Should Church members celebrate Halloween?

A ward's "Trunk or Treat" decorated vehicle, as part of a Halloween party, with inside the cultural hall events too.

THERE are some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints who DO NOT believe in celebrating Halloween, mostly because of its dark beginnings. That is their freedom of choice to do so.
When I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, Halloween was mostly about scary and the equivalent in costumes.
However, today that is NOT the universal case. When some 170 children came to my door on Halloween night of 2019, I'd estimate that 95 percent-plus were wearing super-hero and fantasy costumes -- not scary ones.
Halloween today is mostly about candy and cute or inventive costumes. Yes, there are some haunted houses one can visit and even Lagoon Park in Farmington, Utah, hosts "Frightmares" each fall, with a scary twist.
However, even some of the most popular decorations of Christmas have strong roots in pagan rituals and so does one forsake Christmas because of that shady past?
The choice is yours, but about the only advice on Halloween in Church Handbooks has been that masks are not allowed inside a Church building.
So, Halloween is what you make it.

Forget about decaff products or only health issues -- The Word of Wisdom is also designed to separate Latter-day Saints from the world

                   

                                  A cup of coffee                                 Wikipedia Commons photograph


THE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints recently re-clarified some of the taboos of the Word of Wisdom.
A lot of the member reaction focuses on one forbidden ingredient: caffeine.
In my opinion, this is where all too many Church members miss a key purpose of the Word of Wisdom: to separate Latter-day Saints from the rest of the world.
(This is just like the ancient Israelites' health code separated them from the world ... But too many Church members only read The Book of Mormon and have never studied the Old Testament.)
The Word of Wisdom isn't just about health, in my view and not enough young church members are taught that.
Members can argue health studies all they want, or feel fine if they drink a decaff coffee, tea or even cola. But the spirit of "separation from the world" in the Word of Wisdom to me says NO to any coffee, tea or cola -- and says to stay out of any coffee shop period.
-My wife thinks the Church should firmly come out against energy drinks, which I do see many in the younger generation consuming daily. They are, of course, not a healthy alternative and a no-brainer to avoid regularly.
-Also, others notice that some Church members eat too many unhealthy snacks, or don't exercise. We can't lengthen our lives, yet we can certainly shorten them by unhealthy habits.



NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Why such a fixation in the Church on handcarts, when they were not the norm?

 Handcart lore is so popular in Utah, that the Rainbow Greenery Restaurant, in Ogden,  now uses it          in their latest logo -- even though handcart travel was only used by less than 4 percent of pioneers.

MY Ward's Sacrament meeting program (for July 21, 2019) carried the prominent drawing of a handcart, used by Mormon pioneers.
For history's sake, I think handcarts are way over emphasized in the LDS Church. Handcarts have very incorrectly become the iconic symbol of pioneer Mormonism.
First, consider that no more than 4 percent of the estimated 70,000 people who immigrated to Utah Territory between 1847 and 1869 (when the railroad was opened) came by handcart. Thus, handcarts are NOT anywhere near the norm in numbers.
 Why so much focus on what a lesser number of people did?
(I guess they are sort of the "Titanic" of disasters among all the pioneers ... And, they overrule most Church members' proper understanding of history.)

-Also, handcarts didn't carry everything such pioneers had. All handcart companies traveled with supply wagons that carried tents, extra food and other provisions, too. One wagon was usually allocated for about every 100 members of a handcart company.

-And the well-known Willie and Martin handcart companies are dwelled upon way too much. There are other such handcart companies that came across the plains with few deaths -- but they are rarely mentioned.

-PLUS, the Willie and Martin companies were warned before they left that their departure was TOO LATE IN THE SEASON, but such advice was ignored. 


NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

History of the Ogden and Layton Deseret Industries stores

DESERET Industries opened its Harrisville Store, 435 North Wall Avenue on Sept. 24, 2009.

That meant the DI left Ogden City after more than 6 decades there.

The first DI in Ogden opened in 1941 on the south side of 24^th Street, between Grant Avenue and Washington Boulevard. It later moved to 2360 Washington Boulevard, just north of where ZCMI used to be located. Finally, the old Williamson Auto Body property was secured and the Ogden DI moved to 2048 Washington Boulevard.

That third store location meant the DI remodeled almost annually. Also, in that era, the DI repaired TVs and electronics and even recut and reused broken mirrors. Used shoes were also repaired and shined. Old furniture was repaired and rugs were made from rags, as waste was kept to almost zero.

