Temple Worship: A Pattern in Our Lives

(part 2 of 4)

总会交友大会：
General Conference:

积极提倡参与圣殿的洪德・豪威 会长在1994年十月总会大会提到“
让我们成为参与圣殿和对圣殿怀有关爱之心的人民。让我们在时间和个人事务容许下抓紧时机去圣殿。让我们不但只为死者而去，而是为了由圣殿崇拜获得的个人祝福，这块可以给予我们圣洁和安全的神圣的围墙。圣殿是美丽之地，启示之地，平安之地。这是神之屋宇。它于主内神圣。它也应当对我们神圣。

大卫・贝纳长老在2009年4月总会大会提到：我们承受耶稣基督之名的过程从水的洗礼开始，并在主的殿中持续并扩大。我们受洗后，心思转向圣殿；我们领受圣餐时，心思也转向圣殿。我们承诺要一直记得救主并遵守他的诫命，准备自己来参与圣殿的神圣教仪，接受透过主耶稣基督的名和经由他权柄而来的最高祝福。如此，我们才能在圣殿的教仪中更完全而充分地承受耶稣基督的名。

大卫・贝纳长老描述纳府逃亡时期百翰・杨会长写给当时圣徒的信“ 现在是劳动的时刻。让你在神的屋宇所立的圣约之火，燃烧你的心，像火焰不能熄灭。”
  大卫・贝纳长老进一步解释圣约之火的确在他们的心里燃烧。崇拜和光荣的拥有名声和在神的屋宇里的地位是他们的承诺。让我们记得在圣殿所立的圣约和让圣约之火在我们的心中燃烧。

圣殿崇拜巩固家庭
我愿与各位为人父母者分享培道.

潘长老送给即将印证的新人的一些忠告，这些忠告也适用于我们：“你们现在是一家人，可以自由地创造生命，有机会经由奉献与牺牲，把儿女带到世界上来，养育、栽培他们，让他们安全有朝一日也像你们一样，参与这些神圣的圣殿教仪”（参阅“圣殿”，1992年6月，圣徒之声，第21页）。

斯金纳弟兄也说：
“当我们遵循这样的模式，就是在做天上父母在做的事。我们创造生命、滋养生命，让儿女有机会长大成人，茁壮进步。我们致力于使他们达到愿意延续这个模式的地步，而那正是幸福快乐之所在。丈夫、妻子、儿女印证在一起，并不是一件美好的事情而已。家人印证在一起成为永恒家庭，其实正是天国的体制，是天上父母生活的方式。换句话说，家庭并不是社会的基本单位而已，也是永恒的基本单位”（第68页）。

我鼓励为人父母者，视情况尽可能地支持、鼓励儿女--特别是12到18岁的孩子至少一个月到圣殿一次，代替已逝者执行洗礼和证实的教仪。这样做的男女青年在生活里培养出经常到圣殿去的模式，会感受到圣殿的力量、以及救主对他每个儿女的大爱。这样作法最后会引领他们参与圣殿至高无上的教仪：印证为今世及全永恒的家庭。

 

“Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow. Let us go not only for our kindred dead, but let us go for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety which is provided within those hallowed and consecrated walls. The temple is a place of beauty, it is a place of revelation, it is a place of peace. It is the House of the Lord. It is holy unto the Lord. It should be holy unto us.”

In the April 2009 General Conference Elder David A. Bednar stated: “... the process of taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ that is commenced in the waters of baptism is continued and enlarged in the house of the Lord. As we stand in the waters of baptism, we look to the temple. As we partake of the sacrament, we look to the temple. We pledge to always remember the Savior and to keep His commandments as preparation to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple and receive the highest blessings available through the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, in the ordinances of the holy temple we more completely and fully take upon us the name of Jesus Christ.”

Elder Bednar’s added as he described the exodus from Nauvoo and President Brigham Young’s letter to the saints: “Now is the time for labor. Let the fire of the covenant which you made in the House of Lord, burn in your hearts, like flame unquenchable.” Elder Bednar further explained that it was the fire of the covenant that burned in their hearts. It was their commitment to worship and honorably hold a name and standing in the house of the Lord. Let us all remember the covenants that we have made in the temple and have them burned in our hearts. Temple Worship Strengthens Families

For you who are parents, I would like to share some counsel Elder Boyd K. Packer gave couples who are about to be sealed which applies to us: “You now become a family, free to act in the creation of life, to have the opportunity through devotion and sacrifice to bring children into the world and to raise them and foster them safely through their mortal existence; to see them come one day, as you have come to participate in these sacred temple ordinances.”

Bro. Skinner adds: “As we follow this pattern, we are doing what our Heavenly Parents do. We create and nurture life, we provide our sons and daughters with opportunities for growth and progression, and we seek to have them arrive at the point where they desire to continue the pattern, wherein lies true happiness. Being sealed together as husband and wife and children is not just a nice thing to do, not just the customary pattern to follow. Being sealed together as an eternal family is the very order of heaven. It is the kind of life our Heavenly Parents live. In other words, the family isn’t just the basic unit of society; it is the basic unit of eternity.” (p.68)

       I encourage parents, insofar as possible, to support and encourage your children, especially those between the ages of 12 and 18, to go to the temple at least once a month to do baptisms and confirmations for the dead. As the youth do this, they will develop a pattern in their lives of going to the temple often and they will also feel the power of the temple and the great love that our Savior has for each one of His children. This practice eventually will lead them to participate in the crowning ordinance of the temple: being sealed as families for time and all eternity.