Posted by:
Snickers
(
)
Date: January 10, 2019 04:23PM
I don't think it will ever go away entirely, but I do see the church falling to the point where they resemble the JW or Scientology to where it's just a fraction of what it used to be with a few remnant churches here and there scattered across each state, each with about 30-50 members attending (branch size).
I do expect to see the majority of the temples closing and further deep cuts to just about everything across the board.
Here's the question... if you were in charge of the church, and you had a mission to save it... what would you do?
This is what I would do over 10 years or so:
1) Call a second prophet and twelve apostles.
2) Use Revelation as a source and state the second prophet is laying the groundwork for the 2nd witness.
3) Start giving the 2nd anointing to the most devout members and place them under the leadership of the 2nd prophet. Under this prophet, you follow strictly the NT and base your gospel on faith only, just like it teaches. Instruct your members that the BoM, D&C, and PoGP is no longer needed (because you are super saved, guaranteed salvation [just like the NT conveniently teaches]), nor are the temples needed. Drop works (tithing, etc) as a requirement of salvation.
4) Move over most of the rest of the members from the old LDS church to the new, under new leadership and a prophet.
5) Administratively change the official title from "prophet and apostles" to pastors and form a leadership committee.
BAM! Now you have a regular Christian church that's based on love instead of obedience.
Of course, that's not what I would really do... what I would really do is hold a church-wide conference, state that this is all a scam, it always was. I tell everyone to follow their conscience and disband the church.
However, neither scenario is going to happen. The church will shrivel all the way down to a burnt out husk, and only the most devout zealots will remain active.
I do expect to see some final Hail Mary attempts by the church to bolster its membership... maybe we will see an ad during the Superbowl. That should be entertaining to watch their last-ditch efforts to save it all.