“Nothing is wasted when sent to the Deseret Industries” was almost a DI motto in the 1970s.

humanitarian-services program throughout the world.

                Two photos of the Ogden DI from“The Church in Ogden Yearbook for 1978.”) 

-Deseret Industries was born during the post-Depression era when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent two officials to Los Angeles in 1938 to study Goodwill Industries and determine how the church could create similar employment opportunities through a thrift-store business.

                                              The Ogden DI manager in the late 1970s.

Deseret Industries was born later that year under the direction of LDS Church President Heber J. Grant.  It was originally part of the Bishop’s Storehouse. It became its own separate entity in early 1941.

Today it is one of the largest thrift store chains in the nation, behind Goodwill and Savers stores, with 46 stores in seven Western states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

The stores operate on the principles of thrift, work, giving and self-reliance, and their primary purpose is employment rehabilitation.

-According to information from the organization, Deseret Industries is composed of three related parts. First, employees receive training and find long-term employment. Second, the public may purchase inexpensive, quality merchandise in a clean, safe retail environment. To those in need, merchandise is provided at no cost. Third, all people may provide meaningful service through the donation of time and merchandise.

Richard L. McKenna, director of Deseret Industries, said the ultimate goal of Deseret Industries is to provide temporary employment and job skills to people who need them.

"We serve without regard to religion," he said. Currently, D.I. stores probably employ about 50 percent non-LDS workers.

He said selling used clothing and items is what keeps the DIs funded — they have to be self-sustaining.

McKenna said the DI system hasn't expanded with new stores in recent years, because it is oriented toward quality and not just to opening more outlets.

"We have a desire to be the best," he said.

He also said the DIs have no desire to set a price at the maximum amount, but simply a fair price.

(-Adapted from an Oct. 16, 2008 story by Lynn Arave in the Deseret News and a Sept. 6, 2009 Deseret News story. Additional information came from “The Church in Ogden Yearbook for 1978.”)

-LAYTON DI:

The Layton, Utah DI originally opened May of 1998 at 1010 West Hill Field Road. This was a leased building of about 30,000-square feet.

About 11 years later in October of 2008, the DI moved eastward, a few hundred yards, to 930 West Hill Field Road and into a new building that was about twice the size as its original Layton store.

                                The Layton DI.

This DI was part of the Welfare Service Center, which included six components besides the D.I. — LDS Family Services, LDS Employment, the Distribution Center, Bishop's Storehouse, Family Home Storage Center and a humanitarian volunteer room — all under one roof.

The new facility was dedicated by Presiding Bishop H. David Burton of the LDS Church. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for 9:45 a.m. today. The grand opening celebration continues through Saturday.

Also, the process of moving the estimated 12,000 items that are donated each day to the sales floor became much faster in the new facility.

Every morning, Monday through Saturday, a line of up at least several dozen patrons forms outside the Layton DI, as they await a chance to see what new items have been donated.

(-Adapted from an Oct. 16, 2008 story in the Deseret News.)

Logan Temple History: Is a Restoration Project on the Horizon?

THE Logan Temple was the second temple in Utah built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was dedicated on May 17, 1884. (The St. George Temple had been dedicated just seven years earlier, in 1877.)
The Ogden and Provo temples were opened in 1972-1973, in hopes of postponing remodeling and expansion of both the Logan and Manti temples. That worked for a few years, but usage of the Logan Temple had surged by the mid-1970s.
Initially, Church leaders considered building a new temple in Preston, Idaho. However, at about 27 miles distant from Logan, a temple there was considered too far away from the Cache County base of temple patrons. A remodel was the only option.
(Note that this account is not intended to be a full history of the Logan Temple, but to just concentrate on a summary of the remodeling history.)
According to information from Fred Baker, head of the LDS Church's building program, from 1965-1991, the Logan Temple remodel presented a special challenge -- temple patrons doing endowment work had to travel from room-to-room to complete the process and each room was a step or two higher than the previous room. In fact, endowment patrons started on level one in the temple and ended up on the third level to complete the endowment. That equaled great symbolism in ascending, but complicated any interior remodeling.
The Logan Temple was a historic pioneer temple and like the Salt Lake Temple, had many, many unique paintings and hand-crafted work throughout the building.
Church leaders decided to gut the Logan Temple and redo it to accommodate the video presentation of the endowment. That proved to be an inspired decision.

