What is a Covenant?

This article was written by guest-writer, Cody Bosch.

“A covenant is a sacred promise, as used in the scriptures, a solemn, enduring promise between God and man. The fullness of the gospel itself is defined as the new and everlasting covenant.”-Boyd K. Packer. 
In an April 1987 address to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Boyd K. Packer related the story of the recent death of his fellow apostle, Elder A. Theodore Tuttle .The people of the Church were asked to fast and pray that he would recover from an illness that had been plaguing him.  Even with prayers of millions of faithful, however, Elder Tuttle eventually succumbed to his illness. During his address, Elder Packer, lest someone's faith be shaken, pulled out a sheet of paper that he originally had planned to read at Elder Tuttle's funeral, but at the time couldn't bring himself to do it.  Elder Packer informed the congregation of Elder Tuttle's humility and faith during his trying illness. In a visit to to Elder Tuttle's hospital bed, Elder Packer had heard the man say that he had prayed to God that all the blessings coming his way would be passed along to someone else who was more needful, more deserving.

“No matter what citizenship or race, whether male or female, no matter what occupation, no matter your education, regardless of the generation in which one lives, life is a homeward journey for all of us, back to the presence of God in his celestial kingdom.”-Boyd K. Packer. 

A covenant, like the one made by the ailing Elder Tuttle, is essentially a two-way promise between God and man. In exchange for obedience to God and His commandments, the commensurate blessings based on those commandments can be awarded in the Lord's  time. One covenant that each must make is the covenant of baptism. By being baptized by the correct authority, we signify to God that we are willing to end our life of sin and start anew, taking upon ourselves the name of Christ. The Lord holds His end of the deal by washing us clean from our repented sins, and have the opportunity for repentance should we stumble later on.
If you would like to learn more about covenants and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you can follow this link to chat live with actual missionaries. Mormon.org/chat

We All Have Need of the Atonement of Jesus Christ

The following was inspired by LDS Apostle, Boyd K. Packer's October 2012 talk, "The Atonement"

If there is one thing I know about life is that it is not easy. Many a time, life seems cold and indifferent to the suffering of those living it. Any well-experienced person will tell you that life is not with trial, not without pain, and not without struggle. But many of those people will also tell you something else; it's worth it.
Life may give us trouble, but we are not alone in the journey. For a start, we have each other. One of the greatest assets we have been given in this life is our fellow man, whom we can learn from, teach, and give and receive assistance. But more importantly, God has given us what is without a doubt the greatest gift ever given: the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

What is the Atonement?
As mortal human beings, we are imperfect. Try as we might, we are all prone to weakness, and will occasionally slip up, violating the commandments God has given us. But God has said,
"Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence." 
(Moses 6:57)
Being imperfect, we naturally are unclean, and therefore cannot dwell with God without repentance. But then comes the tricky part. Being the creations of a benevolent God, who decided to create us, and give us life, we are eternally in His debt. To repent, we must pay the price for our sins to God. But how can we expect to even begin to pay Him back?
But God is merciful. He knew that the predicament of mankind stood in this cosmic catch-22, and He graciously gave us a solution. He would send His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth, to obtain a body, live as we do, teach us on behalf of the Father and share with us the sacred power of God. He would live a perfect life, performing the impossible (for us) task of never sinning in His entire earthly life. And then, the Son of God would take upon Himself all the pains, afflictions, guilt, and sins of all mankind. He would bleed from every pore, be betrayed by those He called friends, be tortured, beaten and spat upon, and finally suffer the agony of death by crucifixion. Three days later, He would rise from the dead and ascend to His Heavenly Father.
In these actions, Jesus Christ performed what is called the "Atonement." Perfect, pure, and sinless He offered Himself as a sacrifice, a payment to God. Thanks to these selfless acts, we are able to repent, by admitting our faults to God, doing all that we can to fix the problem, and begging forgiveness from God and any we have wronged. Then, as we remember the body of Christ, which was broken for us, His blood, which was shed for us, we are able to lay our sins at the feet of Jesus Christ, and be made clean once more. The Lord, in His infinite mercy, gave us a way to become more than we are, to become clean, and able to once more dwell with our Father.
Is the Atonement just for our sins?
The Atonement covers much more than our sins. Looping back to the introduction, life inevitably holds trial. We all have our obstacles to face, and we all have our own unique challenges in life. In the midst of these times, it can be tempting to think that God does not understand, that this trial is just too much, and that our life isn't fair. But thanks to the atonement, this is not the case. The Savior Jesus Christ felt every pain, disappointment, and hardship we have ever felt, and more. He understands.
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."
(Alma 7:11-12)
Armed with the knowledge of how we feel, of the intricacies and nuances of our circumstances, Jesus Christ will advocate with our Heavenly Father on our behalf come Judgement Day. Our judgement will be completely fair, just, and merciful. Through the Atonement, the Lord offers us all things. ensuring our salvation and exaltation if only we obey His commandments and remember His sacrifice with deep gratitude and humility. We are eternally indebted to God, yet He saw fit to give us the ultimate gift in His Son.

