REL 200 - The Eternal Family

Temple Ordinances and Covenants
Reading Assignments for the course
REL 200 - The Eternal Family
Prof.  Marcus H. Martins, Ph.D.

Readings:

"In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.

"The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.

"Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

The Family: A Proclamation to the World
 .

Doctrine and Covenants 97:10–17 Doctrine and Covenants 124:28, 36–42, 55
Doctrine and Covenants 109:12–24
 
General Handbook (2020 Edition)Chapter 27 - Temple Ordinances for the Living: Preparation for the Endowment

Chapter 38 item 38.4 - Sealing Policies

Chapter 38 item 38.5 - Temple Clothing
 
Pres. Russell M. Nelson
Elder Gary & Sister Lesa Stevenson
Elder Dale & Sister Ruth Renlund
Purposes and Symbols of Temples:

A Sacred House of the Lord - The Washington D.C. Temple  (official video - 2022)
Pres. Russell M. NelsonThe Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation (2021)

Closing Remarks (includes revised temple recommend questions) (2019)
 
Pres. Boyd K. Packer - Ordinances (1980)
 
Elder Richard G. ScottTemple Worship: The Source of Strength and Power in Times of Need
 
Elder D. Todd Christofferson - The Power of Covenants
 
Elder Cree-L Kofford - Marriage in the Lord's Way: Part One - Part Two
 
Elder L. Lionel Kendrick - Enhancing Our Temple Experience
 
Dr. Marcus H. MartinsFormalizing Relationships Through Priesthood Authority (video - 2021)

Seals and the Sealing by the Holy Spirit of Promise (PDF)  HTML (2017)

Eternal Marriage: The Analogy of the Concrete Slab (PDF)  HTML (2015)

Why Aspire to an Eternal Marriage? (video - 2020)

Remarks on Sealings (video - 2020)

Divorces and Sealings (video - 2014)
 
Dr. Marcus H. MartinsReadings on Temples and Ordinances (unofficial handout - PDF)
 

The Prophet Joseph Smith #1 and #2



Pres. Brigham Young

Pres. Young, Smith #3, Kimball, &
Elder Widtsoe #1 and #2


Pres. Russell M. Nelson

The Role of Temples in the Organization of the Church

The Purpose of Building Temples

Exaltation Requires Preparation


Synthesis of the Endowment


Women's Access to the Priesthood
Questions for Review

The Prophet Joseph Smith  #1
The Role of Temples in the Organization of the Church
History of the Church, 4:603

The Church is not fully organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple is completed, where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood.


The Prophet Joseph Smith  #2
The Purpose of Building Temples
History of the Church, 5:423-424

The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose. ... It is for the same purpose that God gathers together His people in the last days, to build unto the Lord a house to prepare them for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointings. …

It was the design of the councils of heaven before the world was, that the principles and laws of the priesthood should be predicated upon the gathering of the people in every age of the world. … Ordinances instituted in the heavens before the foundation of the world, in the priesthood, for the salvation of men, are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles.

If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God, he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord. … All men who become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ will have to receive the fulness of the ordinances of his kingdom; and those who will not receive all the ordinances will come short of the fullness of that glory, if they do not lose the whole.


President Brigham Young
Exaltation Requires Preparation
Discourses, p.95

Some might suppose that it would be a great blessing to be taken and carried directly into heaven and there set down, but in reality that would be no blessing to such persons; they could not reap a full reward, could not enjoy the glory of the kingdom, and could not comprehend and abide the light thereof, but it would be to them a hell intolerable and I suppose would consume them much quicker than would hell fire. It would be no blessing to you to be carried into the celestial kingdom, and obliged to stay therein, unless you were prepared to dwell there.


Synthesis of the Endowment
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.4, Title: Temple Ordinances

President Brigham Young:

Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord... to enable you to walk back into the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and to gain your exaltation. (Discourses, p.416)

Elder John A. Widtsoe #1:

The Temple endowment relates the story of man's eternal journey; sets forth the conditions upon which progress in the eternal journey depends; requires covenants or agreements of those participating, to accept and use the laws of progress; gives tests by which our willingness and fitness for righteousness may be known, and finally points out the ultimate destiny of those who love truth and live by it. (Priesthood and Church Government, p.333)

The Prophet Joseph Smith #3:

[The endowment involves a series of symbolic] washings, anointings, endowments and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic and ... to the highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood, setting forth the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days, and all those plans and principles by which any one is enabled to secure the fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the Church of the Firstborn, and come up and abide in the presence of the Eloheim in the eternal worlds. ... [Spiritual things] to be received only by the spiritual minded ... knowing assuredly that all these things referred to ... are always governed by the principle of revelation. (Teachings, p. 237)

President Heber C. Kimball:

All the ordinances are signs of things in the heavens. Everything we see here is typical of what will be hereafter. (Address to My Children, unpublished)

Elder John A. Widtsoe #2:

[The Endowment increases one's spiritual power, based in part] on enlarged knowledge and intelligence--a power from on high, of a quality with God's own power" (Encyclopedia)


President Russell M. Nelson
Women's Access to the Priesthood
Conference Report, Women's Session - October 2018
More regular time in the temple will allow the Lord to teach you how to draw upon His priesthood power with which you have been endowed in His temple.

For those of you who don’t live near a temple, I invite you to study prayerfully about temples in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets.

Seek to know more, to understand more, to feel more about temples than you ever have before.

Questions for Review

1) What is the Temple Endowment? (Prophet Joseph Smith
#3; in "Synthesis of the Endowment")

2) What is one of the blessings of the Endowment?
(Elder John A. Widtsoe #2; in "Synthesis of the Endowment")

Be prepared to present your understanding about this topic to your classmates, and see if you have additional questions to ask me.  I'll be glad to answer them.

This web page was published only as a support for classroom discussion.
For more information, contact Dr. Marcus Martins at: martinsm@byuh.edu