Nauvoo Temple

[Dirk]

Is the current Temple a replica of the original that was burn and destroyed?  

I'm not a Mormon/LDS, but I really love the esthetics of Mormon Temples. 

I couldn't help notice a parallel between the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD after Christ's crucifixion and the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple after the death of Joseph Smith.  

[teddyaware]

2 hours ago, Dirk said:

Is the current Temple a replica of the original that was burn and destroyed?  

I'm not a Mormon/LDS, but I really love the esthetics of Mormon Temples. 

I couldn't help notice a parallel between the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD after Christ's crucifixion and the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple after the death of Joseph Smith.  

Side by side, the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple and the original Nauvoo Temple. 

: 

[Devobah]

I mean the short answer to your question is yes. At least on the outside.

[Pyreaux]

The woman in Revelations 12 possessed 12 stars on her head, robes of the sun and the moon at her feet, she fled into to exile after giving birth to the "man child" (apocalyptic code: a divine child), recognized as Christ (Rev 12:1-6). This is interpreted as Christ's church going into exile, the Spirit of Jerusalem and Temple, Apostasy. For the Holy Spirit of Wisdom, the Temple is her house, her rest (Prov 9:1), she found her rest in Jerusalem (Ben Sira 24:7) and lost her rest when the Temple of Solomon was destroyed (1 Enoch 42). Ezra returned from Babylon, rebuilt the temple, but a Babylonian spirit thereafter rested there, drunk with the blood of prophets the Jews killed there, she sat on the Temple's Edenic "many waters" which flows under the Cherub throne, adorned in crimson, gold and precious stones (the temple interior). The apostate spirit, the Whore of Babylon, which is burned by the Ten Headed Red Dragon, the ten Roman rulers, in 70AD. After this the exiled woman from Rev 12 returns from exile dressed as a royal bride in her priestly linen robes to be the "bride of the lamb", portrayed as a representation of the people of the new city of God (Rev 21:9-14). I find it interesting the first fully Solomonic restored Temple among LDS is adorned as that woman. The same icons exiled from Solomon's temple.

Edited May 28 by Pyreaux

[sunstoned]

The interior design is different in the new temple to accommodate the modern temple ceremony.

[Dirk]

The Sun, isn't that also a Masonic symbol used to illustrate a Past Master Mason? From Darkness to Light, clearing the clouds of unknowing? 

 

I'm a Free Mason by the way.

[Calm]

2 hours ago, Dirk said:

The Sun, isn't that also a Masonic symbol used to illustrate a Past Master Mason? From Darkness to Light, clearing the clouds of unknowing? 

 

I'm a Free Mason by the way.

https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Question:_Does_the_Nauvoo_Temple_display_symbols_that_are_either_occult_or_Masonic%3F

I am a member of FAIR (we collect criticism and try to put out correct information answering them) and we have had one or two members that were Masons and who were scholars in the area who helped with the Masonic material, making sure we didn’t misrepresent meanings, etc.  In the past there was some resentment against Masons among church members due to perceived wrongs, but in the last few decades that is pretty much gone in my experience. I know a handful of LDS Masons.

[Pyreaux]

On 5/29/2024 at 10:35 AM, Dirk said:

The Sun, isn't that also a Masonic symbol used to illustrate a Past Master Mason? From Darkness to Light, clearing the clouds of unknowing? 

 

I'm a Free Mason by the way.

I'm not a Mason. I know members who joined, but I also know Bishops in the past often discourage making dual oaths with other groups if you think they could end up one day breaking one oath or the other. Joseph Smith Jr. and other early LDS members were Masons for political networking reasons, gleaned more than a few of their symbols for Temple buildings. Though if Masonic lore is true, they could be inherited Solomonic Temples symbols. LDS used many Masonic icons, repurposed with new or ancient religious significance. I don't know all their Masonic meanings. As far as I know, the sun is just supposed to be a sun. Mason moons and suns are rather common.

I understand the Sun, the Moon and the Stars are central symbols in Freemasonry, in both Ancient Mysteries and the Masonry Guild, since Masonry was the same study as geometry which is used in astronomy.

