MrShorty

Daniel Peterson has a few personal anecdotes to share about the CoC.  It's a pretty interesting read.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2024/03/a-few-more-thoughts-on-the-kirtland-temple-deal.html
 

I think that's why the Church is being very selective in what they say and how they say it. They realize that this is a sad time for those of the CoC. 

The CoC SHOULD BE A WARNING about the dangers of trying to go with mainstream Christianity.
The Churches that are staying with their more traditional teachings and values are (in general) staying stronger with their membership (though most are also still declining if it is a larger church) than those that have tried to "modernize" and "mainstream" their various religions.
I think the Temple in Missouri (theirs) will be one of the last things they would let go, and 190 million will keep them going for a good while at least. 
Interestingly enough, this is similar to one of the original divisions within the Islamic religion.  The question of whether the successor to Mohammad should be his son Ali or a council of others.
This caused a division in the religion that has animosity between the both sides from back then during the division to the present day.
At least we are not angry and violent towards each other like the divisions of Islam caused.

If it might interest anyone, this short (3 minute) video features Apostle Lachlan Mackay of Community of Christ sharing his feelings regarding this transaction.
 
I'm not sure why this seems important to me. Maybe just to remind us that, while our branch of the Restoration is celebrating today, another branch of the Restoration is probably experiencing some mixed emotions.

If it might interest anyone, this short (3 minute) video features Apostle Lachlan Mackay of Community of Christ sharing his feelings regarding this transaction.
 
I'm not sure why this seems important to me. Maybe just to remind us that, while our branch of the Restoration is celebrating today, another branch of the Restoration is probably experiencing some mixed emotions.

The hill near the finger lakes region in eastern (upstate) New York that we call "Cumorah", where Joseph Smith first unearthed the plates of Mormon, is a drumlin—an enlongated, roundish hill composed of debris piled up by and left over from the actions of glaciers that retreated at the end of the last ice age, 13,000 or so years ago. Its structure is not like e.g. the mountains in Utah. You will not likely find limestone caverns in a drumlin. While I suppose it's possible there is some sort of large cave in the modern hill Cumorah, I doubt it, and don't see any convincing reason to suppose there is.

I find this unlikely for several reasons:
The Bible is perhaps our strongest contact with "traditional" Christianity, a commonality we would be loathe to lose. The JST was never proclaimed as complete. On the contrary, it's a sporadic mishmash of retranslation, interpretation, and doctrinal additions and changes. I think it would not be especially useful as the Bible is used today to try to use the JST as a regular Bible version. The Church has used a non-JST Bible throughout its history. That's what people know. You don't easily just give that up. (This is sort of an extension of the first bullet.) Saints have often complained about the shortcomings and difficulties inherent in using the KJV. The JST preserves all those perceived shortcomings and adds others. Whatever insights Biblical scholarship might add (e.g. the Dead Sea scrolls) would largely be mitigated by a slavish adherence to the JST. (Bonus point: The existence of the JST itself argues against "slavish adherence".)

Just a little bit of history – as I have experienced.  In my college years I, with a few return missionary friends, embarked or a Church history vacation one summer.  Our encounter with our religious LDS neighbors was bitter and disappointing and left a very bad taste in my mouth.  In my youth, I blamed everything on who we called the Reorganites.   Over the years this bitter relationship has softened. 
One of the doctrines that has sustained some bitterness has been our stand on the priesthood being exclusively for men.  The Community of Christ currently has women apostles.  There was some bitterness over blacks and the priesthood.  Not so much concerning the blacks and the priesthood but the Community of Christ suffered a great division over women and the priesthood.  They have never been solvent economically since that division. 
The LDS Church has financed the Community of Christ to maintain our common interest in historical properties.  It was never sustainable – especially for the Community of Christ.
A few years ago, my wife and I (with some local friends) again made a trip through Church History.  My personal encounter with the Community of Christ was like meeting with beloved long separated family members.  I spent a day with one of their general authorities (president of the 70’s).  I was privileged to go with him through their private vault of artifacts accumulated form the beginning and dating back to the time we were not separated.  With their new focus on “The Community of Christ”, he tearfully confessed to me that they did not have the resources to maintain the artifacts of history.  It was not just the finances but the human resources as well.  We openly discussed the possibility of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints carrying this baton to the finish line when the Messiah comes.
The bitterness between our religious institutions seems to be the one factor no longer a concern.  I am grateful that our brethren in Christ have carried this burden so well and nobly for so long.  I am grateful that the properties will now be restored to what they need and ought to be – a treasure for the Saints to enjoy during the millennial reign.
 
