Symbolism in The Temple
Many things in the temple are considered to be symbolic, from the clothing worn (those who attend the temple dress in white, a symbol of purity), to the building and rooms, to the ceremonies themselves.
Latter-day Saint temples are constructed with several symbolic elements meant to represent their religious theology. Each temple has the words "Holiness to the Lord" inscribed on it, representing the same inscription on the Old Testament Temple of Solomon.
Most temples are built facing East, pointing the direction from which Jesus Christ is prophesied to return. The spires and towers on the East end of multi-spired temples are elevated higher than spires and towers on the West side for this same reason, and to represent the Melchizedek, or Higher Priesthood.
Some temples, like Salt Lake, Chicago, and Washington D.C. have triple spires on each side of the temple representing the three different offices in both the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Aaronic Priesthood.
Stones carved with sun, moon, and earth or star designs are placed in ascending order around the Salt Lake Temple facade to represent the Latter-day Saint belief in a Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Kingdom, or Three Degrees of Glory in the afterlife. However, they are arranged using the description of the woman found in Revelation 12:1 which says "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."
A statue of the Angel Moroni, stands atop most temples built after the Salt Lake Temple. The statue design represents the Latter-day Saint belief that Moroni was the angel spoken of in Revelation 14.
Read more about this topic: Temple (LDS Church)
Famous quotes containing the words symbolism and/or temple:
“...I remembered the rose bush that had reached a thorny branch out through the ragged fence, and caught my dress, detaining me when I would have passed on. And again the symbolism of it all came over me. These memories and visions of the poor—they were the clutch of the thorns. Social workers have all felt it. It holds them to their work, because the thorns curve backward, and one cannot pull away.”
—Albion Fellows Bacon (1865–1933)
“The same indignation that is said to have cleared the temple once will clear it again. The question is not about the weapon, but the spirit in which you use it. No man has appeared in America, as yet, who loved his fellow-man so well, and treated him so tenderly. He lived for him. He took up his life and he laid it down for him.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)