So, what if Monson is the only semi-lucid prophet that LDS, Inc. can deliver in the next decade or two? What if he goes loopy this year and can't read the teleprompter anymore, lingers on for a year or two and passes the baton on to a non-telpromptable Packer, who passes it on to a non-telepromptable Oaks, etc?
Would anyone really notice? Probably not.
I doubt that there's much of a Monson hand on the tiller now anyhow, probably just the Head Bishop Dude, the Correlation Committee, and whatever other people/offices have carved out fiefdoms of decision-making power.
Seems like a definite possibility. And what with fancier drugs with fancier side effects being given to the very elderly these days, lucidity may be a fading prospect for well-medicated folks like the Big 15...
Just kinda wondering. Would anyone really notice? I doubt my Kolobian Kin would think much of it.
the so-called church... could name a Pile of DOG POO the 'PRESIDENT'; people would laud it in GC, post pictures of it in their homes, and chat friends about 'How Wonderful' it is...
I kind of remember David O. McKay having it together when I was a kid. He was also the last of the "kinder, gentler" prophets as I recall. Kimball made an impact as well, and then Hinckley. All the rest were various states of beige as prophets (though some were agressive in their prime).
Yeah, like what if it was 19 years until they had another prophet that could string two sentences together back to back, or actually respond to an unscripted question?
Seems that that would actually *add* to the mystical nature of the prophet mantle. Instead of having someone who had the cognitive ability to respond to a question and potentially give a statement counter to the known church doctrine (i.e. man=fetalgod, etc.) you wouldn't have anyone there. It would truly be a Man Behind The Curtain. All the other Big 15 would take turns quoting things President Senile had said back in his lucid days, cherrypicked by the correlation committee to support their plans for Doctrinal Drift.
So maybe if Tommy starts to go a little too lucid in the wrong direction, they'll change his meds so he can't quite put those sentences together anymore and needs to be kept watching conference via closed caption TV. And if Tommy croaks before Boyd loses his faculties entirely, they'll need to give Boyd a little something to fog his brain enough to keep him from preaching the evils of gay marriage at all 4 conference sessions...
But 20 years? Could it go for 20 years? I think the answer is "yes". I'm sure that having a lucid President was nothing but trouble for the Corporation during the Hinckley era...
I think we'll see President Oaks sooner than later(5 years?), and like him or not (not), he still seems more than coherent
If we are worried that if Packer dies, the opportunity for a PR disaster dies with him, Oaks is Packer light, and has room aplenty for a PR disaster.
Maybe as new "prophet" he'll reiterate his view that not allowing churches to persecute gays was a form of persecution against the churches, so in the LDS hijacking of prop 8, it was the church that was the victim.