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Temple Recommend · Informed Consent

Temple Recommend
Interview Questions

Official questions — verbatim from the Church Handbook — with context, source links on every claim, and paths to the quiz.

Sources: Handbook Ch. 26 & Ch. 31
The 16 temple recommend questions are asked verbatim in two private interviews — first with a bishopric member, then a stake presidency member. The handbook instructs leaders not to add to them or probe beyond them. Each question below includes a few facts worth knowing, with source links on every claim and a path to the quiz.

16 questions · Two interviews (bishop + stake president) · Required for temple entry

Questions 1 – 16
Verbatim · 2024 Official
1
Do you have faith in and a testimony of God, the Eternal Father; His Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost?
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A little context
Worth sitting with
Faith and honest questions can coexist. The question asks where you stand today — not whether every detail is fully resolved.
2
Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of His role as your Savior and Redeemer?
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A little context
  • LDS theology frames salvation as requiring grace and ongoing effort and ordinances — distinct from the Protestant view of salvation by grace alone.
    2 Nephi 25:23 — "after all we can do"
  • The Church's Gospel Topics Essay on "Becoming Like God" explains that LDS doctrine teaches Christ's path to divinity is one all humans may follow — a distinctive theological position.
    Gospel Topics: Becoming Like God
Worth sitting with
A sincere relationship with Christ as a moral and spiritual anchor is a genuine testimony, even if questions about mechanism or metaphysics remain open for you.
3
Do you have a testimony of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
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A little context
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A testimony of the Restoration doesn't require every historical detail to be fully harmonized. The question is about your sincere orientation toward these events.
4
Do you sustain the President of the Church as the prophet, seer, and revelator and as the only person on the earth authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain other General Authorities and local leaders?
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A little context
  • The Church's own Gospel Topics Essay on Race and the Priesthood acknowledges that the priesthood-temple ban on members of African descent (lifted 1978) was not doctrinal and that the reasons given by past leaders were mistaken — not revelation.
    Gospel Topics: Race and the Priesthood Quiz: Priesthood ban questions →
  • Early leaders taught doctrines later quietly set aside — including Adam-God (Brigham Young taught Adam was God the Father) and early polygamy requirements.
    Gospel Topics: Plural Marriage
  • "Sustain" in LDS usage means to support and not actively oppose — not to consider leaders infallible or incapable of error.
Worth sitting with
Many faithful members sustain their leaders while privately holding questions about specific decisions. Sustaining is a posture of good faith, not a declaration of unconditional agreement.
5
"The Lord has said that all things are to be done in cleanliness before Him" (D&C 42:41). Do you strive for moral cleanliness in your thoughts and behavior? Do you obey the law of chastity?
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A little context
  • The law of chastity requires sexual intimacy only within marriage between a man and a woman. For LGBTQ+ members this effectively means lifelong celibacy outside a marriage the Church will not perform for them.
    Handbook 38.6 — Law of Chastity
  • The Church's own Gospel Topics Essays confirm Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage including with women already married to living husbands (polyandry), and that these were kept private from Emma and from most members.
    Gospel Topics: Plural Marriage Polygamy Timeline → Quiz: Polygamy questions →
  • Helen Mar Kimball was 14 years old at her sealing to Joseph Smith — acknowledged in the Gospel Topics Essay, which notes the marriage was made "several months before her 15th birthday."
    Gospel Topics: Plural Marriage
Worth sitting with
The question asks whether you strive — not whether you have a perfect record. The handbook also explicitly instructs interviewers not to probe personal intimate details beyond the listed questions.
6
Do you follow the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ in your private and public behavior with members of your family and others?
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A little context
  • This is intentionally broad — the broadest question in the interview. It covers everything from family relationships to personal conduct.
    Handbook Ch. 26 — Interview Guidelines
  • The handbook explicitly instructs leaders: "Do not inquire into personal, intimate matters" beyond the listed questions. This is the question most prone to over-probing by some interviewers — though the official standard limits this significantly.
    Handbook Ch. 31 — Interviews with Members
Worth sitting with
If an interviewer goes beyond the official questions, you may note that the handbook doesn't require additional disclosure. You don't have to fill silence with more than is asked.
7
Do you support or promote any teachings, practices, or doctrine contrary to those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
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A little context
  • The question addresses active promotion and affiliation — not private study or honest questions. Reading primary sources, including the Church's own Gospel Topics Essays, is not "supporting contrary teachings."
    Gospel Topics Essays (Official LDS)
  • The Church has revised its own teachings on polygamy, race, evolution, and Adam-God — meaning "contrary to Church teachings" is itself a definition that has shifted over time.
    Handbook Ch. 32 — Membership Councils
Worth sitting with
Privately holding questions is not the same as publicly promoting opposition. Honest inquiry — even into difficult history — is not what this question asks you to disavow.
8
Do you strive to keep the Sabbath day holy, both at home and at church; attend your meetings; prepare for and worthily partake of the sacrament; and live your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?
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A little context
  • This question bundles several practices into one — Sabbath observance, meeting attendance, sacrament participation. Each carries its own weight worth considering separately.
    Handbook Ch. 29 — Sacrament Meeting
