General Conference Predictions

[Rob4Hope]

I'm not gunna tell you where my friend works, nor what his connections are. But he is VERY connected--I will say that. I take what he says with a grain of salt, but I am trying to pump him for info...

Well...what i'm being told is some hype with not a lot of substance. (figures... ) There is a revamp of the call to prepare for Jesus coming again and that the youth need to be prepared; it looks like there may be some announcements that will tare down tradition and see whether we will be "Christian" when those changes hit; it appears the MO-TAB is gunna hit the "listen to the prophet" theme REALLY hard, and speculation is at least 2 apostles have received assigned topics.

It also appears that many of the wards/stakes up and down the Wasatch Front have received visits from area authorities who have "prepared" them for something?.....pretty vague on this, but there it is.

I"m torn with something said above--that Nelson is entrenching. I'm leaning toward this,...but I can't help but wonder if the FP will miss the opportunity to shake it up. JS had to shake it up when people were apostatizing; why would they not consider doing that again?

My friend said the announcements will shake things up. But he doesn't know the details.

I will say this much...I ain't watching the conference. I'll get the play-by-play after from RFM and you folks here. But I sure as hell ain't gunna spend my whole day listening to the "Men of God" talk about a God who doesn't seem to talk to them much....

FLASH....

Friend said the most frequent thing he is hearing is the 2 hour block. That is being HEAVILY discussed in his inner circles. So, there may be some credibility to that one.

WOW...OK...another rumor is floating that my friend dug up. The church wants to avoid being sued over civil marriages in the temple. So, the church may be getting out of the marriage business--all marriages will be civililly performed, and then after a waiting period (like 72 hours....that is what my friend said), they may be able to get sealed in the temple.

Interesting!!!

[Anon70]

I'm not gunna tell you where my friend works, nor what his to the

I will say this much...I ain't watching the conference. I'll get the play-by-play after from RFM and you folks here. But I sure as hell ain't gunna spend my whole day listening to the "Men of God" talk about a God who doesn't seem to talk to them much....

WOW...OK...another rumor is floating that my friend dug up. The church wants to avoid being sued over civil marriages in the temple. So, the church may be getting out of the marriage business--all marriages will be civililly performed, and then after a waiting period (like 72 hours....that is what my friend said), they may be able to get sealed in the temple.

I’m just gonna wait for all the spiritual fb memes from my fb friends.

I’m hearing this last one on reddit too. I’d be surprised because I think it’ll mean a drop in tithing. I know I’ll drop my TR like a hot potato.

[Reuben]

WOW...OK...another rumor is floating that my friend dug up. The church wants to avoid being sued over civil marriages in the temple. So, the church may be getting out of the marriage business--all marriages will be civililly performed, and then after a waiting period (like 72 hours....that is what my friend said), they may be able to get sealed in the temple.

Interesting!!!

If this happens, I think there would be unintended consequences: a bunch of suddenly inactive members and "partial" tithe payers. The church would find out how many people are only in it for their kids' weddings.

[jfro18]

WOW...OK...another rumor is floating that my friend dug up. The church wants to avoid being sued over civil marriages in the temple. So, the church may be getting out of the marriage business--all marriages will be civililly performed, and then after a waiting period (like 72 hours....that is what my friend said), they may be able to get sealed in the temple.

Interesting!!!

If this happens, I think there would be unintended consequences: a bunch of suddenly inactive members and "partial" tithe payers. The church would find out how many people are only in it for their kids' weddings.

I really don't know how much they care to be honest. If they truly have ~$40B in stocks and a real estate empire, I think they can take the gains on an average year and completely cover and lost tithing and then some.

[græy]

I'd be happy to attend church for 8 hours on a Sunday if they would change the 24/7 garments to temple only.

Sleeping naked would no longer be a sin!

What is it with you and garments? You can leave the church but you can't leave garments alone.

I kind of agree with him. The church can't make itself true, but it can be a lot more comfortable!

[Just This Guy]

I"m torn with something said above--that Nelson is entrenching. I'm leaning toward this,...but I can't help but wonder if the FP will miss the opportunity to shake it up. JS had to shake it up when people were apostatizing; why would they not consider doing that again?

I think the difference was that JSj was actually fairly in touch with what was going on in the church. The church was much smaller. When people left, it was big news. JS had to address criticism heads on. Even people in Q12 left, you can't ignore that. Today, the church is too big for this to happen. The Q15 are so far up in their ivory tower, completely surrounded by yes-men. When they do go out, they are surrounded by adoring fans. In short, they are completely isolated from the reality of what is actually going on in the church. I have my doubts that they really even think there are major problems. No one tells them there are, so there is no need to do real (more than just lip service) fixes.

[Brent]

(MoTab singing "Spirit of God" softly in the background)

Announcer:
On October Third and Forth the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presents a very special General Conference you won't want to miss. The world is awash in sin and peril and Father has a special message that all need to hear. You won't want to miss:

Oaks:
Being gay isn't being bad, it's just a sinful lifestyle choice...

Eyring:
If you don't believe there's something wrong with YOU not us.

Bednar:
Paying tithing is an investment you can't afford to miss...

Nelson:
Isn't being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ enough?

Announcer: So wear your Sunday best, gather with your forever family around the radio and fill your spiritual Big Gulp full with important, major, major changes on a very, very special General Conference.

