What are Mormon temples and what are they for?
Well, first, they are not places where members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints go for normal weekly church meetings.
For weekly worship services, they go to a meetinghouse where we meet to take the sacrament, bread and water, where we recommit to follow the Savior and keep the commandments. We also have a Sunday School where we study the Bible and The Book of Mormon, both of which teach about the Savior. We then divide into meetings where the women meet together and study the gospel and talk about ways to help others and the men meet together to talk about responsibilities of priesthood holders.
Back to the temples.
There are nearly 130 of them around the world in many countries.
We go to the temple to participate in sacred ordinances where we covenant to follow the Savior and be good and charitable people.
There are ordinances of baptism for the dead where living people are baptized as proxies for their deceased ancestors because of our belief in the Saviors words that every person must be baptized or they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. We believe that those who are dead will have the opportunity to either accept or reject this baptism in their behalf. They will not be forced to accept anything.
These temples are special places where members go to be closer to the Lord and his Spirit and away from the influences of Satan.
Members go when they want. Some go once a year, some several times a year, some monthly, some weekly, and some every day. It is totally up the the individual member and what they feel they need.
They are special places for Mormons, sacred places where they can feel close to the Lord, where they can rededicate themselves to living righteously, where they can follow God.
We don't talk about specifics about the temples because they are very dear to us. Some might call that being secretive. We just feel it's sacred.
Want more info? Check out mormon.org
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