I am always interested in where the Mormon leaders have decided by fiat to put some more money-wasting temples. By fiat, I mean that men decided and JESUS was not part of the process.
This October conference has been no different.
First, Utah gets its 25 temple to go with a population of 3.4 million people. 1.4 million of whom are not LDS. Of the remaining 2 million people only a third of them go to church every week. Of that 666,666 only half are old enough to possess a temple recommend. Of that 333,333, only 250,000 have a temple recommend (owing to the fact that at least 90.000 of them lied).
That leaves us with one temple per 10,000 card-holding members (liars included).
Second, Bolivia gets a second temple in a curious locale. I served a mission to Bolivia when there was only one mission in a country geographically the size of California and Texas put together. The first Mormon temple was put in Cochabamba which makes sense because of its central location. The second LDS temple will be in Santa Cruz (technically Santa Cruz de la Sierra).
The LDS press release stated that this city in the southeast region of Bolivia is home to 3 million people. A quick check of the internet gives us a real population of 1.5 million. So the church did double the number of people in this city, the way they double the number of members of the church worldwide every spring.
La Paz is the de facto capital of the country, with numerous stakes and thousands of faithful members. It has now been passed over twice, and I believe I know the reason. Mammon. If you do not know Aramaic, then you can just call it Money. Here are the factors that put a temple in a far less deserving spot.
1. Santa Cruz is wealthier than La Paz.
2. Any tithing coming from La Paz members and the outlying Altiplano and other mountain close by like Oruro would be negligible. Why? Because the very few rich people in Bolivia are not Mormon, and the many poor people pay ten percent of basically nothing.
3. Russel M. Nelson is an idiot.
Finally, for the 110th straight conference in my lifetime there was no mention of any homeless shelters.
It is astounding that people still waste two weekends a year believing they have the golden ticket to Heaven. Even more astounding is a church with CHRIST's name in the title, and hundreds of billions of dollars in the bank, that refuses to help poor people.
"And upon my house shall it begin..."
JESUS
