rockpond

Part of my job is managing multi-tenant office buildings and I'm seeing more and more of them move to keyless entry systems. At some point, the cost of these systems (for both exterior and interior doors) will be less than or equivalent to the cost/hassle of dealing with keys. Some advantages of going keyless: Ability to unlock/lock all entrances to a building from an app Notifications to appropriate members when a building is left open at a time when it shouldn't be along with knowing who entered (for example, a bishop accessing his office early morning). Scheduled lock/unlock of doors Better control of who has access I've been attending church in the same building for about 15 years... somehow, we STILL keep making new copies of the keys to the building. There are countless keys to the building floating around. Countless. But when I need to get into the shed where the snowblower is kept... nobody knows where that key is! Digital access would mean that when you get released/called your building access instantly changes accordingly. And you could certainly have people (bishopric, clerks, etc) who have the ability to grant temporary access to any ward member. I think all the church buildings will move to this as the cost/benefit ratio warrants it in each area of the church.

@smac97 Great summary of, as you correctly put it, a really difficult issue. Similarly, I have concerns about where the courts are going with the conflict between 1st amendment and anti-discrimination laws. It's so frustrating that activists are going after these business owners. There is no shortage of great bakeries and web designers in the Denver area who will gladly do LGBT-themed designs. I had not heard about the Metzger Bar case... I'd love to see that go through the court system like Masterpiece and 303 Creative to get some attention on this issue from the other perspective.

I've only watched the first episode. I think @jkwilliams critiques are accurate but it's drawing me in and I'll keep watching. I never read Krakauer's book. Warning: It's Hulu and there is some brief female nudity at the end of episode one. I do wish they'd leave that out -- a different camera angle wouldn't have changed the scene at all. My questions though: In that timeframe, did Utah church members let talk of the church infuse THAT MUCH of their dialogue? I spend most of my time almost entirely with LDS people and nobody talks about the church or God as much as the people in this movie. Was there a time when we (LDS) prayed with our hands clasped and held up in front of our chests? As long as I've been a member, nearly everyone either folds their arms or clasps/rests their hands in their laps. I know this is a small detail but it makes me feel that the director didn't bother to sufficiently observe LDS people. Spend one Sunday at an LDS church and you'd know what we do with our arms/hands while praying.

There are certainly many gay men who "remain true to gospel covenants". I imagine that @MustardSeed's comment was highlighting the observation that those who go public with their situation seem more likely to leave the church then to stay in.

Looking at my little corner of Colorado, I can tell you that all of the "Special Purpose" properties are existing meetinghouses. And if that's true across the board then, according to @JustAnAustralian's pivot table, about half of the market value of the Church's real estate portfolio is church buildings. The only other "dots" in my area are "Vacant Land" and I've been told from a very reliable source in SLC that that particular property has been earmarked for the Temple Department. I don't expect an announcement anytime soon though. We still have seats to fill in our other two temples and the third was announced for the Western part of the state.

I think it's the belief that new pronouncements are indicative of prophetic revelation. And, as a people, we love prophetic revelation. That said, I think we should also be happy when conference is reminder to work on the simple gospel principles that we already have, with nothing new. Side note: Didn't President Nelson (or someone) make a request to *not* cheer when new temples are announced?

I think the right/wrong dichotomy in your statements is where you may be getting tripped up in understanding those who hold positions different than yours. Consider that the prophets may be simply working with the most/best that has been revealed and that continuing revelation will restore additional truths.

Position 3: Continuing revelation. ^ Maybe that overlaps with #2. Or maybe it's just a less cynical version of #2. But it's a fair position for people to hold.

The policy/doctrine/revelation distinction is basically worthless at this point. Teachings throughout the history of the church have been changed whether they were prophetically deemed policy, doctrine, revelation, unchangeable, eternal, etc. Many of the old timers here probably recognize me as I was pretty passionate on this topic some years back. Haven't participated much in recent years. I'm still a very active member but saddened that about half of my extended family have distanced themselves from the church. The leaders' LGBT teachings are a primary reason why. I figure that nothing is going to change as long as Pres. Oaks is alive and I assume he'll continue to beat this same drum in at least one conference every year. I continue to believe that we are a couple decades away from gay marriage being fully accepted in the Church. I suspect, by that time, very few of the rising generation in my extended family (40 nieces/nephews) will still have the church as a significant part of their life. It will be too little, too late.

When I traveled to England (2011), if you visited the Gadfield Elm Chapel when it wasn't staffed, you could access it by a key pad on the door. To get the code, you were given a series of questions with numerical answers designed to test you for a minimal knowledge of LDS teachings. Questions like: How many books with the name of Nephi in the Book of Mormon? And, what is the age of accountability? It was a fun way to access the building with my kids. If anyone is there, I highly recommend visiting - it's worth touring. And, bring a picnic lunch as the grounds are beautiful and peaceful. *All info above is over a decade old so take it for what it's worth.