Denver, Colorado - Mormon Temple
There has never been a man or woman who has not asked, "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is my relationship to God? Will death rob me of the treasured associations of life? What of my family? Will there be another existence after this, and, if so, will we know one another there?"
These answers are found only in the Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormons). These Temples are sacred in which these and other eternal questions are answered. Each Mormon Temple is dedicated as a house of God, a place of peace, a place of holiness to shut apart from the world.
Much of the work in the Mormon Temple is concerned with the family. Emphasis is placed on the sanctity and eternal nature of the marriage covenant and family relationships. Marriage partners who come to the Mormon Temple and partake of its blessings are joined not only for their earthly life, but also for eternity if they live worthy of the blessings.
There are millions who have walked the earth and have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel. Through living proxies, the same ordinances are available to those who have passed from mortality. In the spirit world these same individuals are free to accept or reject the earthly ordinances that have been performed for them, including baptism, marriage, and the sealing of family relationships. Everyone must have the opportunity!
The Rocky Mountains in the state of Colorado is the place for the Denver Colorado Mormon Temple. The Church faced intense public opposition while selecting a site for the Temple. Two locations were rejected in a four-month period; the third site, which was eventually purchased, was on a hilltop where once there had been a golf course and country club.
The First Presidency of the Mormon Church expressed that, "…the temple should reflect the highest expression of man’s talents…what is used in the temple must be of the highest quality and appropriate to the building and its purposes". So, attention to detail is a hallmark to this beautiful Mormon Temple. Hard-carved woodwork adorns the interior, along with hand-painted designs on the walls and ceilings. The Mormon Temple also features more than six hundred square feet of specially designed stained glass windows. While the Temple sits atop a hill, one can gaze up and see the beautiful grounds, which radiate the beauty of God’s handiwork.
Many members of the Mormon Church contributed their time and talents in building and beautifying the Temple. Some made tatted cloths, children earned money and donated it for the building of three ‘bride benches’, young men and women made and assembled a dollhouse to be used in the youth center, and more than six hundred volunteered to clean the temple before the open house.
President Ezra Taft Benson who was at that time the President of the Mormon Church, dedicated the Temple on October 24, 1986. President Benson described the Temple as, "a refuge from the evil and turmoil of the world."1