Fifty years from now how will the Church look?

1. Meetings on Sunday will be 20 minutes long for a 60 minute block.

2. There will be Saturday wards for the Spanish speakers, since half of the U.S. population will be Spanish speaking.

3. Women will have the Aaronic priesthood, but not the Melchizedek priesthood.

4. Bishops will serve with their wives, and the wives will hold worthiness interviews for the woman

5. There will be gay branches and wards, but sex before gay marriage will still be discouraged

6. There will be 5 times more black African Mormons than white Mormons, but only one Apostle will be black. Several will be Hispanic. One Chinese.

7. The Book of Mormon will no longer be considered "historical" by most Members, but a divine parable channeled by Joseph Smith via his Seerstone in his hat.

8. Mormons will believe in One God only, as the Book of Mormon teaches.

9. The Pearl of Great Price will be done away with, and the BOA will become a section in the D&C without the facsimilies.

10. Bishops (and their wives) will be paid like Mission Presidents, and they must go through a six month training course on how to counsel people.

11. Brigham Young University will go private, but have campuses in Fresno California, Fairfax Virginia, Nauvoo Illinois, Lethbridge Alberta, a very LARGE campus near Tooele Utah, and Casa Grande Arizona.

12. Missions will change to one full year for some, but for others from one to four Summers, depending upon individual situations and finances.

13. The wife of the Mission Presidents will become Mission Vice Presidents and basically preside over the sister missionaries.

14. Mormon bishops will stop asking young men and women "do you masturbate?" because masturbation will be seen as normal and not sinful.

15. Seminary students will be told that Joseph Smith was a moneydigger (because his father forced him because of their poverty), and that he fell into sin during Nauvoo, but repented of it before his death.


What do YOU think the Church will be like in 50 years???

14. Mormon bishops will stop asking young men and women "do you masturbate?" because of numerous costly lawsuits.

Quantumtheory Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What do YOU think the Church will be like in 50
> years???


> 1. Meetings on Sunday will be 20 minutes long for
> a 60 minute block.

No. Much of the appeal to a family church is time at church.

> 2. There will be Saturday wards for the Spanish
> speakers, since half of the U.S. population will
> be Spanish speaking.

Sunday will still be the day of worship.

> 3. Women will have the Aaronic priesthood, but not
> the Melchizedek priesthood.

Women will get power but not authority. I can see roles change with things like Sunday School President given to women as well. The core ruling bodies will be as male as the Catholics. Don't think that Mormonism would change if Catholics haven't,

> 4. Bishops will serve with their wives, and the
> wives will hold worthiness interviews for the
> woman

Could be.

> 5. There will be gay branches and wards, but sex
> before gay marriage will still be discouraged

I doubt it. Gay will be the same as singles. They may not be discouraged from attending and they might even be warmly welcomed as partners and given all sort of minor callings but they will always be the Mormon third class after women. To have power you have to married heterosexually in Mormonism.

> 6. There will be 5 times more black African
> Mormons than white Mormons, but only one Apostle
> will be black. Several will be Hispanic. One
> Chinese.

Could and probably will happen.

> 7. The Book of Mormon will no longer be considered
> "historical" by most Members, but a divine parable
> channeled by Joseph Smith via his Seerstone in his
> hat.

The Book of Mormon will never not be the keystone. In the realm of Bible fanfic fantasy, Mormonism by definition holds The Book of Mormon to be true on all levels.

> 8. Mormons will believe in One God only, as the
> Book of Mormon teaches.

Could happen. It probably will as Mormonism styles itself after successful Christianity in the next 50 years.

> 9. The Pearl of Great Price will be done away
> with, and the BOA will become a section in the D&C
> without the facsimilies.

I doubt it. No one reads it anyway. It just will continue to be ignored as it has been for a few years. In 50 years it will be the appendix it is almost now.

> 10. Bishops (and their wives) will be paid like
> Mission Presidents, and they must go through a six
> month training course on how to counsel people.

Never happen. They will hire janitors back before they do this.

> 11. Brigham Young University will go private, but
> have campuses in Fresno California, Fairfax
> Virginia, Nauvoo Illinois, Lethbridge Alberta, a
> very LARGE campus near Tooele Utah, and Casa
> Grande Arizona.

It already is private. I can see BYUX not happening as The Internet and Education develop. The core campuses will grow before they build more campus at other places. They could do the mini-temple thing and have mini-campus extensions of BYU.

> 12. Missions will change to one full year for
> some, but for others from one to four Summers,
> depending upon individual situations and
> finances.

Missions will always be 18 to 24 months. If anything they will get longer and elderly people will be shipped off to places to strengthen for 3-5 years on the mission president model. And to do genealogical work with locals.

> 13. The wife of the Mission Presidents will become
> Mission Vice Presidents and basically preside over
> the sister missionaries.

I doubt it. I can see wives of mission presidents doing more member strengthening things and mission president terms becoming longer and looking more like Catholic bishops in foreign countries. The perk in Mormonism is to be a seventy and I could see mission presidents being required to be seventies and living 5-7 years in a place.

