Questions and Answers about the Temple

What is a temple?

A temple is a sacred place to worship Heavenly Father.

It is a place to make covenants with Heavenly Father.

It is a place to feel His Spirit.

It is a place of reverence, peace, beauty, and learning.

When can I go to the temple?

You can go to see a temple at any age. Your family can walk or drive around the temple grounds.

If you are worthy, when you are 12 you can go inside the temple and be baptized for people who didn’t get baptized when they lived on earth. Baptismal fonts in temples are set on the backs of 12 oxen. The oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

When you are an adult, you can go to the temple to receive your endowment. The endowment is a gift of knowledge and blessings from Heavenly Father.

What are some other rooms in the temple?

After you receive your endowment, you go into the celestial room. The beauty and reverence help you feel close to Heavenly Father.

A sealing room is where a man and a woman are sealed in marriage for eternity. They receive blessings, and if they are faithful they and their children will be together for eternity.

What is a temple recommend?

To enter another country, you need a passport to show that you are a citizen of your country. To enter the temple, you need a temple recommend to show that you are a worthy member of the Church. Beginning at age 12, young men and young women may get a temple recommend to do baptisms for the dead. Young men need to hold the Aaronic Priesthood. You can get a recommend by going to your bishop or branch president or one of his counselors. He will ask you if you keep the commandments and if you have a testimony. If you do, he will sign your recommend, showing that you are worthy to enter the house of the Lord. Children who are going to the temple to be sealed to their parents also receive recommends.

What do I wear to the temple?

You should wear the same kind of modest, clean clothes that you wear on Sundays when you go to church.

What do I wear in the temple?

After you enter the temple, you will be given white clothes to change into. In the temple everyone wears white.

Why is a statue of the angel Moroni on top of many temples?

Moroni wrote the last book of the Book of Mormon on the gold plates and buried the plates in the Hill Cumorah. Many years later, Joseph Smith translated the plates. Moroni reminds us that the gospel has been restored to the earth.

Can people who are not members of the Church go inside temples?

After a temple is built but before it is dedicated, an open house is held. Those who attend are invited to walk through the temple with a guide who explains the purpose of temples and why they are so important to members of the Church. After temples are dedicated, only Church members with temple recommends may enter.

Where in the scriptures can I read about temples?

Isaiah prophesied about temples: Isaiah 2:1–3

Jesus taught in the temple when He was 12 years old: Luke 2:42–49

Jesus taught in the temple during His ministry: John 8:2

Jesus cast people who were buying and selling out of the temple: Matthew 21:12–14

Jesus taught daily in the temple: Mark 14:49

Nephi built a temple: 2 Nephi 5:16

King Benjamin spoke to the Nephites at the temple in Zarahemla: Mosiah 1:18–2:7

Christ appeared at the temple in Bountiful: 3 Nephi 11:1–17

The Lord described what a temple is like: D&C 88:119

Temple Questions

1. In what year were the most temples dedicated?

2. Which President of the Church dedicated the most temples?

3. How many temples are there today?

4. How many temples have been announced or are under construction?

5. How many temples are there outside of the United States?

Answers

• 1) 34 in 2000, 2) President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated 88 temples, 3) 130, 4) 17, 5) 65.

Celestial room in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple

Baptismal font in the Mexico City Mexico Temple

Celestial room in the Vernal Utah Temple

St. Louis Missouri Temple celestial room

Photograph of Bountiful Temple Angel Moroni © IRI, Mount Timpanogos Temple celestial room © IRI, Mexico City Temple baptismal font by Welden Andersen, St. Louis Missouri Temple celestial room © 1997 IRI, Vernal Utah Temple celestial room by Jed A. Clark, illustration by Julie F. Young