Moroni, Elijah and Joseph Smith


askandanswer
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Why do we have Moroni on top of our temples rather than Elijah? Given that the spirit of Elijah is thought to be the great driving force that motivates many of us to do family history, the end product of which is temple work, surely Elijah is more deserving than Moroni of the top spot on the temple? If Moroni is there to commemorate/celebrate the restoration of the gospel, then wouldn’t Joseph Smith or Peter, James and John be more suitable candidates? Moroni was instrumental in bringing forth the Book of Mormon, but that is only one of many, many parts of the restored gospel, the fullness of which was restored through Joseph Smith. And the Book of Mormon and the gospel are only made useful and effective by the restoration of the Priesthood.

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Just a decorative tradition.  Not all temples have Moroni, and I believe it was Nauvoo which had the first trumpeting angel weather vane, but it wasn't specifically Moroni.  For a long time only Salt Lake had the traditional Moroni. It wasn't until the LA Temple (1956) and then Washington DC (1974) that the statue became a tradition.  I think it became tradition because people recognize it as an LDS symbol, and it having a backstory that introduces people to the Book of Mormon, it just makes sense from a proselytizing perspective.  

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/angel-moroni-statues-on-lds-temples

Edited by bytebear
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7 hours ago, zil said:
7 hours ago, zil said:

  If you find something pertinent to our salvation, please let @Carborendum know. :D

If I see anything pertinent to Carb's salvation, I'm going to do my best to keep it a secret - salvation is meant to be a condition we are all supposed to enjoy. 

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I was taking a tour of the Oquirrh Mountain temple when it was struck by lightening.  I am pretty sure it happened when we were in the tent watching a video on temples.  The storm was so loud that we couldn't hear the audio, and we heard a huge boom.  It was only after I heard about it on the news did I look at the photos of the temple, and sure enough I had before and after lightening shots of the Angel Moroni.

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I believe it is understood that Moroni is the angel spoken of in Revelation 14:6 flying in the midst of heaven, having "the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth".  So maybe it really is a P.R. thing. :) (public relations)

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On 11/19/2016 at 4:42 PM, askandanswer said:

Why do we have Moroni on top of our temples rather than Elijah? Given that the spirit of Elijah is thought to be the great driving force that motivates many of us to do family history, the end product of which is temple work, surely Elijah is more deserving than Moroni of the top spot on the temple? If Moroni is there to commemorate/celebrate the restoration of the gospel, then wouldn’t Joseph Smith or Peter, James and John be more suitable candidates? Moroni was instrumental in bringing forth the Book of Mormon, but that is only one of many, many parts of the restored gospel, the fullness of which was restored through Joseph Smith. And the Book of Mormon and the gospel are only made useful and effective by the restoration of the Priesthood.

Maybe because Moroni is the one who made Elijah's role preeminent in his earliest tutoring of Joseph Smith (JS-H 1:38-39), establishing the Lord's ultimate purpose for restoring the earthly kingdom before His coming.

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First Quote, "“The Angel Moroni statue, which appears on the top of several of our temples, is a reminder to us that God is concerned for all his people throughout the world and communicates with them wherever they may be,” said Elder Monson."

Second Quote, "The statue of Moroni is not a figure of worship, but rather one of respect for his role in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Moroni was a real person, an ancient prophet in the Book of Mormon who revealed the location of golden plates to the young Joseph Smith in 1823 from which the sacred book of scripture was translated.

With the horn pressed to his lips and his right hand holding the outstretched horn, the statue of Moroni symbolizes the preaching of the gospel to the world."

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Here is a great gospel allegory that I had personally experienced with regard to the Moroni statue.

I'll skip over the monumental boondoggle that occurred to get me to the Denver temple in the middle of the night with nowhere to go and no transportation or communication (this was before cell phones).  But as I was waiting, I realized that I hadn't had much time lately to look at the stars --I'm an amateur astronomer.  I try to find the big dipper and the north star to align myself and then look at various constellations.  But alas, my search was cut short because the entire night sky was clouded over.

I felt so disappointed and so lost because of how and why I was there in the first place.  And now I was even denied the stars.  If only I could at least know which direction was north and get to know the area a bit, that would be something.

