A church of 7,000 owns the promised temple lot

Admitted

Their own church publications admit these facts. You can make this point from LDS sources alone.

What was prophesied

D&C 57, from 1831, named Independence, Missouri as the "center place" of Zion, and marked the spot for a temple. D&C 84 said the temple would be reared there.

D&C 97:19 speaks of it too.

What is there now

No temple. And the church does not own the dedicated spot.

It belongs to the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), a small Hedrickite body of roughly 7,000 members worldwide. They reject Brigham Young, the endowment, and most Latter-day Saint distinctives.

They kept the lot through the litigation of the 1890s, and they keep a modest meetinghouse on it.

Who is next door

The 17-million-member church whose canon prophesies that temple. It owns the visitors' centre.

Their answer, at full strength

That the temple will still be built, in the Lord's timing. D&C 124:49 says that when enemies prevent a commanded work, God no longer requires it of that generation.

The church's own question-and-answer page affirms belief in a future temple in Zion, and notes cordial relations with the Temple Lot church.

How strong is this argument?

They admit the ownership; nobody disputes it. The D&C 124:49 clause cannot explain the present.

Nothing stops the church building in Jackson County today, except that it does not own the spot. The owners will not sell, and have refused offers for over a century.

Do not argue the dating here. That belongs with the failed-prophecies case, and it should not be counted twice.

What to say

"Who owns the temple lot in Independence? It takes five minutes to check."

Marker stones on the temple lot at Independence, Missouri, now owned by another church

Edward Partridge, the first bishop, who purchased the Independence land back in 1831

The Temple Lot with the Community of Christ temple and auditorium standing behind it, Independence

How they answer this — at its strongest

The temple will still be built, and D&C 124:49 covers a work enemies prevented.

The church teaches that the Independence temple will still be built, in the Lord's timing.

D&C 124:49 provides that when enemies prevent a commanded work, God no longer requires it of that generation.

The church's own question-and-answer page affirms continued belief in a future temple in Zion. It also notes cordial relations with the Temple Lot church.

The verdict

They admit the ownership: nothing stops them building, except who owns the spot.

The D&C 124:49 escape clause cannot explain the present tense. Nothing prevents the church from building in Jackson County today. Nothing, that is, except that it does not own the prophesied spot, and the owners will not sell. They have refused offers for over a century.

A 194-year-old 'center place' prophecy whose ground is held by a tiny rival body of about 7,000 members is vivid, checkable in five minutes, and hard to spin.

It is graded on the ownership core, which every party grants, including the church's own materials. Do not argue the dating here. That belongs with the failed-prophecies case.

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