DiscussMormonism.com

In reading others' posts, I note that there are often suggestions made about how the Mormon Church can change so that it attracts more converts.

Does the Mormon Church change its policies (since it has no creed or doctrines) to attract more converts or be better tolerated by the larger society?

Certainly. Gone is polygamy, "the new and everlasting covenant". Gone is the theocratic Council of Fifty and its designs for world governance. Gone is the exclusion of Africans and those of African descent from the Mormon priesthood. I think gone within the next 25 years will be the privileges of men over women in the Mormon construct. Gone is the notion that we may someday become gods like elohim and jehovah--keep in mind, the FP/12 have not resurrected that 'policy' since GBH deep six'ed it on national TV (rather, TSM has used his prophetic bully pulpit to tell widow and cookie stories).

The Mormon Church has certainly been willing to 'denude' its policies of many of those things uniquely Mormon (and several notions borrowed from the Masons for the Mormon temple rituals).

Is the Mormon Church more interested in having more members belong to a diluted version of Mormonism than it is in a tiny band of followers of pure, pristine Mormonism that JSJr handed down to them?

sock puppet wrote:In reading others' posts, I note that there are often suggestions made about how the Mormon Church can change so that it attracts more converts.

Does the Mormon Church change its policies (since it has no creed or doctrines) to attract more converts or be better tolerated by the larger society?

Certainly. Gone is polygamy, "the new and everlasting covenant". Gone is the theocratic Council of Fifty and its designs for world governance. Gone is the exclusion of Africans and those of African descent from the Mormon priesthood. I think gone within the next 25 years will be the privileges of men over women in the Mormon construct. Gone is the notion that we may someday become gods like elohim and jehovah--keep in mind, the FP/12 have not resurrected that 'policy' since GBH deep six'ed it on national TV (rather, TSM has used his prophetic bully pulpit to tell widow and cookie stories).

The Mormon Church has certainly been willing to 'denude' its policies of many of those things uniquely Mormon (and several notions borrowed from the Masons for the Mormon temple rituals).

Is the Mormon Church more interested in having more members belong to a diluted version of Mormonism than it is in a tiny band of followers of pure, pristine Mormonism that JSJr handed down to them?

The (present day) ultimate objective is promotion of conformity to certain conservative social values. The original ultimate objective was probably to settle certain sectarian doctrinal disputes. The vehicle is an old one: a specifically tailored God-talks-to-man story.

The primary proximal objective is growth and revenue.

Does the Mormon Church change its policies (since it has no creed or doctrines) to attract more converts or be better tolerated by the larger society?

The LDS Church has a systematic theology by definition as I proved over on the old FAIR board long ago.

Certainly. Gone is polygamy, "the new and everlasting covenant".

Still there. The earlier or ancient practice of it is not considered a mistake or somehow wrong or something to be "winked at". A man may still be sealed to more than one woman. Also it is part of our scripture that if God so wills, it's practice here in mortality can be resurrected.

Gone is the exclusion of Africans and those of African descent from the Mormon priesthood.

Yet the ban is still considered to have been official and God authorized.

I think gone within the next 25 years will be the privileges of men over women in the Mormon construct.

What privileges? I think you'll be waiting forever if you're talking about being ordained to the priesthood.

Gone is the notion that we may someday become gods like elohim and jehovah--keep in mind, the FP/12 have not resurrected that 'policy' since GBH deep six'ed it on national TV (rather, TSM has used his prophetic bully pulpit to tell widow and cookie stories).

Never gone, therefore never resurrected. By the definition of doctrine, GBH could not of himself have "deep-sixed" it. And the fact of the matter is that he didn't when one reads and quotes the entire relevant transcript.

The Mormon Church has certainly been willing to 'denude' its policies of many of those things uniquely Mormon (and several notions borrowed from the Masons for the Mormon temple rituals).

I think you'll be waiting a loooong time, if not forever, for your favorite LDS doctrines to go away.

There seems to be plenty of wiggle room. It almost seems as if the amount of wiggle room has increased rather than decreased over time. That's what they see as working best for them now.

bcspace wrote:
What privileges? I think you'll be waiting forever if you're talking about being ordained to the priesthood.

Blacks weren't supposed to get it until every white person had the chance first. Oops.

bcspace wrote:I think you'll be waiting a loooong time, if not forever, for your favorite LDS doctrines to go away.

I think this is true. My guess is that the Church, itself, will be gone before that. Maybe fifty years, maybe a hundred. I don't think I will live to see it, but it will be gone as sure as the sun rises.

The decline has already started.

sock puppet wrote:In reading others' posts, I note that there are often suggestions made about how the Mormon Church can change so that it attracts more converts.

Does the Mormon Church change its policies (since it has no creed or doctrines) to attract more converts or be better tolerated by the larger society?

I don't think the LDS Church's history supports that idea.

The subject line asks, "What is the Mormon Church's Primary Objective?" Are you unwilling to consider the possibility that the Mormon Church's primary objective may just be to carry out the will of God? Latter-day Saints (like me) believe that God set up the LDS Church as an organization to carry out His will on the Earth. I certainly think that's its primary objective.

KevinSim

What is the Mormon Church's Primary Objective?

Simple. Exactly like any other giant corporation: to perpetuate itself at all costs.

Eyepatch is right. it's to make money. everything the church does at this stage is focused on making more dough.

Whether or not all the GAs believe in the Church doesn't matter. Either way, it has to survive. Whether to just expand the empire for its own sake or to weather the times until the Second Coming, the answer is to make money.

Eyepatch wrote: Exactly like any other giant corporation: to perpetuate itself at all costs.

An organization seek to perpetuate its existence. This is true for the Audubon Society and the Zzyzx Desert Studies Center.