A temple for the Latter Day Saints

19 Aug, 2018 - 00:08 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) will soon construct a temple — which is a highly sacred place of worship — ranked higher than a church building.

LDS Zimbabwe Stake president Sawman Machakaire said a “called man of God” will be appointed president of the temple.
He said church members believe that LDS is the real remnant of the original church founded by Jesus Christ.

“The temple is the most sacred place where special rituals such as temple marriages rites are conducted.

“Church members make covenants and perform sacred ceremonies such as baptism and anointing.

“The church considers the temple as a place to commune with God to understand His will and receive personal revelation.

“Other temples like the one in United States was built in 40 years, which is a symbolic number but we are targeting to complete our project in three years.”

Machakaire said temples are usually open to the public for some time, which is called ‘an open house’ period.

During the open house, the church conducts tours of the temple with missionaries and the locals. During this time, all rooms are open to the public.

When the time lapses, the temple is then dedicated as a ‘House of the Lord’, after which only members who are deemed ‘worthy’ are permitted entrance.

“While worldwide we have 159 temples, in Africa we have one in Ghana and two in South Africa but the one to be constructed in Harare will be the largest of all,” he said.

Machakaire said the temple could also benefit the community as it will become a tourist attraction.

“Temples are historic sites and this can boost religious tourism through generating revenue, something we would want to contribute towards.

“They (temples) are not churches `or meeting houses for public weekly worship services but places of worship open
only to the faithful for sacred rites,” he said.

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