liz3564 wrote:I don't think that your posts are rambly at all! Sorry you have to take DayQuil, though. I hope you get over your cold.
Thank you kindly, ma'am.
liz3564 wrote:As an official Church stance, I have a hard time imagining that the literal interpretation of both the Bible and the Book of Mormon will ever change. I do, however, see more members, albeit maybe privately, interpreting the scriptures as inspired fiction.
I believe this is how it begins. Imagine the church 50 years in the future. Assume that among American Mormons, particularly in the Intermountain West, NOMs are now the majority among both membership and leadership. Let's also further assume that there are more Mormons living outside the U.S. and, more probably, outside what we now consider to be industrialized nations. What kind of impact do you think such a situation might have on doctrine, theology and even Mormon culture? I see the potential for change there to be monumental. We're already seeing the impact that becoming a global church is having on individual believers. If the membership statistics keep trending this way, I don't see how the church can remain static. In other words, the institution must change itself eventually to come more into line of the majority of members otherwise it contracts and dies. So the choice becomes stick with the status quo and risk losing potential converts or change to placate the new majority?
Eventually, unless there's a Reformation of sorts designed to pull the entire church back to its roots (possible), the institution simply begins to reflect the beliefs and culture of the majority. And if that majority is non-American, non-Pioneer Stock Mormons, but still BIC, the institution will reflect that demographic change.
I find it fascinating to think about what such a church would look like.