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With conference next weekend, I’m curious if anyone here has anything that they are expecting or hoping for? Since we’ve still been doing home church, I haven’t heard if there might any rumours circling around. Personally, I’m looking forward to playing where in Utah will they announce a temple. The only rumor I’ve heard is a nebulous reference to a change to the scriptures. I’ve heard this interpreted as anything from an overhaul of the chapter/section summaries, tinkering with the presentation of the BoA, or maybe even getting more modern with the official translation we use for the Bible. It’s counterintuitive given recent changes implemented by RMN, but I hear fewer and fewer rumors of change with each passing conference. Maybe it’s because there were lots of changes in the beginning and people feel the season for change has passed. Maybe because the changes were mostly rebranding and reducing the quantity of something but the end result was an experience that was almost the exact same as before.
I’ll toss out a few on the off chance I get a hit. Then I can look prophetic.
Coffee, tea, and/or tithing removed as qualifiers to join the church and/or obtain a temple recommend.
- Women can be ordained to the PH and receive a PH office. 100+ women immediately called to join the ranks of the GAs to provide some balance.
- When is that new hymnbook gonna drop?
But more likely:
Focus on the importance of meeting
in-person. There will still be language about safety and coming back when you feel safe to do so, but maybe a 10:1 ratio of come back:stay safe. - Brief mention of the miracle of having a vaccine so soon, which would be huge IMO. There are a
lotof anti-vaxxer members out there, a lot. So much so that I wonder whether I’d ever feel completely safe going back. - Announce more temples. I wonder where diminishing returns sets in for temples? Here’s a link to a map of
150 operating templesnibbler wrote:
maybe even getting more modern with the official translation we use for the Bible.
This would be huge. But, I don’t think it will happen soon, especially since the Book of Mormon uses all the King James language. Maybe a new modern translation of both? And then we could also drop the old school “prayer language” as well…
Personally, I think they’re going to have to announce a huge shift in full-time missions in the near future. Hopefully making them more service and humanitarian focused with less proselyting. I think at least in the developed world we’ve reached a point where missionaries knocking on doors just annoys people and does more harm than good.
Arrakeen wrote:
Personally, I think they’re going to have to announce a huge shift in full-time missions in the near future. Hopefully making them more service and humanitarian focused with less proselyting. I think at least in the developed world we’ve reached a point where missionaries knocking on doors just annoys people and does more harm than good.
I think this would be a great step forward. There are some members who would be comfortable doing service projects than teaching.
As for temple announcements, there are going to be more temples in Utah & Arizona. Maybe another in Dubai. If you live in Wisconsin,
we can continue to drive round trip to Chicago minimum 3-4 hours no problem.
I’m not expecting much out of conference. I think Nelson made the major changes he wanted to make early/quickly because his days are numbered and he didn’t know how long he had. I think we’ll get a “message of hope” that the pandemic is coming to an end, perhaps peppered with something about the miracle of the vaccine. It’d be nice if they encouraged vaccination, but they’ve done that and likely have said all they’re going to say. I agree with Nibbler, there will be an emphasis on getting back to meeting together as quickly as possible with additional emphasis on going to the temple.
The church website bills this as an Easter General Conference. I’m doubting we’ll see much more than we have in previous Easter GCs – a few will mention Easter, a couple will talk explicitly about Easter, most will ignore it in favor of the same old same old. I have noted that the church in recent years has made more of a recognition of Holy Week and apparently Pres. Nelson even issued a Palm Sunday statement (I haven’t seen it) – but we’re still way behind what other Christians do this time of year.
The biggest “dramatic effect” will be the temple announcements. I expect more Corridor temples and them some exotic place like Mongolia for the ooos and ahhhs Nelson claims he doesn’t want to hear but I think in reality relishes (noting that many of the greatest of those recently have gone nowhere beyond the announcement – Russia & China).
I really don’t think I can stomach a Covid conference. This disease has already done enough harm, not only medically and economically but in letting evil people take advantage in this situation. nibbler wrote:
or maybe even getting more modern with the official translation we use for the Bible.
Yes please. But as a way to show just how hard this is, I note that I will be unhappy if we ever switch to the NIV and its overly-simple language. NRSV for me. Would be OK with the ESV.Arrakeen wrote:
This would be huge. But, I don’t think it will happen soon, especially since the Book of Mormon uses all the King James language. Maybe a new modern translation of both? And then we could also drop the old school “prayer language” as well…
I think the biggest hurdle in the past has been the JST which is very tied to the KJV. However, I will point out that the Church has now translated the JST into Spanish. Now that this has happened, and the JST correlates with a non-English and non-KJV bible, I would assume that reworking it to fit with the NRSV would be no different.The BofM language is much simpler than the KJV, so other than the places where it uses the KJV closely, it wouldn’t be a huge deal. Same with the D&C. I like the idea of a modernization of the language of the D&C/BofM as a matter of keeping them current.
DarkJedi wrote:
I think we’ll get a “message of hope” that the pandemic is coming to an end…The church website bills this as an Easter General Conference…
It’d be a great opportunity to tie the Easter renewal message with the opening of church buildings and temples and the return to what we have lost.
I’d welcome some instruction about making chapels a sanctuary from politics – that led to meaningfully less politics from the stand. On Own Now wrote:
nibbler wrote:
or maybe even getting more modern with the official translation we use for the Bible.
Yes please. But as a way to show just how hard this is, I note that I will be unhappy if we ever switch to the NIV and its overly-simple language. NRSV for me. Would be OK with the ESV.
