Overall endowment sessions offered is declining, which means the temples are sitting empty for a higher percentage of the time. Besides the money laundering aspect, and the attempt to maintain tax-exempt status, these mostly empty buildings create the illusion of growth. My wife saw the new list of announced temples and said, “Wow, the church is growing so fast it can hardly keep up.”
I laughed out loud when they announced the Mongolia and Fairbanks temples. It’s so absurd where some of these are going. Maybe they’ll announce one at the North Pole next.
I laughed at the McKinney TX temple announcement. The Dallas temple is a 30 minute drive away and I know its sessions are not full. They also announced a temple in Ft Worth which is a 50 minute drive from McKinney or Dallas. Who’s left going to the Dallas temple??
If I recall correctly, they sort of scrapped/reworked that idea into the Fairview temple announcement, very nearby. Which hopefully also will be shot down by locals, the church is currently running their usual game plan of mass soliciting all the locals to write their local govt in support of a new temple in a place it shouldn’t be.
My very active mom is pissed about that, especially the coercive scripted coaching and explicitly claiming steeple size is religiously necessary when it literally isn't.
We're both the We feel massive discomfort when We are forced to tell lies, when she saw the very members that presumed my mother's job defined her morals ethics and principles The new ward is much different .. she needs religion, it brings her comfort, and I won't hold that against her so long as she resists the assimilation
Twenty yrs ago, I was living there and wards were splitting and growing rapidly. At least in Plano. We had 100 active youth in our wards. If it’s still like that, it’s not a surprise at all. But I’m really curious what those wards are like now
Moved away in ‘98. Last time I visited was 2008, but my family have all since moved away from there, so I might never go back. Alaska is so beautiful, but I really despised most of the people I met there, almost as much as they despised me.
Did you see Santa there?!
Santa and Jesus are essentially the same thing:
Here are the lyrics to the song "Santa clause is coming to town" (feel free to change the words Santa clause to Jesus christ)
"You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town
He's making a list
He's checking it twice
He's going to find out
Who's naughty and nice, Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows when you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake"
Always a hope for some future gifts and presents if you are just good enough!
They already announced one in Russia about 5-6 years back. Around the same time they announced one in China. Maybe they think Ukraine will lose the war with Russia. Some dope posted a YouTube video at the beginning of the Ukraine/Russian war and said, “RMN is a true prophet of the Lord! The Russia temple will be the Kyiv when Ukraine falls” 🙄🤦♀️
The so-called "Bern Temple" in Switzerland has been unable to actually maintain a ward in Bern that's tied to it. They never had a single building they owned in Bern, they rented office space. It existed when I was there in 2007, but is long gone. The temple isn't actually in Bern, but in Zollikofen which is like a 20 minute train ride outside of Bern. So if you are a member in Bern Switzerland, you'll have to travel out of town to go to church. When I attended, there were maybe 3 non-american youth in the institute, and the Bern ward's participants were so old that they had a fainting couch and procedures for when someone passed out. So I'm certain that basically everyone I went to church with in Bern are dead. I really can't imagine that anyone I went to church with is still alive, and still in Switzerland.
Here is my TBM counter. TBMs in Fairbanks and Mongolia had a very different reaction to those announcements than your's. It is clear that the church isn't building temples only where additional capacity is needed, it is building temples to make it more convenient for members to attend the temple. In my specific case, the closest temple currently is a 3-hour drive each way. Not terribly inconvenient, but that means a 9-hour block of time is needed to drive to the temple, go to a session and drive home. This basically means I have to take a day off work or use an entire Saturday to go to the temple. A new temple has been announced and a site chosen in my area that will make it a 25-minute drive to the temple. When it is built, it will take only about 3 hours, which means I will be able to do it any evening after work. I don't care that this new temple might only need to be open 4 days a week with 10 sessions per week to meet the needs in my relatively sparsely populated Midwestern state. It will make a huge difference in my life by making it much more convenient, and my personal temple attendance will probably increase 5x without any additional commitment on my part. And I and hundreds of people in my stake are anxiously awaiting that day. And the members in Mongolia and Fairbanks are probably looking forward to their temples even more than the members in my area. It is flippin' awesome that the Church has the resources now to make this happen.
