I had a chat with a missionary online because I'm very curious about the cross on the front of the proposed Rome temple. Our conversation was interesting on a number of levels. I randomnly chose a name "Diana" as my fake name for the chat.
Before the chat began I was informed the chat had ended; which I chalked up to being a glitch. Then I was surprised to find that my missionaries name just happened to be "Diana." (Coincidence? Maybe but I rather believe that there was a glitch in the system and this may possibly indicate that these missionaries use psuedonymns as well.) I'm no expert here; only speculating.

After getting into the chat and asking some questions I noted that "Diana's" syntax was stilted and it became clear that while I could easily understand her, English was not her first language.

She first responded that she didn't know if there was going to be a cross on this temple and when pressed she clearly stated that Mormons don't use the cross. I continued to question and she and her answers started to vacillate wildly )(and widely) back and forth. First she would say that "no, Mormons don't use the cross"; then she would state that "it would be up to the designer." At one point she said it was not a sin to use the cross yada yada, what's important is that families will be blessed by the temple. I was determined not to allow her to obfuscate and kept pulling her back to the main point. I told her that as a Catholic student at BYU who wore a cross I was repeatedly told by TBMs that I shouldn't wear it and it obviously upset them.

Although I remained calm and truthful but nice she got nasty with me and inquired "what is your point." She ended the chat rather rudely.

What was really interesting is that after certain questions there was a particularly long wait for a reply. By the end of the chat she was defending the use of the cross (while still not saying she knew it would actually be used on the temple.) I also realized after signing off that her syntax became quite 'normal' at a certain point and I now conclude that "Diana" had consulted someone and THEY had taken over the chat.


I imagine that they may not have seen the plan for the new temple and my inquiry and pressing caused them to do some speedy research (googling maybe?) and in their consternation over what they found the new "Diana" took over and did some patchy apologetics for this new temple design.

outofutah

I will start wearing a cross to church meetings and answer those that ask with - "if it's good enough for the temple, it's good enough for me". I'm not certain how TBM wife will feel about this. She may think I'm being too aggressive.

Yep, there it is! Interesting.

Isn't that a bit out of place in, you know, Rome?

They did not put it on the top of the temple. Moroni still rules over Jesus. Plus these are just architectural drawings. It could easily be changed. I am sure it probably helped win over some people who were reluctant to let it be built. Notice that they have the Christus statue in the visitor center, not Jesus on the cross.