Scott Lloyd

Might have.

“The Family: a Proclamation to the World” is pretty much all repetition of precepts that have been with the Latter-day Saints for many generations. Yet contemporary events and conditions have rendered it one of the most timely and prescient messages ever to emanate from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Early on after I started this thread, my motives were questioned and I was denounced without basis in fact for allegedly holding forth an under-the-radar political discussion. There were calls for the thread to be shut down, and I’ve no doubt one or more individuals privately lobbied the moderators to do just that. At this juncture, the thread remains open, and though it’s clear I have kicked a hornets’ nest to some extent, such was not my intent. Rather, the intent was to point out a couple of truths, and at this point, those truths remain clear: One, that Jesus Christ declare

That could be. But I also think the Lord gives revelation line upon line and in consideration of changing conditions. It was prudent for a temple to be built at Far West, Mo. — until the enemies of the Church rendered it impossible. Did the Lord know in advance what would happen? Yes. But the scenario had to play out so people’s moral agency could be honored and they could be judged according to their behavior and the intents of their hearts.

I dare say deciding if the temple can be successfully built includes consideration of prudent cost management. Stewardship over tithes and offerings is part of their calling.

I would be mortified to think my provincial activism had in any way dissuaded the Church from constructing a temple in my neighborhood. But that’s just me.

Why are you distorting my meaning? I didn’t say that the Stars and Stripes would necessarily be the flag of the Kingdom of God or even that there would necessarily be such a flag. It’s possible the United States would still exist then with its flag, as Brigham Young foretold. Or not. But I don’t think you know what the world will look like then any better than anybody else.

You probably define it in such a way that it would be an enemy to growth. I see varying definitions of it online, not all of them bearing the negative connotation you seemed determined to put on it.

Why would the Kingdom of God need a flag if it encompasses every person on earth?

I don’t think Cleon Skousen or anybody else really knows what the world will look like in that day.

But if the New Jerusalem is to be located within the confines of present-day United States, and if the nation has not been overthrown by then, doesn’t it stand to reason it would be the U.S. flag flying then? There are to be two great world capitals then, the Old and the New Jerusalem. Wouldn’t bother me if the flag of the nation of Israel were flying over Old Jerusalem then, or, for that matter, if flags were flying for other nations of the earth, if they are still existing. And if we accept Christ will have returned to reign personally on the earth, wouldn’t that, by definition, b

For the purpose of this thread, I’m focusing on the exceptionalism inherent in the implicit duty of the United States of America to uphold before the world the principles of liberty and human rights espoused by the Constitution as endorsed by Jesus Christ in the scriptural passages I have cited in the opening post.

I disagree that it has nothing to do with the Church of Jesus Christ. If we accept what the Lord made clear in His revelation, that the principles of the U.S. Constitution are for the benefit of “all flesh” and for the preservation of human freedom and God-given moral agency, then the United States of America has an implicit duty to promulgate these principles to the nations of the earth and to set the example in holding fast to them. I call this duty American exceptionalism; you may call it what you will.

Sorry, Tacenda, I’m not going to get drawn into that. I’ve already got people here mad at me and trying to get my thread shut down because they think I’m underhandedly discussing politics. What you ask is quite outside the scope of this thread, which I opened with the intent of highlighting the Lord’s endorsement in the Doctrine and Covenants of the U.S. Constitution and to consider it in terms of American exceptionalism. You’ll have to look elsewhere for an apologia (defense) of a free-market economy. I think you’ll find plenty of sources for that from an ordinary Google

😝 Mea culpa! Some of it (the “it’s”) I can partially blame on an overzealous auto-correct function. But I accept that I’m ultimately responsible.