Today the new Provo City Center Temple (previously the Provo Tabernacle) is being dedicated. My daughter said that this is her third temple dedication (others were Brigham City, Payson). How many temple dedications have you been to? (It used to be once-in-a lifetime.)
It got me thinking about the Kirtland Temple dedication. According to LDS.org
Joseph recalled that during the dedication, “George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy, when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.” (History of the Church, 2:428.)
Why aren’t these powerful manifestations more common in temple dedications?
Speaking in tongues has gone out of style in the LDS church. Have you EVER seen it?
As I understand it, construction on the Kirtland temple began when there were fewer than five hundred Mormons in Kirtland and most of them were living in desperate poverty. By every objective standard the measure was economically irresponsible at best, and potentially catastrophic at worst.
The Kirtland temple was completed by a people who were near-fanatical in their devotion; and they received a fanatic’s reward.
We attended the 9:00 Am session and the speakers were so very good. It was spiritual and we are very blessed for being there.
I attended the noon session. I was surprised that nobody from the First Presidency was there, nor the Pres of Q12 (Russell.) Oaks presided. I don’t recall ever attending a dedication in which ALL of these men were absent. Seemed kinda strange to me, and I’ve attended Bountiful, Brigham City, Payson, Provo City, Oquirrh Mountain, and Draper.
Smith’s vision sounds like a composite of Acts 2:2-4 and Exodus 13:21-22.
Attending a temple used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event because it used to require attending in person.
IIRC, the (new) Nauvoo temple dedication (1997?) was the first to be broadcast remotely. Now, it’s fairly easy to get tens of thousands to watch a temple dedication session via remote feed at their local meetinghouse.
if we get back to the original sense of the phrase, where “attend a temple dedication” means “in the temple (or on the immediate grounds) in person, while the President of the Church reads the dedicatory prayer,” it’s still a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Also, I’d be interested in #1 comment if anyone has any documentation of when, why, and how the gift of tongues went out of style. Again, I’m speaking in the original sense of the phrase rather than “my son learned a very difficult language as a missionary” meaning we give it now.
@The Other Clark
“This interpretation [rapid language acquisition by Missionaries] stems from a 1900 General Conference sermon by Joseph F. Smith which discouraged glossolalia; subsequent leaders echoed this recommendation for about a decade afterwards and subsequently the practice had largely died out amongst Mormons by the 1930s and ’40s.[28] The visitor to 21st Century LDS church services will never hear spontaneous, incomprehensible glossolalia as one might overhear at a Pentecostal service.”
–Wiki article on glossalalia
“Why aren’t these powerful manifestations more common in temple dedications?”
Because now everybody has a cellphone camera.
I’ve attended either in person or via satellite Nauvoo, Palmyra, Winter Quarters,Calgary, Montreal, rededication of Cardston in 1991. I had an odd experience prior to one of the dedications, I can’t say if it was spiritual or what but I never felt anything but I was cleaning the building the night before and all of sudden I saw this bolt of white light just hit in the hallway. It wasn’t a car or anything or electricity and as I say I was told anything or felt on some nirvanic state or came closer to God because of it but it was an odd experience
Not going to lie. I was a bit bored today at the 3pm session. Not too surprisingly, almost every speaker used the tabernacle burning down and turning into a beautiful temple as an analogy for our lives. It must have been awkward being speaker number five and using the same analogy. Yes, we know the tabernacle burnt down on December 17, 2010. Yes, it is pretty and holy now.
Matt, only three of the speakers referenced the fire as symbolism at the noon session.
I’ve never attended a dedication in person. The temple dedications I’ve seen via satellite were Palmyra, Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, Ogden (rededication), and Provo City today.
Based on a 1993 article on early Mormon glossolalia (http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=mormonhistory), speaking in tongues was quite common in Kirtland and initially in Missouri, but was heavily discouraged by Joseph Smith by the Nauvoo period. He was the one to narrow the use for foreign languages. In June 1839 Joseph Smith said, “Tongues were given for the purpose of preaching among those whose language is not understood; as on the day of Pentecost, etc., and it is not necessary for tongues to be taught to the Church particularly, for any man that has the Holy Ghost, can speak of the things of God in his own tongue as well as to speak in another.” Sounds like Brigham Young was also against glossolalia.
Powerful spiritual manifestations are thought to be more for private use now. The article points out the obvious risk to institutional integrity when you have regular members claiming charismatic revelation.
Attended the rededication of the London temple in a building on the grounds. Also there was a large conference beforehand, where I sang in the choir. President Hinckley was present at both, as I recall.
We didn’t attend the Nauvoo dedication broadcast as the children were too young, nor the Preston temple dedication (living in Kent at the time we were definitely not in that temple area).
