Speaking of contempt toward the CoC, I noticed a fascinating exchange between an anti-CoC visitor (whom I will refer to as “Visitor”) and the Proprietor:Doctor Scratch wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 10:47 pmA very helpful post, Tom--thank you. It seems to me that this is yet another one of those instances where "the mask drops," and we can see how contemptuous the Mopologists are towards other faiths. Dr. Peterson's ridicule of the Strangites--e.g., wanting to cast Pee-Wee Herman as James Strang in his film--was bad enough, and now here he is, openly admitting that he would have liked to have essentially "bought out" a crucial piece of CoC history. He's practically giddy, in fact! He and Midgley have been saying negative things about the CoC for decades--dismissing it as a second-rate, overly liberal "shadow" of the True Church, and now he's publicly gloating--exultant, even--about a key piece of their history getting taken away. Quite shameful, if you ask me.Tom wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 1:45 pmI do wonder why the money wasn't used to build the FARMS ziggurat. Alternatively, FARMS could have purchased the Kirtland temple, moved it by truck to Provo, and contracted with E. C. Construction Company to reconstruct the temple into a ziggurat. (I suspect that D. Peterson would have been hired to handle the water witching on the property.)
Visitor:
People who live in glass houses…. Thank goodness the Church of Jesus Christ hasn’t embraced the world, has avoided severe financial problems, has never suffered schisms, and has never had membership declines.Dan, this was definitely a long time coming. Full credit to the CofC for taking care of all these structures, they will continue to have full access as they very well should. But I've always viewed the CofC as a powerful and stark warning to Latter Days Saints about what happens when a "Mormon" Church embraces the world.
They have adopted every change so many "progressive" latter day Saints would like our church to embrace. Women ordination, same sex marriage, public financial disclosure, rejecting the Godhead, younger leadership etc. And what have all these changes brought them?
Insolvency, numerous schisms as you pointed out, massive membership and financial declines.
Now they have to do the equivalent of selling off a priceless family heirloom just to avoid foreclosure on their house after years of poor financial decisions. I feel sorry for their faithful members who have seen the CofC become a shell of itself.
Proprietor:
Visitor: "I've always viewed the CofC as a powerful and stark warning to Latter Days Saints about what happens when a "Mormon" Church embraces the world."
That's pretty much the way I've seen it, as well. It something of a lab experiment, with a "control group" and a "test group."
I bear absolutely no ill will toward our "separated brethren" (as a Catholic observer might term them), but I'm happy that my church has not taken their path.
Visitor: "I feel sorry for their faithful members who have seen the CofC become a shell of itself."
So do I. And I devoutly hope that we'll eventually be able to welcome many of them home.