Statue installed at slc temple “Jesus Christ Carrying the Cross”

[I Have Questions]

What happened to Jesus In A Bell Jar?

[I Have Questions]

Previously on the ever changing doctrine of Mormonism…

In 1957, Church President David O. McKay counselled against using crosses on jewellery because he viewed it as "a Catholic form of worship."[3] In 1975, then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley explained that he viewed "the cross [as] the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ."[4]

[Shulem]

What happened to Jesus In A Bell Jar?

Bell Jar Jesus is up in the Celestial forum where you can read about how early prophets were not at all impressed with using statues to depict Christ's image. But now we see the Church is shifting as it desires to be seen as a Christian church.

New Church Logo of Jesus in a Bell Jar?

[huckelberry]

Poor man laboring away outside the temple looks out of place.

Maybe that reaction is just incomplete placement. Well there is cultural expectation of course. It Is catholic style image foreign to past Mormon style.

[Shulem]

Temple rituals turns man into zombie for Satan

[Shulem]

Jesus comes to kick some ass!

[Marcus]

Temple rituals turns man into zombie for Satan

Lol. You're not far off, Shulem. My catholic spouse walked past while I was posting about the statues, I told him they were being put up at the slc temple. He pointed to the one above and asked me

"why are they putting up a statue of a homeless guy?"

[drumdude]

I can’t wait for DCP to gaslight everyone and tell us that Mormons never had a problem with the cross.

[I Have Questions]

I can’t wait for DCP to gaslight everyone and tell us that Mormons never had a problem with the cross.

Right on cue…

To say the least of it, the charge is overblown. (And I, personally, regard it as very likely insincere and disingenuous.). For one thing, the traditional (and undeniable) Latter-day Saint disinclination to use the cross as a symbol has never been quite as rigid and absolute as the critics in question are letting on: See this 2022 LDS Living article on the subject by John Hilton III, “What Church leaders and Church history teach about wearing and displaying the cross,” or, also by Brother Hilton, “Can We Use the Cross?”

Peterson pays slavish attention to this board. Far more so than to his church leaders, for example. He goes on to try and cover all future bases…

Of course we’re trying to make the point that, contrary to frequent accusations and surprisingly common misperceptions, we are and have always been Christians.

Still, if we were beginning to place crosses atop our temples and our meetinghouses, that would represent a real change. But we’re not. And, although it wouldn’t particularly upset me, I don’t expect to see such a development and I see no persuasive reason why we ever should. Even if Latter-day Saints in general began to wear crosses as jewelry or personal ornaments, something that wouldn’t bother me at all, that would represent something new (though not quite unprecedented). But we’re not seeing that. If the interiors of our buildings were now being graced with occasionally even rather gruesome three-dimensional depictions of the wounded and suffering (or dead) Jesus on the cross, that would be something to talk about. But we’re not.

Yet. But the metamorphosis into a Catholic/Protestant sect is well underway. Take this years very overt attention to Holy Week. That has never been a Mormon thing. Not the observance of Lent which the Afore now seems to have adopted. Mormons are becoming less and less a peculiar people, and more and more Protestant. Cozying up to the rest of Christianity after 200 years of claiming superiority from it. Needs must I guess.

[drumdude]

A thoughtful, honest member commented on his entry:

Attacks from critics aside, the new statue strikes me, a life-long member, as a change in the Church's posture towards the cross. It's not the only recent change. Some newer temples have the form of the cross incorporated into their architecture, reminiscent of Catholic cathedrals. For one example, see the Ft. Collins Colorado Temple reflecting a blue cross from an aerial view. (YouTube: "Fort Collins Colorado Temple - SkyBlodgett - 4K" around the 50 second mark, or google it.)

I am fine with the change. But let's not pretend it's not a conspicuous change. I see no value in such an approach.

Emphasis mine.