@Matt
“Jeeves and the Song of Songs” 🙂
https://books.google.com/books?id=QjYYAzgahCcC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=jeeves+sonny+boy&source=bl&ots=9pS3oXqs7f&sig=VHT1JpMIkVJ53olMvL31NvUEd-0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjD7e3aiNLLAhXDQSYKHRNiAU8Q6AEILzAG#v=onepage&q=jeeves%20sonny%20boy&f=false
I thought Elder Holland and President Monson would have presided sometime during the day. Mmm.
Why should there be manifestations at temples when the people aren’t vested in them? Despite the fact that in my lifetime I’ve been reassigned to 7 temples (each one closer than the last), I’ve never been asked or even given an opportunity (I’ve volunteered) to lift a finger to help. Not. One. Finger. What small portion of LDS craftsmanship goes into them is exported from Utah, not the local saints. I propose that the building and sacrifice is an important preliminary act of temple worship. It grounds not only you, but your posterity to that sacred site.
As I watch temples quickly go up in developing countries that have quite recently been proselyted, I wonder what these buildings must mean to those new saints. They don’t have the same history of sacrifice or even vestiture as Kirtland, Nauvoo, Salt Lake, Manti, etc. Also, their cultural imprints, their unique spiritual testimonies aren’t part of the art, architecture, music, or theater of the temple. I am left with an aching in my heart thinking, ‘what would these- my brothers and sisters with a testimony of the same restored gospel- have created with their hands, voices and hearts, had we given them the chance? Had they been able to do it themselves?’ What would a unique devotion of worship and workmanship look like from Paris? Ivory Coast? Nigeria? Ukraine? Japan, Guatemala, and Congo look like? I wonder if they might not have metaphorically “painted” the same picture, but from different perspectives, giving us a bigger and more holistic picture of the whole. Yet we don’t believe that they can build or create art to our standard and no country, no local area has been trusted enough to try.
@Mortimer
I sustain you for LDS President! This is exactly the insight we need. I hope everybody is listening carefully.
Elder Anderson, nobody had a cellphone in the 1970s when Provo and Ogden were dedicated….(or London, or Switzerland, or New Zealand, etc, etc.)
@Mormon
It was a joke. I was casting aspersions on the Kirtland temple manifestations that were obviously cadged from Acts 2:2-4 and Exodus 13:21-22. The joke being that we don’t see this kind of stuff anymore because it’s easy to make it up when nobody’s there to take video.
Short story. I was at a temple dedication where President Hinckley presided. The local choir tried their best, but was pretty bad. A few tin ears, no trained voices, bad coordination and technique, poor form all around. (It resembled the choir in ‘Sister Act’ before Whoopie came to save the day.) The conductor was obviously an amateur with little musical experience- she was lucky to be using the right conducting pattern for each song’s time signature.
I watched President Hinckley’s face as they sang song after song, and he did his very best to keep a peaceful smile up even as others cringed on the high notes. After a while, you could tell he was concerned and disappointed, but while he conducted the meeting he graciously thanked them nonetheless for their effort.
At the next temple dedication in the area, he referenced his experience and had a 20 person choir from the MoTab flown out to sing instead of the locals.
I think the same thing happens with other elements of temple building and dedication. The locals aren’t trusted to build a temple. With such small geographic areas, it is unlikely we’d have the composite expertise anyway. The question is- should locals take the time (a decade or more) to learn the requisite skills, or should it just be done for them in order for the people to have a temple to enter into and learn from. SLC has answered the question. Imported temples.
Even if the local saints don’t have the needed skills to build a high-quality edifice to the Lord, do they have the discipline and determination to learn or try? We’ll never know. Our ancestors spent decades patiently quarrying stone for Salt Lake, but would we spend a few years doggedly pursuing a craft (like carpentry or stained-glass making) or skill (like music or painting)? If not, (and obviously, the answer is not), then why do we expect the same miracles?
(As a caveat, I know this sounds very works-based instead of grace-based, but beyond the quantity of work is a frame of heart and mind- an ability to sacrifice and a desire to align.)
@Mortimer
I wrestle with this conflict myself when helping my kids with a science project or when I volunteer as a mentor.
If I give them goals and then stay out of it, they will likely fail or do very substandard work. It’s so tempting to micromanage or just do it for them so it will meet my standards and they’ll get an A+.
On the other hand, I’ve had teachers micromanage me in the past. It was so boring just watching while my teacher built my project. At the end, I learned little and I wasn’t vested in the results.
I’ve learned. I tell my students that it’s as important to learn how to recover from failure as it is to succeed. I’ve learned that my students’ standards aren’t my standards. They will have success on their terms, not mine.
That’s what I’d like to see happen with temples. Let the locals design and build the temple to their own standards. If it’s a grass shack, a cow dung and mud hut, a bamboo structure, or made from cinder blocks it’s the Lord’s House. It’s built with loving, faithful hands, so I have no doubt He will be well pleased.
