You Are Clean
Ensign, Nov. 1996, pg 30; “On 3 April 1836 the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were engaged in sacred spiritual worship in the Kirtland Temple. After a solemn and silent prayer the Lord appeared to them and accepted the Kirtland Temple as His house.
“The marvelous description of the Savior and the appearance of ancient prophets who restored essential keys make the 110th section of the Doctrine and Covenants one of the most sacred and profound of all the communications the Lord has given us.
“Some of the most beautiful words in this section, or that any of us could ever hope to hear, are contained in verses 5 and 6:
“’Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice.
“‘Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name.’” – Quentin L. Cook, “Rejoice!”
1 Corinthians 3:16; “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
1 Corinthians 6:19; “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
Psalm 51:16-17; “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Where in scripture does it say that building a temple will make you clean? Implying such a thing completely contradicts the gospel! Why did Jesus pay for man’s sins on the cross if all we had to do was build a temple?
The words of Mr. Cook also tell Mormons that it’s because of their might they can be saved. Where is the humility in knowing and accepting that you aren’t God and you’re not the one in charge?
Also take a look at the fact that dead people are appearing to these people inside a building that isn’t even following orthodox biblical sacrifices like in the Old Testament. If you’re going to live by Old Testament Laws of making sacrifices in the temples then where are the animals, the blood and the proper temple clothing?
Where are the rituals clearly listed in the Bible for the proper way to sacrifice and worship God?
The bible is clear that we aren’t to have anything to do with the dead. God is the God of the living, not the dead!
The Encyclopedia of Mormonism, pg, 1596 defines worship as working.
“Latter-day Saint worship is defined as coming unto the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, in spirit and truth (D&C 93:19; cf. JST John 4:24). All of life may be worshipful, as manifest in prayer and in devotion, in the ordinances of the gospel, including the Sacrament, in selfless service to mankind, and in the culmination of all worship in the temples of God.”
To quote one of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers, “Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him”. While doing good deeds for your neighbors and working for God can be a good thing, these all take our attention away from Him.
Are you undividedly focused upon Him while in your temple? What about when you’re volunteering at church? Not hardly. The focus is on the task at hand and not being physically on your knees with no distractions.
I finally learned the real meaning of worship after I became a Christian. I desired and needed to have alone time with God so I could praise Him for who He is, for what He had done, for the promises He kept, for His word, for His love, for the assurance He gave me, for His Holy Spirit inside of me…the list is endless and continues to grow as I age in years and maturity.
Worship can also be spent in corporate worship with other believers when we sing praise songs to Him and pray.
Worship is a human response to the presence of the divine. Doing works is not a response.
My father’s family belonged to the Episcopal Church. I, like my mother, belonged to the Free Will Baptist Church, and my friends belonged to differing churches, including the Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran and Catholic. Combined with my personal knowledge and understanding of the teaching of these religions, I also have a degree in Music and Religion, so I understand and know the teaching of most all religions, especially the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints since I have been a convert for the past thirty years. I think it’s wonderful that you are reading the Doctrine and Covenants, but you do err in your interpretation of this passage of scripture. We do not teach that the building of temples will afford forgiveness of sins. We clearly teach in the Third Article of Faith that “We believe that through the atonement of Jesus Christ that all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” Christ most graciously said to those individuals at that time that their sins were forgiven as we have seen Him do so often in the new testament. Case in point is the healing of the man with palsy discussed in Mark, Chapter 2. In verse five we read, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” In Luke Christ said to the woman who had annointed his feet with oil, “Thy sins are forgiven thee. Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” My favorite passage of scripture is found in James 5:14-15. “Is any sick among you? let him call the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, annointing him in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The key word in these passages is faith. It was because Jesus recognized the great faith of all these individuals in all of these situations that he chose to forgive them, especially so with the early mormon saints. It took a tremendous amount of faith to first organize the church, but the building of the first temple was a momentous occassion, so for their faith and obedience, their sins were forgiven them. As for this idea that you put forth that God is the God of the living, but not of the dead is completely not the understanding I receive when studying the old and new testaments. I assume that you have family members and friends who have died. Are they to be written off as inconsequencial and of no account. Of course not. Christ died on the Cross, descended below for three days where He preached the gospel and organized the church and on the third day He arose. He and fellow saints were now resurrected beings, having their bodies and spirits united for all time never to be separated again. This is the day for which we look. The last day when Christ shall return and the worthy dead and living shall be caught up in the air or if you prefer to say shall be raptured up, but it is the resurrection that we await, both living and dead. In the old testament there were laws about how to handle the dead and the cleansing period and process, but this has nothing to do with the dead, meaning the collective body of spirits who have died and await the resurrection in the spirit world, which consists of paradise (Luke 23:43 “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”) and spirit prison (1Peter 3:19 “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.”) Not to offend you in anyway, but you should not be instructing other people about mormonism because you clearly do no know what and who we are. Leave it to us to teach our beliefs dear sir.