On Temples and Prophets

"Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands" Acts 7:48

On an LDS temple, you will find engraved over the entrance "Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord". LDS doctrine believes such specially created and dedicated buildings creates a vessel for God to dwell in and manifest His presence creating a sanctuary. In accordance with the LDS faith, this establishes a connection where various sacred ordinances can be performed for the continuation of sanctification for believers, and the ability to practice ordinances, such as baptism, for the dead. 

This practice of having a dwelling place for the Lord is similar to that of the Tabernacle of the Old Testament, which played a central role in the relationship between God and the Israelites. In LDS eyes, building a temple is a restoration, and brings back Judaic practices into worship. LDS church leaders also believe they receive special connection and instruction from God in the temple, just like the prophets of old, to provide special guidance and council to the world. Is this an appropriate practice of temples and prophets for a modern church proclaiming to be Christian? The answer comes by understanding the role of the Spirit and Christ’s fulfillment.

The Spirit is depicted in the Old Testament as coming upon select few individuals for specific purposes, which were usually for leadership and prophecy roles. Common believers in God (Yahweh) did not receive the Spirit before Christ. Prominent figures receiving the influence of the Spirit for important roles is depicted in 1 Samuel 16:13-14 :

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him.

After king Saul's disobedience and estranged relationship with God became severe, the Spirit was removed from him permanently and given to David, who was to be the next king of Israel. In addition to kings, prophets received the Holy Spirit prior to Christ in order to instruct the people to carry out the will of God (2 Peter 1:21). The prophets of the Old Testament were necessary for the guidance and revelation in a time when the Holy Spirit's presence was not as universally bestowed upon all believers as it is today.

The Tabernacle was part of God's provision for His people in this particular era, fulfilling multiple roles in their spiritual and communal life. This was a constant reminder of His presence and covenant with them. Since the Savior had not come yet, they needed the Tabernacle, which later turned into a temple, to establish this relationship. However, the function and purpose of a holy dwelling place became fulfilled when Christ came John 1:14 :

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Keyword in this passage is "dwelt". The Greek word used here is σκηνόω (skēnoō), which means tabernacle, or to dwell. Jesus Christ transcended the need of a temple and replaced it. No longer is God's presence among His people confined to a temple or a tent, but it was made manifest in a person. No longer do we have the need for a prophet to communicate the will of the Father with Christ as the final revelation Hebrews 1:1-2 :

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

God spoke to the prophets to communicate to His people. Now, God speaks to by his Son. This idea is also symbolically expressed with the temple curtain at the death of Christ Matthew 27:50-51 :

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

The curtain/veil in the temple separated the most holy place (Holy of Holies) from the rest of the temple. Behind the curtain was considered to be the earthly dwelling place of God's presence and was most sacred. The only person allowed to enter behind the curtain was the high priest once a year to make sacrifices for his own sins and the sins of the people. This curtain tearing in two at the death of Christ symbolizes the end of the old covenant and ushering in a new covenant. No longer is there a barrier between God and humanity. The atonement of Christ is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins granting believers direct access to God without the need for a human mediator (1 Timothy 2:5).

Acts 2 bears the dramatic event where the Spirit's universal presence is poured out to all believers for the first time. Christ's sacrifice dropped the veil between us and God opening a line of communication for all of us that was not there before due to our unatoned sins. This fulfilled the prophesy of Joel 2:28-29 :

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

The very same Spirit of the Lord previously reserved for those in leadership and specially designated prophetic roles is now given to all of us. The Spirit combined with the access to the word of God eliminates the need for a sacred sanctuary and for men to act as the sole mouthpiece of God 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 :

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 

Temples and Tabernacles are no longer needed as we are the hosting vessels of the Spirit. We ourselves have been made holy through Christ's sacrifice being able to access the presence of God without a consecrated dwelling place. To say we need a temple today alongside a prophet as the mouthpiece of the Lord carries the implication that Christ's sacrifice was not fully sufficient to redirect God's wrath of sin preventing a complete, unabated presence of the Spirit in our lives. This implies the price was not enough to be sanctified where God can communicate directly to us. Through our faith, we were washed and sanctified fully in the eyes of God (1 Corinthians 6:11). God does not work in partialities granting us a restrained Holy Spirit, while reserving the rest of His knowledge behind locked doors and tithing requirements mediated by men gauging your righteousness with a check list. The veil in the temple was torn for a reason, so why should God put it back up? This goes against the prophecy of Jeremiah quoted in Hebrews 10:10-12 :

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

Unlike the old covenant, which was based on the law given to Moses and involved in external rules and rituals, the new covenant involves a personal and inner transformative relationship with God. Under the new covenant, the knowledge of God is no longer limited to a specific group, like priests and prophets, but is available to all, from least to greatest. This is primarily facilitated by the Spirit, who guides and teaches the believers of God. 

Because of this new covenant, the purpose of temples was abolished and replaced with Christ's sacrifice and the full access to the Holy Spirit. God no longer needed to reside in a confined sanctuary separated from us due to our unatoned sins. This is why Stephen proclaimed to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:48-51 :

"Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?' You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you."

