One of the new temple presidents is a former Director for Temporal Affairs.
Too bad this has nothing to do with science fiction. One day soon I will need to get my Temporal Affairs in order!
Curious, I asked of Google:
"An LDS Director for Temporal Affairs oversees the humanitarian, welfare, disaster relief, construction, finance and other similar work of the Church in a region of the world."
Sounds like a very full plate. I wonder how big a check he can write on his own?
And then there was a reference to this: "Bro. Xxxxxy will soon be Director for Temporal Affair for the Pacific Area; he is currently the Managing Director of Welfare Services and Humanitarian Services and is also serving as President of Latter-day Saint Charities and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of LDS Family Services.
That's a lot of cool titles! The church sounds like it's totally on top of handing stuff out for free.
I kinda formed the opinion a few years ago that being called to be a mission president was like being told, "Hey, you're not good enough to make it to the big leagues, but here's a nice cushy job to hold you until you can slide into your coffin."
rocomop Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I kinda formed the opinion a few years ago that > being called to be a mission president was like > being told, "Hey, you're not good enough to make > it to the big leagues, but here's a nice cushy job > to hold you until you can slide into your coffin."
True, but that doesn't change the fact that he is an American, born in San Francisco and attended Stanford University. What does it say that the Church in Italy still needs American men to lead its missions and now its temples? Hardly a sign of member strength, IMHO.
Actually, a sign of member weakness. This is clearly a provincial religion, trying to be something more. They couldn't find someone from Europe, let alone Italy to head up the temple. But given that, I don't fault them for at least going with the guy they picked to be the MP there.
Haha! That temple is about as Italian as the Olive Garden is. Sure it's got some nice Italian marble and some nice Venetian chandeliers but a German contractor built it with money from Utah.
What you have is a Mormon Epcot Center with an Italian theme. It's Nelsonland. Much like the current Nauvoo was Hinckleyland. It's a Mormon theme park along with corporate pavilions full of corporate propaganda.
It's all about making the kids back home in the states think the church is more relevant to the world than it is. Fasten your seat belts and keep your hand and arms inside at all times. Russell M Nelson is in the driver's seat and he's giving everyone a big ride.
From what I understand, he was generally well liked as the mission president. His Italian is excellent since he was a missionary in Italy and has a degree from Stanford in Italian. He's a career Mormon employee, never had a job outside of LDS inc. It seems like his whole life he has been preparing for this.
He's another example of a relatively smart Mormon who can't get his head out of his Mormon superior's ass long enough to realize that he believes in a pile of hot shit.