By Brittanie Morris
Brad R. Wilcox told Campus Education Week participants the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) can be identified by four “S”s”: the temple is a sanctuary, a school, a place of salvation and a place of sealing.
First, Wilcox said temples are places of sanctuary where people can find an escape from the busyness and corruption of the world.
“The temple is a celestial base in a telestial world,” he said.
Wilcox quoted former church President Howard W. Hunter, who said, “In the temple, things of the Earth are joined with things of heaven.”
Wilcox”s second point was temples are places for learning important lessons for eternal life.
“Most of the most important lessons of the temple are told in an indirect way,” he said.
Wilcox told listeners they must apply their minds in the temple in order to learn and quoted Elder Boyd K. Packer”s statement: “What you get from the temple is largely due to what you bring to the temple.”
Wilcox said it is not that the church does not want everyone to enter the temple; it”s just that there is an entrance requirement that everyone must meet in order to do so.
He said the temple is the university of the Lord. Just as one must attend elementary school, junior high and high school and then put in an application and pass entrance requirements in order to enter any university, one must do the same in order to enter the Lord”s university.
Wilcox said the church does not keep people away from the temple because ordinances are secret.
“Is trigonometry secret?” he asked. “No. But you should not take it before you are prepared because if you were sitting in a trigonometry class without the required knowledge, you”d be more annoyed by the class than taught,” he said.
Wilcox introduced his third point by comparing temples to the Old Testament prophet Noah, and the ark he built.
He said people”s salvation today is just as dependent upon entering the temple as the salvation of the people in Noah”s time was dependent on their entering the ark.
Wilcox told listeners that the LDS church is the only church with the answer to the salvation of those who have passed away without knowledge of God.
“We are the only church that fully combines God”s justice and mercy,” he said. “The temple is a salvation station.”
His fourth point emphasized the beauty in the doctrine of temple sealings.
He quoted President Gordon B. Hinckley, who said, “Reason demands that the family relationship must continue, and God has prepared a way …”
“We have what every love song reaches for,” he said. “We have it in the priesthood power in temples.”
Wilcox told the audience they do not have to settle for desiring and hoping for love and families to continue beyond the grave. He told them it is a reality.
He ended his remarks by saying that temples give church members a glimpse of eternity and perspective in this crazy world and helps church members gauge their feelings about Christ.
Wilcox quoted Robert D. Wells, who said, “The greatest and most accurate measure of how we feel about the Savior is how we feel about the temple.”
“If you really want to know how you feel about the Savior, ask yourself how you feel about the temple,” Wilcox said.
