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Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are buildings dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time (an "Open House"). During the Open House, the church conducts tours of the temple with missionaries and members from the local area serving as tour guides, and all rooms of the temple are open to the public. The temple is then dedicated as a "House of the Lord," after which only members in good standing are permitted entrance; temples are not churches but are places of worship. Within temples, members of the church make covenants, receive instructions, and perform sacred ordinances, such as: baptism for the dead, washing and anointing (or "initiatory" ordinances), the "endowment," and eternal marriage sealings. Ordinances are a vital part of the theology of the church, which teaches that they were practiced by the Lord's covenant people in all dispensations. Additionally, members consider the temple a place to commune with God, seek His aid, understand His will, and receive personal revelation. ==History== In 1832, shortly after the formation of the church, Joseph Smith said that the Lord desired the saints build a temple;〔Recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, Smith wrote that the Lord commanded the Saints to "establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" (see )〕 and they completed the Kirtland Temple in 1836. Initially, the church constructed temples in areas where there were large concentrations of members: Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Hawaii (all in the USA), and Alberta (Canada). In the mid 20th century, because of the importance of temples in the theology, the church tried to balance density with the travel requirements attending the temple imposed upon members. Thus, temples were built in Europe (namely, Switzerland dedicated in 1955 and England dedicated in 1958); the Pacific Islands (namely, New Zealand dedicated in 1958); and Washington, D.C. (dedicated in 1974, the first American temple East of Utah since Nauvoo in 1846). All were dedicated at a time when membership in the region alone might not have justified the effort. In the 1980s, Spencer W. Kimball directed the church to build smaller temples with similar designs〔Before this time, all but the Swiss Temple were at least , and the average size of the first 20 temples was . The new temples varied in size but were generally less than . By comparison, the Nauvoo Temple, built in the 1840s, was . Some of these temples have been remodeled since the original construction to provide additional rooms,〕 allowing temples to be built where there were fewer members. As a result, the first temples in South America (Brazil dedicated in 1978); Asia (Japan dedicated in 1980); and Central America (Mexico City dedicated in 1983) were built and the number of temples doubled from 15 to 36. Church president Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) also accelerated the construction of temples through the use of an even smaller standardized base design.〔Hinckley announced the use of smaller standardized temples in 1997 (). The base design is about , and temples built from the design are generally between . These temples generally do not include a large laundry facility, do not provide members with the ability to rent temple clothing, nor provide a cafeteria for members (Almanac, 2000).〕 In 1998, when there were 51 temples, Hinckley set a goal to have 100 temples in place before the end of 2000. Between the brief building period from 1998 to 2001, 38 of these standardized temples were constructed and dedicated, meeting Hinckley's goal by having 102 dedicated temples before 2000 closed. During Hinckley's service as president, the number of temples more than doubled from 47 to 124.〔Because the two church presidents before Hinckley (Kimball and Ezra Taft Benson) had incapacitating illnesses during the latter part of their administration, Hinckley dedicated a total of 84 temples, even though, during his presidency, 14 temples were dedicated by others: James E. Faust (7), Thomas S. Monson (6), and Boyd K. Packer (1).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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