Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OK, so this thread piqued my curiosity, so I looked online for pictures of interiors of LDS Temples. From what I saw, they look odd to me, being a Presbyterian. Sort of a funeral parlor painted white look. And what's the significance of the longhorns under the baptismals?
The thing I don't see is a sanctuary. Is that forbidden to photograph them? Or maybe you call them something different? Are there crosses/crucifixes or any statues? Stained glass windows? Pews? What's the service/liturgy like? Closer to Baptist or Catholocism?
Just curious - and I'm not baiting anyone into an religious discussion, I'm just wondering about what you experience on Sunday mornings.
CTR1dotOrg, I am well familiar with your temples I had the opportunity to go through the temple that you have in Kensington, Maryland before it was consecrated and the public was allowed to go on the tour and I do know that that is not a meetinghouse. I can understand the concept of a meetinghouse, where individuals come together to prepare and share a meal that is a longtime custom of my culture that your people borrowed from mine however there are a great deal of differences in our beliefs, we do not worship in our meetinghouses and as I stated earlier we do not need a man-made structure in order to worship our Creator. Yes I have heard that your Book of Mormon was supposedly written specifically for Native Americans and there may be some similarities to how you worship and to how the Native Americans worship their Creator but they're also a vastly number of differences, no disrespect to you or your belief, but for me as an Elder of my people it is hard for me to comprehend the fact that you need such large buildings and temples for your God, and it's not just your religion but it's all of the religions that have such large temples for their God, my Creator has no such use for such places.
OK, so this thread piqued my curiosity, so I looked online for pictures of interiors of LDS Temples. From what I saw, they look odd to me, being a Presbyterian. Sort of a funeral parlor painted white look. And what's the significance of the longhorns under the baptismals?
The thing I don't see is a sanctuary. Is that forbidden to photograph them? Or maybe you call them something different? Are there crosses/crucifixes or any statues? Stained glass windows? Pews? What's the service/liturgy like? Closer to Baptist or Catholocism?
Just curious - and I'm not baiting anyone into an religious discussion, I'm just wondering about what you experience on Sunday mornings.
Baptismal fonts in LDS temples are located below ground level for symbolic reasons and they rest on the backs of 12 oxen representing the 12 tribes of Israel.
Cameras are expected to be checked at the doors as the proceedings inside our temples are sacred and not to be disclosed to those who are not authorized to enter the temples. I can assure you from personal experience that everything that takes place inside LDS temples is edifying and of eternal value for those who accept the ordinances, keep the covenants they make with God, and live worthily.
Latter-day Saints commonly do not display crosses or crucifixes though we understand that we are indebted forever to Jesus Christ for the atonement he wrought for our sins in Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. We celebrate the living Christ who today stands at the head of his restored church and directs living apostles and prophets as he did anciently.
Temples are closed on Sundays and on Monday nights. On Sunday we gather in meetinghouses to partake of the bread and water in remembrance of the Savior, and to learn more about him and his ways in age appropriate classroom instruction. Monday nights are reserved for families to gather together for "Family Home Evenings" where parents interact with, teach, and have fun with their children.
The public is invited to meet with us in meetinghouses on Sundays. There is a worldwide meetinghouse locator at: LDS Maps
But only those members of the LDS Church who live worthily are allowed inside dedicated temples.
Thanks for your interest.
There is reliable information about LDS temples at the following links:
CTR1dotOrg, I am well familiar with your temples I had the opportunity to go through the temple that you have in Kensington, Maryland before it was consecrated and the public was allowed to go on the tour and I do know that that is not a meetinghouse. I can understand the concept of a meetinghouse, where individuals come together to prepare and share a meal that is a longtime custom of my culture that your people borrowed from mine however there are a great deal of differences in our beliefs, we do not worship in our meetinghouses and as I stated earlier we do not need a man-made structure in order to worship our Creator. Yes I have heard that your Book of Mormon was supposedly written specifically for Native Americans and there may be some similarities to how you worship and to how the Native Americans worship their Creator but they're also a vastly number of differences, no disrespect to you or your belief, but for me as an Elder of my people it is hard for me to comprehend the fact that you need such large buildings and temples for your God, and it's not just your religion but it's all of the religions that have such large temples for their God, my Creator has no such use for such places.
Nobody needs a man-made structure to worship God, that can be done in the silence of the heart wherever a human being is located. But man-made structures such as a house or a sweat lodge are very useful for the purposes they were built.
There are tens of thousands of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples who are members of the worldwide LDS Church. My guess is that all of them appreciate the man-made structures we erect to help us worship, interact, and learn in a more organized way at appropriate times. We still each have our individual personal ways of worshiping God, as do Native Americans who are devoted to culture and tradition. (Though we don't use tobacco. )
Baptismal fonts in LDS temples are located below ground level for symbolic reasons and they rest on the backs of 12 oxen representing the 12 tribes of Israel.
Cameras are expected to be checked at the doors as the proceedings inside our temples are sacred and not to be disclosed to those who are not authorized to enter the temples. I can assure you from personal experience that everything that takes place inside LDS temples is edifying and of eternal value for those who accept the ordinances, keep the covenants they make with God, and live worthily.
