Falling behind in temple work

[jay santos]

Sitting through one of the most boring sacraments I can remember, I did some math in my head on temple work. (30 minute high council talk on family history--most boring high councilor ever--not kidding)

I estimated 60M per year as a death rate. [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate"]Mortality rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/Fileeath_rate_world_map.PNG" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Death_rate_world_map.PNG/250px-Death_rate_world_map.PNG"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/d/d7/Death_rate_world_map.PNG/250px-Death_rate_world_map.PNG[/ame] This site says I'm a little high but pretty close.

I estimate a range of 15M (probably high) endowment sessions in the church per year. I'm thinking of the 13M members, half are active, half of those have temple recommends, and active temple recommend holders do average of five sessions per year. I'd be curious what the real number is and whether we do the same or significantly more number of baptisms.

The world growth rate is higher than the LDS active growth rate (source previous CUF thread around conference time that estimated LDS growth rate at 1%), so this deficit of 45M per year is widening.

Will these trends change at some point? Does it matter?

[UtahDan]

I don't think we know why 99.99% of humans will never here the gospel in this life, nor do we know why that same percentage will not have their temple work done pre-millennium. It must not be important that it be otherwise.

[SeattleUte]

I don't think we know why 99.99% of humans will never here the gospel in this life, nor do we know why that same percentage will not have their temple work done pre-millennium. It must not be important that it be otherwise.

The other expanation might be that the whole thing is complete nonsense. (Just making sure you have considered all the possibilities, including the most logical one.)

[Commando]

Well since I know first hand that there is an afterlife, I dismissed that possibility out of hand. Thanks, though.

[RobinFinderson]

When you start to do the math, and realize that temple service will only benefit a minuscule number of deceased people, it becomes obvious that the plan of salvation does NOT depend on the success of temple work. It then follows that temple work is not really 'service,' but rather exists for the benefit of the person attending the temple. Maybe this is obvious to some, but it flies in the face of the stated purpose of temple work, which is that it is a service for the deceased recipient.

At best, as a service, temple work can be understood to give an extremely sleight advantage to those people who have their ordinances performed for them. In other words, it is a system of conveying spiritual privilege to some, who were fortunate enough to be born into circumstances that would have their name recorded in some historical record.

And of course all of this assumes that 'time' works the way we think it does, which is hardly a given.

The most certain thing is this: Temple work exists primarily for the benefit of the living.

[Commando]

The most certain thing is this: Temple work exists primarily for the benefit of the living.

I don't know about that, but I believe something similar-- 2 year missions at 19 exist primarily for the benefit of the missionary.

[SeattleUte]

When you start to do the math, and realize that temple service will only benefit a minuscule number of deceased people, it becomes obvious that the plan of salvation does NOT depend on the success of temple work. It then follows that temple work is not really 'service,' but rather exists for the benefit of the person attending the temple. Maybe this is obvious to some, but it flies in the face of the stated purpose of temple work, which is that it is a service for the deceased recipient.

At best, as a service, temple work can be understood to give an extremely sleight advantage to those people who have their ordinances performed for them. In other words, it is a system of conveying spiritual privilege to some, who were fortunate enough to be born into circumstances that would have their name recorded in some historical record.

And of course all of this assumes that 'time' works the way we think it does, which is hardly a given.

The most certain thing is this: Temple work exists primarily for the benefit of the living.

lol Freudian slip?

[RobinFinderson]

lol Freudian slip?

Yep.

[falafel]

When you start to do the math, and realize that temple service will only benefit a minuscule number of deceased people, it becomes obvious that the plan of salvation does NOT depend on the success of temple work. It then follows that temple work is not really 'service,' but rather exists for the benefit of the person attending the temple. Maybe this is obvious to some, but it flies in the face of the stated purpose of temple work, which is that it is a service for the deceased recipient.

At best, as a service, temple work can be understood to give an extremely sleight advantage to those people who have their ordinances performed for them. In other words, it is a system of conveying spiritual privilege to some, who were fortunate enough to be born into circumstances that would have their name recorded in some historical record.

And of course all of this assumes that 'time' works the way we think it does, which is hardly a given.

The most certain thing is this: Temple work exists primarily for the benefit of the living.

You're leaving out the possibility that the millennium will be used to catch up on all that temple work. You can do a lot of endowments in 1000 years when the world is full of TR holders.

[RobinFinderson]

You're leaving out the possibility that the millennium will be used to catch up on all that temple work. You can do a lot of endowments in 1000 years when the world is full of TR holders.

OMG! Is that what you are going to be doing during those 1000 years. Thank goodness I will get to play hooky, being called up at the very last trumpet blast.

[beefytee]

OMG! Is that what you are going to be doing during those 1000 years. Thank goodness I will get to play hooky, being called up at the very last trumpet blast.

When my mother used to tell me it was passed my bedtime, I would tell here that I'm preparing for the day when I would have to work the nightshift at the temple during the millennium.

[jay santos]

You're leaving out the possibility that the millennium will be used to catch up on all that temple work. You can do a lot of endowments in 1000 years when the world is full of TR holders.

I know you say this at least partly in jest, but I'm going to make a serious comment in response. I'm beginning to think that a large part of my understanding of what the LDS church was growing up is completely speculative and most likely false. Nowhere in the canon does it mention LDS doing billions of endowments in the millennium, so it's probably better for us to just dump some of these cultural understandings and stick to the basics.

[Indy Coug]

The Millennium: The Great Equalizer

[Jarid in Cedar]

The Millennium: The Great Equalizer

I prefer,


The Millenium: The Great Reveal

[Indy Coug]

I prefer,


The Millenium: The Great Reveal

Yeah, it's that too.