Forgive and Forget

Has anyone ever wronged you? Of course! As human beings, we naturally associate with others, and sometimes those interactions go wrong. Whether it's deliberate or not, someone will say or do something that offends the other. Each one of us will find ourselves at both ends of this scenario at some point in our lives. When we find ourselves at the receiving end of wrong-doing, a natural response is to take offense. We justify that if we continually remember that this person caused us pain, we can avoid the person, the situation, and the pain in the future. We tell ourselves it is for protection. But most often we are just holding onto it to nurse our own pride. The dust has settled, the time of confrontation has passed, but we still hold a grudge: an ugly burden that feeds on our sense of entitlement and  is a drain on our strength. There comes a time for everyone when enough is enough, and this self-inflicted burden must be dropped, the mind and heart set free from this self-inflicted torture. We need to forgive!
President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke on the very subject of forgiveness in an address to the Church given in April 2011. He spoke of a man who had gone through much grief, and seemingly had every right to be angry, but who chose to forgive:
"[A friend of mine] married his sweetheart. They were deeply in love, and soon she was expecting their first child.
The night the baby was born, there were complications. The only doctor was somewhere in the countryside tending to the sick. After many hours of labor, the condition of the mother-to-be became desperate. Finally, the doctor was located. In the emergency, he acted quickly and soon the baby was born, and the crisis, it appeared, was over. But some days later, the young mother died from the very infection that the doctor had been treating at another home that night.
The young man’s world was shattered. As the weeks wore on, his grief festered. He thought of little else, and in his bitterness he became threatening. Today, no doubt, he would have been pressed to file a malpractice suit, as though money would solve anything.
One night a knock came at his door. A little girl said simply, 'Daddy wants you to come over. He wants to talk to you.'
'Daddy' was the stake president. The counsel from that wise leader was simply 'John, leave it alone. Nothing you do about it will bring her back. Anything you do will make it worse. John, leave it alone.'
This had been my friend’s trial. How could he leave it alone? A terrible wrong had been committed. He struggled to get hold of himself and finally determined that he should be obedient and follow the counsel of that wise stake president. He would leave it alone.
He said, 'I was an old man before I understood and could finally see a poor country doctor—overworked, underpaid, run ragged from patient to patient, with little medicine, no hospital, few instruments, struggling to save lives, and succeeding for the most part. He had come in a moment of crisis, when two lives hung in the balance, and had acted without delay. I finally understood!' He said, 'I would have ruined my life and the lives of others.'
Many times he had thanked the Lord on his knees for a wise priesthood leader who counseled simply, 'John, leave it alone.'

