Why Marriage in a Temple is Important to Many Latter-day Saints

The Bible contains a record of God's dealings with ancient Israel. Among the injunctions Moses gave to the children of Israel after their departure from Egypt, we find this commandment: "For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day" (Exodus 32:29, King James Version).

To consecrate means to devote or dedicate to a specific purpose. To consecrate oneself to the Lord means to devote oneself entirely to the service of the Lord, to become the Lord's property, as it were. The Bible teaches different ways in which the people of Israel were able to consecrate themselves to the Lord's service. Numbers chapter 6 lays out the vow of a Nazarite: "He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk" (Numbers 6:3-4). Other requirements were included with the Nazarite vow. For example, Nazarites were not allowed to cut their hair or to touch any dead body. While not all Israel was commanded to take this vow, those who did take it were set apart from their fellow Israelites in many ways.

Likewise the priests of the Lord were consecrated to minister in the temple of Israel. The apostle Paul explained their duties in Hebrews 9:6-7 "the priests went always into the first tabernacle [the outer chamber of the temple], accomplishing the service of God. But into the second [the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber] went the high priest alone." We learn from this that not all the people were allowed into the temple, but only those who had made special promises to God and had been ordained priests, according to the duties assigned to them.

We see this custom practiced in Luke 1:8-10 by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who was a high priest in Israel: "And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense." Although the people were not able to enter the temple with Zacharias, they understood the significance of his priestly duty and supported his ministry from their position on the outside.

As Latter-day Saints, we believe that God has again caused his people to build temples. As in the days of ancient Israel, we believe that the Temple is a very important building. It is the symbolic dwelling place of God on the earth. It is in the Temple that we perform ceremonies and make special and specific promises to God. By getting married in the Temple, we believe that a divine bond is placed upon our marriage that will last throughout eternity. By marrying in the Temple, we believe that we bring upon ourselves and our posterity many great and beautiful blessings from the hand of God. But like the priests and the Nazarites of ancient Israel, we understand that the promises we make in our temples obligate us to abide by certain requirements that the rest of the world is not obligated to obey. We consecrate ourselves to the service of God in much the same way as did the priests and the Nazarites.

And as was the custom in Israel, only those who are willing to take these promises upon themselves are permitted to enter the Temple. Some have understood this restriction as something that is elitist and exclusionary, but that is certainly not the case and we do not want to offend anyone. Admission to the temple, with its associated covenants and obligations, is open to all, but membership in the LDS Church is required, as is a certain period of preparation and a willingess to dedicate oneself in the manner described above.

While we would love to share our wedding with all our friends and family, we also understand that it is not reasonable to expect everyone to abide by the same principles of dedication and consecration that we have chosen for ourselves. Therefore it is not possible to extend a wedding invitation to everyone with whom we would like to share this day. As we intend no offense, we also hope that no offense is taken and sincerely hope for your understanding and support. We can assure all of you that we love you and that you will be in our thoughts that day.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to ask us. We would be more than happy to talk to you about this further. Our email addresses can be found on the Contact page.