If I recall correctly, the Angel Moroni heralding the second coming of Christ on other Temples, originally on the Nauvoo Temple was a more Masonic style weathervane. Can you confirm weathervanes are Masonic? Do weathervanes have meaning, or is it more a functional decoration?

 

Edited May 30 by Pyreaux

[Tacenda]

On 5/29/2024 at 6:46 PM, Pyreaux said:

I'm not a Mason. I know members who joined, but I also know Bishops in the past often discourage making dual oaths with other groups if you think they could end up one day breaking one oath or the other. Joseph Smith Jr. and other early LDS members were Masons for political networking reasons, gleaned more than a few of their symbols for Temple buildings. Though if Masonic lore is true, they could be inherited Solomonic Temples symbols. LDS used many Masonic icons, repurposed with new or ancient religious significance. I don't know all their Masonic meanings. As far as I know, the sun is just supposed to be a sun. Mason moons and suns are rather common.

I understand the Sun, the Moon and the Stars are central symbols in Freemasonry, in both Ancient Mysteries and the Masonry Guild, since Masonry was the same study as geometry which is used in astronomy.

If I recall correctly, the Angel Moroni heralding the second coming of Christ on other Temples, originally on the Nauvoo Temple was a more Masonic style weathervane. Can you confirm weathervanes are Masonic? Do weathervanes have meaning, or is it more a functional decoration?

 

Interesting..

[latterdaytemplar]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:35 AM, Dirk said:

The Sun, isn't that also a Masonic symbol used to illustrate a Past Master Mason? From Darkness to Light, clearing the clouds of unknowing? 

 

I'm a Free Mason by the way.

Hi there. Greetings from Saint George Lodge No. 33, F&AM of Utah.

In Masonry, the sun's governing of the day (and the moon's ruling of the night) are typically used to illustrate the regularity with which the Worshipful Master should govern and rule over the Lodge that has been placed under his charge.

And, yes, the sun (along with the quadrant) is added to the square and compasses to denote that its wearer is a Past Master in most Grand Lodge jurisdictions; sometimes a wreath may be added as well.

There are a handful of jurisdictions that differ. The Past Master emblem in the Grand Lodge of California, for example, has the square removed. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania eschews this emblem altogether, and instead hangs the 47th problem of Euclid from the square.

Examples illustrated below:

My personal apron from before I became a Past Master.

 

 

My personal apron after I became a Past Master (I served in Utah, but the man who ordered and gifted it to me purchased it from a store based in California, resulting in the square being absent).

 

Example of a Past Master apron with the typical emblem.

 

Example of a Pennsylvania Past Master apron.

EDIT: Typo corrected.

Edited June 9 by latterdaytemplar

[latterdaytemplar]

On 5/29/2024 at 6:46 PM, Pyreaux said:

I'm not a Mason. I know members who joined, but I also know Bishops in the past often discourage making dual oaths with other groups if you think they could end up one day breaking one oath or the other. Joseph Smith Jr. and other early LDS members were Masons for political networking reasons, gleaned more than a few of their symbols for Temple buildings. Though if Masonic lore is true, they could be inherited Solomonic Temples symbols. LDS used many Masonic icons, repurposed with new or ancient religious significance. I don't know all their Masonic meanings. As far as I know, the sun is just supposed to be a sun. Mason moons and suns are rather common.

I understand the Sun, the Moon and the Stars are central symbols in Freemasonry, in both Ancient Mysteries and the Masonry Guild, since Masonry was the same study as geometry which is used in astronomy.

If I recall correctly, the Angel Moroni heralding the second coming of Christ on other Temples, originally on the Nauvoo Temple was a more Masonic style weathervane. Can you confirm weathervanes are Masonic? Do weathervanes have meaning, or is it more a functional decoration?

 

I would not say that such are central symbols in Freemasonry. They are certainly used, but are given relatively little attention in comparison with other emblems.

Yes, the original Angel Moroni weathervane did have symbols placed upon it that are commonly used in Masonry: the square and the compasses (seen just below the fleur-de-lis at the top of the weathervane).

[brownbear]

On 5/27/2024 at 11:38 AM, teddyaware said:

Side by side

Thanks for sharing this!