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STEPHANIE - In the New Testament there are two instances
where the apostles are preaching {Stephen to the Sanhedrin who stones him
to death when he accuses them of following the law and of worshipping in
temples as their fathers did.} and he says "But Solomon built him an house.
Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith
the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will
ye build me? Saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my
hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart
and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do
ye." {Acts 7:47-51}
Then again when Paul is preaching in Athens, he
tells the people there, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing
that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing,
seeing he giveth to all life,a nd breath, and all things;" {Acts 17:24-25}
I am not understanding why if temples are so important now, that the
Apostles after Jesus was resurrected condemmed those
who worshipped in temples and said that God does not dwell in temples
as we have been taught in the mormon church?
JOEL - I agree with Stephen and Paul that God doesn't need to
dwell in a temple and he certainly was not dwelling in
the temples of their time. If you read these
scriptures in their context you will see that Paul is
speaking against the Pagan idol worshipping that was
going on in the so-called temples at that time. In verse 29 of that same chapter(17) in Acts Paul says:
"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we
ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold,
or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."
They were making and worshipping idols made of gold and silver and using them to
represent the constant presence of God in their temple.
But God doesn't need to dwell in a temple; He is
omnipresent and can exist everywhere and cannot be
confined to one place as those people in Paul's day believed.
On the other hand God can command temples to be built
among those who have the priesthood and who enjoy the
spirit of revelation, such as Herod's temple of
earlier times. These are in fact the Lord's houses,
and when such peoples are true and faithful (which was
not the case among the Jews of Jesus' day) the divine
spirit rests upon and the person of the Lord can be
seen within these holy houses.
For us in these latter days temples have been
constructed under command of God and authority of the
priesthood to perform important saving ordinances and
to help us get closer to God.
I have never been taught that God actually dwells in
our temples. I have only been taught that they are
places that He might visit from time to time as He
deals with His children on earth. What we have been
taught is that His spirit is present in our temples,
which makes it a special place we can go to help us
worship and get closer to Him.
We know Jesus will come to His temple at His second
coming (Mal 3:1, Rev. 7:15, Ezek. 37:26-28, Zech.
6:12-15). Someone is going to have to build that temple eventually.
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