The Sacredness of Mormon Temples
Many of us are very concerned with keeping our private matters private. We are not interested in having our daily lives examined and we don’t envy celebrities who have their every action plastered up on the television screen. This does not necessarily mean that we are bad people who have secrets we want kept hid, but it does mean that some things are public and others are private, even sacred to us. To use a very rough example, suppose you had an heirloom of your father that might not look like much to anyone else, but, to you, it was more precious than that new yacht or what have you. But those who didn’t understand, or refused to understand, might look upon that with disinterest, or even contempt or mockery. Some things are private, because of how important they are to us, and their importance depends on our personal, nuanced relationship with a person, a symbol, or the past. Those who have not had our experiences will not be able to understand the importance.
Curiously, while most of us understand that some things are private, we often feel angry, or left out, or terribly, terribly curious when those some things are not brought into the public eye. Indeed, the Mormon Church receives much criticism because the sacred ordinances performed in Mormon temples are not available to the public. The ordinances are performed in the temple and many of the details are kept sacred. However, the Church teaches, "It was never intended that knowledge of these temple ceremonies would be limited to a select few who would be obliged to ensure that others never learn them. It is quite the opposite, in fact. With great effort the Church urges every soul to qualify and prepare for the temple ordinance."1
Because of the great sacredness of these ordinances, which are open to anyone prepared to receive them, members are asked not to speak of them outside the temple—as the meaning would simply not be comprehended by those without the experience. "They are kept confidential lest they be given to those who are unprepared." 2 Temple ordinances bear great knowledge with them, and responsibility—and those who are not ready to be responsible for the knowledge should not have it.
Even so, ex-Mormons have taken it upon themselves to reveal Mormon temple ordinances. Church policy on the matter will still stand. LDS scholar Hugh Nibley explains, "The important thing is that I do not reveal these things; they must remain sacred to me… only I know exactly the weight and force of the covenants I have made – I and the Lord with whom I have made them – unless I choose to reveal them. If I do not, then they are secret and sacred no matter what others may say or do." 3
Critics further claim that if Mormons claim to be Christian, they should have no secret ordinances. However, early records of Christianity do support the idea of teachings and practices which were not public.
In defending the practice of secret doctrines in the early Christian Church, Christian leader Origen explained, "that there should be certain doctrines, not made known to the multitude" until the basic doctrines had been taught. "Whoever is pure not only from all defilement, but from what are regarded as the less transgressions, let him be boldly initiated in the mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made known only to the holy and pure." 4
Likewise, members of Mormonism must be pure and prepared to enter into the temple. They must have been baptized for at least a year and fulfill certain ethical and religious requirements before they can have a recommend, which will allow them into a Mormon temple.
(1) "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple". LDS Church.
(2) Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple [booklet, 1982], 2.
(3) Hugh W. Nibley, Temple and Cosmos (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and F.A.R.M.S., 1992), 64.
(4) Bickmore, Barry Robert. Restoring the Ancient Church. Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, 1999. p. 296.