The Traveler

If it might interest anyone, this short (3 minute) video features Apostle Lachlan Mackay of Community of Christ sharing his feelings regarding this transaction.
 
I'm not sure why this seems important to me. Maybe just to remind us that, while our branch of the Restoration is celebrating today, another branch of the Restoration is probably experiencing some mixed emotions.

If it might interest anyone, this short (3 minute) video features Apostle Lachlan Mackay of Community of Christ sharing his feelings regarding this transaction.
 
I'm not sure why this seems important to me. Maybe just to remind us that, while our branch of the Restoration is celebrating today, another branch of the Restoration is probably experiencing some mixed emotions.

I consider them dear distant Cousins who left the family long ago, and have fallen upon hard times, and we figured out how to help them financially.  Reading through their FAQ is sort of disheartening.
 

If it might interest anyone, this short (3 minute) video features Apostle Lachlan Mackay of Community of Christ sharing his feelings regarding this transaction.
 
I'm not sure why this seems important to me. Maybe just to remind us that, while our branch of the Restoration is celebrating today, another branch of the Restoration is probably experiencing some mixed emotions.

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/sacred-sites-and-historic-documents-transfer-to-church-of-jesus-christ

Picture from last year’s Western Australia eclipse.  Make sure you take a good pair of binoculars.  Don’t even try to setup a telescope.  

Also, the planets and constellations become visible. But not the one’s you can see in the night sky.  Picture from August 1, 2008 - China.

The fact that there has been superstitious association with anything at any given time is irrelevant to the signs of God.

How can an eclipse be a sign of the end of times when eclipses have always occurred throughout history?
Hear ye, hear ye, in the end of days something will happen that......has happened since the earth, sun and moon were created and put in their orbits. But....you know...THIS time it's a sign....

Colorado had a partial eclipse some years ago, I dj'd the event, with a custom selection including:
Leading up to the eclipse:
Eclipse - Pink Floyd
Bark at the Moon - Ozzy Ozborne
The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen
When The Bright Lights Grow Dim - Eddie Noack
I put a spell on you - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Blue Moon - Frank Sinatra
The Moon Rises - EileMonty
During the eclipse:
Total eclipse of the heart - Bonnie Tyler
Ring of Fire -Johnny Cash
Dancing In the Dark - Bruce Springsteen
Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel
Pink Floyd - Time
As the eclipse receeds:
Here Comes the Sun - Album "Abbey Road"
Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann
King Of Pain - The Police
Why Does The Sun Shine - They Might Be Giants
A Sky Full Of Stars - Coldplay
You are my sunshine - Johnny Cash
Also, here's a totaled Mitsubishi Eclipse for you:

Yup.  
Be prepared.  We drove into a little town in Oregon in 2017.  It took us 3-4 hours to get there, seeing sights along the way.  We hoped to hang out in a local church parking lot but it was blocked off.  Nothing was avilable, no vacancies.  Farmers were selling parking spots of their farmland for $100 just to park your car or RV there.  Resturants were overflowing, even the bad ones.
And it was 18 hours of bumper to bumper traffic all the way home. 
But the show was worth it!  There is nothing like it.  When the sun went from diamond ring to full eclipse the town errupted.  It was like the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl and the winning run in the World Serries at the same time.  And the experience is indescribable.   The temperature drops.  It gets quiet, the animals all bed down and then it looks like a hole is ripped into the night sky and you can see a unbelievable halo and stars!  Bring binoculars as you can see the solar prominances with them.  They are purple and beautiful.
If you miss this one, the next one in the USA isn't till Aug 23, 2044.  You have been warned. 

