A Pictorial History of Mormonism | Temples of the LDS Church Part I

Scattered across the globe, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has constructed 168 temples, each one a beautiful house of the Lord where worthy members can come to worship and bind themselves and their families to God. Below I have included pictures of the first 20 of these beautiful houses of worship and included some interesting facts about each, and how they fit into the storied history of Mormonism. (More installments in this series to come)


1. St. George Utah Temple
Location: St. George, Utah, USA
Dedicated: April 1877 by Daniel H. Wells
Fun Fact: The St. George Temple is the oldest operating temple of the LDS Church. Other temples had been built before it, but these were either destroyed by arson or natural disasters or had to be abandoned when the Saints fled westward.

2. Logan Utah Temple
Location: Logan, Utah, USA
Dedicated: May 1884 by John Taylor
Fun Fact: The exterior walls, made of rough-hewn, dark limestone, were originally painted off-white to give the building a smoother texture, but in the early 1900's the paint was allowed  to weather away and show the temple's characteristic rough stone.

3. Manti Utah Temple
Location: Manti, Utah, USA
Dedicated: May 1888 by Lorenzo Snow
Fun Fact: Every year, a pageant celebrating the history of the Church is performed on the hillside on the temple grounds.

4. Salt Lake Temple
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Dedicated: April 1893 by Wilford Woodruff
Fun Fact: The Salt Lake Temple is perhaps the most well-recognized of all LDS temples. It was built over a forty-year period and was the first Mormon temple to have a public open-house before its dedication. By square-footage, it is the Church's largest temple and its distinctive architecture makes it an international symbol of the Church.

5. Laie Hawaii Temple

Location: Laie, Hawaii, USA
Dedicated: November 1919 by Heber J. Grant
Fun Fact: Construction on this iconic tropical temple came to a screeching halt when builders realized they were running short on lumber. The members were asked to pray for an answer to this predicament. In just a couple days, a freighter was found stranded on a nearby coral reef. The captain of the ship offered the Church all of his cargo if they would help unload it. He was carrying lumber, and enough of it to finish the temple.

6. Cardston Alberta Temple

Location: Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Dedicated: August 1923 by Heber J. Grant
Fun Fact: First temple built outside of the United States.

7. Mesa Arizona Temple

Location: Mesa, Arizona, USA
Dedicated: October 1927 by Heber J. Grant
Fun Fact: The Mesa Arizona Temple became the first to perform temple ordinances in a non-English language when Spanish ordinances were offered in 1945.

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple

Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
Dedicated: September 1945 by George Albert Smith
Fun Fact: The outside of the temple was completed in 1941 with completion of the interior planned for the next year. However, World War II shortages prompted the construction to wait until after the war.

9. Bern Switzerland Temple

Location: Zolikofen, Bern, Switzerland
Dedicated: September 1955 by David O. McKay
Fun Fact: First European temple.

10. Los Angeles California Temple

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Dedicated: March 1956 by David O. McKay
Fun Fact: Construction was also delayed for many years by World War II

11. Hamilton New Zealand Temple

Location: Hamilton, Waikoto region, North Island, New Zealand
Dedicated: April 1958 by David O. McKay
Fun Fact: For many years, this temple offered over-night ordinances to accommodate weekend visitors who had traveled long distances.

12.London England Temple

Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Dedicated: September 1958 by David O. McKay
Fun Fact: The open-house for the London temple drew an unprecedented 76,324 visitors.

13. Oakland California Temple

Location: Oakland, California, USA
Dedicated: November 1864 by David O. McKay
Fun Fact: The Oakland temple's exterior features two 35 foot panels with relief sculptures of Christ preaching in Jerusalem on the north panel, and Christ preaching in the Americas on the south.

14. Ogden Utah Temple

Location: Ogden, Utah, USA
Dedicated: January 1972 by Joseph Fielding Smith
Fun Fact: This temple holds the distinction of the first to be dedicated in Utah after Utah became a state. The other four were dedicated while Utah was still a territory.

15. Provo Utah Temple

Location: Provo, Utah, USA
Dedicated: February 1972 by Joseph Fielding Smith
Fun Fact: Many consider this valley temple to be one of the busiest temples of the whole Church.

16. Washington D.C Temple
Location: Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Dedicated: November 1974 by Spencer W. Kimball
Fun Fact: The open-house of this temple was extremely successful, with over 750,000 visitors, among them then First Lady Betty Ford. The extensive open-house yielded more than 75,000 inquiries by non-members to the missionaries.

17. São Paulo Brazil Temple

Location: São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Dedicated: November 1978 by Spencer W. Kimball
Fun Fact: Prior to this temple's construction, the nearest temple for Brazilian Saints was the Washington D.C. Temple, nearly 5,000 miles away.

18. Tokyo Japan Temple

Location: Tokyo, Honshu, Japan
Dedicated: October 1980 by Spencer W. Kimball
Fun Fact: This was the first LDS temple built in all of Asia.

19. Seattle Washington Temple

Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Dedicated: November 1980 by Spencer W. Kimball
Fun Fact: The Seattle Temple was built close to the Bellevue Airfield, and because of this, the Church was asked to reduce the planned height of its steeple, and place a warning strobe light on the Angel Moroni statue. In 1983, the Bellevue Airfield shut down, so the strobe light was permanently shut off.

20. Jordan River Utah Temple

Location: South Jordan, Utah, USA
Dedicated: November 1981 by Marion G. Romney
Fun Fact: At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jordan River Temple,  Prophet Spencer W. Kimball gave some remarks, offered a prayer, and then personally operated an enormous Caterpillar tractor to move the first large shovelful of dirt. The groundbreaking of temples is normally conducted with hand shovels.

