There were no "exactly fitted for an elevator" openings on original drawings, and there are no "mystery" channels drawn for the builders that were only later used to route electrical lines.

The original 1853 drawings did not include elevators, but the temple was still under construction more than 30 years later and elevators do appear in 1887 drawings. They were placed in the corner towers where they needed to have support structures built to hold them. Sorry, no divinely-inspired exact-fit structures to be found.

Honest LDS historians find it strange that so many Mormons would assume the builders were ignorant of technology.

Here's a great article from BYU Studies to share with friends and loved ones whenever they may wish to expound on this completely false faith-promoting rumor. It's also a fascinating read on the history, and building of the temple with some great historic behind-the-scenes photos. This is a downloadable PDF file, so you can keep a copy handy to email or share on a moment's notice.

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/view/6369/6018

That article you link is an excellent one for debunking the SLC elevator myth (and other myths surrounding that particular temple).

One of my former favorite FPRs has to be the "miracle of the seagulls." Never happened ... at least not how it's thought to have by Mormons now.

http://www.mrm.org/seagulls

Bullet proof, fire proof magical underwear. I didn't need anything to debunk that aside from wearing them. Got just as many bumps, bruises, bug bites, and scrapes wearing them as I did when I didn't and do now not wearing them.

Yeah, but you survived that flamethrower incident... ;)

Well, not really died, but where there was garment there was still skin. That's nice to have when you need it for sure.

In the Mormon tabernacle you can hear a needle fall. Through gods revelation they came up with that design.

I don't know how to debunk it, but I remember being told in seminary many times that Jesus was seen walking around in the SLC temple at night.

Joseph Smith talked with God in a grove. He debunked himself at least three times.

Haha, well played.

My idiot father also told me the lie about temple elevators thusly: Son, when the Salt Lake temple builders looked at the plans, they couldn't understand why some spaces were to be left empty. You see, the Lord knew that elevators would later be invented and put a place for them in the plans.

Truth: By the time the temple was built, scores of elevators (or lifts) were already in service.

Idiot father again: Son, the Lord had the early members make the Salt Lake streets extra wide to accommodate car traffic in the future.

Truth: Brigham Young wanted to be able to turn a wagon around on the street, so it had to be extra wide.

I was told the exact same thing.

"the Lord knew that elevators would later be invented" It is amazing how your thinking doesn't work as a TBM. Shouldn't we have thought to ourselves "well, why couldn't God just have caused elevators to be invented earlier instead of trying to prefit a temple to future inventions. Would that have been much simpler?"

Which is actually how it happened but isn't as "faith promoting" of a story.

Man I believed some crazy stuff

I'm wondering what ever became of the sword of Laban.

My sister claims that while attending Snow College, she and her roomies went and did some baptisms for the dead at the Manti Temple. While there they had a very "special" experience. One of the temple workers took them aside and showed them the sword of Laban. Yes the very one that was buried with the gold plates! Boy this really has me wondering. If they have something in their vaults that they are claiming is the sword of Laban, I wonder where it really originated. Of course they can never come public with this artifact because I'm sure the tests would show the truth. But I often wonder about what exactly my sister saw.

wow, that's crazy! If they really saw something, they should be telling others.

oh Mandy, your name is making me hear barry manilow so bad!!!!!

That is messed up hahaha

... more than likely it was the sword that was once used in the endowment itself. When Gawd placed cherubim and a flaming sword to protect against re-entering the garden. There was a little window opening in the front of the garden room and an arm would pop out holding the sword and waving it about.

I kid you not.

weeder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... more than likely it was the sword that was
> once used in the endowment itself...There was a
> little window opening in the front of the garden
> room and an arm would pop out holding the sword
> and waving it about.
>
> I kid you not.


Say what?!?! Was it flaming?

Aww danced to that at my wedding with my dad.

I do love barry manilow

Oh no!!!! And here I had faith in ya, Tup! To my shame, I once sang a BM tune while taking voice lessons. And I'll never admit it using my real name, but I actually kinda liked it....ouch, that hurt!

Im sitting here rocking with Led Zep....on vinyl no less (yes, you punk kids, ANALOG IS GOD!) I loved em first because my ultra TBM mom thought Plant was the devil incarnate. YOu know, she was just sure he was singing about evil sex things. No way, mom!

....every inch of my love.... Rock on you yardstick lovin dude you!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2013 11:31PM by GetTheLedZepOut.

I do love Led Zep too. But omg, the copacabana is happening right now

I have a really nice NAD receiver with a built in disc player. It sounds good. I hooked up a Music Hall turntable and spun my old vinyl gold: heavenly sound. I once thought that analog was dead, but my ears beg to disagree.

LoL.... sounds like we need a favorite music thread. Maybe a guilty pleasures music.

I like the one about Brigham Young declaring "this is the place." I learned at BYU actually, that he never said that phrase - it was added later. We always joked that what he really said was "this is a disgrace" and someone just wrote it down wrong.

I love both of those threads

That the internet was invented to spread the gospel all around the world. Isn't it marvelous ;)

Mine was the story about the picture of JC being unveiled and a girl recognized him as the man who comforted her for 3 days after a car wreck. I "felt the spirit" strongly several times whenever I heard this story.

Then I went to a fireside where Del Parson spoke (the painter of said picture) and he told us all that it was untrue.

Have any of you heard about the convert japanese zero fighter who couldn't find his target, the temple, during the Pearl Harbor attack? He was unsuccessful at bombing the hawaii temple so he converted to LDS. The Lord played with his bombing sites.

But wait, ask any member in utah about their 3 nephite sightings.

When the pilot was flying over the Hawaii temple, his guns jammed. Also, he was unable to drop a bomb on the temple despite his trip flying both directions, from and to, his carrier.

He entered all of this in his journal. When X, who ever the guy was whom was speaking at the fireside, happened to run into the pilot years later, the pilot tore out the page concerning the Hawaii temple and gave it to X.

X was so pleased with himself that he could have walked in front of a bus and not known it.

But, there is the remains of a Japanese zero that crashed in the mountain side just beyond the temple. I guess the pilot of that plane wasn't as lucky. TBM's you can use this paragraph as proof of your sacred building. Ha!

JS hiding the golden plates in the bottom of a bean barrel. When I was first told the story, it was by a family member who claimed we were descendents of the owner of the bean barrel. I just did a quick search and on lds.org there is a lesson plan that says it was actually JS's own bean barrel.

I was told that that polygamy was put into place because there were so many men dying in the wars and along the route to Utah....for shame!

My aunt told me that crap FPR, too. "Polygamy happened because there weren't enough men to be wives to all the women". Crap!

One that I bought into was about the “great white god” stories in the Americas as support of the BoM.