Temple Bound

Many faithful members answer every temple recommend question honestly and still don’t feel worthy. In this episode, Will and Heather Humphreys sit down with Brother Brad Wilcox, BYU professor and author of the talk “Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness,” to talk about grace, trust, and what it means to stand with Jesus Christ.
Brother Wilcox shares the story of a woman in a temple recommend interview who said, “I’m never worthy, not by myself. But I’m not alone. I’m standing with Jesus Christ, and together we’re worthy.” From there, the conversation covers scrupulosity, the symbols of grace in the temple, hope for parents of struggling adult children, and a new way to think about daily repentance during the sacrament.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Why worthiness means trying and staying honest, not being perfect
How grace works as enabling power, not a reward you earn after doing all you can
Why “Satan is not the judge in Israel” and how to trust the bishop and stake president who serve as judges
How temple symbols, including the veil and clasped hands, teach grace
What a BYU study of over 600 students found about grace, depression, anxiety, and scrupulosity
Why God is happy with day two on day two, an idea from Emily Belle Freeman
How 2 Nephi 10:2 offers hope to parents whose children have stepped away
The difference between weakness and rebellion: which way you’re facing
How to use the sacrament to look forward, not only back, by asking for grace for the week ahead
Why grace has to be received, explained through a package left on the front porch and a free scholarship
How temple work for the dead lets us return grace for grace
Scriptures mentioned: Matthew 11:28 to 30, 2 Nephi 2:6, 2 Nephi 10:2, Matthew 1:23
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Temple Bound is brought to you by the Light on a Hill Foundation, a nonprofit focused on building and strengthening families across the globe.
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Why does the Lord teach through ritual in the temple? What does Freemasonry have to do with the endowment? Why has the endowment presentation changed over time?
In this episode of Temple Bound, Will Humphreys talks with Dr. Jennifer Lane, author of Let’s Talk About Temples and Ritual from Deseret Book. Jennifer taught religious education at BYU Hawaii for almost two decades, served as dean, and now researches at BYU’s Neal A. Maxwell Institute. She holds a PhD in the history of Christianity.
They cover how ritual shapes who we become, how Old Testament temple worship connects to temples today, and how temple worship gives us rest and power through Jesus Christ during hard seasons.
What you’ll learn:
Why ritual is a way of learning that changes the heart, not only the mind
How everyday routines like a trip to the mall work as rituals, and why disciples need “counter liturgies”
How temple ritual orients us to person, place, and time: Jesus Christ, the path home, and the eternal view of mortality
What Pacific golden plovers teach about knowing where we’re going
How Old Testament sacrifice and today’s temple ordinances both point to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ
Why the temple uses symbols, and how scripture helps us read them
How Jennifer found peace at the temple in the days before her mother passed away
A clear answer to the Freemasonry question: the language matters less than who is speaking
Why the endowment presentation changes, and what continuing revelation has to do with it
Why serving in the temple for others transforms us and places us in the Savior’s hands
Resources mentioned:
Let’s Talk About Temples and Ritual by Jennifer C. Lane, available at Deseret Book in print and digital
Finding Christ in the Covenant Path: Ancient Insights for a Modern World by Jennifer C. Lane
Jennifer’s articles, free online through the BYU Religious Studies Center: rsc.byu.edu - https://www.google.com/url?q=https://rsc.byu.edu/author/lane-jennifer-c&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1791870259144016&usg=AOvVaw2jSGR3daS1lVWjOex4sPW0
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Why does the Church of Jesus Christ spend so much on temples when the money could feed the poor? Tammy Uzelac Hall answers that question from the book of Exodus. She reads it in the original Hebrew.
Tammy and Will follow the gold and silver Israel carried out of Egypt into the building of the tabernacle. They look at what the name "I AM" means in Hebrew and how it ties to the answers we give in temple recommend interviews. Then they turn to the women of the Old Testament who changed the story: Shiphrah and Puah, the daughters of Zelophehad, and the Shunammite woman, whose answer "It is well" comes from the Hebrew word shalom.
