Manila Philippines Temple

From MormonWiki
Revision as of 15:28, 1 May 2006 by Amaranth (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

All Mormon temples are designed with the same purpose – to help faithful Mormons worship the Lord in a way that brings them closer to Him. To Mormons, a temple is a building dedicated to be a house of God. The Mormon temples differ from a church meetinghouse, in that the church is used for weekly worship services, and the temples are used for special forms of worship. The importance of temples is emphasized in the Mormon Church and strongly encourages its members to become worthy to attend the temple often. Worthy members participate in sacred ordinances and make covenants with God. Like baptism, these ordinances and covenants are necessary for the salvation of man and they must be performed in the temple. The temple is a learning center where those that enter gain a better understanding of our purpose in life and our relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Only in the temple can a family be sealed together forever. Marriage in the temple joins a man and woman as husband and wife eternally if they honor their covenants. When a man and woman are married in the temple, their children also become part of their eternal family.1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church or Mormons, is by far the most prolific builder of temples. At this writing there are 122 operating temples across the world and 9 that have been announced or are under construction. On August 21, 1955, Joseph Fielding Smith an apostle for the Mormon Church, dedicated the land in the Philippines for the preaching of the gospel. The first four missionaries arrived in June of 1961and by 1973 over 13,000 Filipinos had been baptized. On April 1, 1981 the announcement of a Mormon temple was announced; groundbreaking and site dedication for the temple was on August 25, 1982. The Manila Philippines temple was dedicated on September 25, 1984. In 1987 selections from the Book of Mormon were published in the Filipino language Tagalog and a missionary training center was established in Manila in 1986. By the time the Manila Temple was dedicated in 1984 Church membership had reached 76,000. There are now more than 450,000 Latter-day Saints in the Philippines. In January 1981 the Mormon Church purchased land in Quezon City, in the metro Manila area. The site was partly chosen because of its accessibility to members throughout the temple district. When the Temple was announced, a fund-raising campaign was quickly set up in the Philippines. The Mormon Saints sacrificed greatly but nine months later, they had only reached 65 percent of their goal. Church leaders again encouraged the members to give all they could to the fund, and again the Filipino Saints responded once again, reaching and exceeding the goal in three months time. During the construction of the Temple, there were several events that hindered its progress. In 1983 the assassination of a Filipino senator led to rioting and demonstrations. That, with a weak economy, unemployment and the increasing presence of crime, the people were struggling just to get by. During these trying times, the Church established ways to help members become more self-reliant and encouraged them to stay close the God. On September 25, 1984, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Manila Philippines Temple. The Temple serves half a million members of the Mormon Church in the Philippines, Micronesia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, India and part of Burma. "With all the economic and political troubles hounding us, being inside the temple…gives one a feeling of comfort and peace. The temple is a source of refuge from the wiles and worries of the world."(Elder Michael John Teh, local Mormon Church leader)2

  1. "Gospel Principles", 1978, pg 256
  2. "Inquirer", 'One True Light', article written by DJ Yap, December 11, 2005

See also

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.mormonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Manila_Philippines_Temple&oldid=4514"