Gilbert's Mormon Temple

My wife and I visited the new Mormon Temple in Gilbert recently with my friend and his family. It was a beautiful building, inside and out. What follows are my thoughts from the almost 2 hours I spent there. I was told that at their current levels they will host around 600,000 people during this open house.

The tour begins at the Meeting House where you watch a video about the history of the LDS in the East Valley and the reason why temples are so important to Mormons. For them, their 141 temples are the most sacred places on earth. Inside, Mormons make covenants, perform ordinances (see the LDS explanation of both here), get baptized and married or just pray in the Celestial Room (see what one looks like here), a physical representation of heaven, I was told. My friend said he feels the Holy Spirit in temples, so he will go to the Gilbert Temple to be close to him and would go every day if he could.

My first impression of anything was of the people, Mormons. They are just like me. I don't know why that struck me as significant, but it did. Maybe I spend so much time in my Christian bubble that I was surprised by non-Christians looking and talking and acting just like me. I loved this because it removed any barriers I might have had to being fully immersed in the experience.

Aside from the beauty of the building, the second thing that struck me was this is a HUGE deal for Mormons. My friend said this is one of the most significant events of his life. You could feel the anticipation before going inside. I've seen young kids just as electrified when entering Disneyland as the ones I went in the temple with. They seemed just as excited to show me the Gilbert Temple as I was to show people my son when he was born. It was my friend's third time visiting and he said he can't wait to volunteer for the cleaning crew so he can see it again.

I noticed that this made me a bit sad, not for them (that's later), but for Christians. We don't have anything that typically arouses that kind of enthusiasm in us (we don't need one either, as I'll explain below), with all the beauty and tradition. I saw in their enthusiasm for their temple what my enthusiasm should be for Jesus, and it was convicting.

Finally, I was bothered by the fact that I wasn't more bothered. I truly thought it was nice, especially all the wood work. I thought it was gorgeous, some parts were breath-taking. I didn't want to like it at all, but I was stunned by the attention to detail. Then, my next thought was "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). Of course it would be beautiful. I should expect nothing else for a house to Satan. I know that's offensive, but "have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16).

The whole premise of Mormonism is that after the death of the last apostle, the saving message of the Gospel was lost to the earth, and that for some 1700+ years we were in darkness until God restored the truth to the earth through Joseph Smith. The video made this point emphatic, that "restored" does not mean enhance, but to bring back something that was lost (there's no proof ANYTHING was ever lost, as the excellent video previewed here demonstrates conclusively).

This is clear from Joseph Smith's first vision where the one claiming to be God said to him "all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men." This god said he hates all the things I hold dear as true and vital for salvation (that's what "abomination" means).

So, either Mormons have the true God and Christians worship Satan, or Christians worship the one true God and Mormons worship Satan. We are mutually exclusive, with opposite sources of authority, opposite Gods, opposite Jesus, opposite understandings of humanity, angels and sin, opposite ways of salvation -- almost NOTHING is the same!

It made me sad to think my friend believes God lives in this temple. He wants to be there everyday to be close to him when the closest he will ever be to God in that temple was yesterday when he went with me. Why? Not because I'm so great. I'm not, but because each Christian is "God's temple" (see 1 Cor 3:16-17 and 6:19), so there's no real need for any temple, including the Gilbert Temple.

Finally, Mormons believe that only ex-Mormons go to eternal punishment. Everyone else goes to one of 3 levels of heaven. The really bad people like Stalin and Hitler would go to the first level, a place it's rumored that Joseph Smith said is so amazing that you'd kill yourself to go there if you saw it. The second level is mostly where good people and bad Mormons go. The third level is where the obedient Mormons go, where they can eventually become gods of their own planets.

So, if Mormonism is true and Christianity is wrong, I will go to the second level of heaven, which sounds like it will be pretty awesome. If Christianity is true and Mormonism is wrong, I go to heaven and they go to hell, forever. The stakes are infinitely higher! Even a betting man, based purely on reason, rejects Mormonism for Christianity.

Please, Mormon, don't feel your way though this decision; think about it! Read the Bible, please.