[2bizE]

New Temple Predictions:
1) Havana, Cuba
2) Aden, Yemen
3) Rock Springs, WY

[IT_Veteran]

If they actually do this with temple marriage I'm thinking a lot of people (especially my wife) are going to feel cheated by the church because their relatives didn't get to see them get married....but now suddenly it's o.k.???

All her life my wife's non-member dad talked about how proudly he was going to walk her down the aisle at her wedding and instead he didn't even get to attend the ceremony much less walk her down the aisle.

Yeah, this wouldn't help the church's cause with her at all...just make things much worse.

I don't think the leaders have even considered that someone would have hurt feelings over changes they make. If anybody is offended, it's because they're choosing it.

These guys haven't even heard of second and third order effects, let alone considered them.

[Reuben]

If they actually do this with temple marriage I'm thinking a lot of people (especially my wife) are going to feel cheated by the church because their relatives didn't get to see them get married....but now suddenly it's o.k.???

All her life my wife's non-member dad talked about how proudly he was going to walk her down the aisle at her wedding and instead he didn't even get to attend the ceremony much less walk her down the aisle.

Yeah, this wouldn't help the church's cause with her at all...just make things much worse.

I don't think the leaders have even considered that someone would have hurt feelings over changes they make. If anybody is offended, it's because they're choosing it.

These guys haven't even heard of second and third order effects, let alone considered them.

I think they sometimes do, enough to reassert their prophetic authority, like when the HPGs were merged with the EQs.

[2bizE]

I predict there will be people yelling to protect children or stop protecting sexual predators like at the last one.
They will have installed electric shockers into each seat, so once identified they can shock the shrieker into submission.

[Rob4Hope]

I predict there will be people yelling to protect children or stop protecting sexual predators like at the last one.
They will have installed electric shockers into each seat, so once identified they can shock the shrieker into submission.

It is becoming more and more common for people to shout out in opposition. It will be interesting if they start to screen people who come into the meetings. I would expect there to be some shouts and disaffection from the ranks this time around, and I expect it will grow...at least for a short time. Then general apathy will ensue.

[Hagoth]

My prediction is that a new youth program will be announced that will ramp up to the final exit from scouting and the full integration of the YM into a YW-like program. And it will be welcomed as revelation.

Further scuttlebutt is that Elder Bednar talked down the members of a stake conference from any hopeful expectations of a 2-hour meeting block.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

My prediction is that a new youth program will be announced that will ramp up to the final exit from scouting and the full integration of the YM into a YW-like program. And it will be welcomed as revelation.

Further scuttlebutt is that Elder Bednar talked down the members of a stake conference from any hopeful expectations of a 2-hour meeting block.

This seems quite logical given the deadline to kill scouts is coming up.

[Brent]

My prediction is that a new youth program will be announced that will ramp up to the final exit from scouting and the full integration of the YM into a YW-like program. And it will be welcomed as revelation.

Further scuttlebutt is that Elder Bednar talked down the members of a stake conference from any hopeful expectations of a 2-hour meeting block.

I think you mean "talked them off the ledge"...

Also, the 2 hour block requires more in-home instruction and given the swimming success of FHE I don't see the Church trusting the members to self educate in any manner.

[Hagoth]

Also, the 2 hour block requires more in-home instruction and given the swimming success of FHE I don't see the Church trusting the members to self educate in any manner.

Right, as much as they like to quote it they could never abide Joseph Smith's admonition to let them govern themselves.

[nibbler]

Further scuttlebutt is that Elder Bednar talked down the members of a stake conference from any hopeful expectations of a 2-hour meeting block.

That's unfortunate. The hype for 2 hour church is so strong this time around that it's going to leave a lot orthodox members very disappointed if they aren't given permission to do 2 hour church.

[Palerider]

I don't see the Church trusting the members to self educate in any manner.

Yeah, they might just educate themselves right out of the church with no one there to reinforce correlated material only.

Independent study probably scares the crap out of them given the current trend.

[Corsair]

My prediction is that a new youth program will be announced that will ramp up to the final exit from scouting and the full integration of the YM into a YW-like program. And it will be welcomed as revelation.

The devout, believing youth leaders in my ward are a little bit worried that the new youth program will be "Duty to God 2.0 with one lame summer camp." There were at least some expectations about what BSA membership was supposed to be. I suspect that the youth program will simply be another instance of leadership roulette. If you have some dynamic, interesting leadership, then some genuinely useful activities might arise. But if each Wednesdy night is just an extension of Sunday School with Written Assignments, this will not work out for any youth that has anything that wants to compete with mutual.

The Young Men in my ward are already competing with school extracurricular activities. It's sports and marching band mainly, but our youth honestly try to get to youth activities when they do not conflict. But if the program strays away from scouting type activities, I imagine that most teenagers will be quietly and purposefully looking for reasons to not attend.

Further scuttlebutt is that Elder Bednar talked down the members of a stake conference from any hopeful expectations of a 2-hour meeting block.

If two hour church as actually announced, we will have plenty of faithful Facebook posts about the new found testimony of two hour church. Perhaps we could respond with our ongoing testimony of zero hour church.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

If two hour church as actually announced, we will have plenty of faithful Facebook posts about the new found testimony of two hour church. Perhaps we could respond with our ongoing testimony of zero hour church.

If 2 hour church is more inspired than 3 hours, then surely 0 hour church is even more inspired. [emoji1]