The Temple: Sacred vs. Secret

This morning I was listening to a talk show on the radio when one of the greatest explanations of sacred vs. secret was explained. Glenn Beck put it this way, "When I was a kid I didn't ask what mom and dad were doing in their bedroom." Meaning that somethings we don't talk about because they are sacred not secret. There is a time and a place to discuss somethings that would be inappropriate otherwise.

The temple is not a house of secrets, we do not perform secret rituals there. We, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, perform sacred sacraments within the temple. Their is nothing magical, sexual, or anything alarming that happens within the walls of these sacred buildings, but the sacraments that do take place are sacred and we covenant with God to hold them sacred, just like we should keep certain aspects of our relationships between husband and wife sacred.


We believe in the principle of learning line upon line and precept upon precept and the temple provides us with an atmosphere where we can do this. It is very peaceful and calm inside and there is a very definite feeling of reverence...kind of like the feeling you get when you are out in nature witnessing a sunrise. Everyone is dressed in white and you can't tell if you are sitting next to a millionaire or a convenience store clerk, republican or a democrat, a scholar or a high school drop out, and it doesn't matter we are all there to learn the same things.

Not even every member is allowed in the temple. Before we go for the first time we take a temple preparation class. We also have to go through an interview process to declare our worthiness to enter into the House of the Lord. Once we have gone through this interview process and are found worthy, we then are given a recommend to go to the temple. We go through this process every 2 years.

There are somethings that we just don't talk about, not because they are a secret, but because they are sacred, deeply spiritual. Anyone can go into the temple so long as they fulfill the requirements. No secret to it.