Myth 15 | Nauvoo Temple Moroni is the only one to face west because…
I recently heard this one, and could not believe what I was hearing. The claim was that there was a specific, defined, and symbolic reason for the Nauvoo Temple to have the only statue on any temple facing west. I’m not going to repeat the reason because it was unimportant, and unbelievable anyway.
The first temple to have a westward facing statue was the Seattle Temple.
The second was the Manilla Philippines Temple.
Nauvoo was the third.
There are now 6 temple that have directly west facing statues. There are also a significant number of others that do not face east as well, instead being turned North or Southward.
The reason that Nauvoo Temple has a westward facing statue is because Joseph Smith chose to have the temple itself face westward. With the Original Temple, the weathervane spun and faced every which way based on the prevailing wind. When the decision was made to use a stationary statue, President Hinckley asked that the statue face west, like the temple itself does. That’s why the statue faces west. Because the Prophet requested it. It was not the first to do so, it was not the last to do so.