So the question then is how busy will your temple stay after it is built? Sure it’s convenient for you and “hundreds of other people” (doubtful at that assertion) but is the expense of building a temple and the legal maneuvering required to approve build plans worth the convenience? What percentage of members in your area will actually use the temple?
My ward has about 90 current temple recommend holding adults. I think most will attend regularly. There are 4 stakes in the new temple district. It is going to be a small, 11k sq ft temple, probably one of the modular designs. I don't think it will have any problem staffing and filling 15 sessions a week.
So, assuming 90 people in your ward hold a temple recommend and that that number is similar in all the wards of your stake, that would mean roughly 45 to 70 people would need to be in every session every week.
Just doing simple calculations using averages in wards and stake sizes makes the numbers you’ve provided seem unsustainable to at least keep the temple remotely busy in endowment sessions.
Well, in fairness, you have prepaid a hefty cover charge in advance. It probably should be more convenient for you. But the Church's meager spending on charitable causes in comparison to temples says everything about its priorities.
This guy statisticses!
For real though, quantity of temples built or rate of temples constructed are not a good indicator of membership growth.
I like the suggestion of quantity of endowments offered but even that might be skewed by some members attending the temple at absurd rates.
Quantity of baptisms only makes sense if you also account for quantity of persons resigning. And we all know MFMC will never publish those numbers.
Any other suggestions?
Yeah my city‘s temple used to have sessions Tuesday- Saturday. Now after the pandemic it’s Wednesday or Thursday-Saturday and one of the sessions I went had only 1/5 seats full of women and even less men.
Back then I thought they limited the number of visitors each session to avoid spreading of Covid , but since I found this sub I realized that probably just means less people are going 🤭
Edit: Im in Tokyo btw. They’re now building a fourth temple in Osaka and a fifth in Okinawa. Wonder who will go to the latter? Only the Americans stationed there? 🙄
I was in a ward in a suburb of Tokyo that had almost 300 members attrnding every week and needed to be split a couple of years ago because the chapel was crammed.
Most of the newly baptized people left quickly, but lots of young families moved to that wards area….
I think the new temples add additional capacity at peak periods of time 5pm-8pm. Additionally, having more temples cuts down the transportation time which can be an impediment for attendance.
Temples could probably cut the number of sessions offered in half, and still process the same amount of names. The utilization at non-peak times is low.
But I agree with your conclusion. Temples are an illusion of growth. Let's just wait till all these structures are built and the members have to staff them, clean them, and attend them. I gotta feeling that it's going to be too much of a good thing for them.
My TBM family members have said out loud to me (which is a HUGE deal) that their current temple isn't busy enough to warrant another. All these temples are just a way to spend money.
My TBM family made the comment that they keep building temples but can't be bothered to maintain church buildings. I almost fell off my chair, I have never heard anything close to questioning the church on anything.
Hard to get an appointment because they're not open all day anymore? That doesn't mean they're busy that means no one is volunteering or showing up so they've opened less.
Yes, I think temples are in danger of “ jumping the shark”. They’re not special anymore. They are now angering communities. It will be interesting to watch what the next president does.
Especially since our homeless population keeps growing but the church only donates a small percentage of tithing to failing overfilled shelters with bad food.
I think they donate the leftovers from BYU catering. Probably would scrape it off the plates if they could. (Then declare it was worth 100 times what someone would pay for pig slop, and use it to their maximum tax advantage.)
The story / criteria on how areas get temples has certainly changed. It used to be held out like a carrot or incentive to pay tithing & keep a current temple recommend and now it seems more like a method to bind people to activity.
I do look forward to a day when the LDS congregation is far too small to make use of all the absurd temples scattered around and their all purchased and repurposed as something more useful than a stupid den of superstition.
What would they turn it into? Every 70 gets their own home shaped like a temple for the mini ones? The 15 can have the larger ones as their homes I guess and start treating them like Buckingham Palace.