> 14. Mormon bishops will stop asking young men and
> women "do you masturbate?" because masturbation
> will be seen as normal and not sinful.

They will be told to stick to the questions more and more. Until it is like a temple recommend interview for kids.

> 15. Seminary students will be told that Joseph
> Smith was a moneydigger (because his father forced
> him because of their poverty), and that he fell
> into sin during Nauvoo, but repented of it before
> his death.

I doubt it. Smith is almost as strange to modern Mormons as his Pearl of Great Price.

Quantumtheory Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > 13. The wife of the Mission Presidents will
> become
> > Mission Vice Presidents and basically preside
> over
> > the sister missionaries.

Elder Berry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I doubt it. I can see wives of mission presidents
> doing more member strengthening things and mission
> president terms becoming longer and looking more
> like Catholic bishops in foreign countries. The
> perk in Mormonism is to be a seventy and I could
> see mission presidents being required to be
> seventies and living 5-7 years in a place.

I was wrong. It happened last year.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-adjusts-mission-organization-implement-mission-leadership-council

Theyll be wearing lemming suits and sipping Kool Aid at sacrament meeting. The profits will hide behind a huge curtain during conference and pull levers to make giant flames fly out. And Boyd Packer will be on the mic chanting: "pay no attention to the droids behind the curtain. They arent the droids youre looking for and not useful for your salvation."

That was good. I'm surprised Packer's name is mentioned as much as it is. He will go down in history as the curmudgeon prophet. When Tommy the ear wiggling wizard dies Packer as part robot will become the first cybernetic prophet.

Hilarious.

The actual figures will decline yet the Church will claim that they have grown to approximately 60 million.

Packer will still be there. After his wheelchair gives out his consciousness will be moved into a giant robot head. Those of you who played NARC in the arcade will get the image.

Inactives will have to be asked to resign due to the complaints about stalking from the ward.

Temples will sold due to lack of attendance.

Brigham Young and other early church leaders will be flushed down the toilet.

16. Temple attendance will reach all time highs, with men in the Temple outnumbering women by 5 to 1, because by this time Adam and Eve are presented fully nude in the film, and Peter, James, and John come down and teach them how to be fruitful and multiply, because they don't know how because they are still in a state of innocence.

We will go "down", Jehovah

Elder Berry pretty much covered all the points I wanted to make but I think:

The Book of Mormon will be a faith building story not historical fact

There will be a financial scandal that will decimate the church membership but the die-hard Mormons will just dig in their heels all the more, patting themselves on the back for their faithfulness.

Temple building will slow down enormously or cease altogether and it will be hailed as a sign of the last days.

They will re-assess missionary ages because of the problems young missionaries are causing them.

There will be a big scandal concerning bishop interviews with a lot of bad publicity and they will cease to be private but require a parent to attend. The outside world will be shocked and disapproving when they find out about this practice.

The temple marriage will become something for the super-worthy, after a church wedding. Church weddings will become acceptable prior to a temple wedding, like in Europe, and that will make the sealing an even stronger social status symbol.

The church will have to reassess the 3 hour block some day because people are just too bored and too busy.

They will also have to do something about the lack of "feeding the sheep" and the high amount of "fleecing the sheep" because sooner or later, even sheep get pissed.

Gone. Jesus will come and tell them "Get the f**k off my planet".

Garments will become a small piece of clothing or handkerchief you carry with you at all times with all the temple signs sewn into the fabric. You will be given this material and keep it sacred and never blow your nose on it!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2014 06:09PM by sistertwister.

Good one. Ive wondered what the next step in garment miniturization would be. You know its coming. They will reduce it to pasties perhaps and theyll have you promise to keep these stickers on your chest, belly button and knees at all times...ir the fire insurance wont work.

When I was in the Marines during the vietnam war and still a member of the church, we were allowed to just put the marks on our green tee-shirts. I mean literally mark the shirts with a marker. The knee thing was left off.

It was about then, after going through the temple when all the 'good ole' penalties were used, that I knew the garment thing was just made up. My dad was a Mason and he explained how the square and compass were used in the initation ceremonies of the Masonic lodge, and that also cemented the fact for me that all the mumbo-jumbo was lifted from the Masons.

So, my point is, since the church has now repudiated the belief (that they promoted and promised in the temple) that the garment is a shield and protection, there will be no need for the garment at all.

Maybe they'll reverse their taboo on tattoos and just tattoo the marks on everybody!?

The garment will be represented by an almost microscopic piece of cloth sewn into an attractive "circle of love" pendant composed of three rings intertwined to suggest the Trinity. It will be "symbolic as far as the design is concerned." Mormons will view it as the godhead, Christians will see it as the Trinity. Mormons who believe either way will be happy and have no crotch rashes. It will serve the purpose the cross now serves in identifying Mormons and keeping their crosslessness from making them appear weird. So many reasons to do this.

The church will be hardly recognizable to us doctrine-wise because the present hard edge will be gone. There will be a rededication to the "Plan of Jesus Christ," which involves Free Agency. There will be no shunning, no masturbation interviews or pseudo confession extractions. No punishment and the whole rededication will be treated as revelation.