Latter-day Saints commonly do not display crosses or crucifixes though we understand that we are indebted forever to Jesus Christ for the atonement he wrought for our sins in Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. We celebrate the living Christ who today stands at the head of his restored church and directs living apostles and prophets as he did anciently.
Temples are closed on Sundays and on Monday nights. On Sunday we gather in meetinghouses to partake of the bread and water in remembrance of the Savior, and to learn more about him and his ways in age appropriate classroom instruction. Monday nights are reserved for families to gather together for "Family Home Evenings" where parents interact with, teach, and have fun with their children.
The public is invited to meet with us in meetinghouses on Sundays. There is a worldwide meetinghouse locator at: LDS Maps
But only those members of the LDS Church who live worthily are allowed inside dedicated temples.
Thanks for your interest.
There is reliable information about LDS temples at the following links:
Thanks for your in-depth response. It does seem that there's a bit of secrecy in the church, but you explained it well enough. It's just quite different from other churches where anyone off the street can walk in, sit down, and attend the service.
Nobody needs a man-made structure to worship God, that can be done in the silence of the heart wherever a human being is located. But man-made structures such as a house or a sweat lodge are very useful for the purposes they were built.
There are tens of thousands of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples who are members of the worldwide LDS Church. My guess is that all of them appreciate the man-made structures we erect to help us worship, interact, and learn in a more organized way at appropriate times. We still each have our individual personal ways of worshiping God, as do Native Americans who are devoted to culture and tradition. (Though we don't use tobacco. )
We don't use tobacco either,nor do we use any kind of hallucinogenic,there seems to be a big misconception here.I don't know what other Native American Nations that are members of your religion,however I do know that the majority of the members of my people in both the East and the West do not belong to your religion,but you're entitled to your beliefs and I can respect that,even though at times I do not understand the reasoning behind all the temples,understand the way I look at it,and it's not just your religion,Christianity professes to be a charitable organization,from my viewpoint,and yet you spend all this money on these huge temples when that money could be best used to help those that are homeless and can't feed their families,imagine what you could do by helping those individuals or families with the money that you spent building a temple,is that not more charitable then building some large building to worship your God in?
Just a little side note,a sweat lodge doesn't cost anything to make and it is not a place of worship.
We don't use tobacco either,nor do we use any kind of hallucinogenic,there seems to be a big misconception here.I don't know what other Native American Nations that are members of your religion,however I do know that the majority of the members of my people in both the East and the West do not belong to your religion,but you're entitled to your beliefs and I can respect that,even though at times I do not understand the reasoning behind all the temples,understand the way I look at it,and it's not just your religion,Christianity professes to be a charitable organization,from my viewpoint,and yet you spend all this money on these huge temples when that money could be best used to help those that are homeless and can't feed their families,imagine what you could do by helping those individuals or families with the money that you spent building a temple,is that not more charitable then building some large building to worship your God in?
Just a little side note,a sweat lodge doesn't cost anything to make and it is not a place of worship.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does an enormous amount of charitable work all over the world, often being among the first on the scene of a natural disaster.
But aside from voluntarily helping the poor and needy with their temporal affairs, churches exist even more specifically to help people develop spiritually and to prepare to meet their God when they die. That role in the LDS faith is facilitated by the building and use of meetinghouses and temples. The church would be hugely negligent if it did not obey the Lord's commandment to build and operate temples.
You speak of "my people" but my guess is that you are referring to your tribe rather than to Native Americans in general, is that correct?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does an enormous amount of charitable work all over the world, often being among the first on the scene of a natural disaster.
But aside from voluntarily helping the poor and needy with their temporal affairs, churches exist even more specifically to help people develop spiritually and to prepare to meet their God when they die. That role in the LDS faith is facilitated by the building and use of meetinghouses and temples. The church would be hugely negligent if it did not obey the Lord's commandment to build and operate temples.
You speak of "my people" but my guess is that you are referring to your tribe rather than to Native Americans in general, is that correct?
I speak of "my people" as the Tsalagi ( Cherokee Nation ) and yes you are correct in that assumption, however I know Elders from many different Native Nations across this land and we do communicate with one another.
I do not wish to criticize your religion or belief, I just do not see the reasoning behind the great temples and the money that it took to build these temples, I feel that that money could be put to better use in a charitable manner, I know you talk of the good works that you do and that is to be commendable of you, but imagine how much more you could do.
I do not wish to criticize your religion or belief, I just do not see the reasoning behind the great temples and the money that it took to build these temples, I feel that that money could be put to better use in a charitable manner, I know you talk of the good works that you do and that is to be commendable of you, but imagine how much more you could do.
But imagine how much we do in the temples that generates ETERNAL benefits and doesn't just feed someone's physical body for a day or two!
But imagine how much we do in the temples that generates ETERNAL benefits and doesn't just feed someone's physical body for a day or two!
Ahhhh, but we live and exist in the physical world, in the eternal world one does not need such physical attributes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
)