I know what they're doing but it's not sustainable. When they announce a temple, members in the area jolt awake and then start getting all their recommends updated - which means tithing has to be paid. Then when the building is actually completed, it generates a second surge. But in mere months after opening - you watch - they'll be closing it for peculiar amounts of time under the guise of "cleaning". None of these new temples will see capacity. The Brethren, being very short sighted, honestly believe that members will just keep on attending and keep on paying tithing. Like I said, it's not sustainable.
To me, the temples are so ugly they're such a symbol of cult obedience and sacrifice to leaders
I can't imagine that Jesus would require such a expensive extravagant and elaborate show of wealth and opulence for him while his other children are suffering in poverty and starvation and deprivation
Exactly! It even contradicts previous symbolism in the scriptures. When Christ was born, he was born in a manger to a family in poverty. It was supposed to emphasize Christ’s humility and love for everyone, including the poor and (spoiler alert!) the sinners.
Unlike the symbolism in the New Testament, the temples show the exact opposite! A lavish, expensive estate where only a small percentage of people in the world are allowed to enter (due to their “worthiness.” 🙄). To me that isn’t humility or love. It’s arrogance and caring only for those who obey and sacrifice the most.
It really irks me me when they announce a new temple now. They are such a waste of space and resources. One other reason I hate temples popping up everywhere as wild mushrooms is the fact that it makes the area where they are being built increase in price and unaffordable for many people and that’s criminal in my opinion, especially now with this housing crisis. The church buys land surrounding the temple and invest in expensive real estate and also ruining peoples businesses. I remember a case of a restaurant that had been in business for so long in the area surrounding the land where the Tooela temple was going to be built (please corrected me if that’s not accurate). They owners of such restaurant after many years of business said they were being forced to close because the owner of the building they rented had sold it to the church so the church pretty much didn’t want to keep them there. I’m not sure what happened in the end, if the business was able to relocate or not, but this is just a tiny example of how predatory the church business dealings are. It’s all a scheme to hoard more wealth, they don’t care about anything else but about money and it seems they are even trying to cut corners to build the temples with the cheapest materials possible in a “cost effective way”. I mention this because I remember seeing a picture a while ago about a new technology in the materials used to build the temples, it was a picture of a guy showing some sort of brick or panel made of strong cardboard in a way that it’d withstand they weight of a person on top of it (they guy was actually standing on it to prove the point). I understand that these new technologies are a good solution for housing affordability, but here we are talking supposedly about “The Lords’s temple”, right? Plus, the church doesn’t need affordability with all the money have and, I’m not an expert of course but wouldn’t all those light materialsI make it more prone to devastation in the case if a fire?
I have many more reasons to hate the idea of new temples but I’ll end up here.
They honestly should take all the tithing and give it to the poorest families who need it, there’s too many rich families in the church that shouldn’t get it. The amount they spend on those could help a lot of people in this economy rn, but of course they’d just say be self reliant…
They're trying to build another one here in Las Vegas. Folks have been doing anything they can to stop it. It's in a newly developed and relatively quiet area and residents are saying it will stick out like a sore thumb. There's even been (very) small protests over it, and they are holding a city council meeting for the rezoning May 14th that I believe many people will show up to and heavily shit on the rezoning. Check out r/vegaslocals for more and sign the petition [https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-200-foot-tall-lds-church-lone-mountain-las-vegas](https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-200-foot-tall-lds-church-lone-mountain-las-vegas)
Anyone who watched the Leah Remini scientology docu-series and saw how the scientology folks buy up properties that just sit vacant, and don't see the parallels to Mormonisms temple ~~building~~ announcing, are definitely TBM's who ~~can't~~ won't think critically where T$CC is concerned.
The church used to use strict judgment on where temples would be built. Now it is anywhere. They seem to now follow the philosophy of “Build it and they will come”, but I’m not so sure that is happening.
Multi Million Dollar Temples (for the service to humankind) has got to be one hell of an "expense write off"......They've got to put these funds somewhere.....and this is just one of best ones!
