Jesus worshiped from time to time in a temple, which was a substantially different building than what we would call a “church” today. Some people claim that “the [temple] rituals have been done away with with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem“. What evidence is there that these rituals were not part of the ancient Christian church after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem? If they were part of the ancient church prior to the destruction of the temple, why would the destruction of a building have signaled their end forever? If something were important enough to God, would the mere destruction of a building signal their end?
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If you do a study on the purposes of the Temple in the Old Testament, then read the gospels and the new testament, you will see why temples have been done away with.
I’ve done that, and I don’t see why they have been done away with. Can you be a bit more specific?
Just to give you a start for your own research, the temple in the Old Testament had a Holy Place and a Most Holy Place. The priest acted as a mediator between man and God. He offered up gifts, offerings and sacrifices for sins etc. A curtain or veil separated the holy place from the most holy place.
Only the priest was allowed into the most holy place in the presence of God. He acted as mediator for the people. Since the sin offerings being made could not take away the peoples sin and clear their conscience, they could not enter the most Holy Place. Sin separates from God.
All of the work being done in the temple was only a shadow of the reality we have found in Christ. Because of Christ offering up himself one time for all, the curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place has been torn in two. In other words, we have direct access to God ourselves because of what Jesus has done for us. He has completely cleared our consciences that we may approach the throne of God directly.
We, that is our individual bodies, have now become the TEMPLE of God and also together with believers everywhere we are the temple of God also.
See Hebrews Chapter 10 and 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” Ephesians 2:21 ” In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Anyways, that should get you started. I hope that information proves useful to you.
So why did Jesus spend time in the temple? Didn’t he have direct access to God outside the temple?
Also, why did the apostles visit the temple after the resurrection of Christ? See Act 3:1-8 below:
1. Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
2. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
3. Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
4. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Question: “So why did Jesus spend time in the temple? Didn’t he have direct access to God outside the temple?”
Answer: He had access to God where ever he went. But the curtain in the temple wasn’t torn in two until after Jesus died so at that time, the temple was still valid as in the old testament. Jesus mainly went to the temple to teach.
Question: “Also, why did the apostles visit the temple after the resurrection of Christ? See Act 3:1-8 below”
Because that is where the Jews gathered together and they needed to hear the good news about Jesus. If you read a little further on in Acts you will see that they teach the people about Jesus.
Fair enough. I guess we’ll agree to disagree, since I believe Jesus and the apostles went to the temple for reasons other than to teach others. While there is nothing within the Bible to prove my point of view, I don’t believe there is anything to disprove it either. That is, there is nothing in the Bible that proves that members of the ancient church did not practice the same ordinances in temples that are today practiced by Mormons in the LDS Church.
Here is another verse for you: Acts 17:24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.”
Again, no conflict with LDS doctrine. See God Dwelleth Not in Temples Made with Hands? – Part 1 and God Dwelleth Not in Temples Made with Hands? – Part 2 for really, really detailed explanations, but the simple one is this–Paul was teaching a group of idol worshipers that God did not live in the idols they had made with their hands, nor in their pagan temples.
Did Paul mean that God’s presence is not to be found in the temples God commands to be built? Clearly not, since the Bible itself says that God appeared in the temple, as in Deuteronomy 31:15 – “And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.” The “tabernacle” was the portable temple God commanded the Israelites, through Moses, to build and take with them while they were in the wilderness.
When Mormons talk of the temple as “The House of the Lord” we don’t mean that he lives there in the same sense that you and I live in our houses. We mean that the temple is where his presence is to be felt, where we can draw close to him.
Whenever there has been a decent sized group of true followers of God, God has commanded them to build a temple. We see this throughout the Bible, and the practice was restored in modern days with the restoration of God’s true church.