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. His demonstration includes the words, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt 6:12). After he had finished that, he says, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:14-15).