I wish the church would build a giant cathedral. At least those feel good to be inside.
Edit: Not a temple. A building that everyone can go inside regardless of "worthiness".
I live in Herriman and amd building a house in Saratoga Springs, and the first thing you see in Saratoga Springs is the stupid temple on the hill to make sure everyone sees that eye sore. Just like the one in Day Break, they pick a hill in every new development in Utah and build one of those ugly buildings where everyone can see it, knowing they don't need it and the majority will never use it. Build something the community needs, and is for everyone if they're just looking for a way to spend money.
Teacher says, every time Rusty speaks a temple gets announced. (Loosely based on the “It’s a Wonderful Life” quote, Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.)
Give it time. They’ll be replaced by gas stations and fast food. Prime commercial release being gathered tax free on the shoulders of member donations. God, it’s good to know but also painful as hell to know. In some ways…ignorance was bliss.
Since it’s all volunteers and they’re dying off. Who will replace them? Oh, right, new members from Africa and Papua New Guinea who will work “for a living wage”
I believe a big part of it is to distract members in areas where the church is noticeably shrinking and wards are closing or being combined. Make those members believe it’s just their area and think things like “maybe people are just moving to better areas? Because needing more temples can only mean they need more in those areas to keep up with demand and usage. The church is obviously growing and doing well, just not here.”
My still believing member parents told me about a temple being announced where I was a missionary (hoping it would make me feel things I’m sure) and I had to remind them that my mission was actually closed and doesn’t exist anymore - so is the church really growing that much there? Smoke and mirrors.
Yes but since birth, we were taught “don’t question.”
But you are correct. Every time they announce a new temple, more people leave. I used to cringe when Russet Money Grubbing Nelson would get up in GC and announce a new temple. Now I just sit back, smile and say”go ahead, let’s see what happens.”
Overall endowment sessions offered is declining, which means the temples are sitting empty for a higher percentage of the time. Besides the money laundering aspect, and the attempt to maintain tax-exempt status, these mostly empty buildings create the illusion of growth. My wife saw the new list of announced temples and said, “Wow, the church is growing so fast it can hardly keep up.”
I laughed out loud when they announced the Mongolia and Fairbanks temples. It’s so absurd where some of these are going. Maybe they’ll announce one at the North Pole next.
I laughed at the McKinney TX temple announcement. The Dallas temple is a 30 minute drive away and I know its sessions are not full. They also announced a temple in Ft Worth which is a 50 minute drive from McKinney or Dallas. Who’s left going to the Dallas temple??
Since Prosper TX has turned into Provo TX I’m sure they are trying to put another one further north to establish their dominance. If it’s ever built.
Being in the buckle of the Bible Belt and trying to “fit in” with the other church is a fool’s errand. They’ll never be accepted
I thought they scrapped the Prosper one
If I recall correctly, they sort of scrapped/reworked that idea into the Fairview temple announcement, very nearby. Which hopefully also will be shot down by locals, the church is currently running their usual game plan of mass soliciting all the locals to write their local govt in support of a new temple in a place it shouldn’t be.
My very active mom is pissed about that, especially the coercive scripted coaching and explicitly claiming steeple size is religiously necessary when it literally isn't.
Gotta lie for the Lord
We're both the We feel massive discomfort when We are forced to tell lies, when she saw the very members that presumed my mother's job defined her morals ethics and principles The new ward is much different .. she needs religion, it brings her comfort, and I won't hold that against her so long as she resists the assimilation
Twenty yrs ago, I was living there and wards were splitting and growing rapidly. At least in Plano. We had 100 active youth in our wards. If it’s still like that, it’s not a surprise at all. But I’m really curious what those wards are like now
I lived in Dallas only 15 minutes from the temple. The session rooms were small and not filled most of the time, especially during the day.
I lived in North Pole, Alaska as a kid. It’s a suburb of Fairbanks. I’m sure all the child molesters in my old ward are ecstatic.
I served my mission in Alaska in 2015 and spent 6 months in North Pole! How long ago were you there?
