Gramps,
My wife and I have been married for 3 years. We have both been married before. I had a Temple Marriage but she has never been to the temple. She has been treated very poorly buy a couple of bishops in the past and has had a very difficult time getting over it.
I have two questions. One, she has studied “The Course in Miracles” for the last 8 years and is very involved in its philosophy. What I have studied of “The Course” I find that it really shows someone how to live a spiritual life and emphases “living in the spirit,” which I have no problem with. The short falls are that it is a very individual thing and there are no ordinances attached etc. Are you familiar with ACIM and what is your opinion?
My second question is concerning the temple. We attended a wedding this last week of which I was able to witness the Temple Sealing of my wife’s nephew but my wife had to wait outside. During the sealing ceremony it was very obvious that her deceased father was present. Without going into a lot of details, I told her of the experience and from that came an openness from her to consider preparation of attending the temple. She was very close with her father and he was very active in temple work etc. She said she would be very willing to read anything there is available on the temple and its necessity. I would like to find something that is scriptural based and not filled with a lot of “Mormon clich‚s.” What can you recommend? She did ask about the Savior being married and if he was, was he married in “The Temple?” What do I tell her?
Flavio, from California
Dear Flavio,
I am not familiar with ACIM. My opinion is that although there are many good books and many good churches that teach people about God, about themselves and about how to get along with others, none of them has any power whatsoever to provide the means of salvation in the Kingdom of God for anyone. Becoming involved in any of those good things, after knowing the truth and after making covenant by baptism to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, to obey his commandments, and to remain true and faithful all the days of our lives, never is a valid substitute for fully participating in the Lord’s kingdom on the earth, where only is salvation. Becoming involved in the teachings and practices of those man-made organizations provides a real danger of leading one away into other philosophies and teachings, which always ends in apostasy if followed long enough.
Let your wife learn about the temple by attending temple preparation classes, obeying the principles of the gospel and being faithful in all her duties. As you and she gain the influence of the Holy Spirit you will be able to understand the spiritual meaning of the instructions so they will not appear to you as clich‚s, but you will see them for what they really are, and you will begin to perceive the deep meaning associated with the teachings about the temple.
The Prophets have revealed to us that indeed Christ was married. Celestial marriage is a requirement for exaltation. If he who knew no sin was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, would he not have received all the other ordinances required for exaltation? Just where those ordinances took place has not been revealed to us.
Gramps