Then it occurred to me.  Moroni was atop the temple and facing east.  From that I could align myself and explore.  I know this doesn't make sense to most people.  But for me, who never gets lost, knowing which way was north was somehow a source of comfort.  And that comfort was offered to me through the temple.

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2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

knowing which way was north was somehow a source of comfort

I get it. I navigate by mountain ranges. When we were in Florida a few years ago, it was very unsettling to me that I often didn't know which way I was facing. 

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9 hours ago, Eowyn said:

I get it. I navigate by mountain ranges. When we were in Florida a few years ago, it was very unsettling to me that I often didn't know which way I was facing. 

Amen to that.  My husband, who came from California, hated the numbered streets - he wanted names, couldn't figure out how you find your way without names :) (and he was a programmer!).  I explained the whole "numbers get larger as you go out from the center of town" thing, and then he was like, "but how do you know which way is which?", and I said, "the big, pointy mountains are east, the smaller, rounded mountains are west."  It still took him years.  I think people who build curved roads should be shot...

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1 hour ago, zil said:

Amen to that.  My husband, who came from California, hated the numbered streets - he wanted names, couldn't figure out how you find your way without names :) (and he was a programmer!).  I explained the whole "numbers get larger as you go out from the center of town" thing, and then he was like, "but how do you know which way is which?", and I said, "the big, pointy mountains are east, the smaller, rounded mountains are west."  It still took him years.  I think people who build curved roads should be shot...

Half my town follows the N/S/E/W grid, the other half is on a diagonal that is parallel to the train tracks. It makes me a little crazy. 

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Navigation is part of the intent of the Temple.

Quote

President Harold B. Lee told the following story about the Salt Lake Temple: “When the great Salt Lake Temple was being planned, Truman O. Angell, the architect, was asked to write an article … and give the people of the Church something of an idea what the temple, when completed, would look like. … Among other things, he referred to something that you will find on the west end of the temple. … Underneath the center spire on the west end, near the tabernacle, you will find what is referred to in the star constellations as the Dipper. You will note that the pointers of the Dipper are looking up towards a bright star which we usually call the North Star. When Truman O. Angell described what would be found in that place, he said, ‘This was to signify that through the priesthood the lost may find their way.’”

President Lee then emphasized, “Through the priesthood and only the priesthood may we, as the sons and daughters of God, find our way back home.”

Source

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Moroni holding a trumpet has become an iconic symbol of the LDS faith, much like the crescent moon with a star is for Muslims or the cross is for Christians. The statue of Moroni is how I know a building is an LDS temple (although there's usually some other clues as well that make it pretty obvious). I don't know why, but it seems that most all LDS meetinghouses are brick. When I'm out of town and I want to find a church to visit, if I see a big brick building with a white spire, I know it's probably a Mormon meetinghouse. 

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39 minutes ago, Larry Cotrell said:

. I don't know why, but it seems that most all LDS meetinghouses are brick. When I'm out of town and I want to find a church to visit, if I see a big brick building with a white spire, I know it's probably a Mormon meetinghouse. 

The reason: all local LDS church buildings are part of the one international church.  Rather than reinventing the wheel every time a local building is being built, they use basically the same floorplan over and over again (it's more efficient).  Hence, the outside looks about the same, and if you were to walk in you'd find that the rooms are arranged basically the same, the decorations are basically the same, etc.  

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5 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

The reason: all local LDS church buildings are part of the one international church.  Rather than reinventing the wheel every time a local building is being built, they use basically the same floorplan over and over again (it's more efficient).  Hence, the outside looks about the same, and if you were to walk in you'd find that the rooms are arranged basically the same, the decorations are basically the same, etc.  

Oh, interesting. Thanks for explaining; I've always wondered that. 

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8 minutes ago, Larry Cotrell said:

Oh, interesting. Thanks for explaining; I've always wondered that. 

Not a problem!

I have a friend who comes from a branch of Christianity where every congregation acts extremely independently.  She was having difficulty understanding that the LDS church is ONE church.  One time, we went to an temple open house, ~8 hours drive from our home town.  We arrived at the local church building, and lo and behold it was identical to the one in my home town.  We then drove 80 miles to attend sacrament meeting with friends- at another identicall church building with identical lessons!

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