I have been considering the Temple as we discuss and work preparing Evan to enter therein for his own endowments. He has gone through the old and new versions of Temple preparation classes; he has gone and participated in that which he already can; we have pondered and prayed; and we have discussed with others. In the process two conversations have struck me most profoundly, one with my father and one with the bishop.
First as to father. He and I were discussing thoughts on the ordinances and he commented: “ As I have aged in recent years many things have left me, however, the temple has never left me”. It harkened me to several writings one from Elder Bednar: The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house.
Another that predates that by Elder Maxwell: They may even pass through our holy temples, but, alas, they do not let the holy temples pass through them.
Father has the had the temple pass through him and as such it has changed and filled his heart, and has not left him. Though his age and health precludes regular attendance at this point, the temple is ever with him. He has “his tent facing the Temple” and has made it central to his learnings and personal revelation. Nibley proposes that this is our objective individually and collectively as societies. Civilization is hierocentric, centered around the holy point of the temple. The temple was certainly the center of things in Babylonia, in Egypt, in Greece—wherever you go. This was certainly so in pioneer Utah. This pattern descended, of course, from ancient times to the Latter-day Saint church. He goes on to explain how it is the wellspring of all learning. And clearly the proliferation of Temples in our day would reinforce his thinking.
This latter point was center to my discussion with my Bishop; I was concerned if Evan had sufficient mental capacity to grasp the temple. He spoke of his relative unlearned state as a 19 year old when he first attended, and how repetition and time have been great teachers and expanders of his understanding. Nibley speaks that: Ordinances are not the fullness of the gospel. Going to the temple is like entering into a laboratory to confirm what you have already learned in the classroom and from the text. The fullness of the gospel is the understanding of what the plan is all about—the knowledge necessary to salvation. You know the whys and wherefores; for the fullness of the gospel you go to Nephi, to Alma, to Moroni. Then you will enter into the lab, but not in total ignorance.
That Evan will learn similarly through repetition and time is certain – but – the Lord’s greatest concern for any who go to the temple is not their understanding but their worthiness. That Evan is worthy is the question and central to ability to attend. That question of worthiness is what should be most central to our daily lives and that such worthiness is our primary goal in striving to return to Heavenly Father.
(Dad and I then spoke of sealing sessions back in his day, of polish families waiting to be dealt with as families and not inventory – another story for another day)