This will enable the church to dump a lot of problem practices and dogma without acknowledging they ever existed. All changes will be done because "further light and knowledge" has come to the modern prophets. Yes, plural.

There will be no more single prophet whose drooling pronouncements can cost the church billions. There will be a restoration of the School of the Prophets and the entire group of General Authorities will be considered said prophets. This will all be part of a "restoration" of light and knowledge going back to some of the original teachings of Joseph Smith.

Practices, sins, lies, crimes of previous prophets of the church will be reframed as "our greatest teachers" as we learn from mistakes, Buddhist style. God cannot save prophets from mistakes because making wrong choices comes with Free Agency, which is sacred. It is how we learn, even for prophets....

The church will no longer claim to be perfect, but rather claim to be on a journey of gathering more light and knowledge for modern times. They discuss revelations among themselves, the prophets, and come to a consensus, thereby reassuring the members that no one person can lead the church astray.

All of these philosophical changes replace the current model of "The end justifies the means" and "money first, people second."

The new model of Mormonism as Free Agency will restore the programs that people found so attractive about Mormonism. The new prophets will see that they must deliver something, that they cannot fuel their religion on fear any longer. People get numb to it. They will restore youth programs, roadshows, pageants, parades, picnics, etc, all slanted toward Family.

This will move them into a very vacant niche left by the disappearance of the small town. Mormonism is a product. It is not enough that it removes the stink of being separated from your family (imaginary though it may be), it has to also add a nice pleasant fresh wholesome scent of its own. It has to offer something for the money.

People have shown they are willing to pay for a wholesome group of friends for their kids. Mormon leaders will eventually wise up to this and quit messing around with excommunications and internet-banning and get to the business of filling the need.

Presently Mormonism has become a joke- especially to the young. It is an anachronistic throwback to the bad old times of racism, sexism, cronyism, homophobia, etc. All that will end as Free Agency and Mutual Respect replace forced confessions and excommunication.

Otherwise, Mormonism will wither and attrition of the young, the evisceration of the future leadership will mean the end. You can kind of see this in catholicism. Yes, they still have the priesthood, but many of us know how many rural parishes are run by nuns and the priest is on a riding circuit, coming every Sunday to distribute communion.

There are far more religious women than there are religious men, and this imbalance has actually caused some of the male superiority cult to strengthen itself. In the future, women will be less feared and more utilized.

None of these changes come from a change of heart, you understand, they come from business consulting advice. This is where the church really gets its "wisdom." It buys it from third party consultants on the QT.

I used to work for a business analysis firm and I won't go into the details, but it is not that hard to figure out what the Mormon product is and how it is selling.

Most real religions change slowly with baby steps over time. Once in a great while, there is a Vatican II. Mormonism is overdue for its Vatican II.

Out with the Latin! In with the English! Or- in this case- out with the cruelty and in with the love.


Kathleen

Kathleen, I find merit in all of what you promulgate.

But what about a conflict at the top tier of the COB regarding the advice they are undoubtedly buying? I can't see it being a seamless transition; it makes more (human) sense that pride and prejudice will raise their preening heads and that sides will be taken.

What will happen when a majority of apostles faces off with a staunch minority of apostles? What if the Corporation Sole is siding with the minority position?

I'm looking forward to watching the evolving church, but even more, I'm hoping for revelations from insiders as to how and why the Changers are making the changes and what they think they're gaining. (Or continuing to grasp.)

Now is the great day of its power. It will reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth. There is none who dares to molest, or make afraid. With enmity it will take the treasure of the earth, and with gold and silver it will buy up armies and navies, false priests who oppress, and tyrants who destroy, and reign with blood and horror on the earth!

* The church will compleatly support evolution and the big bang theory

Will have a few hundred members, mostly old. Church teaching will be irrelevant, as TSSC will have long before that run out of money and folded.

yes! It is already losing members. Many Mormons who leave will turn to mainstream Christianity if not atheist.

They'll have new updated essays on the church website that:
1.) Denies that blacks were ever denied the priesthood. People will be told to pray about the issue as the historical accounts are all wrong and that claims that the church ever denied to the priesthood to any black person because of race are just anti-mormon attacks on the church. Church historians that take exception and cite historical facts that say otherwise will be excommunicated.
2.) They'll claim that the church never got involved in politics to prevent gay marriage since the official docterine has always been that gay marriage is just one of many choices.
New docterines will require:
3.) The only way to get a temple recommend will be to have your bank send 10% to them automatically out of every paycheck.
4.) Brigham Young will be declaired by the church to be a fallen prophet. BYU will be renamed after an African American scholar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2014 01:59AM by azsteve.

16. Wards and branches of the church will be required to keep a supply of strychnine and Kool-Aid available in a special cabinet in the library, enough for all members of their congregations and any willing hangers-on, in case the press suddenly exposes LDS church finances and embarrasses the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. The First Presidency, Quorum of Twelve, and all their family members will be exempt from the strychnine requirement.

Women will hold the priesthood and if the wow doesn't disappear, they'll drop tea and coffee from the list of forbidden drinks. Mormons will also be more liberal. The magical undergarments will be strictly optional and women will be able to wear tank tees and strapless dresses.