Section 29: The Temple — What Happens Inside

LDS temples are categorically different from LDS meetinghouses. Temples are closed to non-members and to LDS members who do not hold a valid temple recommend. Photography inside is prohibited. Temple ceremonies are considered sacred and members are instructed not to discuss them with those who have not been through the endowment.

The content of LDS temple ceremonies is not officially published by the church, but it is documented in detail by former members, journalists, and scholars. The temple endowment — a multi-hour ceremony — involves ritual washing and anointing (the initiatory), the receipt of special undergarments (temple garments), instruction in the plan of salvation through a dramatic presentation, the making of specific covenants (including a covenant of obedience to the law of the Lord as administered through the church), and the learning of specific signs, tokens (handshakes), and key words. These are described as necessary for the soul to pass through the veil at death into the celestial kingdom.

Celestial marriage (the sealing ceremony) joins a husband and wife — and their children, in a separate sealing — for "time and all eternity." Only those holding current temple recommends may attend a temple wedding, meaning that members of the couple's family who are not LDS, or who are LDS but do not hold a current recommend, are excluded from their own child's wedding. This exclusion causes enormous family pain and is one of the most significant pastoral challenges in LDS communities.

ERROR IDENTIFIED: Matthew 27:51: at Christ's death, "the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." The veil tearing was not an architectural accident. It was a theological declaration: the barriers to God's presence have been removed. Hebrews 10:19–20: "We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body." The LDS temple system requires specific learned passwords and handshakes to pass through the veil into the celestial kingdom. Jesus tore the veil. The LDS system rebuilds it and requires institutional credentials to pass through.