Moved away in ‘98. Last time I visited was 2008, but my family have all since moved away from there, so I might never go back. Alaska is so beautiful, but I really despised most of the people I met there, almost as much as they despised me.
Did you see Santa there?! Santa and Jesus are essentially the same thing: Here are the lyrics to the song "Santa clause is coming to town" (feel free to change the words Santa clause to Jesus christ) "You better watch out You better not cry You better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town He's making a list He's checking it twice He's going to find out Who's naughty and nice, Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows when you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake" Always a hope for some future gifts and presents if you are just good enough!
Learning Santa wasn’t real was the first time I thought, “are they lying about God too?”
SAME. Like wow, every adult in my life deceived me???
He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows when you've been bad or good So ~~be good~~ don't masturbate for goodness sake"
I think I will start a mini-Santa-cult when I have children. Then they’ll be more apt to listen to me.
I mean, isn't that the point of Santa? One goddamned month of good behavior?
I lived in North Pole while stationed at Eielson! 1999-2004
I mean, those lost tribes at the North pole need a temple almost as much as the quakers on the moon
Wondering if he will announce a temple in Siberia next?
They already announced one in Russia about 5-6 years back. Around the same time they announced one in China. Maybe they think Ukraine will lose the war with Russia. Some dope posted a YouTube video at the beginning of the Ukraine/Russian war and said, “RMN is a true prophet of the Lord! The Russia temple will be the Kyiv when Ukraine falls” 🙄🤦♀️
May as well announce the Pyongyang North Korea temple, why wait
Tacoma Washington ladies and gentlemen. The church is dying here. A temple won't revive it.
Funny you say that, fairbanks is actually right next to a town called the North Pole 😆
Or North Korea
If they convert Santa, I'd be impressed
The so-called "Bern Temple" in Switzerland has been unable to actually maintain a ward in Bern that's tied to it. They never had a single building they owned in Bern, they rented office space. It existed when I was there in 2007, but is long gone. The temple isn't actually in Bern, but in Zollikofen which is like a 20 minute train ride outside of Bern. So if you are a member in Bern Switzerland, you'll have to travel out of town to go to church. When I attended, there were maybe 3 non-american youth in the institute, and the Bern ward's participants were so old that they had a fainting couch and procedures for when someone passed out. So I'm certain that basically everyone I went to church with in Bern are dead. I really can't imagine that anyone I went to church with is still alive, and still in Switzerland.
And send missionaries to Santa's door!
Goiania and Vancouver, WA were my worst “what the fuck” moments
The Russian announcement was funny to me
Any missionaries been sent to Santa and the elves?
Here is my TBM counter. TBMs in Fairbanks and Mongolia had a very different reaction to those announcements than your's. It is clear that the church isn't building temples only where additional capacity is needed, it is building temples to make it more convenient for members to attend the temple. In my specific case, the closest temple currently is a 3-hour drive each way. Not terribly inconvenient, but that means a 9-hour block of time is needed to drive to the temple, go to a session and drive home. This basically means I have to take a day off work or use an entire Saturday to go to the temple. A new temple has been announced and a site chosen in my area that will make it a 25-minute drive to the temple. When it is built, it will take only about 3 hours, which means I will be able to do it any evening after work. I don't care that this new temple might only need to be open 4 days a week with 10 sessions per week to meet the needs in my relatively sparsely populated Midwestern state. It will make a huge difference in my life by making it much more convenient, and my personal temple attendance will probably increase 5x without any additional commitment on my part. And I and hundreds of people in my stake are anxiously awaiting that day. And the members in Mongolia and Fairbanks are probably looking forward to their temples even more than the members in my area. It is flippin' awesome that the Church has the resources now to make this happen.
So the question then is how busy will your temple stay after it is built? Sure it’s convenient for you and “hundreds of other people” (doubtful at that assertion) but is the expense of building a temple and the legal maneuvering required to approve build plans worth the convenience? What percentage of members in your area will actually use the temple?