Paul backs this proclamation up when speaking to the Areopagus in Athens in Acts 17:24 :

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man."

If God does not dwell in temples, what of the ordinances there practiced by the LDS church, are they appropriate? Beginning with baptisms for the dead, LDS doctrine teaches everyone gets a second chance or they simply never had the chance to receive God while on Earth. The latter implies God's divinity is not sufficient enough to reach everyone with the basic ability to reason, due to the world trumping God in certain regions (infant death is a whole different matter). This is wrong, as states in Romans 1:19-20 :

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been made clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

God manifests himself in all things he has created to everyone, since the beginning. This makes everyone without excuse if they do not choose to follow and honor God. Paul also covers this in his speech in Athens in Acts 17:26-27 :

"And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us."

This idea of God's reach is not sufficient to meet all ends of the Earth at all times takes His divinity, trivializes it, and puts it in a small box for the sake of our comfort on unbelievers around us. The idea of second chances also carries heavy implications diminishing God's abilities at the expense of more internal comfort on those we see rejecting God. To do so would say God's abilities to express Himself was not sufficient on Earth and a safety net needs to be put in place. Scripture certainly illustrates otherwise on our abilities to receive second chances after we die, as seen in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-26 :

"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-for I have five brothers-so that he may war them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

The rich man did not receive a second chance, nor was anyone able to cross into either realm between heaven and hell. Abraham and Lazarus did not preach the gospel to the rich man. In fact, Abraham clearly states God's word was clearly preached in the previous life and was sufficient for the living. If none may cross the great chasm, then the rich man is stuck in hell with no further edification. He certainly was not in a lower kingdom of a tiered system of glory, since LDS doctrine believes that is still a paradise of sorts. The rich man's heart was still inward and selfish wanting to order Lazarus around like a servant, even after death and torment. 

Not only are baptisms for the dead an insult to God's divinity, but it also completely fails at seeing salvation comes by God's grace and faith in Christ, not by a ritualistic sign. Confining the enabling power of God into a sign performed by men acting as mediators is absurd. This carries the implication that Christ's eternal sacrifice was not complete, thus not eternal, and more enabling power of God is required to finish. These points on second chances outlined with baptisms for the dead carries over into all the sordid necromantic rituals in the LDS temple. No rituals of the temple clean your conscience and soul of sin, so why require it to enter into God's presence for the dead or the living (Hebrews 9:9-14)? Were we not sanctified in the eyes of God with the blood of Christ?

The highly prized and advertised LDS doctrine of being sealed as a family and eternal marriages in the temple also has harmonious problems with the Bible. Not only does the LDS doctrine of requiring a temple marriage to reach the highest kingdom of heaven clashes hard with the idea of grace, but it is not even mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Given the acclaimed clarifying role of the Book of Mormon alongside the Bible, you would expect this crucial piece of doctrine to be mentioned that the only way to be in the highest tier of glory with God is a temple marriage.

In reality, marriage is an earthly design by God that will not continue in heaven Matthew 22:23-30 :

The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her." But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven."

The Sadducees wanted to trick and confound Jesus with a doctrinal riddle; however, Jesus responded very plainly that the woman would belong to none of the men, because there is no marriage after the resurrection. The reference to angels is not saying we are to become angels; rather, this is a comparison to the nature of angels that they are without a partner. To further illustrate that this is passage of scripture is not referring to one of the varieties of LDS inheritance of glory contingency tiers, the word for "they" in the final sentence of the quoted scripture is εἰσὶν (eisin). This word is the third person plural present indicative of εἰμί (eimi), which means "to be" or "are". In this context, εἰσὶν is used to refer to people in the resurrected state, emphasizing that their existence will be like that of angels in regard to earthly institutions like marriage. All of the people in the resurrected state, not just the particular people in question. Luke 20:34-36 and Mark 12:25 also describe this response and provide the same detail on this very idea of marriage being an earthly institution. Furthermore, Paul states plainly that you can get married if you please, or you can stay single and do well 1 Corinthians 7:39 :

So then he who marries is betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

This does not mean we will not see our loved ones in heaven, who are saved. If we are going to the same destination, why would we still be unable to access each other without a special earthly ritual? Moses and Elijiah were seen speaking to each other in heaven (Luke 9:30). Obviously, they were not sealed together. Neither was Abraham and Lazarus, yet they interacted with each other. In fact, all will come together in heaven (Matthew 8:11). You will know your loved ones in heaven, and relationships will be elevated beyond our comprehension. Attempting to confine the parameters of our lives in heaven around earthly design is foolish given the promises of eternal glories awaiting the redeemed being more splendid than anyone can begin to ask or think (1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 3:20).

To be a church centered on Jesus Christ with a modern prophet and creating holy dwelling places for the Lord is a regression into the old covenant, while ignoring the purpose of Christ's fulfillment and the new covenant. What this accomplishes is centering people's faith, focus, and efforts into an institution and establishing men as mediators between people and God. One can witness the effects of this whenever an LDS member bears their testimony. Most of the elements professed are that of the institution and of men, while God's grace and our purpose taking a back seat to their focus. A heavy yoke is created with these practices teaching you how to be afraid of God instead of establishing a direct relationship with Him.