….We Seek After These Things!

Everyday we see symbols all around us. As a child we learn what a stop sign looks like before we can even read the word stop. We learn to wave hello and say goodbye. Many symbols are easily recognized and others are hardly noticed. With the recent success of Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons religious symbology is coming more to the forefront of conversation and people trying to understand what seems to be so foreign to them. It is easy to be misled and misdirected if there is not a firm foundation in understanding those sacred things God has given us. With that thought I would like to start a small series on books centering on Religious symbology, specifically symbols in our worship.

The first Book Symbols in Stone, is written By Matthew Brown and Paul Thomas Smith. The first chapter starts out with a discussion on the Stone of Destiny. This stone was believed to be significant for the coronation of Scottish kinds and was eventually taken by the English. They then go on to discuss the symbol of the dove in representing the Holy Ghost. Why this is so important for us to know it, and the fact that Satan can not use the Symbol of the Dove in his evil works.
Gospel Symbols teach of Jesus Christ and all things given of God Testify of Christ. This Book helps to understand the symbols that we see associated with Temples. When I first read this book, I was helping with the open house for the Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork Utah. Standing in the ordinance room I had time to look at the decoration of the room and never thought anything of the beauty in the room. Later I learned that everything there had a symbolic message and there are meanings to learn. This book opened my eyes to the architectural and decorative symbols that until that moment I was unaware of their meaning. They had passed by me because I had not thought to understand what they could mean. This book is a wonderful addition to the home as the drawings and symbols of our early Temples are outlined and explained. It helped to answer many questions I had about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I would hope that time will be taken to seek and understand the true meanings of symbols in our worship. They are there and God wants to teach us and help us understand his ways. I am grateful for men and women, who take the time to investigate, compile and make this understanding easier and clearer. I would suggest reading this book slow and attend the temple to ponder the things it contains.

If you are looking to understand the endowment, this is not the book. What this book can do is help you open your heart and mind to be taught more in the temple as you do the work for those who are waiting for help in making sacred covenants.

by Tanya