Tours of Draper Utah Temple: Access and answers
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DRAPER, UTAH
As is customary with other temples throughout the world, a series of special media and VIP tours were conducted of the Draper Utah Temple prior to its two-months-long public open house.
The media and VIP tours specifically — and the public tours in general — have a simple purpose: "To provide truth and understanding and to dispel falsehoods and rumors that may exist about temples or what goes on therein, the First Presidency has opened the doors to the temples for these open houses," said Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy.
He joined Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder William R. Walker of the Seventy in leading the media in the recent Draper temple tours.
As president of the Utah North, Utah Salt Lake City and Utah South areas, Elder Rasband is closely involved with the Draper Utah Temple and the neighboring, soon-to-be-completed Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. The two are the first temples in the Salt Lake Valley since 1981 to be open for pre-dedication public viewing.
Prior to his call to the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Rasband served two years as executive director of the Church's Temple Department and one year as assistant executive director. He's been involved in similar open houses, including temples in Frieberg, Germany; The Hague, Netherlands; San Antonio, Texas; and Sacramento and Newport Beach, California.
"We want to invite anyone who has an interest about the temple to feel free to come through," Elder Rasband said.
Church members may wonder if a media tour of the temple results in leading or sensitive questions. On the contrary, Elder Rasband said he's never felt threatened or embarrassed in such situations, with no such questions asked.
"In all my experiences, the press in particular has been very respectful. They haven't tried to embarrass me in their questions Many Latter-day Saint teens in a 189-voice youth choir that performed at the cornerstone ceremony of the Draper Utah Temple expressed a similar sentiment:
They were excited to be in the presence of a prophet, sing for him, and help him dedicate a new temple to the Lord. they had genuine questions of interest," he said, adding "I never viewed it as an adversarial relationship. I'm just hopeful that Iwe can share light, truth and information with them."
Common questions deal with what some outside the Church label as the "secrecy" of the temples, which tour-leading General Authorities explain instead as the temple's "sacredness." And they talk of the temples and traditions dating back to the temples of Solomon and Herod as well as Jesus Christ's connections with temples.
"A very interesting facet many people don't consider is that temples are not original with the Latter-day Saints, even though we're prolific builders of temples now," Elder Rasband said. "It certainly has deeper roots than the building of the Kirtland (Ohio) Temple in 1836."
The VIP tours often consist of local civic, government and religious leaders. Elder Rasband says he particularly enjoys interacting with interfaith groups — Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants and others.
"That for me has been very, very special — to sit in the sacred rooms in the temple and talk about our doctrine," he said.
A favorite personal experience: accompanying one of the senior Muslim leaders for the western United States in touring the Newport Beach California Temple in 2005.
"As I was talking about our connection with historic and Old Testament practices, he just started nodding in the temple," Elder Rasband said. "And afterwards, he said, 'Much of what you have said I relate to — I relate to it in our own history and our own teachings.' "
Elder Rasband continued: "I love to see these connections, I love to see these elements of truth that exist in all religions, that President (Gordon B.) Hinckley often said, 'You bring with you all the good that you have, and then let us see if we can add to it.'
"And I have felt that with the media and the interfaith groups — a moment of resonance to what they already feel and already know."
