FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Question: Should there be only one temple?
Question: Should there be only one temple?
Through Joseph Smith, the Lord directed the construction of many buildings besides temples
One critic of the Church claims that "Joseph Smith only built one building. He completed the Kirtland temple. He got the Nauvoo temple started, but Joseph Smith only built one building."[1]:30, and that there should not be more than a single temple: I will briefly mention there will need for a temple to be built at some point. Not yet and not more than one. But there will be a need for one.[1]:4
This claim, which is made by Denver Snuffer, is false. The Doctrine and Covenants commands that consecrated Church funds be used for a variety of purposes:
Therefore, the residue [of the funds] shall be kept in my storehouse, to administer to the poor and the needy, as shall be appointed by the high council of the church, and the bishop and his council;
And for the purpose of purchasing lands for the public benefit of the church, and building houses of worship, and building up of the New Jerusalem which is hereafter to be revealed...(D&C 42꞉34-35, italics added)
Through Joseph, the Lord directed the construction of many buildings besides temples:
- A house in Kirtland for himself[2]
- A house in Kirtland for Sidney Rigdon[3]
- "a house...for the work of the printing of the translation of my scriptures, and all things whatsoever I shall command you."[4]
- The Nauvoo House (D&C 128꞉55–75).
Snuffer's history is simply wrong, and he makes false claims based upon his false history.
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Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Denver Snuffer, "Preserving The Restoration," Lecture 10, Mesa, Arizona (9 September 2014). https://www.scribd.com/doc/239760895/10-Phoenix-Transcript-Preserving-the-Restoration
- ↑ "it is meet that my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., should have a house built, in which to live and translate.(D&C 41꞉7).
- ↑ "it is meet that my servant Sidney Rigdon should live as seemeth him good, inasmuch as he keepeth my commandments" (D&C 41꞉8).
- ↑ the second lot on the south shall be dedicated unto me for the building of a house unto me, for the work of the printing of the translation of my scriptures, and all things whatsoever I shall command you. And it shall be fifty–five by sixty–five feet in the width thereof and the length thereof, in the inner court; and there shall be a lower and a higher court. And this house shall be wholly dedicated unto the Lord from the foundation thereof, for the work of the printing, in all things whatsoever I shall command you, to be holy, undefiled, according to the pattern in all things as it shall be given unto you (D&C 94꞉10-12).