Helping Members Prepare for Temple Worship | An Interview with Mark Mathews

Leading Saints Podcast

This is a rebroadcast. The original episode aired in November 2019.

Mark Mathews was born in Houston, Texas. He served a mission in Guatemala and met his wife at Brigham Young University. He later earned a Ph.D. in Education from Utah State University and has been involved with Seminaries and Institutes for 20 years. Mark has been a favorite attraction teaching at BYU Education Week for many interested in learning about the temple experience.

Links

Understanding Priesthood Keys in Leadership | An Interview with Mark Mathews
ChurchofJesusChrist.org: Prepare for the House of the Lord
ChurchofJesusChrist.org: Prophetic Teachings on Temples
Seek Learning by Faith, by Elder David A. Bednar
Understanding and Embracing the Temple Endowment, by Mark Mathews
Prepared to Obtain Every Needful Thing, by Elder David A. Bednar
Holiness and the Plan of Happiness, by President Henry B. Eyring
God’s Plan for Families, by Mark Mathews
Trust in the Lord, by President Dallin H. Oaks
Spiritual Treasures, by President Russell M. Nelson
Follow Mark Mathews on Facebook
Share your thoughts in the Leading Saints community.
Transcript coming soon
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Scriptures Referenced

The Book of Moses
Exodus 40:12-13
Doctrine and Covenants 88:74-75
Doctrine and Covenants 109:21
2 Nephi 2:25
Doctrine and Covenants 132:19
Doctrine and Covenants 131
Doctrine and Covenants 109:22

Highlights

2:50: Mark’s BYU Education Week presentation was on the temple, motivating Leading Saints to have a podcast on how best leaders can prepare members to attend the temple for the first time. How does Mark as a bishop help members have a positive first-time experience?

5:00: Members have a natural desire to better understand the temple. Early chapters in the Book of Moses are an excellent template and place to start when studying the endowment ceremony.

6:45: Experiencing the endowment by viewing the video combined with the attendance of the Holy Ghost is akin to having a vision. Joseph Smith did the same for the early saints when the endowment ceremony was acted out.

7:45: The “practical” approach of reviewing the worthiness standard, explaining what can be shared about temple clothing, is still very vague.

8:33: Elder Bednar’s talk Seek Learning by Faith: “The most important learnings of life are caught—not taught.” Speaking at or telling people what to do or how to prepare may not be fully absorbed. Providing members with materials that they can read over time and with the attendance of the Holy Ghost is far more effective in helping them “catch” and discover truth for themselves. (See “Links” section above.)

10:30: How we can better understand what leaders can say about the temple.

13:08: Quoting Elder Bednar:

“Two basic guidelines can help us achieve the proper understanding emphasized by President Benson.
“Guideline #1. Because we love the Lord, we always should speak about His holy house with reverence. We should not disclose or describe the special symbols associated with the covenants we receive in sacred temple ceremonies. Neither should we discuss the holy information that we specifically promise in the temple not to reveal.
“Guideline #2. The temple is the house of the Lord. Everything in the temple points us to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We may discuss the basic purposes of and the doctrine and principles associated with temple ordinances and covenants.”

14:40: Preventing members from feeling uncomfortable about temple worship after their initial experience. Help members understand that “the ultimate purpose of the temple endowment is to bring us into the presence of God.”

19:37: How to come into the presence of God: one must be prepared through ancient ritual, instruction, and covenant—all of which are part of the endowment ceremony.

• Washing and anointing
• Symbolism of “pouring”
• Temple garments and other sacerdotal vestments
• Covenants
• Law of Obedience
• Law of Sacrifice
• Law of Gospel
• Law of Chastity
• Law of Consecration

24:39: Covenants provide us with “clean hands and a pure heart”; members are now ready for instruction.

• Creation
• Fall
• Atonement

25:40: Study the Book of Moses.

27:15: A focus on the law of consecration: one big misunderstandings that many Latter-day Saints have: the law of consecration is much broader than the United Order: tithing, time, means, generous fast offerings, responding to church callings and assignments.

30:35: More on the covenants we make

32:23: How members experience the Plan of Salvation through the endowment ceremony, supported again by the pillars of Creation, Fall, and Atonement

36:05: Creation and Fall are relatively obvious; where is the Atonement in the temple?

38:18: Additional leadership actions that can help prepare initiates. Again: study the Book of Moses.

39:40: The creation of Adam and Eve wasn’t simply the creation of man and woman: it was the creation of marriage–they were created for each other.

40:57: Adam fell that men might be.

43:14: The role of families in the eternities, and in our temporal trials

50:32: Individuals who will not be blessed with marriage and children in this life

52:45: The endowment ceremony is not the end, but simply a step in the process.

54:00: Go back regularly.

54:48: Joseph Smith invites us to receive revelation about heaven “through the ordinances of God”. “See for yourself.”

57:25: Final encouragement for leaders preparing individuals to attend the temple for the first time

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