There comes a point when we each have to realize that holding a grudge for our neighbor is useless. Worse than useless! We must learn that our anger, however valid it might seem, ultimately stems from an inflated sense of pride. A perceived wrong comes our way, and we strap this burden to our back and carry it with us, to remind us of the gross injustice someone else has perpetrated. This burden stagnates us. We use up our energy on this useless task, and become unable to help others who sorely need us. It is the height of selfishness, centered on the "me, me, me."
The release of a grudge is quite possibly the most liberating feeling in the world. It's like carrying a fifty pound  rock on your neck for several miles and then finally dropping it on the side of the road, never to be picked up again. No more energy or strength needs to be spent on its dead weight, and with all your heart and mind, you can focus on other things.
Occasionally, a grudge might be more difficult to put down. We sometimes twist and contort under its weight, trapping ourselves underneath it in a manner that we cannot fix by ourselves. For these times we need help. We need the Lord Jesus Christ, who can lift any burden and heal any wound. With prayer, faith, a desire for change, and a willingness to act, Christ can help us remove the burden and cast it aside.
We can also learn to let go of these burdens before we even pick them up. We will no doubt be given some opportunity to feel hurt, whether the giver intends to hurt us or not. But it is our choice whether or not to be offended. We are under no obligation to pick up the stones that land at our feet, whether they are throne, or accidentally dropped.
Finally, I, like many others, often find myself in the strange position where the person I am having trouble forgiving... is me. For those moments, I find it helpful to remember what Christ Himself said on the matter:
"I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men."
(Doctrine and Covenants 64:10)
I think this applies to the self as well. Guilt is a wonderful, natural feeling that God allows us to feel when we have sinned against His commandments. It is useful when we notice it, and use it to change and improve. But once the repentance process has been completed, it is of no use to keep kicking yourself for the mistake you made. We must learn from the mistake, and remember not to make the same one in the future, but never must we hitch ourselves to the dead weight of such self-torture. It is the Lord's job to judge each person for their deeds at the last day, and to acknowledge the repentance they commit and their efforts to come unto Him. One should do everything he can to clean the fallout of his sins, but he shouldn't make the error of appointing himself as his own jailer.
I know that the Lord is merciful, infinitely forgiving, and infinitely just. When we have done all that is in our power to remedy our shortcomings, and we act with mercy, charity, and love to all mankind, and choose to leave our burden's at the feet of Jesus Christ, we our able to make the trek and come unto the Lord. This I testify in the holy name of Jesus Christ--Amen.

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

Alas! Part III in my LDS temple series. Read on for pictures and interesting facts about each of the existing 140 temples and their place in the history of the LDS Church. (For other parts in this series, scroll to the bottom for nifty directory!)

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple
Location: Friedrichsdorf, Hesse, Germany
Dedicated: August 1987 by Ezra Taft Benson
Fun Fact: The week that the ground was broken for this temple was very busy for Gordon B. Hinckley, who was then First Counselor to the Prophet Ezra Taft Benson. President Hinckley had dedicated the Freiberg Germany Temple just the day before, and the day after Frankfurt's groundbreaking he had gone to Sweden to dedicate the Stockholm Temple

42. Portland Oregon Temple

Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Dedicated: August 1989 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The open house for the Portland Temple drew an unprecedented 314,000+ visitors, at the time, a record-setter.

43. Las Vegas Nevada Temple

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Dedicated: December 1989 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The lobby of the Las Vegas Temple has an architectural element known as a "whispering gallery". The ceiling is shaped in a parabola which allows sound waves to travel and spread throughout the area enclosed by the dome. If a person standing directly beneath the edge of the dome whispers gently, another person standing under the opposite edge of the dome (a few meters away) can hear them clearly, as if they were right next to each other.

44. Toronto Ontario Temple

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dedicated: August 1990 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Due to the cultural diversity of the area, the dedication services were translated from English into six other languages: French, Spanish Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Korean.

45. San Diego California Temple

Location: San Diego, California, USA
Dedicated: April 1993 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Crushing the record for the Portland Oregon Temple's open house, the San Diego Temple's open house brought in  over 720,000 visitors

46.Orlando Florida Temple

Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
Dedicated: October 1994 by Howard W. Hunter
Fun Fact: Along with the Bountiful Temple, one of only two temples dedicated by the Prophet Howard W. Hunter during his brief ministry.

47. Bountiful Utah Temple

Location: Bountiful, Utah, USA
Dedicated: January 1995 by Howard W. Hunter
Fun Fact: Set a new record for open house attendance by attracting 870,000 visitors, who were guided on their tour by 45,000 volunteeers from the Church.

48. Hong Kong China Temple

Location: Hong Kong, China
Dedicated: May 1996 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Standing on a lot where a Church meetinghouse and a handful of other small Church buildings originally stood, the Hong Kong Temple was designed as the Church's first multipurpose temple, housing facilities for those other buildings within its walls.