Elder Anderson,
First I heart Jeeves. Thanks for sharing!
Second, thanks for the compliment, but I know of no quicker way to decimate the good that has been created since the restoration than to put me in any sort of leadership position in the Lord’s kingdom. Nope. The world is safer place with me in the back of the ranks.
BTW, re: the above conversation, I know of many stories of the gift of tongues during President McKay’s time as well as with the Cowleys. They are out there, but the more authentic a story is, the more well curated it is. You can find them though, even today.
Regarding glossolalia (“speaking in tongues”), it was not uncommon in Christian religious culture at that time–the “burned over district” and all that. Evidently it was also relatively common in New Testament times (I Corithians 14, Mark, Acts, etc.) Again, look to the culture of the times.
But, color me skeptical that it has ever been an actual manifestation of the “spirit.” Strong emotion is (in my experience–observing times when others claim it is in evidence) indistinguishable from feeling the “spirit.”
But whether real or not, at the Kirtland dedication or any other time, what would be the objective of the spirit supposedly “sending” the communication? To prove they were there? And, yes I know about the sometimes claimed “interpretation of tongues.” If the communication requires an interpreter, why wouldn’t a spirit/God simply send it in the receiver’s native language?
That is my current opinion, but I am teachable.
fbisti,
I tend to think that if this is a genuine gift, it isn’t about creating a show, but communication. In later 20th century usage, there have been examples of a person understanding a foreign language without a translator, or communicating to them clearly in a language one does not know (less frequent). I’m less apt to poo-poo the whole thing because I find it fascinating that women often held this gift in early days of the church. Today it is more frequently recorded when missionaries or GAs have the gift. Different languages allow people to communicate nuances of ideas that they would otherwise not be able to in their native tongue. (That’s why the Koran is optimally read in Arabic and not translated.) So, it might be beneficial to flip over into French or Thai or Finnish for a while. It also might be beneficial for the flow of the meeting to dispense with choppy-ness of a translator. (It is so annoying to listen to translated rhetoric!!!) Ultimately, it’s about getting thoughts across for the edification of those involved. I think the ability to speak spirit to spirit, the gift of music, and the gift of discernment are closely related to the gift of tongues.
D&C46 states that it is 1) given to people that want to do good 2) is for the benefit of ALL 3) not to consume it upon their lusts 4) everyone gets one gift 5) these gifts are given for or “unto” the church (as a whole).
Elder Andersen,
Re: #20, I agree completely. LDS locals are robbed of some very valuable lessons if they never have to ask themselves these questions:
What is the most magnificent/holy (building, painting, piece of music,etc.) that we together can make for our God?
How do we make something holy and sacred?
Is this thing I have just made with my hands, my best work for my Heavenly Father/Parents/Savior/neighbors? How do I know? What is my “standard”? His/Their standard?
What is sanctification? Consecration?
What is sacred geometry? Symbolism? Astronomy? What elements from all of scripture, from all of time, should be highlighted? Why? How should they be interpreted and taught to others? Incorporated into the highest worship? What is the most distilled essence of spirituality for this high purpose?
Where in my area is sacred ground? How do I figure that out? Why is it so?
What is the difference between something beautiful and something sacred?
What happens when I pray to be inspired in my art or craft for work to be devoted to another?
What happens when we don’t have the resources, knowledge, or skill to do this? (How does faith become engaged and do I get to participate in a miracle? In sacrifice?)
Etc.
My point is that I think there is an important intellectual, self-reflective, and faith-building process that takes place when a simple person begins this process of building the sacred temple. I also think it must be a tremendously self-actualizing experience to be asked to contribute your lifetime craft- perhaps your multi-generational craft to this great cause. It’s something that the current GAs take for granted (having planned so many temples), but that is truly a rare honor. We (in the ranks) are intellectually and spiritually lazy because we aren’t having to challenge ourselves. Instead, we’re kinda like, “oh yeah- this big temple was approved by the Prophet and is from Utah and French Provincial and is therefore holy and A-okay. Ta-da!”
What do you think the gift of tongues is?
@Mortimer
Can’t thank you enough for the incredible insights.
When the Baton Rouge La. dedication occurred, My family had been members less than a year. I was selected to be part of the Temple Choir, and our Bishop gave my wife his seating ticket so she could be in the Celestial Room for the Dedication (everything else was CCTV). The Choir sat outside the Celestial Room watching a monitor until time to sing and we filed in and took our place behind the General Authorities, Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley and Neal A. Maxwell. When Pres. Hinckley changed from an image on a screen to someone less than 2 ft. away I felt a very powerful spirit that almost stopped me in my tracks. It was a great experience, especially for a new member.