For some reason I thought I read some leader saying not to be afraid because the end of the world isn't coming in our lifetime or something like that. Certainly the corporation is planning long term with their investments. Does anyone recall something like this and who said it? Of course, I could just be getting old and my memory is failing, that, or maybe I just don't care that much about what the cult says anymore. Talking with a family member that thinks it's doomsday any minute now and I was thinking the church wasn't preaching that anymore. Certainly there are smarter people than me on this board that know the answer to this life altering question. Thanks in advance.

Yes. It was BKP in 2011.

https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=52664839&itype=CMSID

"The end is not near, senior LDS apostle Boyd K. Packer said Saturday.

Today's youths can look forward to "getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren," Packer told more than 20,000 Mormons gathered in the giant LDS Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City."

Kind of an out-of-the-blue statement from a church that keeps telling each crop of new teens (meaning every ten years or so), "YOU are the chosen generation, picked to be here for the return of the Savior!"

Now I'm not (Yes I am!!) a cynic, so the fact that the church was having a problem unloading their "own it for 99-years!" condos in the City Creek project maybe ought not to be brought into this conversation, lest those with a jaundiced eye delude themselves into thinking it a possibility that an apostle would shuck & jive just to make a buck.

About twenty years ago, I was in a Ward Council meeting where one of the missionaries assigned to our Ward (somewhat smugly) said “I’m one of the chosen generation that was held out until the end.”

I said “Elder, I’m going to tell you something that will be a little bit like when you found out that Santa Claus isn’t real, but I think you’re old enough to handle it. Everyone hears that when they are young. People who are now grandparents heard that they were the chosen generation when they were teenagers.”

*Zap*



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2021 02:40PM by Lot's Wife.

Thank you so much. I'm sure the answer to this is that it's an old article (2011) and now they're saying to get ready for the end any minute now (continuing revelation doncha know). Plus covid and no Trump, so, definitely the end of the world. lol

However did I know what the response would be???

-So, the Trib is Anti Mormon and spinning it.

-It was 10 years ago and he was just trying to tell people not to despair.

-If you do everything right, you can marry, have kids and grand kids DURING the Millennium (cuz the righteous will be transformed and able to have kids then).

-Current GA's are saying to prepare now cuz we don't have much time. Even the Christians are starting to say it. lol

When you're in a doomsday cult, there's no changing your mind.

*Unzap*


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I remember a bit more detail.

Packer gave a speech in a ward or a stake; I think it was a stake and it was in the area north of SLC. In that speech he said that the world would soon end or something to that effect. I cannot recall whether the address was recorded and released or just reported orally. In any case, it was certainly noticed and discussed online.

At the next Conference Packer said virtually the opposite. We all guessed that the apostle had been spanked in a Thursday session and was instructed to clear up his record. So yes, an LDS authority said the end is both near and not near.

Prophets, I gotta say. . .

They are just so...Mormon. LOL

Fundamental, evangelical, and Pentecostal Christians have been expecting The Rapture for every bit as long as the Mormons have been anticipating the Millennium.

If you read the entire Packer address on the church website, it's clear that seeing great-grandchildren is NOT part of the millennium. He specifically says it's before then:

"Sometimes you might be tempted to think as I did from time to time in my youth: 'The way things are going, the world's going to be over with. The end of the world is going to come before I get to where I should be.' Not so! You can look forward to doing it right—getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren."

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/counsel-to-youth?lang=eng

So it's not the evil Tribune doing any spinning after all.

And there's also the little matter of the planned mormon city in Florida (not Missouri) of 500,000 people by 2080.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/30/from-book-to-boom-how-the-mormons-plan-a-city-for-500000-in-florida

The funny part is if mormons are left without room to maneuver, they'll back down. Make a huge bet with them about when these "last days" will wind up. Any time frame they want. One year, two years, any time during Russell Marryin' Nelson's lifetime. Then put it in writing, signed and notarized, even (if you want) with attorneys, to make it legally binding so they know you're playing for keeps, and that you intend to enforce its terms. Then you can see how committed they are to their stated convictions (they're not).

I don't think they interpret the Millennium as being the end of the world, so you could have kids during that time, if that's what you're saying.

So, of course, having a city in Florida is just good planning for the Millennial times, maybe a resort for the transformed uber righteous?

Well, strictly speaking, the "end of the world" corresponds to the start of the millennium, while the "end of the earth" is judgment day. So when Packer speaks of the EOW, it's *pre-millennial*.

JS-Matthew:
4 "…and what is the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world, or the destruction of the wicked, which is the end of the world?"
55 "And thus cometh the end of the wicked, according to the prophecy of Moses, saying: They shall be cut off from among the people; but the end of the earth is not yet, but by and by."

Mormons don't usually get nuance, but there is a doctrinal difference.

Joseph the Smith made the distinction as early as 1835:
"…the end of the world is the destruction of the wicked, the harvest and the end of the world have an allusion directly to the human family in the last days, instead of the earth, as many have imagined…" (Teachings, p. 101)

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism says explicitly that the two terms are not interchangeable:

https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/3861

Besides, there's a ton of mormon doctrine stuff that's still supposed to happen before the millennium. (Jackson County temple, mormon Jerusalem temple, two mormon prophets for 3-1/2 years, the council at Adam-ondi-Ahman, the healing of the Dead Sea in Palestine, etc.) So yeah, per Mormonism, not any time soon.

(And yes, I was one of those deep-doctrine gospel scholars.)

Yes, the church and its deep doo-doo!

eternal1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> So, of course, having a city in Florida is just
> good planning for the Millennial times, maybe a
> resort for the transformed uber righteous?


I hope there's a clothing-optional neighborhood for the less-than-wound-up crew.

In September of 2001, Hinckley said this:

"Now, I do not wish to be an alarmist. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom. I am optimistic. I do not believe the time is here when an all-consuming calamity will overtake us. I earnestly pray that it may not. There is so much of the Lord’s work yet to be done. We, and our children after us, must do it."

Of course this was almost 20 years ago, and entirely non-committal as Gordo tended to be...

I think they've tried to drift away from the apocalyptic narrative, starting with Hinckley, but those who were raised before then surely make that difficult to do.

I wish ChurchCo would revert to the D. O. McKay era.

As a product of that era, I really enjoyed being mormon.

Gotta be pretty tough nowadays... Damn internet!


      
              "Ignorance is bliss."

My house burned during the fall of 1999. Church leaders told me to count my blessings and go pound sand.

I waited for the world to end, but it didn't.

It bugs me no end that many religions, not just the mormons, want to imagine a causal connection between something you MUST have done and misfortune occurring in your life. Unless they want to impress you, and so tell you that you're being tested...

Lead a 'good' life, everything comes up roses. Bad things only happen to those who deserve them. Surely there is order in Life!!