where they should go to church, where they should worship,” Elder Snow said.
and not require them to travel clear across the valley to attend church.”
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so much for freedom of worship
in an area where there is a mormon temple or a mormon religious building on just about every corner, why are mormon members being told where to practice their religious beliefs ???
Why cant they just go to the mormon temple on their own block ???
This is another thing that sets the religion of mormonism apart from Christianity
Nobody demands that I attend a certain Christian Church
I have the FREEDOM to worship whereever I wish too..
It's real simple...at the last General Conference (earlier this month), the Mormon hierarchy told men in no uncertain terms to get married [as this article says, they didn't "sugar coat" that directive].
Why was that directive made? And why, as you've pointed out, TN, is the Mormon hierarchy simply telling people where to worship and fellowship?
It's simple. They are trying to be sovereign match-makers. And why are they doing that?
Well, that's all in the stats.
More Lds young adults are remaining single; that, in turn, is effecting a decrease in the birth rate, which has long-term implications for Lds, Inc. coffers.
#1Mormon singles and decline in marriage:
More & more young Mormons are simply starting to disobey the Mormon “prophets.” But secondarily many single Mormon woman do want to get married & raise a family; yet despite the state having about 6 ½% more never-married men than women, more Utah young adults are choosing to remain single than ever.
Utah boasts the most number of married-family homes…a % that actually even rose 2% in the past few years. This means Utah culture is marriage-focused in deterring divorce as couples go through their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.
Yet when we check under the hood among Utah singles, we see that the stats are moving the other way.
If you check Statemaster.com & averaged the % of unmarried by state, you’ll see 17 states have more once-married adults (%-wise) than Utah. (A couple of years ago, that was 16 states). Even Nevada has 1% more once-married women than Utah! And when you compare Utah to other Western states that also has a high Mormon population – states like Wyoming & Idaho – Utah has about 2.5% more never-married men than those states. [29% of Utah men have never married: Percent of Men Who Never Married (most recent) by state … see also Percent of Women Who Never Married (most recent) by state]
Hence, % - wise, marriage is down even tho the actual # of marriages are still high in the state. BYU’s newspaper noted this January, 2010:
…fewer BYU students are getting married during their college years than ever before. According to the Y Facts University Marriage Statistics page, the percentage of married students at BYU has steadily declined from 29 percent in 1992 to 25 percent in 2009. While a 4-percent drop may not seem like much, it reflects a national trend of the aging single population. Source: BYU Daily Universe: Sister missionaries and the aging single population (Jan. 22, 2010)
The thing is that marriage is HEAVILY stressed in Lds culture. How heavy?
Lds “prophet” Joseph F. Smith: ...this doctrine of the eternal union of the husband and wife and of plural marriage, is one of the most important doctrines ever revealed to man in any age of the world. Without it man would come to a full stop; without it we never could be exalted to associate with and become gods neither could we attain to the power of eternal increase... (Joseph F. Smith, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 21, pp. 9-10)
So, Lds "prophets" have said that Mormons can't "become gods" minus marriage...that's how much import is placed on marriage in Mormon culture!
#2Mormon decline in births
Per this January 2011 article found at Utah Births Appear To Dip For Second Consecutive Year: From 2009-2010, births at hospitals owned by IHC, MountainStar Hospitals and the University of Utah Health Care and Health Sciences dropped by 2.5 percent, or a little more than 1,000 births.
Beyond being a reflection on the economy, why is this article significant?
(a) Utah has the lowest median age in the country…Aside from any Mormon context (Utah is 60% Lds), its increase of child-bearing women these past few years should actually have shown an increase given previous state stats.
(b) Look @ the premium Mormon culture places on childbirth – reason being is because Mormons believe baby-spirits from Kolob are waiting their turn for a new body to show up so they can come down & inhabit it…(yeah, I know, it sounds both pagan – like cultures that used to kill twins because they thought the second baby was inhabited by an evil spirit…as well as overdosing on Greek philosophy – an overkill in separating spirit & body)…
Below is a quote from Lds “prophet” Joseph Fielding Smith, who in turn quotes Brigham Young...Young's words are in the single quotations:
"President Brigham Young has this to say...'There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty? To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of EVERY righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles FOR ALL the spirits THEY CAN.' If these iniquitous practices find their place in our hearts and we are guilty, then when we arrive on the other side - and discover that we have deprived ourselves of eternal blessings and are accused by President Young has said, they were forced to take bodies in the families of the wicked-how will we fell? Moreover, may we not lose our own salvation if we violate this divine law?" (Lds "prophet" Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines, of Salvation, Vol. II, p. 88).
There ya go...the Lds "prophets" are COMMANDING BY DIVINE LAW THAT MORMON WOMEN GO OUT & HAVE AS MANY CHILDREN AS POSSIBLE!
Lds "apostle" Bruce McConkie wrote: Today the cry is heard in some quarters that these statements calling upon parents to provide bodies for the spirit hosts of heaven are outmoded...But God's decree and the counsel of the prophets remain unchanged...the position of the true Church remains fixed." (Mormon Doctrine, p. 86)
Bottom line: Lds "prophets" have suggested that Mormon women who don't have as many children as they can -- to accommodate all these supposed spirits up there awaiting a body -- can "lose their salvation."
If it wasn't true...then why did Joseph Fielding Smith suggest it? Why does McConkie claim that "the counsel of the prophets remain unchanged...the position of the true Church remains fixed..."???
The church is "stuck" re: militating vs. singles -- claiming that they can't live forever without being married ...and its doctrine of a "pre-existence" of spirits awaiting bodies!