what would happen to all the assets. say one day the Big 12 feeling guilty and fearful for their own salvation deside to let the world know its all a big fraud and their very sorry. what would happen to all the real estate, business, investments, cash, etc?

They are never going to let go of the power and money based on feeling guilty.

I agree, this is a hypothetical. what would happen to all the stuff?

They would have to change their business models though because they would no longer have free labor

The "church" side of the corporation known as the "Office of the president of the church of JS of latter day saints" may ultimately collapse. Members can leave in droves and the doors shut on every chapel and temple across the world... The money and everything else will simply be re-incorporated into the for-profit side of the company and it will continue to be a large agriculture/live stock/land holding corporation. They may even change the name to reduce the negative PR, to something like "Beehive Holdings". Eventually becoming another large corp that does everything like Procter & Gamble.

BYU will continue as a private college arm of this "new" corp, though it will probably get a name change to distance it from it's "founder", and will ultimately remove it's restrictive policies and "big brother" rules.

I have a feeling the "church" makes more than enough money from it's "for-profit" side that it can sustain those businesses indefinitely without extra income from tithing and donations, those are just icing on the cake. It may need to re-org internally, but that's all it would be.

I'm OK with this, it would mean that the "church" would be more honest in it's dealings and the cult would be dead.

I agree, Finally Free.

I've often thought that this might just be their plan!

In recent years, they have been pouring a ton of money into the for-profit ventures such as the Great and Spacious Jesus Mall and condos.

Even if the "church" aspect dissolves, the big 15, who sit on the boards of directors of all these businesses, will still be raking in the $$$.

But wouldn't the serious TBMs be steaming mad and want their money back? Honestly, they shouldn't be allowed to walk off into the sunset as a corporation without some punishment for what they've extorted froms so many people?

You honestly think the GAs' will give refunds. You have a better chance of getting refunds for what the Fed government wastes in taxes.

I imagine that it would be sold off.

Can u imagine the splinter groups? Good lord. Instead of one giant pig of a monster, we'd have hundreds of smaller REALLY culty groups! I imagine they would get super wierd and there would be a dozen or more Waco style events.

I know that the temple in Seattle would be an ok office building. Just lop off that dumb spire and voila, office building.

I would like to see the San Diego Temple turned into an amusemnet park.

There may be a lot of splinter cults someday, but the money stays in the corporation sole.

I think the LDS faith is here to stay even though I wish for something different.
But... let's say the faith dissolves and no one comes anymore or believes in it. The church side would shut down and the corporate side would still be alive and well. They would continue to invest and make a lot of money without the church size or members. It would just be a business.
The church side, to me, is just a wing of the corporation. They don't put much into it. The manuals, the services and so forth, just minimal stuff, enough to keep money generating from people.

The assets would be sold off to pay back taxes since officials will go back in time and reassess taxes due based on their status as not-a-non-profit-church from the date of their reorganization into a people-exploiting profit-driven multi-national hyphenated and acronymed corporation, more like Bechtel than a church.

There will come a great fall. It's even predicted in the scriptures.

The church will emerge claiming to have rid itself of materialistic parasites who lacked true priesthood power. Those put in charge by the bankruptcy court will declare themselves in possession of prophetic powers and will re-correlate the correlated doctrines and claim that they are bringing the church closer to it's origin in the first century.

If history serves us, they will name themselves The Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days, saying they are too humble to call themselves "saints" and asking people to double their tithing in order to help establish the new, humbler church.

After all, look at the Catholic Church criticizing the nuns for spending too much time helping the poor and nursing the sick instead of influencing legislation and actively pursuing social justice action from government. Those damned nuns--just praying and serving the poor. Wasting good energy when they could be picketing or lobbying. They should take a cue from the Mormons and throw some work toward defeating gay marriage and rescinding Roe v. Wade.

I swear, there is nothing new under the sun. Prelates just love them some power, don't they?

Anagrammy

That's scary!

Times are tough in 21st century organized religion.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2012 12:03AM by FreeRose.

ChurchCo is run by businessmen for their own benefit and the benefit of their families. The corporation they control is worth billions and billions. Managed smartly there is no reason to believe that they will run out of funds anytime soon.

I don't see the LDS Church going away totally. I see it splitting up like it did when Joseph Smith was killed back in June 27, 1844.

