In XX years, I (as a Mormon) will be wrong

[_RockSlider]

...

Mr. Schryver

I'm sorry If I have offended you ... I've lurked a time or two here over the years but basically new to it. As with any board, its always good to "get the lay of the land". My enquires about you were to this end and I'm now satisfied with the clarification of my initial take on where you stand.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I figure something just shy of about another 2000 years would be sufficient.

So, are you saying humanity will see another Human being flying reverse direction?

If we finish our vegetables, yes.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I figure something just shy of about another 2000 years would be sufficient.

For you or me?

I'm currently working on the "Become Righteous in Ten Years" plan. It used to be the "Become Righteous in One Week" plan back in my twenties. By my early thirties, it had become the "One Month" plan. At some point in my early forties, I think I made a bona fide "One Year" plan that never really panned out. Now that I'm staring down 50 in another year, I've become a little more realistic about my prospects. In fact, I'm starting to read up a lot on the mercy of God and other related topics.

by the way, I hope all is well with you and yours. Come visit sometime. I went down there, but I couldn't find you in the crowds. Besides, it's a lot cooler up here right now.

Hey brother,

I'm actually thinking of heading up that way next month to get some stuff from my cousin's health food store. I will make sure to give you a heads up if/when I do so we can grab a bite to eat, or a slurpee, or something.

As for the righteousness plan, until flatus in elevators becomes righteous, I'm afraid I'm going to just have to stick to the remedial courses.

-Stu

[_Sethbag]

One of the underlying themes of the book "Forgotten Kingdom", by David Bigler, was that this belief of Jesus's imminent return fueled, and justified, the early Utah Mormons' struggle against the federal government, and that Mormons had to get past the belief that Jesus was coming "real soon now" before they could go more mainstream, or at least start cooperating with the United States.

In fact, the book talks about that thing from Joseph Smith where the Lord apparently tells him "if you live to 85 years old you'll see my face" as possibly being the last straw, as it were. Apparently Wilford Woodruff was still giving the "polygamy forever!" defiant attitude in the year before he actually put out the Manifesto. By December of 1890 Joseph would have been 85 years old, and as that date approached, Bigler speculates that perhaps Woodruff sort of read the tea leaves (herbal...) and foresaw that Jesus wasn't on the verge of coming back, and decided (for all of the many other, more talked-about reasons) that it would be for the best after all if they gave it up and made nice with the gubment.

[_Sethbag]

by the way, my second companion on my mission was a true Mormon zealot. That was perfect for me, because I was a real Mormon zealot too. So we had a lot to talk about, and got along really well. I recall one of the conversations we had was about how soon we thought Jesus was coming back. In our deep and spiritual wisdom (guffaw!) we judged the conditions of the world and decided it was indeed "real soon now!".

In fact, he was a little more down on the world at that time, and figured we had no more than five years. I wasn't nearly as sure, and was willing to give it maybe ten or fifteen.

I ROFL now, to think about such conversations.

[_William Schryver]

Hey brother,

I'm actually thinking of heading up that way next month to get some stuff from my cousin's health food store. I will make sure to give you a heads up if/when I do so we can grab a bite to eat, or a slurpee, or something.

As for the righteousness plan, until flatus in elevators becomes righteous, I'm afraid I'm going to just have to stick to the remedial courses.

-Stu

Since there is only one health food store in town, and I go there on occasion to buy specialty flours, I guess I must be a little acquainted with your cousin. Aren't we talking about a female, though? Maybe you should PM me and give me the details. Then I'll drop by there tonight to get some more rye flour and say hello.

Ciao ...

[_RockSlider]

One of the underlying themes of the book "Forgotten Kingdom", by David Bigler, was that this belief of Jesus's imminent return fueled, and justified, the early Utah Mormons' struggle against the federal government, and that Mormons had to get past the belief that Jesus was coming "real soon now" before they could go more mainstream, or at least start cooperating with the United States.

In fact, the book talks about that thing from Joseph Smith where the Lord apparently tells him "if you live to 85 years old you'll see my face" as possibly being the last straw, as it were. Apparently Wilford Woodruff was still giving the "polygamy forever!" defiant attitude in the year before he actually put out the Manifesto. By December of 1890 Joseph would have been 85 years old, and as that date approached, Bigler speculates that perhaps Woodruff sort of read the tea leaves (herbal...) and foresaw that Jesus wasn't on the verge of coming back, and decided (for all of the many other, more talked-about reasons) that it would be for the best after all if they gave it up and made nice with the gubment.

What is interesting is how this same type of thinking (Christ is coming soon, so I'm justified in extreme behaviors) would continue to rear its head after this point. I was the worst type of "doomsdayer" in my prime, heck any Real Mormon (say 80's period of time) was a doomsdayer as well. You should see my basement storage ... (wheat for 2 years for 20 people just for the basic starters)

Too a lesser extent than what you have pointed out here, I believe the church also back peddled a bit coming into the y2k years ... toning down their push on food storage talks for example. 80's through mid 90's had lots of speculative days seems like 2005/7/11 type of dates were big at the time.

[_William Schryver]

Backslider:

What is interesting is how this same type of thinking (Christ is coming soon, so I'm justified in extreme behaviors) would continue to rear its head after this point.

What type of "extreme behaviors" are you talking about?

Please elaborate.

[_RockSlider]

Backslider:

What is interesting is how this same type of thinking (Christ is coming soon, so I'm justified in extreme behaviors) would continue to rear its head after this point.

What type of "extreme behaviors" are you talking about?

Please elaborate.

The extreme behaviors I'm referring to here were by some of us members, not the church as a whole ... However, I believe the church realized they were somewhat fueling it with strong general conference talks on preparedness, which they toned down.

In my case the extreme behavior was over 20k spend on end-of-the world goodies that are still in my basement (from food to guns/ammo to diapers). And the elitist attitudes that it bolstered in me.

edit:

In the mid 80's I was convienced of some of those 2005/7/11 types of dates

[_cinepro]

For the Mormons (or christians) of the board - what number is XX?

For example, "in 50 years, I'll be wrong". (in other words, i'll have to admit that we weren't in the 'latter days', and Jesus isn't coming - in fact, he probably doesn't exist).

Is it 50 years? 100 years? 1,000 years?

Unfortunately for you (and fortunately for the Church) there is a confounding factor (Y) which is the Church's ability to adapt.

Just as we look back with bemusement on our 19th century forebears who thought it was just around the corner, future generations of LDS will smile when they think of all the LDS who were just sure the year 2000 was "IT". Or the year 2012...