Thoughts in the Temple Part 1

By moving to Buffalo, C and I now live closer to a temple than we have in years. It is a short 1 hour 45 minute jaunt to the temple. Given our schedule this means we only go every four to six weeks but that's still more often than we've been since our years as temple workers. Of course the fact that it is the Palmyra temple we attend only adds to the spirituality (can I quote Animal Farm in connection with temples? I better not.).



In any case while there this past weekend I was reading through 1 Nephi 19 and I came upon a passage that I don't think I've ever fully appreciated before. v. 7

For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample under their feet but I would speak in other words--they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels.

Now this scripture is set in context the prophesies of Zenos and Zenock in relation to the coming of Christ, and so could easily be read as an indictment of those who outwardly reject the Savior. I couldn't help but read it as an indictment of those of us who belong to the Church.

I think each of us have pet subjects that we choose to follow more closely than those things that make us uncomfortable. For me I tend to focus on the temple and its place as the center of our worship. Yet I do this without presenting it as part of my life to my non-Mormon friends, something that would be a great missionary tool. I tend to accept the words of Joseph and Brigham that we shouldn't follow the prophets blindly without realizing that means that sometimes things I disagree with on a personal level are given to us from the prophet acting as a prophet. The list can go on and on.

It is appropriate that such an insight would come in the temple. For it teaches us that gospel itself is not merely a single part or aspect of doctrine, but that it all ties together in a great whole. To do missionary work is to do genealogy, for none of us exists independent of our kindred dead. To home teach is to do missionary work, for no dead stands in a vacuum. To go to the temple is to perfect ourselves, to preach to tie generations past and yet to come together in the great web of salvation.

In the end the principles of the gospel are like this. No doctrine is independent and to treat some with more deference than others is to set at naught the words of Christ.