Is it true that sometimes family members are denied attendance at the wedding of their own children in the temple because they have not kept all the Mormon commandments?
2 Responses to “Is it true that sometimes family members are denied attendan…”
Cody
2008-06-01 06:43:05
I appreciate your questions, and apologize for the delayed response. It seems that you are intrigued by the temple and have many questions relating to the temple. Before I attempt to answer any of your questions, may I first suggest you visit a website produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Purpose of Temples website has links to a number of articles written by past and present leaders of the church about the purpose of temples. I hope that you will read these articles to better understand the temple.
Now to answer you question. You asked about family members being 'denied' attendance to the marriage of their own child in the temple. I can understand why this would appear appalling. I hope you have visited the website I mentioned above and read about the sacredness of temples. Mormons believe that temples are literally the house of the Lord, the most sacred and holy place on earth. Just like ancient temples we believe that temples are not ordinary worship houses but sacred edifices dedicated and set apart for the most sacred ceremonies and ordinances. In accordance with God's will, a standard of preparation has been established for those that enter the temple. We believe that this standard comes from God and requires that those who enter the temple have a testimony of the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, that they are morally clean, that they keep the commandments, that they have made sacred covenants (promises) through baptism, etc. Members certify that they are living according to the commandments of God and that they are prepared to enter the temple in two interviews with two local ecclesiastical leaders. Every member who is not living according to the commandments or who has not yet finished the necessary prepatation and therefore cannot enter the temple is invited and encouraged with love to prepare themselves to enter the temple. So it isn't that the church denies people attendance to the temple. It is that those people who can not enter the temple are invited to prepare themselves. I believe that God desires that everyone would enter His temples.
Often when a parent cannot attend the temple marriage of a child there are arrangements and accommodations made so that that parent can feel involved and included in the process. For example, couples will sometimes hold a simple ring exchanging ceremony outside the temple at a different venue following their temple marriage. The Church asks that this ceremony be simple so as not to downplay the sacredness of their temple marriage. I know that the leaders of the Church are very aware and compassionate concerning family members who are not able to attend the temple.
Bot
2009-02-05 03:51:31
First century Christians also had esoteric (i.e. sacred) ordinances to which non-Christians and Christians who were still learning the basic principles of Christianity (non-communicated) were not allowed to witness:
Hippolytus (ca. A. D. 200) made a statement "But if there is any other matter which ought to be told, let the bishop impart it secretly to those who are communicated. He shall not tell this to any but the faithful and only after they have first been communicated. This is the white stone of which John said that there is a new name written upon it which no man knows except him who receives." Clement of Alexandria claimed to possess a secret tradition of knowledge (greek gnosis) handed down from the Savior to the apostles and on to Clement himself by way of certain of his teachers. "Clement represents this secret discipline to which he gives the title of gnosis, or gift of knowledge, as having been conferred by our Lord, after his resurrection, on James the Just, John, and Peter, by whom it was communicated to the other apostles; and that by these the treasure was committed to the seventy disciples, of whom Barnabas was one... The secret discipline thus instituted by Christ was familiar to those who had been his masters and preceptors," The multitude professing Christianity were therefore divided by them into the "profane," or those who were not yet admitted to the mysteries, and the "initiated," or faithful and perfect... And as none were permitted to be present at these "mysteries," as they were termed, save those whose admission into the fellowship of the church was perfect and complete, so likewise was it expected that, as a matter of duty, the most sacred silence should be observed in regard to everything connected with the celebration of them, and nothing whatever relating thereto to be committed to the ears of the profane."
Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition 23:14, in R. P. C. Hanson, Tradition in the Early Church (London: SCM Press, 1962, 32
Johann l. Mosheim, Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity, 2 Vols, (New York; S. Converse, 1854),`: 375-376
Mosheim, Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity, Vol 1, 390-391
Now to answer you question. You asked about family members being 'denied' attendance to the marriage of their own child in the temple. I can understand why this would appear appalling. I hope you have visited the website I mentioned above and read about the sacredness of temples. Mormons believe that temples are literally the house of the Lord, the most sacred and holy place on earth. Just like ancient temples we believe that temples are not ordinary worship houses but sacred edifices dedicated and set apart for the most sacred ceremonies and ordinances. In accordance with God's will, a standard of preparation has been established for those that enter the temple. We believe that this standard comes from God and requires that those who enter the temple have a testimony of the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, that they are morally clean, that they keep the commandments, that they have made sacred covenants (promises) through baptism, etc. Members certify that they are living according to the commandments of God and that they are prepared to enter the temple in two interviews with two local ecclesiastical leaders. Every member who is not living according to the commandments or who has not yet finished the necessary prepatation and therefore cannot enter the temple is invited and encouraged with love to prepare themselves to enter the temple. So it isn't that the church denies people attendance to the temple. It is that those people who can not enter the temple are invited to prepare themselves. I believe that God desires that everyone would enter His temples.
Often when a parent cannot attend the temple marriage of a child there are arrangements and accommodations made so that that parent can feel involved and included in the process. For example, couples will sometimes hold a simple ring exchanging ceremony outside the temple at a different venue following their temple marriage. The Church asks that this ceremony be simple so as not to downplay the sacredness of their temple marriage. I know that the leaders of the Church are very aware and compassionate concerning family members who are not able to attend the temple.
Hippolytus (ca. A. D. 200) made a statement "But if there is any other matter which ought to be told, let the bishop impart it secretly to those who are communicated. He shall not tell this to any but the faithful and only after they have first been communicated. This is the white stone of which John said that there is a new name written upon it which no man knows except him who receives." Clement of Alexandria claimed to possess a secret tradition of knowledge (greek gnosis) handed down from the Savior to the apostles and on to Clement himself by way of certain of his teachers. "Clement represents this secret discipline to which he gives the title of gnosis, or gift of knowledge, as having been conferred by our Lord, after his resurrection, on James the Just, John, and Peter, by whom it was communicated to the other apostles; and that by these the treasure was committed to the seventy disciples, of whom Barnabas was one... The secret discipline thus instituted by Christ was familiar to those who had been his masters and preceptors," The multitude professing Christianity were therefore divided by them into the "profane," or those who were not yet admitted to the mysteries, and the "initiated," or faithful and perfect... And as none were permitted to be present at these "mysteries," as they were termed, save those whose admission into the fellowship of the church was perfect and complete, so likewise was it expected that, as a matter of duty, the most sacred silence should be observed in regard to everything connected with the celebration of them, and nothing whatever relating thereto to be committed to the ears of the profane."
Hippolytus, The Apostolic Tradition 23:14, in R. P. C. Hanson, Tradition in the Early Church (London: SCM Press, 1962, 32
Johann l. Mosheim, Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity, 2 Vols, (New York; S. Converse, 1854),`: 375-376
Mosheim, Historical Commentaries on the State of Christianity, Vol 1, 390-391