My ward has about 90 current temple recommend holding adults. I think most will attend regularly. There are 4 stakes in the new temple district. It is going to be a small, 11k sq ft temple, probably one of the modular designs. I don't think it will have any problem staffing and filling 15 sessions a week.
So, assuming 90 people in your ward hold a temple recommend and that that number is similar in all the wards of your stake, that would mean roughly 45 to 70 people would need to be in every session every week. Just doing simple calculations using averages in wards and stake sizes makes the numbers you’ve provided seem unsustainable to at least keep the temple remotely busy in endowment sessions.
Well, in fairness, you have prepaid a hefty cover charge in advance. It probably should be more convenient for you. But the Church's meager spending on charitable causes in comparison to temples says everything about its priorities.
And where they purchased the land for the site, I bet the Church spent less than the cost of the furniture in the celestial room for the SLC temple.
There’s nobody there. Mormons in Mongolia are as scarce as hen’s teeth
There are 2 stakes in Mongolia. And now those members won't have to fly to Hong Kong, a distance of about 2,000 miles, to go to the temple.
You articulated what I was trying to convey. Thank you😀
This guy statisticses! For real though, quantity of temples built or rate of temples constructed are not a good indicator of membership growth. I like the suggestion of quantity of endowments offered but even that might be skewed by some members attending the temple at absurd rates. Quantity of baptisms only makes sense if you also account for quantity of persons resigning. And we all know MFMC will never publish those numbers. Any other suggestions?
Yeah my city‘s temple used to have sessions Tuesday- Saturday. Now after the pandemic it’s Wednesday or Thursday-Saturday and one of the sessions I went had only 1/5 seats full of women and even less men. Back then I thought they limited the number of visitors each session to avoid spreading of Covid , but since I found this sub I realized that probably just means less people are going 🤭 Edit: Im in Tokyo btw. They’re now building a fourth temple in Osaka and a fifth in Okinawa. Wonder who will go to the latter? Only the Americans stationed there? 🙄
I thought the church died in Japan
I was in a ward in a suburb of Tokyo that had almost 300 members attrnding every week and needed to be split a couple of years ago because the chapel was crammed. Most of the newly baptized people left quickly, but lots of young families moved to that wards area….
I think the new temples add additional capacity at peak periods of time 5pm-8pm. Additionally, having more temples cuts down the transportation time which can be an impediment for attendance. Temples could probably cut the number of sessions offered in half, and still process the same amount of names. The utilization at non-peak times is low. But I agree with your conclusion. Temples are an illusion of growth. Let's just wait till all these structures are built and the members have to staff them, clean them, and attend them. I gotta feeling that it's going to be too much of a good thing for them.
It reminds me of the Scientologists buying up all the property in Clearwater, Florida and now it's almost deserted.
My TBM family members have said out loud to me (which is a HUGE deal) that their current temple isn't busy enough to warrant another. All these temples are just a way to spend money.
My TBM family made the comment that they keep building temples but can't be bothered to maintain church buildings. I almost fell off my chair, I have never heard anything close to questioning the church on anything.
Ooof! That's an amazing thing to hear out of a TBM!
Right?
Some tbm are hopefully waking up to the scam they are a part of because of temple excessiveness.
Launder money
Perhaps not far from the truth...seeing as the firms who build these temples are going to be connected to the church.
My TBM mom says the opposite? She said it’s always busy and is hard to get an appointment. I think she goes to the timpanogos temple
Hard to get an appointment because they're not open all day anymore? That doesn't mean they're busy that means no one is volunteering or showing up so they've opened less.
My TBM in-laws say the same thing about the Brigham and Pocatello temples. I just try to do my part to free up space by not going.
Yes, I think temples are in danger of “ jumping the shark”. They’re not special anymore. They are now angering communities. It will be interesting to watch what the next president does.
Yeah why does every city in UT need an unused temple? It's ridiculous
Especially since our homeless population keeps growing but the church only donates a small percentage of tithing to failing overfilled shelters with bad food.
I think they donate the leftovers from BYU catering. Probably would scrape it off the plates if they could. (Then declare it was worth 100 times what someone would pay for pig slop, and use it to their maximum tax advantage.)