  • The sacrament prayers invoke covenants and witnesses. Partaking while carrying unresolved questions is something many members navigate personally — "worthily" isn't separately defined beyond the recommend standard itself.
    Moroni 4–5 — Sacrament Prayers
Worth sitting with
"Strive" is the key word. Imperfect attendance and occasional boundary questions don't automatically disqualify. The question is about sincere effort and orientation.
9
Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?
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A little context
  • Honesty is one of the harder questions to answer if you're carrying unresolved questions about history or doctrine — because striving for honesty includes being honest with yourself about what you actually believe.
  • The Gospel Topics Essays confirm that Joseph Smith publicly denied practicing polygamy — in sermons, in print, and in official Church publications — while the marriages were ongoing.
    Gospel Topics: Plural Marriage (denials section) Quiz: Polygamy questions →
Worth sitting with
Striving for honesty means bringing your whole self to these questions — including the parts still uncertain. That's not a disqualification. It may be exactly what honesty looks like.
10
Are you a full-tithe payer?
(For new members: Are you willing to obey the commandment to pay tithing?)
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A little context
  • The Church stopped publishing detailed financial disclosures in 1959, after decades of transparent General Conference reporting. No audited financial statement is publicly available to U.S. members.
  • In 2023, the SEC fined the Church $5 million for using 13 shell companies to conceal the size of its investment portfolio, estimated near $100 billion.
    SEC Press Release — 2023 Settlement Quiz: Finances questions →
  • Tithing donation slips carry a "sole discretion" clause — meaning the Church is not legally bound to use funds as the donor intends.
    Official: Tithing
Worth sitting with
Whether tithe is on gross or net income is left to your own interpretation — the Church doesn't specify. Your self-declaration is accepted. What "full" means is between you and the Lord.
11
Do you understand and obey the Word of Wisdom?
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A little context
  • D&C 89 was given in 1833 as "a word of wisdom" and "not by commandment or constraint" — it became an enforced temple standard gradually in the early 20th century under Heber J. Grant.
    D&C 89 — full text
  • The revelation also encourages eating meat "sparingly" and emphasizes grain as the "staff of life" — elements rarely discussed in temple recommend contexts but present in the original text.
    D&C 89:12–15 — meat and grain
Worth sitting with
The question asks if you understand and obey — present effort and sincere compliance matter more than a spotless past record.
12
Do you have any financial or other obligations to a former spouse or to children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations?
(Omitted when interviewing a child or youth.)
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A little context
  • This question addresses financial integrity toward dependents — essentially asking whether you are meeting legal obligations like child support or alimony. For most members it is either inapplicable or has a straightforward answer.
    Handbook 38 — Family Obligations
Worth sitting with
Temporary hardship due to illness or job loss is different from willful non-payment. Context matters and the interviewer has discretion.
13
Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?
(Omitted when interviewing a member who is not endowed.)
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A little context
  • Those preparing to be endowed commit to covenants whose specific wording is not shared publicly in advance — meaning they agree before hearing the full content of what they are covenanting to.
    Handbook Ch. 27 — Temple Ordinances
  • The endowment ceremony has been revised multiple times. Most significantly in 1990, when penalty oaths (symbolic throat-cutting and disembowelment gestures) and other elements were removed.
    FAIR LDS: 1990 Ceremony Changes
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Sincere effort to live by these broad principles — obedience, consecration, chastity — is the standard. The covenants allow for honest striving, not flawless performance.
14
Do you honor your sacred privilege to wear the garment as instructed in the initiatory ordinances?
(Omitted when interviewing a member who is not endowed. Interviewer reads the official "Wearing the Temple Garment" statement.)
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A little context
  • The 2024 update reworded this from "Do you wear the garment?" to "Do you honor your sacred privilege…" — shifting the language toward invitation rather than compliance check.
    Handbook 38.5 — Temple Garment
  • The garment's design includes symbols with documented parallels to Freemasonry. Joseph Smith joined the Masons in March 1842; the endowment ceremony was introduced three months later.
    FAIR LDS: Temple Garment Quiz questions →
Worth sitting with
The new language gives this question more room. Members who wear the garment sincerely but navigate practical situations — medical, athletic — are generally considered to be honoring the covenant.
15
Are there serious sins in your life that need to be resolved with priesthood authorities as part of your repentance?
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A little context
  • "Serious sins" is a defined category — not all sin requires formal disclosure. Ordinary recurring struggles and minor weaknesses are not what this question is asking about.
    Handbook Ch. 32 — Repentance & Councils
  • The bishop serves as a "judge in Israel" and may convene a membership council for significant transgressions — potentially resulting in formal restrictions or loss of membership.
    D&C 107:72 — Bishop as Judge
Worth sitting with
The question is designed to prompt conscience, not comprehensive confession. What requires disclosure versus what remains between you and God is initially left to your own conscience.
16
Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances?
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A little context
  • This final question returns authority entirely to you — the interviewer accepts your self-assessment. No one else can evaluate your inner worthiness.
    Handbook Ch. 27 — Temple Ordinances
  • The question presupposes that you accept the temple's premise as spiritually meaningful. Only you can assess that — and only you will walk through the door.
    Take the Full Quiz →
Worth sitting with
If you have genuine uncertainty about your readiness — for any reason — honoring that uncertainty is itself an act of integrity. It is not a failure to say you are not ready.