The Blessings of The Temple–Latest Church Video on the Temple

 

Previous Church Video, Why Mormons Build Temples

 

Sacred Ceremonies: LDS Temple Worship Must Be Experienced To Be Understood

After almost a week of Big Love aftermath, I very much enjoyed reading Peggy Fletcher Stack’s article in today’s Salt Lake Tribune, entitled:  Sacred ceremonies: Latter-day Saints say temple worship must be experienced to be understood.  I think the title says it all.  It’s a good lead, for one of the better media pieces on the whole Temple ceremony story.

 

Big Lies of Big Love

I realize Big Love is “entertainment” and not real.  After watching tonight’s episode, I also realize  that HBO and the Big Love crew have no hesitation in casting others’ pearls before swine.  A few points of clarification are in order from tonight’s episode.

 

Temple Square Christmas Lights

I had an opportunity to visit Temple Square over the Thanksgiving weekend and took a couple of shots, which don’t really do The Square justice this time of year–but here’s a sample:

 

Tolerance IV

For my other Tolerance posts see Tolerance I, Tolerance II, Tolerance III.  Well, its been almost two weeks now since election day, and amazingly one issue remains in the news cycle on an almost daily basis since that time:  Proposition 8 and the Mormon Church. That’s right, the Mormon Church, its members, and other persons of faith have been singled out and targeted for engaging in the exercise of an actual constitutionally protected fundamental right–the right to vote and participate in the political process.  The vitriol, hate, intolerance and lawlessness in some cases exhibited by those who disagreed with Proposition 8 supporters has been frightening and should give pause to those who truly cherish our democratic institutions and the rule of law.  See also S.P. Bailey’s These Cultural Wars post over at A Motley Vision.  And, there is Marc Bohn’s Rhetoric, Ideology and Prop 8 over at Times and Seasons.

Meridian Magazine has two articles with incredible photos, that if you have not seen, you should.  The two articles are: The Hypocrisy of the Tolerance Movement and In the Face of Hatred.   Both are well done, and you should read them both.  The photos accompanying the second article are truly remarkable and alarming.  The author, Paul Bishop of this article is an LDS LAPD veteran, who makes some good points.  Because I think the photos are particularly powerful, I repost them below, for those who may not get over to the Meridian website on a regular basis:

 

Temple Riders–Ridin’ High!

This is a great story in today’s Tribune. It profiles a group of LDS Harley riding Temple riders. They are called The Temple Riders, and you can visit their website here. I had no idea such a group existed; but, they have 600 members in chapters all over the country:

 

President Hinckley Breaks Ground For Draper Temple

I know this is ancient news by now (I was otherwise busy over the weekend); however, on Saturday, 8/5/06 President Hinckley and other Church authorities broke ground for the Draper Temple. It will be Utah’s 12th temple and Salt Lake Valley’s third. While the construction of a new temple is always important news, what made this ground breaking even more significant was President Hinckely’s public appearance. In fact the entire First Presidency was in attendance. It was the first public appearnce by President Hinckely, that I can recall in recent memory–though admittedly he doesn’t disclose his schedule to the Messenger and Advocate (but I’m working on it).

 

Sacramento Temple Open House Tours Off To Grand Start

The Sacramento Temple began its approximate one month of open houses on Saturday, 7/29/06. According to the Sacramento Bee, it was a very successful beginning.

 

Los Angeles Temple Re-Opens

The Church has announced that the Los Angeles Temple re-opens on Tuesday, 7/11/06. This is great news for thousands and thousands of saints not only in the southland but on the Central Coast as well.