Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

I've been thinking about temples lately. I spoke in church last Sunday about them, so naturally I've been pondering and researching and praying about them for a while.

I took much of what I said from the pulpit from Sister Silvia Allred's talk in the last General Conference of the church, entitled Holy Temples, Sacred Covenants. The text of the talk can be found here.

So, what is the temple? To put it simply, a beautiful building where the faithful gather to worship. It is the house of the Lord. Some quotes by Sister Allred on this:

King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem using the finest building materials available.

The Nephites also built temples to the Lord in the Americas. They were gathered around the temple when Christ appeared to them after His Resurrection.

We have been instructed to build temples so that holy ordinances may be performed for both the living and the dead.

The temple is the house of the Lord. He directs the conditions under which it may be used, the ordinances that should be administered, and the standards that qualify us to enter and participate in temple worship. . . . Personal worthiness is an essential requirement to enjoy the blessings of the temple.

How do we prepare to enter the temple? To put it simply, keep the commandments and seek to do God's will.

We prepare by obeying the commandments and seeking to do God’s will.

This is the key. It is that simple. One of my favorite quotes from the talk was this:

Through His prophets, the Lord invites those who have no yet reived the blessings of the temple to do whatever may be necessary to qualify to recieve them. He invites those who have already recieved these blessings to return as often as possible to enjoy again the experience, to increse their vision and understanding of His eternal plan.

So, what do you need to do to make it to the temple? Do it.

And let me tell you, it's worth it. It is a beautiful place and there is such a feeling of peace there. It's the perfect place to be.

So, those are some of my thoughts, and some of the things I shared in my talk. This isn't the full text of my talk or anything, but it's the gist.