{"id":67350,"date":"2018-11-12T13:25:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T20:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=67350"},"modified":"2018-11-12T22:17:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T05:17:54","slug":"lds-church-developer-plans-to-build-a-28-story-office-tower-in-downtown-salt-lake-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/11\/lds-church-developer-plans-to-build-a-28-story-office-tower-in-downtown-salt-lake-city.html","title":{"rendered":"“LDS Church developer plans to build a 28-story office tower in downtown Salt Lake City”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Capernaum<\/a>
The ruins of ancient Capernaum sit directly on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an item that\u2019s just hit the news:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLDS Church developer plans to build a 28-story office tower in downtown Salt Lake City\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There will, of course, be a chorus of howls and denunciations lamenting the \u201ccorporate church\u201d (\u201cLDS Inc.\u201d) that\u2019s led by allegedly greedy \u201cbusinessmen\u201d and that, ignoring the example of the itinerant Jesus and his penniless apostles and arrogantly turning its back on the poor, concentrates on major real estate deals in order to line its own avaricious pockets. \u00a0Indeed, I\u2019ve already heard the opening bars of this inevitable performance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there are a few thoughtful pieces that might help to make actual good sense of this new development. \u00a0Among them, I recommend (at least) the following two:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Creek and the Choices of Thrift,\u201d<\/a> by Nathan B. Oman<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough a Glass Darkly: Examining Church Finances,\u201d<\/a> by Larry T. Wimmer<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, the poverty of Jesus\u2019 original disciples \u2014 often favorably contrasted to the supposed wealth of today\u2019s General Authorities \u2014 has probably been considerably exaggerated. \u00a0They were actually rather middle class for their day:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe archaeology of Peter\u2019s hometown\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, it\u2019s only the Church\u2019s prudent stewardship of donated resources that allows it to do the mammoth amount of good that it does around the world, which includes, but is far and away not limited to:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Humanitarian Service<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deseret Industries<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

LDS Welfare Services<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emergency Response<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

JustServe<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FamilySearch<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brigham Young University<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brigham Young University \u2014 Hawaii<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brigham Young University \u2014 Idaho<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

LDS Business College<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

BYU \u2014 Pathway Worldwide<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seminaries and Institutes of Religion<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s just me, but, if I\u2019m going to donate some of my money to a charitable organization, I would like to be assured that that money will be managed and used in a prudent and effective way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From the Presiding Bishopric<\/a> (who supervise the temporal affairs of the Church) \u2014 and whose biographies, including their backgrounds in business, finances, and practical administration, are available at the link that I\u2019ve just supplied \u2014 on down, I\u2019m confident that, within the limits of human ability, the Church does in fact both manage and use its funds in a responsible and wise manner, and often, significantly, with dramatically lower administrative and other overhead than is to be found in many other charities. \u00a0I\u2019m not unhappy that many high Church leaders have backgrounds in the real world of business, engineering, finance, and both for-profit and not-for-profit leadership; I trust them to wisely administer monies more than I might be inclined to trust someone with just a divinity school background in expository preaching or homiletics \u2014 an education that, by the way, the Galilean fisherman Peter and his two businessmen colleagues James and John notably lacked.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Here\u2019s an item that\u2019s just hit the news: \u00a0 \u201cLDS Church developer plans to build a 28-story office tower in downtown Salt Lake City\u201d \u00a0 There will, of course, be a chorus of howls and denunciations lamenting the \u201ccorporate church\u201d (\u201cLDS Inc.\u201d) that\u2019s led by allegedly greedy \u201cbusinessmen\u201d and that, ignoring the example […]<\/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-67350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"LDS Church developer plans to build a 28-story office tower in downtown Salt Lake City"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Here's an item that's just hit the news:   "LDS Church developer plans to build a 28-story office tower in downtown 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