Mormon Temples and Family History Centers

Agenda Teaser: Simon Wiesenthal’s baptism Introductions: Disclaimers Ground rules Who am I? What do you want to make sure I cover?

Agenda, continued Mormon Temples: What a Mormon temple is … and isn’t A history of Mormon temple worship The Los Angeles temple Baptisms, endowments, sealings

Agenda, continued Genealogy, computers, and the Internet Family History Centers The non-Mormon view The Mormon view A brief history

Agenda, continued Recent controversies: Questions and Answers 1995 Holocaust victims’ baptisms Simon Wiesenthal’s 2006 baptism The Mormon church’s response Questions and Answers

Introduction Disclaimers Ground rules Who am I? I am solely responsible for this talk. Ground rules Please interrupt me with questions. This talk is being recorded. Who am I? What do you want to make sure I cover?

Mormon Temples Some terminology: Temples are not meetinghouses Temples aren’t even open on Sundays Unlike meetinghouses, temples are not open to the public

Mormon Temple History I First temple: Kirtland, Ohio, 1836 Next temple: Nauvoo, Illinois, 1846 Three more in Utah before Salt Lake City in 1893

The Salt Lake Temple (1893)

Mormon Temple History II Five more outside of Utah before Los Angeles in 1956

The Los Angeles Temple (1956)

The Oakland Temple (1964)

The San Diego Temple (1993)

Mormon Temple History III 124 temples worldwide today Roughly half (~60) are within the U.S. Seven are within California: Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego Fresno, 2000 Redlands, 2003 Newport Beach, 2005 Sacramento, 2006

Temples in California Today Source: http://temples.lds.org

Mormon Temple Growth Only four temples operating in 1900 Only eight operating by 1950 20 in 1982 40 in 1986 In 1999, increased from 43 to 68 In 2000, increased from 68 to 102 124 today, with 11 more announced

The Los Angeles Temple 13 acres purchased from Harold Lloyd Motion Picture Company, Mar 23, 1937. World War II delayed construction. Groundbreaking: Sep 22, 1951 Dedication: Mar 11-14, 1956 Source: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/losangeles/

Questions and Answers Does anybody want to ask questions about any of the stuff we’ve covered so far?

Salvation for the Dead Ordinances [baptism, etc.] “are required for exaltation for all accountable persons. Many people have died without receiving these ordinances. Heavenly Father has prepared a way for the dead to hear the gospel and receive these ordinances. People who died without a knowledge of the gospel, but who would have received it, are promised that they will be heirs to the celestial kingdom.” – CHI, Book 2, Section 9, p. 262

Salvation for the Dead “The people in the spirit world may exercise faith in Jesus Christ and accept the gospel message, but because they do not have physical bodies, the gospel ordinances must be performed vicariously for them on earth. Church members have a responsibility to provide these ordinances for their own ancestral families. Ordinances that have been performed for the dead are effective when the deceased persons choose to accept them and become qualified to receive them.” – ibid.

Salvation for the Dead “The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.” – Joseph Smith “Those Saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation.” – Joseph Smith

Salvation for the Dead “These are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as … they without us cannot be made perfect – neither can we without our dead be made perfect.” – Joseph Smith, D&C 128:15

Baptism For the living: For the dead: First practiced in 1829 By immersion, in any body of water For the dead: First introduced in 1840 Must be performed in the temple

Endowment Introduced in 1842 Must be performed in temples The name “endowment” is a reference to being “endowed with power from on high” (cf. Luke 24:49, D&C 95:8-9) Is a two-hour dramatization of Adam, Eve, the Garden of Eden, etc.

Endowment “Your endowment is to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation[.]” – Brigham Young

Sealings Husband and wife Parents and children Dates to the 1840’s Parents and children As we know it today, began in 1894 Must be performed in temples Means to “bind” in the same sense with which Jesus gave Peter the power to bind on earth and in heaven (Mt. 16:19, Hel. 10:7)

Questions and Answers Does anybody want to ask questions about any of the stuff we’ve covered so far?

Family History Comes of Age 1894: Revelation on sealings; organization of the Genealogical Society of Utah 1938: Microfilming begins 1961: Name extraction begins 1963: Granite Mountain Records Vault completed 1964: Branches of the Genealogical Library open; renamed FHC’s in 1987

Family History Comes of Age 1969: Records of temple work begin to be computerized; the IGI is born 1983: Personal Ancestral File 1990: FamilySearch 1993: TempleReady Late 1990’s: FamilySearch.org Source: Hearts Turned to the Fathers, Allen et. al., 1994

Questions and Answers Does anybody want to ask questions about any of the stuff we’ve covered so far?

Genealogy on the Internet

Genealogy on the Internet http://www.Ancestry.com http://www.CyndisList.com http://www.FamilySearch.org http://www.RootsWeb.com http://www.USGenWeb.com http://www.WorldGenWeb.com

Family History Centers: the non-Mormon view

Visiting a FHC The big one at the temple is the largest one outside of Salt Lake City A huge collection of books and microfilms The rest are smaller A basic set of books and films, but you can order any films you want for a small fee Open hours are unpredictable; check before you go at FamilySearch.org.

FHC Locations: (626) Covina Glendora Hacienda Heights Pasadena

FHC Locations: (818) Burbank Canoga Park Glendale Grenada Hills / Northridge La Crescenta San Fernando / Van Nuys Sylmar

Family History Centers: the Mormon view

TempleReady™ The main focus is taking ancestors to the temple. Research books and microfilms are a means to that end. By and large, Mormons who are in the FHC are there to use TempleReady™.

TempleReady™ and the IGI Members enter a name, and an event date and place into TempleReady™. TempleReady™ checks that name against the IGI. If no duplication is found, the name is added to a floppy diskette. Members take that diskette to the temple, which begins recordkeeping of temple work for that name.

TempleReady™ and the IGI As ordinances are performed, the temple transmits the date and place of each event to headquarters, which updates the IGI with new information. If another member, elsewhere in the world, tries to submit the same ancestor to TempleReady™, it gets flagged as a duplicate and no diskette is generated.

Questions and Answers Does anybody want to ask questions about any of the stuff we’ve covered so far?

Non-Mormon Reaction Praise Controversy Holocaust baptisms: 1995, 2000, and 2006 My brush with LDS Public Affairs

Questions and Answers If there’s any time left now, you all need to think of questions to ask, or I’ll just ramble on some more.