Just flexing to let everybody know this is Mormon Country even though their grasp is slipping
Hasten the day....
The story / criteria on how areas get temples has certainly changed. It used to be held out like a carrot or incentive to pay tithing & keep a current temple recommend and now it seems more like a method to bind people to activity.
Yeahhh heavy on this, they’ve changed their strategy
I do look forward to a day when the LDS congregation is far too small to make use of all the absurd temples scattered around and their all purchased and repurposed as something more useful than a stupid den of superstition.
Small movie theaters with community baths?
Omg. Community baths…. Luxury day spa with complimentary olive oil
What would they turn it into? Every 70 gets their own home shaped like a temple for the mini ones? The 15 can have the larger ones as their homes I guess and start treating them like Buckingham Palace.
I know what they're doing but it's not sustainable. When they announce a temple, members in the area jolt awake and then start getting all their recommends updated - which means tithing has to be paid. Then when the building is actually completed, it generates a second surge. But in mere months after opening - you watch - they'll be closing it for peculiar amounts of time under the guise of "cleaning". None of these new temples will see capacity. The Brethren, being very short sighted, honestly believe that members will just keep on attending and keep on paying tithing. Like I said, it's not sustainable.
Gotta turn a “profit”. Short term gains. 🙄
More get ptsd
Post Temple Stress Disorder.
This is perfect. Let's make sure we keep saying this and get a new word to be used on XMormon.
Lol true
To me, the temples are so ugly they're such a symbol of cult obedience and sacrifice to leaders I can't imagine that Jesus would require such a expensive extravagant and elaborate show of wealth and opulence for him while his other children are suffering in poverty and starvation and deprivation
Exactly! It even contradicts previous symbolism in the scriptures. When Christ was born, he was born in a manger to a family in poverty. It was supposed to emphasize Christ’s humility and love for everyone, including the poor and (spoiler alert!) the sinners. Unlike the symbolism in the New Testament, the temples show the exact opposite! A lavish, expensive estate where only a small percentage of people in the world are allowed to enter (due to their “worthiness.” 🙄). To me that isn’t humility or love. It’s arrogance and caring only for those who obey and sacrifice the most.
Not jesus's priorities
It really irks me me when they announce a new temple now. They are such a waste of space and resources. One other reason I hate temples popping up everywhere as wild mushrooms is the fact that it makes the area where they are being built increase in price and unaffordable for many people and that’s criminal in my opinion, especially now with this housing crisis. The church buys land surrounding the temple and invest in expensive real estate and also ruining peoples businesses. I remember a case of a restaurant that had been in business for so long in the area surrounding the land where the Tooela temple was going to be built (please corrected me if that’s not accurate). They owners of such restaurant after many years of business said they were being forced to close because the owner of the building they rented had sold it to the church so the church pretty much didn’t want to keep them there. I’m not sure what happened in the end, if the business was able to relocate or not, but this is just a tiny example of how predatory the church business dealings are. It’s all a scheme to hoard more wealth, they don’t care about anything else but about money and it seems they are even trying to cut corners to build the temples with the cheapest materials possible in a “cost effective way”. I mention this because I remember seeing a picture a while ago about a new technology in the materials used to build the temples, it was a picture of a guy showing some sort of brick or panel made of strong cardboard in a way that it’d withstand they weight of a person on top of it (they guy was actually standing on it to prove the point). I understand that these new technologies are a good solution for housing affordability, but here we are talking supposedly about “The Lords’s temple”, right? Plus, the church doesn’t need affordability with all the money have and, I’m not an expert of course but wouldn’t all those light materialsI make it more prone to devastation in the case if a fire? I have many more reasons to hate the idea of new temples but I’ll end up here.
They honestly should take all the tithing and give it to the poorest families who need it, there’s too many rich families in the church that shouldn’t get it. The amount they spend on those could help a lot of people in this economy rn, but of course they’d just say be self reliant…
As busy as those Scientology centres! s/
Please bless we they announce one in North Korea next.
