Posted on 04/15/2010 8:56:50 AM PDT by T Minus Four
Think of the Salt Lake Temple as a designer bottle holding a one-of-a-kind fragrance.
Think of the gardens and buildings of Temple Square as bubble wrap around that container.
Think of the City Creek Center to the south, the Church Plaza to the east, the Conference Center to the north, and the Family History Library and Church History Museum to the west as a firm, sturdy box around all of it.
When something merits that much protection, you have to figure rough bumps and bounces are coming down the road.
I get a feeling the LDS Church sees turbulence ahead -- nasty weather -- and it is making preparations.
It's not about being defensive and keeping things out.
It's about being protective and keeping precious things safe.
When the chilly winds blow, forest creatures gather all that's life-sustaining about them.
Horses in the fields cluster together to stand against the hail.
I feel the LDS Church battening down the hatches for bad weather.
The Tabernacle Choir, which was performing musical versions of Robert Frost poetry and other secular works, now releases CDs filled with songs of faith, assurance and the need to rely on the Divine.
I feel protection is the point behind the long row of sentries -- those Mormon temples -- that stand along the Wasatch -- the new Brigham City temple, new Payson temple, the new remade Ogden temple and all the others.
I feel protect precious things is the point of the new mission statements of LDS businesses, the point for books that are picked for publication and the lessons selected for manuals.
Part of the world would divide and conquer.
The church would gather and protect.
Something uneasy this way comes. Not a vilent clash as in Jerusalem -- where cultures fight openly. We won't be seeing stone throwers in the streets of Salt Lake City.
The battle here won't be about territory.
It will be about choices -- about the advent of a bolder, more self-indulgent popular culture.
The church can see the writing on the wall -- often literally.
And graffiti on the temple will never do.
It's time -- as the old hymn has it -- to "safely gather in, ere the winter storms begin."
The plan is not to force people away.
The plan is to keep what's on the inside safe from harm.
And if that means putting up ramparts and watchtowers, so be it.
Even heaven, if you believe the stories, is a gated community -- not to keep people away, but to safeguard the gentle hearts of those who dwell there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com Jerry Earl Johnston chronicles his take on the Mormon experience in his column New Harmony, which appears on MormonTimes.com on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Amos 8:
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
Yet the Spirit of the Holy Ghost was always on earth to witness.
Sweetie; you simply HAVE to read what you type!
You are contradicting YOURSELF!
wazamatter resty, unable to respond? Only reason I may be in the mud is because of all the mud that you've been throwing.
No there you go; accusing Joseph Smith (pbuh) of nasty things when HE accused ALL of CHRISTIANITY of error!
You ARE stuck in a false religion that will bite you in the end.
SOMEbody is stuck on ST
Wow! I'm speechless.
You probably know that Latter-day saints believe that Jesus was the creator of all things under direction of the Father. In Genesis we read that God states “let us make man in our image, after our likeness” indicating more than one was involved in the creation.
As I have mentioned previously, Jesus was unique — unlike any other of the creations of the Father. He was The Only Begotten Son of God in the bosom of the Father, the Firstborn of every creature, the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, foreordained before the foundation of the world to be the Savior.
Best regards,
Normandy
so are you stuck in a false religion!:)
Placemark bump
Jesus is not a created being, He is eternal.
Today is the birthday of one of my grandchildren...
She’s 13...
I live in a shoe...
:)
Somewhere over the years those who opposed the LDS Christianity their exchanges went from disagreements to engaging in fallacy, specious arguments, taking things to extremes.
Let us know when the mormon church quits sending out thousands and thousands every day to diss the Christian faith, engaging in fallacy, specious arguments, taking things to extremes K?
Please tell us what is false when words posted are from lds sources.
When the mormon missionaries have come to my house harrassing me and bashing my faith in Jesus, they have usually brought nothing but acidic bigoted arguments against the Christian Jesus, and pushed the muddy belief that the Mohammad-like Joey Smith is their savior...
I like that ;)
Eden was the first gated residence
____________________________________
Ah yes...
The flaming sword...
500
500
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