Other parts in this series:
Part I
Part II
Part III
More to come...

Mormonism: Why is the temple so important?

Anyone familiar with Mormonism probably has had some sort of exposure to the concept of temples. But many people are somewhat mystified by these buildings. What is their purpose? What goes on in there? And why does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stress so much importance on the temple attendance of its members?
Everything that goes on in Mormon temples is centered around the family and their relationship with Jesus Christ. All things done inside are to ensure the salvation of all and to bind families together for eternity. Simply stated, members of the Church go to the temple to perform essential ordinances and to make covenants with the Lord. It is a place of peace, a House of the Lord. Members go there for clarity, to reflect, to be nearer to God, to pray.
Another key purpose of LDS Temples is the redemption of the dead. Ancestors who died without baptism or the other essential ordinances of the Temple can do so by proxy. A living member of the Church, worthy to enter the temple, may perform these ordinances on behalf of the deceased by being baptized, confirmed, etc. in their place. Some outside the Church take issue with this, as it seems to them that the Church is forcibly converting people after death. But this is not the case. Members can only submit the names of direct ancestors, and if they wish to submit someone else's ancestor, they need express permission from a living descendant. According to the teachings of the LDS Church, there is an element of choice inherent in these proxy ordinances. Those on the other side have the choice as to whether they accept the ordinances, just as a person would have a choice here on earth. Members serving in the temple are merely opening a door for their ancestors; whether they walk through it or not is their choice.
One question often leveled to the Church is "Why is there so much secrecy surrounding the temple?" Most of what happens inside remains a mystery to non-Mormons, and even to those Mormons who have not been through the temple yet. Those who do know, usually don't talk about it outside the temple. If it's such a great place, why can't everybody know the intricate details?
There are a few reasons for this, the first being the sacredness of the temple and the mysteries learned therein. The temple is a sacred place, and only members of the Church who are worthy--meaning they obey the teachings of the Church to the best of their ability--may enter inside. These individuals may enter because they have disciplined themselves, and have proven themselves in the eyes of God that they can respect and cherish the blessings and teachings they receive inside the temple. Those who go through the temple have usually learned enough that what happens in the temple makes sense on some level, and has context. This is another reason that the inner-workings of Mormon temples are not trumpeted from the rooftops. They lack context. Without an understanding of the background of these ordinances, and their symbolic and spiritual implications, it's easy to discount them, to make light of them, and disrespect their holiness. The perceived "secrecy" is to protect the holy covenants of the temple from ridicule, and also to protect those who might mock them from judgement, as they do not have the full picture.
This is not to say that one trip to the temple can give you all the knowledge you need or instantly make you perfect. Members often describe themselves as continually learning new things, gaining new insights on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and gaining personal revelation for their lives. Even prophets, the men who lead, and receive revelation for the whole Church, have said that they are still learning on each visit to one of these sacred houses of the Lord.

On other sacred ordinances of the LDS Church, read this article about the importance of the sacrament.

The Principle of Agency in Mormonism's Plan of Salvation

Often lumped together with other similar concepts, such as "free will", agency is a key component of not only Mormonism, but much of Christendom as well. But how does one define it, and what is the understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the subject?
A good place to start is to clarify the subtle but important difference between agency and freedom. Simply put, agency is our ability to choose our actions, and freedom describes our capability of carrying out those actions. We need both in order to think and act for ourselves, and they are both essential to our salvation.
Before we came to this earth, we lived with God. We noticed that He had a glorified and perfect body of flesh and blood, whereas we were only spirits. We asked our Father how we might obtain bodies of our own. The Lord taught us of a beautiful plan, whereby we could obtain bodies and be tested according to our personal  righteousness. If we consistently chose right, we would be able to return to live with God once more. But, being human, we are weak, and bound to slip up here and there. So God's plan included the divine help of a Savior, one who could allow us to be cleansed of our sins, and one to advocate with the Father on our behalf. Our elder Brother Jesus Christ, volunteered to perform this holy service for all mankind and to give glory unto God. But one other also volunteered. Lucifer asked to be sent as our savior, but had a different plan from that of the Father. He would have taken away our agency, and thereby give us no choice but to choose right. He claimed he could save everyone with this plan. It sounds tempting. Who doesn't want to be saved, right? Except our earthly life is meant to be a test. What is the point of testing someone if you force them to give all the right answers? It wouldn't be a test at all. Lucifer continued to rebel against God, and was cast out along with his followers, becoming Satan.
 This life is meant to be a time of learning and growing. This life prepares us for the next and allows us to choose between the freedom of righteousness and the bondage of sin. Without a knowledge of true pain and sorrow, we couldn't possibly know of happiness, love, or peace. This is why we need agency and freedom. We must be able to choose and act for ourselves, or we will never progress and become better. Without a choice, there is no law. Without law, there is no sin. Without sin there is no sorrow, and conversely there is no righteousness, happiness, blessings.
Simply put, if we have no choice cannot know true happiness. And we have a simple choice: Satan, evil, and the bondage of sin, or Jesus Christ, good, and the freedom of righteousness. Satan tries to muddy the waters and make the choice seem more complicated than it truly is, using confusion as a devastating weapon. But Jesus Christ will always shine through the darkness, and if we just look for it, we can choose and act upon it, drawing continually nearer. Thus, the wise use of agency can bring us salvation.

The pioneers: people who used their agency in a very bold way.