The episode closes with a clip from Sister Sharon Eubank on why temples matter more to lasting change than money alone.
What you'll learn:
Why the Lord told the Israelites to ask the Egyptians for jewels of gold, silver, and fine clothing before the Exodus
What the name "I AM" means in Hebrew and how D&C 68:6 explains it
Why the tabernacle was built from offerings brought by "whosoever is of a willing heart"
How the women of Israel spun the linen and colored fabrics for the tabernacle
Why the Garden of Eden is considered the first temple and what "Eden" means in Hebrew
How answering "I am" in a temple recommend interview is answering in the Lord's name
Why God measures the sacrifice, not the size of the offering
The meaning of shalom and the story behind the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul"
Sister Sharon Eubank's answer to why the Church builds temples instead of putting everything into humanitarian aid
Scriptures discussed: Exodus 1, 3, 11, 12, 35; D&C 68:6; Mosiah 18; Numbers 27; 2 Kings 4; 1 Nephi 16
Find Tammy: Sunday on Monday podcast at ldsliving.com/podcasts 
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Many people are taught that grace is a gift with no strings attached. Accept Christ and it's done. Cooper Johnson spent 15 years studying what the word grace meant to the people who first heard it, and he found that in the ancient world, grace was the start of a relationship that asks something of you in return.
In this episode of Temple Bound, host Will Humphreys and Cooper talk about his return to the Church after 10 years away, the questions that pushed him to study the Atonement, and how the original Greek and Hebrew words for grace, faith, belief, and knowing changed the way he reads scripture. Cooper now teaches temple prep in a young single adult ward. He shares how he frames worthiness, symbolism, and covenants for people preparing to enter the temple for the first time.
What you'll learn:
What the Greek word charis meant to Paul's first century audience, and why grace was always relational
How pistis, the word translated as faith, carries the meaning of loyalty and faithfulness
Why "believe" in John 3:16 means to trust and rely on Christ, not just agree that He exists
What ginosko teaches about knowing God through experience in John 17:3
How hesed describes God's covenant love
Why covenants are connections, not contracts
How to see worthiness as readiness instead of perfection
Why God teaches through symbolism, and why symbols lose meaning when they're overexplained
What "endowed" means: to be clothed with power
Why staying with a scripture, talk, or temple experience until it opens up to you matters
Resources mentioned:
Elder David A. Bednar, "In the Strength of the Lord" (2001)
John Barclay's work on grace and Paul
Brent Schmidt, Relational Grace and Relational Faith
Jennifer Lane's book on the temple
Melinda Brown's teaching on law as love
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Shayden Bertagnolli has sat across from more grieving families than he ever expected when he became a therapist. That's what pushed him into men's mental health, and it's what shaped the idea at the center of this episode. Pornography addiction was never really about pornography. It's about pain nobody ever taught these men to name.
In this conversation, Shayden and Will Humphreys break down why men suppress pain instead of naming it, why so many chase approval and call it love, and what the temple initiatory ordinance actually represents (a wound being washed, anointed, and covered). If you've ever felt stuck, or you love someone who is, this episode gives you a new way to see it.
What you'll learn:
Why pornography is a solution to pain, not the problem itself, and why treating the symptom keeps men stuck
What "attunement" means and why so many boys stop being truly seen around age six or seven
Why men chase approval through achievement when they've internalized the false idea that love has to be earned
How the temple initiatory ordinance mirrors what every parent does for a child's wound: wash it, anoint it, cover it
Why asking God to "help me overcome this" keeps men in a cycle of shame, and what changes when they ask to be healed instead
Three practical questions parents can ask their kids to open up conversations that usually stay hidden
Why the average age of first exposure to pornography is now 10 to 11 years old, and what to do about it
Guest: Shayden Bertagnolli, licensed therapist and founder of Motyv, creator of the Liberate program for men working through pornography addiction and pain. Learn more at motyv.com.

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