July 22, 2017
Today Connor entered the Draper Utah Temple to make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. He spent the last nine months studying and preparing himself for this day. It was a day of learning and great understanding. All of the pieces of spiritual knowledge he has been given throughout his life were brought together to connect in ways that can only take place in the temple.
I found the following quote from the talk, "The Holy Temple" given by [Former] President Boyd K. Packer, [Former] President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 2010. It explains...
"The temple is a great school. It is a house of learning. In the temples the atmosphere is maintained so that it is ideal for instruction on matters that are deeply spiritual. The late Elder John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was a distinguished university president and a world-renowned scholar. He had great reverence for temple work and said on one occasion: “The temple ordinances encompass the whole plan of salvation, as taught from time to time by the leaders of the Church, and elucidate matters difficult of understanding. There is no warping or twisting in fitting the temple teachings into the great scheme of salvation. The philosophical completeness of the endowment is one of the great arguments for the veracity of the temple ordinances. Moreover, this completeness of survey and expounding of the Gospel plan, makes temple worship one of the most effective methods of refreshing the memory concerning the whole structure of the Gospel” (“Temple Worship,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Apr. 1921, 58).
Many non-members ask me why are temples so important to our Church. There are numerous answers to this question, but the one that keeps me going regularly is because it is a safe haven. A place of refuge from all of the negative and evil influences in our world. It is a place of spiritual comfort, filled with peace and serenity.
“We are bombarded on all sides by a vast number of messages we don’t want or need. More information is generated in a single day than we can absorb in a lifetime. To fully enjoy life, all of us must find our own breathing space and peace of mind. How can we do this? There is only one answer. We must rise above the evil that encroaches upon us. We must follow the counsel of the Lord, who said, “It is my will that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places.” We unavoidably stand in so many unholy places and are subjected to so much that is vulgar, profane, and destructive of the Spirit of the Lord that I encourage our Saints all over the world, wherever possible, to strive to stand more often in holy places. Our most holy places are our sacred temples. Within them is a feeling of sacred comfort. We should seek to be worthy to take our families to the temple to be sealed together for eternity. We should also search for the records of our kindred dead so that they too can be sealed to us in one of the temples. We must strive for holiness by being “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”In this way we can maintain and strengthen our own individual relationship with our God.” (“Standing in Holy Places” by James E. Faust, April 2005, [Former] Second Counselor in the First Presidency.)
Standing in holy places will help us rise above the evil influences of our time and draw us closer to our Savior.
