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Those who attend the temple must be baptized and confirmed members of the Mormon Church. In order to enter the Mormon temple, a member must obtain a temple recommend from his or her bishop. In order to receive a recommend, a member must be approved after an interview conducted by the bishop. During the interview, the bishop will ask the member if he believes in God and Jesus Christ. He will ask him if he is living all of God’s laws, including the word of wisdom, the law of chastity and the law of tithing. If the member is worthy, he receives a temple recommend which allows one to enter into the temple. The recommend itself is a small slip of paper, laminated, with the temple attendee’s information on it (name, signatures of the interviewing authorities, ward and stake information). The temple recommend is renewed every two years, as long as the recommend holder remains worthy.
Most Mormons attend the temple for the first time before they are married or before they serve a mission for the Church. Only those with a temple recommend are allowed in the temple. Most attendees are adults; however, children are allowed in the temple in order to be sealed to their parents. Any Mormon with a recommend, despite social class or church office, can attend the temple. Spouses are encouraged to attend the temple together.
At many temples, there is a visitors’ center located on the temple grounds where anyone can visit and learn more about the temple and Mormonism. Also, a few months before a new temple is dedicated, the general public is allowed to tour the temple. Otherwise, the Mormon temple is closed to those not of the Mormon faith.
Hello, I was wonderin who can dedicate a Mormon Temple. I am a Former Mormon and I have been researching the Church for my own reasons and I have found that there are temples built during President Hinkley’s tenure as Prophet that are dedicated by current Prophet, Thomas Monson. If I remember right Monson was a member of the 12 Apostles at the time so can a member of the Twelve dedicate a temple? If so what about a member of the 70? Thank you for your reply.
Any of the apostles can dedicate a temple, I’m not sure if you remember from when you were a member but all of the apostles have the sealing keys and under the permission of the prophet can use them. So sometimes the prophet will give permission for another one of the apostles to dedicate a temple. It is really incredible because it is a way of ensuring that God’s authority is always on the Earth, thus when a prophet dies, we still have the complete priesthood on the Earth. Hope this helped! If not we would love to answer any more questions you might have.