The occasional GA quotes from other versions (Uchtdorf more than others) but it usually goes unnoticed. If you’re paying close enough attention and realize “Hey, that’s not KJV language” you pick it up. Footnotes in the text versions also show it.
I agree, my preference is the NRSV. I think the problem that will keep it from happening is that it is nice when everybody is looking at the same thing (although when I do go to SS, I usually have both open). I think other than the idea that the KJV is most accurate (it’s not IMO) and it’s the choice of conservative Christians (usually literal believers) that having everybody on the same version is the driving force. Most of the millions in the church own the KJV, so short of sending everybody (English speakers anyway) a new Bible it’s easier just to stick with what we have. FWIW, we still have some old timers who never bought the “new” church edition of the standard works 40 years ago – I see them in SS and PH.
DJ, I’ve seen that DFU has quoted from both the NIV and ESV, but haven’t seen one yet for the NRSV.
Quick side note for those unfamiliar with these:
– the NIV, popular among Christian churches today, is a modern translation of the best ancient texts we have, and is written at a 7th grade level, so IMO can sound a bit like, “See the boy. See the boy run.”
– the NRSV, used extensively among modern ecclesiastical scholars, is a modern translation of the best ancient texts we have, and is at an 11th grade level, so while modern, still has a higher literary sense. See the quote from Romans in my signature line below for an example of the NRSV text.
– the ESV is similar to the NRSV, but a little more conservative as a translation. The ESV stays clear of gender-neutral language now in use in the NIV and NRSV (for example, in the quote from Romans, below, the NRSV says “another” where the ESV would say “a brother”).
– the KJV is written in the King’s English and probably sounded a bit stuffy even in 1611, since most of its text goes back to many years before even that time. It was a very expertly translated text, accomplished by true craftsmen, but is based on the ancient texts that happened to be available at the time, what we now know to be a pretty poor source, and they translated it into a dead version of English that seemed archaic to our Great-great-grandparents.
Personally…. speaking for myself alone… only my own opinion… I’d love to see the Church shift officially to the NRSV, print new bibles and tell everyone to get on board by 2025. However, there will still be KJV holdouts for the rest of their lives. In practice, I think the Church could simply say, use the KJV, the NRSV, the ESV, or the NRSV… whichever suits you.
Just to pull in an interesting corollary, the Community of Christ has two official versions of the BofM: The Authorized Version and the Revised Authorized Version. Both can be purchased from Harold House Publishing (a sort of cross between LDS Distribution Center and Deseret Book). The AV was first published in 1908. The RAV came out in ’66. It modernized some of the grammar. Its most obvious change was to reduce the usage of the BofM’s favorite phrase: “And it came to pass”. Apparently, 55 years has not been long enough for the membership to adopt the ‘new’ version. As for the Bible. The CofC doesn’t declare any winners. You can buy one of two versions from Harold House: the Inspired Version (JST) or the NRSV.
Do any of the various versions have licensing fee considerations? I bet something like that would factor into any decision. Related to the modified scriptures discussion… 10 years or so ago the church produced their own version of the Spanish Bible based on the Reina-Valera.
I’m not sure how much of a departure the LDS Reina-Valera is from the revision of the Reina-Valera it was based on. It sounds like the bulk of the effort was standardizing chapter headings and footnotes to match what’s found in the English Bible.
So you never know. Maybe the church will produce their own translation.
nibbler wrote:
Do any of the various versions have licensing fee considerations? I bet something like that would factor into any decision.
Great point. The NRSV is copyrighted by the Nacional Council of Churches in the USA. I’m sure there would be some fee associated with the Church publishing it in their own binding. However, I believe the intent is for such a fee to be to defray the cost of translation and ongoing updates, so that seems to me like it would be reasonable.At the risk of sounding cynical, I imagine the Church could purchase the NCC in the morning, give themselves rights to publish the NRSV at noon, and sell the NCC that afternoon — and all the while, the lights would go no dimmer in the Conference Center.
A more practical way would be for the LDS Church to join the NCC as a contributing member, make a couple-Million-dollar donation, pledge future translation assistance, and by so doing, gain access to the copyright. The current 38 member churches of the NCC include the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church, several competing Baptist Conventions, and… the Community of Christ.
But the most likely way would be to make a simple donation to the NCC. I doubt the NCC would walk away from $5M for the LDS Church to gain permanent rights to publish the NRSV. Maybe the Church throws in some Mark Hofmann forgeries to sweeten the deal.
PazamaManX wrote:
With conference next weekend, I’m curious if anyone here has anything that they are expectingA lot of talks about the pandemic and all the restrictions.
Quote:or hoping for?
Talks which don’t mention the pandemic and all the restrictions.
I won’t be upset if someone shows a picture of a nurse. But I will be if it turns into a whole Stockholm Syndrome scenario. In fact I’m not sure I want to see endless shots of people with needles in their arms.
There is very little to recommend this situation nor many of the solutions. It certainly is not uplifting in most cases.
So putting the elephant in the room aside, what else? More temples. A reform to primary. The usual stories about childhood and spouses.
NoahVail wrote:
I’d welcome some instruction about making chapels a sanctuary from politics – that led to meaningfully less politics from the stand.
Ooh, a difficult one. Party politics, yes, but the rest. Not so easy. Politics blends into many things. I think freedom of religion, and religious practice, is a legitimate topic, for example. It might get a bit thornier when someone talks about the Royal Family in Commonwealth Countries.
I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and heard an opening prayer which mentioned something about the “security services”. Now, while I don’t support the IRA, I can see that phrase not going down well with anyone from a Roman Catholic/Republican background, because the British “security services” are widely seen as persecuting that community or even as an occupation force.
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