49. Mount Timpanogas Utah Temple

Location: American Fork, Utah, USA
Dedicated: October 1996 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The Mount Timpanogas temple was built to relieve some traffic from the heavily visited Provo Temple. Many members wished to attend the dedicatory service, so the building had to be dedicated over 27 sessions.

50. St. Louis Missouri Temple

Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Dedicated: January 1997 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The establishment of this Temple constituted a moment of healing and forgiveness for the Latter-day Saints, who had fled Missouri in 1838 due to persecution. The temple generated much interest and articles were written about it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and in USA Today.

51. Vernal Utah Temple

Location: Vernal, Utah, USA
Dedicated: November 1997 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: This is the first temple to be made from an already-standing building. The building was originally a large meetinghouse, or "tabernacle" for the Uintah Stake of the Church, built in 1907. The tabernacle was gutted, the interior was redesigned, and the iconic Angel Moroni Statue was placed on one of the tabernacle's spires.

52. Preston England Temple

Location: Preston, Lancashire, England
Dedicated: June 1998 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The second temple built in England, following the London Temple.

53. Monticello Utah Temple

Location: Monticello, Utah, USA
Dedicated: July 1998 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The Monticello Temple originally featured a Moroni statue made from off-white colored granite similar to the stone of the rest of the building. Temple officials soon realized however, that the statue sort of melted into the background on cloudy days, so just a year later, the statue was replaced with a taller, more traditional gold-leafed version.

54. Anchorage Alaska Temple

Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Dedicated: January 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: At 61.10152° N, this is the northernmost LDS temple worldwide.

55. Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Mexico Temple

Location: Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Dedicated: March 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: At the time this temple was being dedicated, the surrounding area was experiencing a severe drought. In his dedicatory prayer on the Colonia Juarez Temple, the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley asked God for a rain to fall and quench the dry landscape. After the final session of the dedication, it started to rain.

56. Madrid Spain Temple

Location: Madrid, Spain
Dedicated: March 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: In the same complex as the Madrid Spain Temple, reside a meetinghouse, a missionary training center, and another Church building. The plot is often referred to as the "Temple Square of Madrid".

57. Bogota Colombia Temple

Location: Bogota, Colombia
Dedicated: April 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Because of difficulty in finding a location that was both available and suitable for the temple's needs, nine years elapsed between the time this temple was announced and the groundbreaking ceremony.

58. Guayaquil Ecuador Temple

Location: Urdesa, Ecuador
Dedicated: August 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The first members to perform ordinances in this temple traveled ten hours by bus. They came from two different stakes, and almost filled the temple in one session.

59. Spokane Washington Temple

Location: Spokane, Washington, USA
Dedicated: August 1999 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Spokane Temple's dedication, Mormons in the surrounding area strove to fill every seat of every ordinance through the entire day.

60. Columbus Ohio Temple

Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA
Dedicated: September 1999
Fun Fact: The white marble used to construct the Colombus Temple was quarried in the vicinity of Sharon, Vermont, the birthplace of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' founder Joseph Smith Jr.

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

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

Hello, and welcome to the second installment of my temple series! My goal with this saga is to share the history of the Mormon church with members and non-members alike through pictures and interesting tidbits about each of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' many temples. (For other parts of this series, scroll to the bottom of this post)

21. Atlanta Georgia Temple
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Dedicated: June 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Many high-profile people were in attendance of this temple's open-house, among them Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves.

22. Apia Samoa Temple
Location: Apia, Tuamasaga, Samoa
Dedicated: August 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: In 2003, the Apia Samoa Temple, while closed for maintenance, was destroyed when a fire broke out. About a week later, the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley announced plans to rebuild. The new temple was finished in 2005, still possessing most of the original architectural details of the original, though updated with a more practical floor plan. The statue of the Angel Moroni which stood atop the original temple's steeple survived the blaze, and was used on the new temple as well.

23. Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple
Location: Nuku'alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga
Dedicated: August 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The Nuku'alofa Temple was under construction around the same time as the Apia Samoa Temple, and the two shared an arhcitectural layout until the Apia Samoa Temple was redesigned.