Wouldn't recommend it. 
Even the "we rent rooms by the hour" types of hotels are fully booked up, pretty much every civic leader is warning that people need to visit the store and refuel their car well before the event as the crush of visitors is expected to cause a run on everything, and the county leaders in Bell County have preemptively declared a state of emergency because they fear that many people coming in will jam the telephone systems and make it difficult to call for emergency services. 

I have finally decided (though I retain the right to revist the decision) to follow the Church's practice of capitalizing pronouns that refer to Deity—specifically, to the Father, the Son, and/or the Holy Ghost. I will refer to Them individually as He, and in prayer, I will mentally capitalize Thou and, in the very rare instances that I address more than one at a time, You.
I know. It's hard to take in. Sorry there was no way to ease you into this announcement. I felt I just had to blurt it out and let everyone deal with the consequences.

It only matters as to our own salvation. To suggest otherwise is to take away others' salvation against their choice and to claim God is entirely unfair.
I am fully confident that if I have terrible bedside manner and drive others away from the church because of my terrible bedside manner, that they'll have the same chance at exaltation as if they'd never met me. I'm also confident that if I'm doing my best but still have terrible bedside manner because I'm the moron that I am, that God will forgive me as I do my best to repent and change, despite failure upon failure. And I am fully confident that no matter how others treat me, in or out of the church, that my choice of salvation or damnation is completely and fully my own. And I'm also fully confident that if I purposefully go out and preach against the Gospel and Christ, or set a terrible example, or otherwise do Satan's work, that they only soul I'll ultimately be damning by those actions is my own.

Yeah, that’s too far and I agree with you there. But how we treat others matters, especially those who know nothing about the church.  

I don’t want people to know I’m LDS and walk away thinking all LDS are abrasive prigs. So I don’t act like one.  

In Pentecost, we sometimes talk about "dead churches." We mean those that may preach/teach truth but lack the fire of the Holy Ghost. Ironically, AW Tozer, who was not Pentecostal, wrote of ministers who "turn the crank." He meant those who know how to operate a church--to run it effectively. They preach the truth, lead committees, sing on tune, and the congregation is mostly happy. But there's no Holy Ghost power in the place. He bemoans this reality. Even Francis Chan has said that he could quickly build a mega-church. He's a dynamic and authentic-sounding speaker. He knows good music and could hire the right worship band. With some demographic mapping, he is business savvy enough to find a great location. He's not interested, though. He wants the authentic. He wants a church that is Spirit-led. Again, he's not Pentecostal. 
Yes, many non-LDS (especially us Evangelicals) get caught up in claims of "the only true church." To my ears, "only living church" should be just as provocative. On the other hand, if it's true own it. If it was true and now it's not as true (maybe we're catching up), then soften it or let it go. 

Of course.  Though I wonder if even that is WHOLLY true.  If there are not edge cases where the law is applied differently to others, that is to say, if someone claims they read the BoM and received a prompting not to come to the church, I don't question it, I may tell them to be certain, and make sure, but then I have to have faith in God and the person.  BUT, I'm not willing to wager my eternity on an exception.  I'm just not willing to rule any out, you know, being a fallible mortal .  I bring myself to "What is that to thee?  Follow thou me."  I do what the spirit tells me, I don't deny the experiences of others, even if I don't agree or understand them.

On truth, Brigham Young is quoted as saying:
 
As a protestant, for many of my 14 years of membership, I focused more on being the "Only true and living church" and not the above.  I have found it useful to shift my perspective to the idea that the church is the "Most correct" of any church on Earth.  While all truth is "Mormonism", it emphatically DOES NOT follow that "Mormonism" is all truth.  I just watched a reaction video to the Mormon Stories video interviewing the Mississippi bishop who resigned from the pulpit.  He honestly spoke about how he viewed those outside the church as "not worth his time" and that only members were "celestial material".  To me, this is obviously a failure on his part for gross misunderstanding.  But perhaps we could focus a BIT more on the "most correct" and less on the "only true".
You obviously need both, but it seems some have the balance WAY off, even those in "leadership" positions.