Baker said the Logan Temple's main structural beam was found to be cracked in two when extensive remodeling work began in 1976. It was surmised that a past earthquake (possibly from the March 27, 1975 Pocatello Valley Idaho quake that was near the Utah-Idaho border and equaled 6.3 in strength).
Thus, if the temple had simply been renovated, the roof could have eventually collapsed ...
(However, of course, the Lord was not going to allow that to happen and hence the extensive remodeling of the Temple.)
Brother Baker said the Church had remodeled all 13 existing temples during his tenure and only the Logan Temple patrons were upset -- they felt their historic temple was being wrecked. (And, when the remodel ended up removing the entire inside and the roof, with the sky showing above, it was indeed an extensive process.)
(Church Architect Emil Fetzer had looked at saving the solemn assembly room in  particular, but decided just propping that section up would make a mishmash of the rest of the temple -- totally redoing the inside was the only way to go.)
Brother Baker said he felt he needed bodyguards when he went to Logan as Church members there were so upset at gutting the temple. He said there were notes placed on his car and also posters about Logan against the remodel process.
The Logan Temple was rededicated on March 13, 1979. All the pioneer era paintings were gone and the Temple inside looked more like the Ogden Temple than the Salt Lake Temple.
The Church did save two of the large paintings and put them in storage. Others were painting on walls and could not be salvaged.
The good news was that using the endowment film meant the temple could handle significantly more patrons and complete much more vicarious work for the dead than before.
-During a Sept. 8, 2018 sealing in the Logan Temple, the sealer stated that there is a strong rumor that a complete or partial restoration of the pioneer aspects of the Logan Temple are being considered now, though there is nothing definite and no timeline yet.
That would likely please many Church members in the Cache Valley. Although the outside of the Logan Temple is historic, the inside of the Temple is far too modern to match its pioneer legacy.
Would the Logan Temple's legendary original "Gold" sealing room -- and more -- return during a possible restoration? Time will tell.

-Note 1: Why the Manti Temple was NOT remodeled with a complete tear out process, like the Logan Temple had. This was because the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and the Relief Society visited the First Presidency and asked that the Manti Temple only be renovated. Their request was granted and the pioneer aspects of the Manti Temple still remain today as it still lacks a temple endowment film. Obviously too, the Manti Temple's main supports were in better shape than Logan's and had NOT been damaged by an earthquake.

-Note 2: The Author co-wrote the official Ogden Temple history for the Church in 2014 and much of the above information on the Logan Temple was also obtained during that process.

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

'Ministering' Program's Possible Acronym : 'MMM' -- The Triple M Program?

A relief society president was recently heard saying, "That ministering thing," while another member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said the "Ministering term sounds more like something another Christian church would espouse rather than the Latter-day Saints."
Such is the confusion surrounding the new program that replaced "Home Teaching" in April of 2018.
There's no doubt the new program is inspired and comes from revelation through President Russell M. Nelson.
However, does the Church need a catchy acronym to help power the new program forward?

How about The Triple M program? --  Mortals Ministering Mortals? OR the 3M program?

Or, Members Ministering Members?

Until the Ministering program was announced, "The ministering of Angels" was about the only use of the term previously in the Church of Jesus Christ.


NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Core danger: Too many Church members don’t know the Standard Works

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are often among the most trusting and gullible people in the world. They also sometimes believe in doctrines they find on the Web that they should know are false and not even worth reading. A big problem is they sometimes then teach these untruths to other Church members – even in official meetings.

The core problem is that too many Church members these days don’t read the Standard Works – or at best only read The Book of Mormon over and over.

These members are clueless on what doctrines are found in the Old Testament, the Doctrine and Covenants and/or the Pearl of Great Price.

President Harold B. Lee, stated very prophetically about the danger of scriptural ignorance in the Ensign Magazine of December 1972:

“I say that we need to teach our people to find their answers in the scriptures. If only each of us would be wise enough to say that we aren’t able to answer any question unless we can find a doctrinal answer in the scriptures! And if we hear someone teaching something that is contrary to what is in the scriptures, each of us may know whether the things spoken are false—it is as simple as that. But the unfortunate thing is that so many of us are not reading the scriptures. We do not know what is in them, and therefore we speculate about the things that we ought to have found in the scriptures themselves. I think that therein is one of our biggest dangers of today.

When I meet with our missionaries and they ask questions about things pertaining to the temple, I say to them, as I close the discussion, “I don’t dare answer any of your questions unless I can find an answer in the standard works or in the authentic declarations of presidents of the Church.”

The Lord has given us in the standard works the means by which we should measure truth and untruth. May we all heed his word: “Thou shalt take the things which thou hast received, which have been given unto thee in my scriptures for a law, to be my law to govern my church.” (D&C 42:59.)”

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.