One group would organize into a somewhat moderate version of the FLDS. This would appeal to the more radical Nazi-LDS that like to follow the old doctrines. Another group would tend to gravitate towards and even merge with the Community of Christ. (RLDS)

Interested parties wanting to study what happens when a cult blows up, should Google 'Worldwide Church of God' from Pasadena, CA. This was the old Herbert Armstrong cult that used to be on TV and radio with 'The World Tomorrow'. One group turned it into a BAC church, which is slowly selling off chunks of its magnificent headquarters in Pasadena, CA. Other groups revived the old Armstrong cult with a few small congregations scattered across America.

I expect this if the LDS church actually dies.

Honestly, I'm more worried about what would happen to the members psychologically than what would happen to the leadership financially. I don't doubt they have the legal work in place to keep themselves afloat and line their own pockets to the extent the law allows.

But can you imagine the huge, psychological meltdown in places like Salt Lake City or worse, Provo, if something really big toppled the church. I was talking to a friend of mine just this weekend about how some would be absolutely unable to admit it, no matter what. It's too much a part of their DNA ... the Mormonism I mean. I think a lot of people would feel like I did - relieved. Suddenly my world made a whole lot more sense. I'm sure if you are just pretending to believe, that relief would be doubled. But if you remember that sense of WTF you felt when you learned the truth hitting a large percentage of people in a concentrated area. Maybe it's better we leave in a steady stream rather than seeing a damn break. (Yeah, I know - I spelled it that way on purpose ;)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2012 05:32PM by CA girl.

The are gradually converting all the tithing money into shopping malls, diverse businesses, and holding companies. They own tons of prime real estate that can be made commercial or developed more. I also see some types of canned/prepackaged food companies in the works.

The LDS Corporation will cotinue until the end of time. It is setup almost based on royal succession, like North Korea.

There was a church that folded in the 1800s, but became the Oneida Silverware and Housewares company, that still exists..

Watch how 30-50 families will owe their family livelihoods, and personal wealth to keeping LDS Inc running, even if the dont believe in the religon part of it..

The only US auto company that didnt take US Fed bailout money was FORD. Ford still has the majority of stock in the Ford families hands. They will insure that FORD will never close completely.


In the same way the Sicilian/Italian Mafia, an Chinese Tongs were once patriotic resistance and support groups against foreign invaders, LDS inc will adapt..



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2012 06:16PM by delt1995.

Anyone who takes a moment to think about how dairy farms are run profitably can do a pretty good job of predicting the future of the church. Is the purpose of dairy farm to serve as an advocacy center for cows' rights? Or is it to milk them and then get as much profit from them at the butcher shop once the ROI on grass & care runs out for the cows? BTW its pretty expensive to go buy cows on auction and you never know but they might go dry or otherwise reduce your profitability. It's better to have the heifers get started young and often on breeding growth into the herds. And be careful to not let the cows getting milked or happily grazing on grass see you slaughter any other cows as this might reduce milk production ;) What's needed are a bunch of healthy moos ... Amen.

Hence LDS Inc will ease their rules and giveup the crazy history. The membership is the golden goose.

The Morg has extensive ranch operations in Alberta but when I rented farmland from the local stakes for 6 years I had to deal with a bunch of bozos that didn't have a f*****g clue as to what I was doing or what they were supposed to be doing. After 6 years of dealing with them I gave up the land....damn near broke me...

It will affect me to zero degree...

Everyone that ever payed tithing could make the case that they were defrauded if the Big 12 admitted it was a fraud.

Then again, the big 12 can never admit fraud without admitting that they actively participated in the fraud... Can we say prison time?

So, if they DID actually come out and say the LDS faith was a fraud, the assets would be sold off to pay of all the lawsuits to reclaim tithing and donations that were collected via fraud. Most of the 12 would likely be in prison.

I would think the state of Utah would lay claim to Temple Square in SLC for its historical significance if rioters didn't burn down the temple first.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2012 12:15AM by MJ.

Aw, MJ - that was a beautiful mental picture you painted. The 12 in prison, rioting on temple square, church assets being sold off to pay member tithing back to those who donated. I may need to log off the board and go to sleep now so I can ensure sweet dreams.

The church is buddy buddy with Babylon. They are as immune from prosecution as Goldman Sachs. OTOH, as Babylon falls, so falls the church. Sorry Joe.