24. Santiago Chile Temple
Location: Santiago, Chile
Dedicated: September 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: This was the first temple built in a Spanish-speaking nation.

25. Papeete Tahiti Temple
Location: Papeete, Tahiti
Dedicated: October 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Before this establishment of a Tahitian temple, members of the Church would have to travel 2,500 miles if they wished to attend the nearest temple (Hamilton, New Zealand).

26. Mexico City Mexico Temple
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Dedicated: December 1983 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact:  The Mexico City Temple is the largest temple outside of the United States, and recieved an international award for its artistic use of precast concrete. The University of Mexico's school of architecture has praised the temple, and given it much study.

27. Boise Idaho Temple
Location: Boise, Idaho, USA
Dedicated: May 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: For the year following its dedication, the Boise Idaho Temple operated at 102 percent of its capacity, showcasing the local members' pride in temple work.

28. Sydney Australia Temple
Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Dedicated: September 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: When the Temple was built, the Australian government originally ruled that it had to be without the statue of the Angel Moroni. Members of the Church gave the matter much prayer and fasting, and a year later, the decision was overturned and the statue found its place atop the spire of the temple.

29. Manila Phillipines Temple
Location: Manila, Metro Manila, The Phillippines
Dedicated: September 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: A typhoon was headed directly for Manila the day before the groundbreaking was to take place. Prayers were said by the members, and the next day, the storm changed course, allowing the groundbreaking to happen as scheduled.

30. Dallas Texas Temple
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Dedicated: October 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The Dallas Temple shares an architectural design with its counterparts in Boise, Idaho and Chicago, Illinois.

31. Taipei Taiwan Temple
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Dedicated: November 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Church officials made efforts to be respectful of the surrounding community in there design of this temple. The blue tile roof complements the nearby Chiang Kai-shek Memorial hall.

32.Guatemala City Guatemala Temple
Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala Department, Guatemala
Dedicated: November 1984 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Some 3,700 free copies of the Book of Mormon were given to visitors of the temple open-house, and most of these books contained handwritten testimonies of Church members in Guatemala.

33. Freiberg Germany Temple
Location: Freiberg, Saxony, Germany
Dedicated: June 1985 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: Having been built in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the temple in Freiberg holds the distinction of the first, and so far only, temple built in a communist nation.

34. Stockholm Sweden Temple
Location: Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden
Dedicated: July 1985 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: In 1995, King Carl XVI and Queen Silvia visited the temple grounds, welcomed by the Prophet Thomas S. Monson.

35. Chicago Illinois Temple
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Dedicated: August 1985 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The Chicago Temple became the second to be built in the state of Illinois, the first being the Nauvoo Temple, which was destroyed by arson in 1848 and eventually rebuilt in 2002.

36. Johannesburg South Africa Temple
Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Dedicated: August 1985 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: This was the first temple built on the continent of Africa.

37. Seoul Korea Temple
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Dedicated: December 1985 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The Church and the people of Korea have a common passion for family history. It is an old tradition in Korea to remember and keep records of ones ancestors, and the LDS Church stresses family history to perform temple ordinances for ancestors that didn't have a chance in life to be exposed to the gospel, but would have accepted it had they been given the chance. Thanks to this shared interest, one Korean Mormon was able to offer his own ancestral records dating all the way back to 927 AD.

38. Lima Peru Temple
Location: Lima, Lima Province, Peru
Dedicated: January 1986 by Gordon B. Hinckley
Fun Fact: The temple in Lima is known for being extremely busy, crowds of Saint often waiting in lines that stretch outside the building.

39. Buenos Aires Argentina Temple
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dedicated: January 1986 by Thomas S. Monson
Fun Fact: Built with similar architecture to the Lima Peru Temple, the Buenos Aires Temple was dedicated just one week after its sister in Peru.

40. Denver Colorado Temple
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Dedicated: October 1986 by Ezra Taft Benson
Fun Fact: At first, residents of the neighboring community were opposed to the idea of the Temple being lit with floodlights all night, so the Church agreed to shut the the lights off at 11:00PM. Over time however, the community grew to enjoy the beauty of the Temple, and requested that the lights be left on all night.

Other parts in this series:

Part I
Part II
Part III
More to come...