Deseret News | Oquirrh Mountain Temple: 'It's a wonderful thing'

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Oquirrh Mountain Temple: 'It's a wonderful thing'

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A group of Lions | 4:41 p.m. May 21, 2009

re: only in america | 2:51 p.m. May 21, 2009

//to all: You find what you look for.//

Like Bono, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

//13 million members are proud of the temples.//

All 13 million? Including those who are inactive, cultural mormons, etc...?

Its rather arrogant to assume a collectivist mentality & then there is that piece of advice about THE universal sin.

RIch | 4:46 p.m. May 21, 2009

I should take that tour, because when I went to church they didn't explain anything they actually believe.
So I take it the tour guides will be able to answer my questions on the similarities to masonry. That would be great! I would love to actually talk to someone about it rather than have every mormon I ask about it call me "Anti Mormon" and tell me to pray.
That obviously is not the way to have an intelligent conversation.

To: 4:30 | 4:51 p.m. May 21, 2009

The Methodist Epicopal Church had black leadership prior to the 20th Century. There were many other black churches that had their own leadership. Quit being so patronizing and self-serving.

Comments continue below

RE: Familiar Spirit | 5:09 p.m. May 21, 2009

The Holy Ghost(Spirit) is from God,the familiar spirit is devination from a medium (occultic)Leviticus 19:31,not from God.

To: Familiar Spirit | 3:08 p.m | 10:01 p.m. May 21, 2009

I have to agree. Who is to say the Holy Ghost cannot be felt outside of a religious building? As the the children of Israel wandered in the desert, I'm sure they would have felt that Spirit. On a personal note, one Sunday I attended "Music & the Spoken Word" in the Tabernacle. After that, my friend and I went to Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeline. Both places brought a sense of calm and peace. The Tabernacle choir sang a favorite hymn "Where Can I Turn for Peace." At the Cathedral, the choir sang songs that I didn't know, yet I felt closer to God.

Whether at home, in the out of doors or in a sacred religious place, the Spirit cannot be constrained simply by location. What kind of God wouldn't want his children to hear and feel his presence?

Life forces us to choose | 10:31 p.m. May 21, 2009

The church is either divine or not; Mr. Joseph Smith either told the truth or not; the Book of Mormon is a hoax or not; the temple is essential or it is not; family matters or not; life is real or not. We must come down on one side or the other, but nobody will be allowed, over time, to try to come down on both sides. We are all allowed to choose. Neither God nor the church will force any man to a higher life of faith and happiness, but life will force us all to choose. Facts are in scientists: people who attend church, any church, (just have to believe that church) over time, live longer. God is winning.

True | 10:42 p.m. May 21, 2009

I love to see the temples.

Chachi | 12:17 a.m. May 22, 2009

Rich: I think your question deserves a good explanation. True; there are too many similarities between Masonic rituals and the endowment ceremony to call it coincidental. There are several ways to explain it; perhaps the truth is some combination of these:

1) If Masonry is what it claims to be (i.e., related in a roundabout way to Solomon's Temple), and if the Mormon temples are what they claim to be (i.e., a modern version of ancient temple ceremonies), then we should expect some similarities.

2) Granted, the historical evidence linking Solomon's Temple and Freemasonry is sparse. Perhaps more significant is the fact that many civilizations have had sacred ceremonies with just as many similarities to the LDS endowment as Freemasonry has, suggesting that they all descend from a common source. Hugh Nibley wrote about that.

3) To some degree, Joseph Smith probably used Masonic rites as a template for the endowment. The important thing is that the truths communicated and the covenants made are from God. It doesn't undermine the sacred nature of the endowment to suppose that Joseph drew on things he was familiar with to design the ceremony's teaching method.

Hey MRMR | 8:20 a.m. May 22, 2009

If you want to do away with the deficit, taxing church property won't do anything. I would suggest that you call your Congressman and tell him to stop all the wasteful government programs, pork spending, stimulus packages, loaning money to banks, GM, Chrysler, brokerage houses, etc. Roll back government and the wasteful spending that goes along with unwanted and uneeded social programs. Make the business climate better so jobs don't get exported to China. In other words, get the govenment out of our wallets and out of every aspect of our lives. The deficit will take care of itself.

to Guide (OC Guy here) | 9:10 a.m. May 22, 2009

Not so at Newport Beach. We hit snags plenty of times, both en route to the temple and once inside, where we had to pause for 2-5 minutes to allow the group ahead of us to proceed. Our guide filled these delays with a monologue, during which questions could have been asked without delaying anything. Rather than explaining the temple, her chatter superficially touched on LDS Church history, and it blocked anyone from asking a question, except for my friend's eleven year-old son, who inserted his questions during a brief pause in her monologue.

I have been on plenty of tours where the guide could not answer a question, which is nothing to be ashamed of. You simply answer "I don't know the answer to your question, but I will help you find the answer after the tour" (i.e. from someone more knowledgeable in the stake center, in this case). The policy in this case seemed to be to fill all free time with monologue to PREVENT any questions at all.

I had been on a silent self guided tour of Jordan River temple but this tour was ANYTHING but silent: a monologue!!

to Guide (OC Guy) | 9:17 a.m. May 22, 2009

Though I honestly doubt that most active LDS with temple recommends would not be able to answer the question "why was my fifth grader friend, an active Mormon, not allowed to attend his brother's wedding?" Most if not all would know that only endowed members can attend a temple sealing (not counting minor children who are being sealed to a couple). Perhaps they could not answer the question as deftly as a church PR official could, but the majority would know the answer. Her answer was, "As I said at the start of the tour, there is no time to answer questions. You may ask your question in the stake center after the tour." Oddly enough, our tour guide included active LDS members who probably knew the answer, but were not allowed to talk by the guide!!

