Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

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IHAQ
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Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by IHAQ »

…although he may not have meant to, nor realise that he did.
Earlier in the day, Elder Holland, Elder Sabin and Bishop Caussé met with ward and stake leaders from six stakes in the area south of Seattle.

Enumclaw Washington Stake President Lyle B. Brownell said he felt a new desire to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ and not just an administrator. He said he will focus more on making sure meetings build faith in the Savior.

He recounted how Elder Holland told a story about a man building an extravagant box to hold a jewel he had acquired. The box was built with the finest wood, it had solid gold hinges and screws, with exquisite silk to hold the jewel.

When he showed his friends the jewel, all they could talk about was the box the jewel was in and not the priceless jewel, said President Brownell.

“The purpose of the story is to make sure we focus on the Jewel — our Savior Jesus Christ — and not the box,” he said.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2 ... hop-causse

If Elder Holland believes that story then the Church must be about to embark on reducing the cost and opulence of temples (the box) to enable temple attendees to better focus of the ordinances (the jewel). Does Holland have the moral integrity to propose at the next meeting of the FP and Apostles that temples be significantly down spec’d? I don’t think he does, and the church will continue to focus on the glory of the box, with it’s gold and it’s finest wood and the fine crystal chandeliers and the pure marble and the fine textile furnishings…
Philo Sofee
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by Philo Sofee »

Great catch! This shows how unknowing the Apostles are to their own issues because they always focus outward to others' guilt, sins, and issues, without the competence to see their criticisms apply to their own lives. Quite ironic.
msnobody
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by msnobody »

It has been my experience that to focus on the Savior would be to focus on the church and her ordinances.

I just completed reading a book, Passport to Heaven, by Micah Wilder. Micah was a missionary who became born again while on his mission. When he unwaveringly proclaimed Christ, his mission President and stake President told him he was possessed by the devil and headed to outer darkness. He didn’t go back in for the High Council meeting that was to be convened the next morning.,
The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession... The LORD set his love on you and chose you... The LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery. Deut. 7
drumdude
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by drumdude »

The problem for Mormonism is that the box is the only thing that actually exists, there is nothing inside.
slskipper
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by slskipper »

I do concentrate on Jesus. I don't need Jeff Holland's input. Just go away, Jeff.
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Gadianton
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by Gadianton »

That's a dumb story.

The reason why the temples are so extravagant in the analogy, is to mislead people into believing what's inside is important. If someone built a case for a jewel so outstanding that it became prized more than the jewel, so what? That would just show off the insane skills of the craftsman.

The Brethren are mad because there is no such thing as Jesus and so in the analogy, the box is empty, and so people fawn over the box instead of pretending they think the invisible jewel is so cool.

Remember in The Sword of Shannara there was that sword in the stone that looked all magical, but it was just a prop to distract? The real sword was non-descript in a sheath thrown together with other non-descript swords. If you've got a genie in a bottle, it doesn't matter what the bottle looks like. If you've got no genie, then make the bottle as brilliant as possible to trick people into thinking it contains something important.

Holland should be satisfied. The trick is working. The Saints are tricked as intended and paying their tithing.
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by Philo Sofee »

msnobody wrote:
Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:28 pm
An excerpt from the book I just finished reading:

"Until now, I had no idea that the bondage he was speaking of was encapsulated in a tiny business-sized card that I had carried in my pocket. Prior to being freed in Christ, the Church held me captive by my sin. In order to attain God's forgiveness, I had to keep repenting of my sins to my religious leaders and fulfill whatever they required of me to find penitence. In this way I have been a slave to the Church. Through the liberating truth contained in God's Word, I had now been unshackled and freed from that bondage by Christ's blood. All that held me to this religion, then, was this small piece of paper that I now knew represented by indentured servitude to the Church.
With this understanding, I willingly placed the card in President's hand." Passport to Heaven-- Micah Wilder

This so reminds me of Deuteronomy 7:6-8 but it was because the LORD loves you... that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you

It is amazing the things that have such a stonghold on our lives and we often are not even aware.
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Moksha
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by Moksha »

Gadianton wrote:
Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:32 pm
The Brethren are mad because there is no such thing as Jesus and so in the analogy, the box is empty, and so people fawn over the box instead of pretending they think the invisible jewel is so cool.

If you've got no genie, then make the bottle as brilliant as possible to trick people into thinking it contains something important.
It's the world's one true box. "Look on my box, ye Mighty, and despair!"

II
The doors were cedar
and the panel strips of gold
and the Elders were High Priest
and the panels read and the High Priests chanted:
We are the greatest religion,
In the greatest Temple:
nothing like us ever was.
Cry Heaven and let loose the Penguins of Peace
BeNotDeceived
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by BeNotDeceived »

I would like someone, anyone to show me where Christ taught, talked about or announced during his earthly ministry any of the 'ordinances' that take place in LDS temples? Baptisms don't count because it's baptisms for the dead that are done, not baptisms directly for those being immersed.
dastardly stem
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Re: Elder Holland criticises the extravagant cost of LDS Temples…

Post by dastardly stem »

BeNotDeceived wrote:
Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:54 pm
I would like someone, anyone to show me where Christ taught, talked about or announced during his earthly ministry any of the 'ordinances' that take place in LDS temples? Baptisms don't count because it's baptisms for the dead that are done, not baptisms directly for those being immersed.
Not to defend LDS temples but this seems a bit unreasonable. Someone confirm for us that we know anything Jesus, if he lived, taught? All we have is hearsay from people who didn't know him, writing something decades later in a language he wouldn't have spoken.
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
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