Mormon Temples and Family History Centers

1. Mormon Temples and Family History Centers

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

3. 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

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

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

6. Introduction • Disclaimers • 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?

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

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

9. The Salt Lake Temple (1893)

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

11. The Los Angeles Temple (1956)

12. The Oakland Temple (1964)

13. The San Diego Temple (1993)

14. 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

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

16. 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

17. 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/

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

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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

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

24. 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.

25. 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

26. Sealings • Husband and wife • 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)

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

28. 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

29. 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

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

31. Genealogy on the Internet

32. 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

33. Family History Centers: the non-Mormon view

34. 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.

35. FHC Locations: (626) • Covina • Glendora • Hacienda Heights • Pasadena

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

37. Family History Centers: the Mormon view

38. 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™.

39. 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.

40. 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.

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

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

43. 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.