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.
I found and posted a link to an article that was an interesting discussion about how the different versons came to be, the differences (or lack thereof) between them, and which texts were used for the translations. It's actually fairly neutral.
Trying to get people to think they are civil? The BETTERTHANYOUNESS that abounds in Mormonism? I have no idea.
I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I don’t play games and pretend to be friendly to people I hate.
If I’m nice to you, I mean it. If not, then you know where you stand. And I am rather blunt. For this reason, I did not work well in offices.
Like a burning bush? Or laying on someone to revive them? Or looking at a serpent to be healed? Those critical of the Lord have never liked His methods, and there was always ridicule of them, by the MAJORITY.
The fact is, it is KNOWN and GIVEN that the current Bible is missing texts. It’s incomplete, and that’s FACT. The problem you face is that you wouldn’t have fuel to ridicule people who believe differently if you acknowledged FACT, because then you would have to go back to acknowledging that you have nothing more than your ad hominem fallacies. There is a small and sad group of people who ping each other because they have little more to do than tear down a religion that they don’t like because, if you read your Bible, you’d know you need a scapegoat when you don’t take responsibility for your own actions.
Sad, sad, sad.
Christians Bless those that curse them. You should know that, it’s in the Bible!
My husband is still on the rolls. He hasn’t been active since 1968. LOL, the Mormon Church sure likes to keep track of its members.
Since 1968 he’s been inactive except for a brief period around 1984 when we thought we might get ‘sealed.’ We found out we couldn’t ever be married righteously in the Temple since my ex-husband wouldn’t submit the necessary papers to “allow” it.
But you don't even know me as a person. And what agenda do you believe I am pushing? Now mind you, I am not denying I have an agenda, I'm just curious to see it through your filter. Have a lovely, lovely, lovely day :-)
OK, Her. Thanks for clarifying.
NOT! :-)
I saw that it was a neutral article presenting two sides of the argument when I got to the second half of the page.
Not a bad article. I don’t think JDW11235 actually read it though.
WRONG!!!! NOT just like any other church. MOST Christian churches (all the ones I can think of) take you name off the membership rolls if you do not attend for a certain period of time. You are NOT considered a member until you are a 110 years old like with the LDS.
Secondly, many churches don’t even have membership so there is no ‘active’ vs. ‘inactive’.
Finally, the LDS will often attempt to track down inactive members so they can move the records to the ‘new ward’. Other churches do no such thing.
Just more evidence of the control the LDS, inc exercises.
And I wasn’t talking weekly attendance necessarily, I am talking about people who no longer believe in Mormonism, people who now belong to other, Christian, churches, people who have renounced Mormonism completely, yet LDS, inc. STILL counts them as members.
LDS membership is nothing but a shell game to make the TBMs feel secure.
Reminds me of a castle's curtain wall.
And that is in Utah alone. The inactives-still-on-the-rolls in other states must be a much higher number. I know of at least 50 within my quite small family only to the first cousin level.
BEcause you can love someone platonically whom you don’t know, you just can love them more by knowing them. The Good Samaritan loved his neighbor who he didn’t know.
I think your agenda is to do good. But I think you got caught up in a thread that has a lot of sad, sad incontinent lashing on it. I’m not upset, much less with you. I know that by your civility. And I hope to have a lovely, lovely day. It’s been cold out, and it’s finally warming up. That statement actually made me smile.
The fact is that I love (platonically) even the most vehement opponents to my faith, I just don’t sit idly always while they lie. I have thanks several of the very people on this thread for their zeal, but asked to stop disparaging one religion because they can’t get over it.
Sadly, their agenda is to destroy.
Was that here in Utah? What happened to it?
How is it that you decided to change faiths? What do you think was the turning point for you?
You believe in a God that cannot preserve His word exactly as He wants it? You think someone stole something precious from His word? There are other writings that are mentioned in the Bible that don’t appear in the Bible, that doesn’t mean God EVER meant those ‘other’ writings to be included. Just like you don’t find Isaiah in the Book of Mormon even though it is copied word for word.....
Sad, sad, sad.....
You believe a man with his face in a hat telling make believe stories about the falsity of the Bible?
Sadder, even sadder....
Portions of the fence are still here. The “Eagle Gate” that spans State Street is a portion of the wall.
Nice try but that is not what the verse says. But Mormons twist the Bible so much that they do not understand that.
Christians are to bless those that persecute us (curse us) for our faith. It says NOTHING about blessing heretics.
Nowhere does it say we are to bless those who preach a false gospel. Quite the opposite, we are to contend for Christianity, we are NOT to bless those that bring false doctrine and we are to CUT ASUNDER those who ‘seek to be equal’ to Christians while teaching false doctrines (like Mormonism).
If you understood the Bible you would know that!
Lies are?
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