To nonmembers, an honest "I don't know", or allowing a member of the group (who is active LDS) to answer, seems natural and sincere. Not allowing questions sounds controlling and bizarre, even if LDS Church PR folks don't realize it.

Chachi | 10:56 a.m. May 22, 2009

To OC Guy: Hopefully we can agree on this and move on: Your tour guide was apparently nervous, afraid of questions, and not very tactful. She didn't need to fill up time with her monologue. She could've answered questions and it would've been fine. I'm sorry you had a crummy tour guide.

I've been to about six temple open houses, and they don't always do it the same way. Sometimes the tours are self-guided; sometimes they're in groups. When there are tour guides, sometimes they ask everyone to be quiet the whole time; sometimes they only do that in the celestial room. I've had very different experiences, sometimes even at the same open house, and it mainly depends on who's giving the tour.

Bill to OC | 1:19 p.m. May 22, 2009

I understand your point and it is well taken. As others have mentioned these are nothing more than volunteers. Some go with the direction they are given which is to not answer questions. Though this seems rude it really isn't as answering particular questions takes away some of what the tour is designed to do. The tour guide should have in my opinion been less talk-a-tive and more attentive to the group. I agree she could have answered, I'm sorry but we'll answer your questions once we are back in the Stake Center or outside of the temple. Othertimes, some get really nervous because of the silence and just ramble. Not good for the guide and not good for the group.

However, they are volunteers trying to do their best to help provide a good experience. I've been to several temple open houses and each has been different but being active LDS I go with a different perspective than those going to see what the big deal is or for the first time.

I don't know how we can answer your concerns except maybe voice them to our leaders.

To 4:30/4:51 | 11:38 p.m. May 23, 2009

Yes there were many Churches that had Black leadership, and most of them were segregated congregations. LDS never had a segregated congregations. The list of controversies of the Methodist Epicopal Church is probably as long or longer than LDS'. The seperation of the Church over Slavery and Women's Rights, the ordination of women priests, homosexual deacons and priests, the change of their canon and ecumenical dogma to flow with the winds of society than the word of God.

I would be willing to bet that every religion has faced scrutiny and prejudice, but it seems to me, an out of Utah Mormon, that the LDS are targeted more than any other religion.

re: few churches had black.. | 1:21 a.m. May 24, 2009

Wow, I can see you hit all the talking points for missionaries concearning race, but did you not realize how racist your statement was?

Chris | 8:51 a.m. May 24, 2009

What is the big deal? Why can't everyone just live their own lives and stop finding fault with everything they don't understand or agree with. Everyone has their own beliefs and values and morals. Do we care what they are? No. We should live our lives and respect everyone else out there.

SS | 4:38 p.m. May 24, 2009

I don't know exactly what questions aren't being answered, but most members of the church are pretty open to doing their best to answer them. And I agree that "I don't know" is an acceptable answer.

Most of the "tough" questions, such as blacks and the priesthood and polygamy have a simple answer - "because that was God's will" - but this answer is not always acceptable to those outside the church, especially those who have had little exposure to the other doctrines of the church. I don't think any "PR" spin is necessary.

Belief begins with desire. In my life so far, I have never met anyone who wanted the church to be true that didn't eventually receive a confirmation of that desire. On the other hand, those who don't want the church to be true, who truly hope that it is NOT true, will find it difficult, if not impossible to be open-hearted and open-minded enough to receive a spiritual response in the affirmative.

So, yes, you do deserve answers, but sometimes the answer is "at this point we don't know all of the reasons."

Anonymous | 5:58 p.m. May 25, 2009

"Most of the 'tough' questions, such as blacks and the priesthood and polygamy have a simple answer - 'because that was God's will' - but this answer is not always acceptable to those outside the church, especially those who have had little exposure to the other doctrines of the church."

I asked a member of the People's Temple why she was going to Guyana to drink poisoned Kool-aid, and she said "Because that was God's will".

I asked a member of David Koresh's Branch Davidians why he was going to Waco Texas to be burned alive in an FBI/ATF raid, and he said, "Because that was God's will".

I asked a young woman why she was going to San Diego as part of Applewhite's and Nettles' Heaven's Gate UFO cult to drink poison, and she said, "Because that was God's will".

I asked an Islamic guy why he trained for years to be a pilot, then planned to hijack a jet and fly it into the WTC Towers, and he said, "Because that was God's will".

"It was God's will" has a bad track record. Don't say it.

Amen Chris | 5:39 p.m. June 8, 2009

The bottom line is that there are BILLIONS of people in this world, all of which have different views than you may have (all of you who are degrading this beautiful structure.) It is childish of you to sit there and try and make this look just like another "7-11" or compare it to a McDonalds. Nobody on this whole thread has said anything badly about any other worship building of any sort of any other religion. It would be wonderful if you could act the same. Respect that every one has different views. We all learned in history that this nation exists because of people who wanted to worship how they pleased, so moved somewhere where that could be possible without anyone telling them otherwise. And this nation is still based on that, and should prove to be as such.

Dan | 11:32 a.m. July 10, 2009

You must see this temple for yourself. It is amazing.

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