rongo

There was extremely limited live ordinances only for the bulk of it. "Phase 3" had been around for a long time, but it was a nightmare (appointments months out). Some trickle of temple work was done for the dead under phases 2 and 3, but not very much (especially compared to before). It's hard to instill a sense of urgency for "gathering Israel on that side of the veil" when it's that way. Now that most are in "phase 4," I think temple ordinances are way down. There has been a tangible hit to commitment, habit, and enthusiasm --- akin to weekly church services. I think/hope that this experience will be in mind when something like this happens again. There are real costs in society, schools, businesses, churches, etc. when there are severe and lasting disruptions, and the "new normals" are unsatisfactory in a lot of ways.

Just how "latter-day" would Latter-day Saintism be, hundreds of years down the road? I do think that the institutional church frowns on anything that smacks of Millenerianism (the end is near) --- probably from not wanting to be seen as akin to or lumped with failed prophecies of the 1800s and 1900s. Those types of talks (we're getting close) haven't been a thing in the Church for quite some time. But it is front and center in the Church's official name. While no man knows the exact timing, it does appear that the parable of the fig leaves -type things are accelerating ("beginning of sorrows" in Greek is "beginning of birth pains," which I find to be striking. You don't know exactly when the baby will be born, but you do know when the contractions become closer together and stronger that the time is drawing near). I see many of President Nelson's changes as attempts to make the Church less "weird" to people (insiders and outsiders), as he perceives it. Focusing on end times would be anathema to that. Even things like "hastening the work" or "gathering Israel on both sides of the veil" seem to have a "word meaning" and a "practical meaning." Temple work stopped altogether for almost two years, and like church, is struggling to get its legs again. The "hastening" ballyhoo of several years ago was more of a catch phrase than anything else (missionary phones being called "hastening devices" by general authorities, for example), without the urgency the phrase suggests.

I've noticed this as well. All of the talk about "hastening" five or so years ago seems to be negated by the Church acting like the "winding up scene" events are nowhere on the distant horizon. I would include the Ensign Peak and real estate empire investments (high rises in London, etc.). There is nothing wrong with saving for a rainy day and being prepared, but the focus on this doesn't seem like the Brethren believe or are concerned with what past Brethren have said about economic, governmental, and societal collapse in the last days. When those things happen, stock and real estate portfolios will be worthless, and the "rule of law" won't be able to be depended on to defend things like title to land holdings. It seems like "trusting in the arm of flesh" too much.