Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the News

[Pelado]

On the wikipedia list of most expensive books, they're listed by what the sale/auction price was, this is now the most expensive book in the world. It supplanted a manuscript from Leonardo Davinci and an original copy of the Magna Carta.

Personally, I believe the guy who said the church got an amazing deal on this book. Clearly if Leonardo DaVinci's manuscript is worth $30 million, this BoM is easily worth $100 million.

In fairness to Leonardo's notebook, Wikipedia indicates that it sold for less than $35 million, but the adjusted price (presumably for inflation) is $49.8 million.

So, more like:

Magna Carter Book of Mormon Leonardo Davinci

[Pelado]

Does that really make a difference?

Just saying that it's possible that the generous donors may not have known or cared how the Church was going to use the generous donations.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

In fairness to Leonardo's notebook, Wikipedia indicates that it sold for less than $35 million, but the adjusted price (presumably for inflation) is $49.8 million.

So, more like:

Bill Gates apparently bought that Leonardo manuscript. I wonder if he was the buyer on the other side of the negotiation when the RLDS did us a favor and cut $65 million off the price?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Just saying that it's possible that the generous donors may not have known or cared how the Church was going to use the generous donations.

I find that extraordinarily unlikely.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Meh. Some donors came up with the money. In other words they donated money specifically to buy the manuscript. Had the manuscript not been for sale the money would not have been donated. Not sure what the big deal is.

Lebowski thinks that something the church does is no big deal. Shocking.

[MartyFunkhouser]

The quote I saw didn't say that the donors had specified the purchase of the manuscript, only that the cash for the purchase was acquired from generous donors.

That seems to make it even more like that generous donors is code for tithing payers.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Lebowski thinks that something the church does is no big deal. Shocking.

Haha. You are probably the worst qualified poster here to make that observation.

[Uncle Ted]

It makes me wonder if the donors count the $35 million as a tithing in kind donation. Meaning the church would have gotten $35 million in cash but instead ended up (happily) with the manuscript.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I usually do that when paying tithing... Do a donation in kind to BYU. Count it as tithing. It makes me feel much better that the Lord's money is being put to good use.

[Jeff Lebowski]

It makes me wonder if the donors count the $35 million as a tithing in kind donation. Meaning the church would have gotten $35 million in cash but instead ended up (happily) with the manuscript.

Could be. But your theory would only work if:

1) They had not already paid their tithing for the year
2) The amount they owe in tithing is equal to or greater than the donation amount
3) There are inclined to count a specific donation like this as tithing.

Anyone who can donate that kind of money is probably donating to a lot of causes, inside and outside of the church.

[SteelBlue]

This is America and generous donors may of course spend their money however they'd like. Even if it's a drop in the bucket to them, I reserve the right to be unimpressed. If one is looking to make a massive donation to a church, it's difficult to imagine one that would have less functional impact on the people in that church or on the people of the world. I'm seriously trying to come up with anything. Hell, for $35 million you could pay Cristiano Ronaldo to smile and kick a soccer ball around Temple Square in his off season and it would do more good for the church. Congrats, I guess, on the acquisition of a notebook that will sit in a granite vault and is likely to actually be seen only by a select few. For anyone else I'm sure there'll be photos (maybe they were already public, that would be kind of funny and a little sad).

[Flystripper]

nailed it

[smokymountainrain]

This is America and generous donors may of course spend their money however they'd like. Even if it's a drop in the bucket to them, I reserve the right to be unimpressed. If one is looking to make a massive donation to a church, it's difficult to imagine one that would have less functional impact on the people in that church or on the people of the world. I'm seriously trying to come up with anything. Hell, for $35 million you could pay Cristiano Ronaldo to smile and kick a soccer ball around Temple Square in his off season and it would do more good for the church. Congrats, I guess, on the acquisition of a notebook that will sit in a granite vault and is likely to actually be seen only by a select few. For anyone else I'm sure there'll be photos (maybe they were already public, that would be kind of funny and a little sad).

[creekster]

I haven't thought too much about the donation and purchase but I have to think there is more to this story than we have heard. There is either some additional intrinsic value to the manuscript or the money came with strings, or it was a lifeline to the RLDS )or whatever they are called now) or something. It just seems unlikely to me that this was a straight competitive bidding situation resulting in a price of 35 million. Possible, but unlikely, for many of the reasons stated in this thread. I am not sure if the other information, assuming it exists, would make a difference, but I think I would like to hear more about it before deciding. If it turns out that this was a straight purchase, and if the manuscript is nothing more than what it appears to be, then it does seem pretty hard to justify.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I haven't thought too much about the donation and purchase but I have to think there is more to this story than we have heard. There is either some additional intrinsic value to the manuscript or the money came with strings, or it was a lifeline to the RLDS )or whatever they are called now) or something. It just seems unlikely to me that this was a straight competitive bidding situation resulting in a price of 35 million. Possible, but unlikely, for many of the reasons stated in this thread. I am not sure if the other information, assuming it exists, would make a difference, but I think I would like to hear more about it before deciding. If it turns out that this was a straight purchase, and if the manuscript is nothing more than what it appears to be, then it does seem pretty hard to justify.

Value is subjective. Will be interesting to see how this purchase is perceived a decade or two down the road.

[myboynoah]

Value is subjective. Will be interesting to see how this purchase is perceived a decade or two down the road.

By then the adjusted price will likely be something like 35 gabillion dollars.