here<\/a> for the listings.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The more bitter and extreme critics of Mormonism typically like to describe temples as \u201crevenue centers\u201d for \u201cLDS Inc.\u201d \u00a0The idea is that \u201cthe Corporation\u2019s\u201d\u00a0requirement that those entering the temple be full tithe payers extorts money from \u201cthe sheeple,\u201d thus allowing Church leaders, apparently, to wallow in sybaritic luxury. \u00a0Or something of that sort. \u00a0But this notion is difficult to maintain with regard to temples in Bolivia and Fiji and Nigeria, and it becomes simply impossible to believe for a temple in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0Kinshasa isn\u2019t going to be a profitable source of money for the Church prior to unimaginable changes at the Second Coming, and perhaps not even then. \u00a0Rather, it will always be, financially speaking, a net liability, a drain (and a big one).<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
So the narrative of the Church\u2019s more bitter and extreme critics had to change. \u00a0And it did.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The small size and simplicity of the pending temple in Kinshasa is, you see, an expression of contempt for black people.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
(One might have thought that refusing to build a temple there at all<\/em> \u2014 and refusing to build\u00a0the three African temples already mentioned, and the two additional temples announced\u00a0for Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, and Durban, South Africa, and, for that matter, the temple announced for Port-au-Prince, Haiti \u2014 would have been a more obvious expression of such supposed contempt. \u00a0But you\u2019re not supposed to think so much.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine, though, the outcry that would have ensued if the Church had unveiled a massive, imposing, magnificent marble-clad structure to be constructed in such an impoverished place.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The point, of course, is that whatever the \u201cMormon Corporation\u201d does is wrong. \u00a0And not only wrong, but viciously so. \u00a0The evil men who lead it have never had a sincere or humane thought in their entire lives, and their followers are, when they\u2019re not malicious and hateful, merely brain-dead automatons.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This case is a revealing illustration of the sheer unreasonable hostility\u00a0that some people \u2014 mostly apostate former members, I suspect \u2014 harbor for Mormonism.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I rejoice that the people of the Congo will soon have relatively easy access to a temple. \u00a0Even in worldly terms, I expect that this simple little temple will be among\u00a0the nicest buildings in Kinshasa and, indeed, in all of the nation. \u00a0Its grounds will be serene and well-maintained. \u00a0And it will certainly be one of the most beautiful buildings to which ordinary, non-elite, poor Congolese will, if qualified by their faithfulness, readily be admitted. \u00a0Remember that eighty cents constitutes a full tithe on income of eight dollars, and that, on no income whatever, $0.00\u00a0is a full tithe. \u00a0There is no \u201centry charge\u201d for temples. \u00a0Only a requirement of faithful discipleship with which all, rich and poor, can comply.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has revealed the design for its soon-to-be-built temple in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0Ground for the new temple will be broken on 12 February 2016, in a ceremony presided over by Elder Neal L. Andersen, of the Quorum of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Kinshasa](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/12\/1024px-2008-04-16-Kinshasa_train.jpg\")
<\/a>