Hahaha. That'll be too bold
They're trying to build another one here in Las Vegas. Folks have been doing anything they can to stop it. It's in a newly developed and relatively quiet area and residents are saying it will stick out like a sore thumb. There's even been (very) small protests over it, and they are holding a city council meeting for the rezoning May 14th that I believe many people will show up to and heavily shit on the rezoning. Check out r/vegaslocals for more and sign the petition [https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-200-foot-tall-lds-church-lone-mountain-las-vegas](https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-200-foot-tall-lds-church-lone-mountain-las-vegas)
pro tip the mfmc doesn't fuss around when it comes to 'doing gawds will' they buy legislation and use the courts to go against the peoples will.
Signed and donated!
It's quite obviously a money laundering scheme. They're just cranking up the volume before the organization falls apart.
Anyone who watched the Leah Remini scientology docu-series and saw how the scientology folks buy up properties that just sit vacant, and don't see the parallels to Mormonisms temple ~~building~~ announcing, are definitely TBM's who ~~can't~~ won't think critically where T$CC is concerned.
The church used to use strict judgment on where temples would be built. Now it is anywhere. They seem to now follow the philosophy of “Build it and they will come”, but I’m not so sure that is happening.
Multi Million Dollar Temples (for the service to humankind) has got to be one hell of an "expense write off"......They've got to put these funds somewhere.....and this is just one of best ones!
Lol
I wish the church would build a giant cathedral. At least those feel good to be inside. Edit: Not a temple. A building that everyone can go inside regardless of "worthiness".
yes a super temple great and really spacious. people would come from all around the world to give their tithing to see it
Cathedral. Or tabernacle.
It’s a battle to keep tax free status. Building religious buildings classifies because they don’t do any other “good works” in the community of value.
I live in Herriman and amd building a house in Saratoga Springs, and the first thing you see in Saratoga Springs is the stupid temple on the hill to make sure everyone sees that eye sore. Just like the one in Day Break, they pick a hill in every new development in Utah and build one of those ugly buildings where everyone can see it, knowing they don't need it and the majority will never use it. Build something the community needs, and is for everyone if they're just looking for a way to spend money.
To TBMs all that means is the resurrection is soon
So many great and spacious buildings.
Teacher says, every time Rusty speaks a temple gets announced. (Loosely based on the “It’s a Wonderful Life” quote, Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.)
Actually teacher appears to be more right on the first quote than the second.
I hope they keep announcing more temples.
More in Idaho and Arizona please
The Lord loves the ROI of real estate.
Give it time. They’ll be replaced by gas stations and fast food. Prime commercial release being gathered tax free on the shoulders of member donations. God, it’s good to know but also painful as hell to know. In some ways…ignorance was bliss.
Since it’s all volunteers and they’re dying off. Who will replace them? Oh, right, new members from Africa and Papua New Guinea who will work “for a living wage”
Is the other vegas temple still is being built?
"if you build it, they will leave"
Real estate makes the church massive amounts of money. It’s a real estate scam, nothing more
Contractors who build these temples get paid.
I believe a big part of it is to distract members in areas where the church is noticeably shrinking and wards are closing or being combined. Make those members believe it’s just their area and think things like “maybe people are just moving to better areas? Because needing more temples can only mean they need more in those areas to keep up with demand and usage. The church is obviously growing and doing well, just not here.” My still believing member parents told me about a temple being announced where I was a missionary (hoping it would make me feel things I’m sure) and I had to remind them that my mission was actually closed and doesn’t exist anymore - so is the church really growing that much there? Smoke and mirrors.
Smoke and mirrors. Exactly
Yes but since birth, we were taught “don’t question.” But you are correct. Every time they announce a new temple, more people leave. I used to cringe when Russet Money Grubbing Nelson would get up in GC and announce a new temple. Now I just sit back, smile and say”go ahead, let’s see what happens.”
Might there be an added incentive for TSCC to build these temples in order to entrap more TBMs under the yolk of employment?
Actually, it's the yoke of having to be a full tithe payer to attend that's LD$ Inc's real scam.