Our temples are beautiful structures, and they are expensive. Many may ask us what justifies that expense?
To answer that question, we need to understand the purpose of our temples.
Other religions have temples, but some seem to be more of a tourist attraction than a building with a higher purpose. The thing sets our temples apart is that we know what to do with them.
The doctrine of temple worship is so simple that sometimes we miss it. There is no mystery in the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and while there is deeper symbolism and spiritual learning in the temple, the purpose of the temple is no mystery. The mystery comes when we look beyond the mark (Jacob 4:14).
Start with Malachi 4:5-6:
5 ¶ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
What is that curse that would come? Look in D&C 138:47-48
47 The Prophet Elijah was to plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to their fathers,
48 Foreshadowing the great work to be done in the temples of the Lord in the dispensation of the fulness of times, for the redemption of the dead, and the sealing of the children to their parents, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse and utterly wasted at his coming.
Commenting on this scripture President Nelson said:
The earth was created and this Church was restored so that families could be formed, sealed, and exalted eternally. (Russell M. Nelson, Celestial Marriage, October 2008 LDS General Conference)
That is what we do in the temple. If God’s purpose in creating this planet is our eternal exaltation, then building a few hundred temples on his planet to assist in the work of sealing families starts to feel like a small sacrifice on our part.