The Specter of the Sao Paulo Temple

[_Mister Scratch]

The rather brilliant critic called "Sleeping Willow" has re-unearthed this tidbit over on the fittingly named Madboard:

President Faust turned the ceremonial first shovelful of earth during the groundbreaking ceremony. After, he invited a young girl and boy to come help him with the digging. They not only came forward and assisted him, but the little girl also waited for him the next day at the Campinas regional conference to give him a hug of appreciation.
He emphasized the need for saints to sacrifice for temple building. He told how members in Argentina found ways to donate during the construction of the São Paulo Temple. They gave the gold from the dental work in their mouths to help pay on the temple. He said that he had purchased some of the gold fillings for more than the market price to impress upon the minds of congregations the nature of the sacrifice made by these members (Church News, 9 May 1998).

Given that the Church is so obviously in good financial shape, why was this request made? Removing fillings is a major dental health risk. What's next, asking members to sell a kidney? What if the Church offered "more than the market price" for the kidneys?

If it is about the "principle of sacrifice," couldn't Faust have asked members to sacrifice in a manner that wasn't so manifestly harmful to their health?

Some excellent points, and I do agree that this is one of the more embarrassing instances of abuse of Church finances in recent years. A bit further along in the thread, Catholic-MB-troll Pacman tries to argue that the gold fillings were given by their own free will, to which I say: Big deal. Another poster, "Brian's Mom," perhaps, pointed out that if this were the case, Faust should have stepped in and put a stop to it immediately, as soon as he found out. All in all, this incident, in my opinion, provides yet another reason why the Church's finances should be an open book.

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

He said that he had purchased some of the gold fillings for more than the market price to impress upon the minds of congregations the nature of the sacrifice made by these members (Church News, 9 May 1998).

Maybe I'm slow, but I don't understand what this means. Faust personally purchased the donated fillings from the church as some kind of object lesson for those congregations? It's making some kind of impression on my mind too, but probably not the kind Faust was going for. Ick, ick, ick, and I don't just mean having someone else's gold fillings in your possession, it's the sanctimonious manipulation and self-righteous exploitation of people who needed their gold fillings far more than they need a temple in which to perform imaginary ordinances for an imaginary god but in realityi only supporting the egos of people like Faust.

[_Mister Scratch]

He said that he had purchased some of the gold fillings for more than the market price to impress upon the minds of congregations the nature of the sacrifice made by these members (Church News, 9 May 1998).

Maybe I'm slow, but I don't understand what this means. Faust personally purchased the donated fillings from the church as some kind of object lesson for those congregations? It's making some kind of impression on my mind too, but probably not the kind Faust was going for. Ick, ick, ick, and I don't just mean having someone else's gold fillings in your possession, it's the sanctimonious manipulation and self-righteous exploitation of people who needed their gold fillings far more than they need a temple in which to perform imaginary ordinances for an imaginary god but in realityi only supporting the egos of people like Faust.

I think your interpretation is dead-on, Lucretia: Pres. Faust bought the fillings in order to show his gratitude, and, in effect, to brag about these particular members. He thought that these people having the gold literally ripped out of their teeth was a model of piety and obedience, I suppose.

By the way, if you or anyone else is interested, DCP has shown up on the scene in order to play damage control. His first post basically was a non-reply in which he went on about how "evil" the Church is. Regardless, if the Church wanted to make nice about all of this, it should have announced that it would be paying for the members' dental work. Instead, it seems that Church leaders want reader of the newsletter to be left with the message that this sort of extreme sacrifice is not only appropriate, but desirable.

[_Mister Scratch]

Okay. The thread has started to get juicy. Unfortunately for us all, Sleeping Willow is starting to back off a bit, but Prof. Peterson has also started to engage in some pretty ripe speculations, such as this:

We don't know if the fillings were replaced or not.

Precisely. So it seems a bit forced to presume that they were not replaced, and that not replacing them endangered the health of the donors, and that President Faust knew this, and that he callously didn't care, and that he or some other greedy Church official had demanded them in the first place, and that, therefore, a cloud of scandal hovers over the Porto Allegre Temple.

Fair enough, but what we *do* know is that Pres. Faust most definitely approved of the members having their dental work ripped out. The fact that he paid "above market value" demonstrates this pretty clearly. Neither he nor the Church gave any indication whatsoever that they disapproved of this sort of behavior, nor did they indicate the the fillings had been replaced. Anyways, despite the fact that he is so clearly bent out of shape by SleepingWillow's speculation, Prof. Peterson apparently has no problem engaging in such behavior himself:

It seems most likely to me that the fillings were extracted by a dental professional. And it seems likely to me that a dental professional might perhaps know almost as much about the risks of removing fillings as some of the Church's non-dental-professional critics here do, and, accordingly, that he or she would replace them.

Where on earth is he getting this? Frankly, this doesn't really make very much sense to me. What, are we supposed to assume that there was an LDS dentist on-site, yanking out these fillings pro-bono? And further, that he offered his services---again, for free---to re-fill the now vacant cavity sites? Also, does this really make much sense viewed from the lens of expense? In other words, why would costly dental work be involved when the intention underlying everything was to help fund the temple? This seems like a clear case of spin doctoring, in my opinion.

(Of course, I suppose it's also possible that the dental fillings were extracted by missionaries. Or even by President Faust personally, using a sharp rock. The article doesn't say otherwise.)

Ha ha ha. How very funny, Prof. P.! in my opinion, the greatest likelihood is that the Brazillian LDS yanked their fillings out themselves. Here's another question: I don't know if there is an organization equivalent to the ADA down there in Brazil, but wouldn't you think that a dentist engaged in this sort of "charitable" filling-pulling would be liable for all sorts of fines, license-revokings, and what have you?

Edited to add: Perhaps I'm confused, but was this a temple in Brazil? Or, as SleepingWillow's OP states, Argentina?

[_Dr. Shades]

How utterly ghoulish. Just when I thought the heirarchy couldn't sink any lower, well, they find a new way to surprise me.

From the article:

President Faust . . . said that he had purchased some of the gold fillings for more than the market price to impress upon the minds of congregations the nature of the sacrifice made by these members (Church News, 9 May 1998).

??? Maybe I'm missing something, but rather than buy their fillings, why didn't Faust just skip the middleman and donate that money straight to the temple himself?

Can someone help me out here?

[_capt jack]

The fillings were allegedly donated by Argentine members to help in the building of the Sao Paulo temple, which was dedicated in Sept 1978. Until the temple was dedicated in Santiago Chile in 1982, the Brazilian temple was used by all South American members.

Maybe some member dreamed up the idea of donating his fillings all on his own, but Faust made the scheme his own by continually bragging about it at temple dedications.

Assuming the story is true, I doubt the fillings were replaced with anything remotely approaching gold in quality, if they were replaced at all. Think about it--the cost for yanking and replacing the fillings were probably greater than what the original fillings sold for.

[_Gazelam]

After Adam was cast from the garden, he eventually returned to the edge of Eden and prayed for a re-unification with the presence of the Lord.

Moses 5:4-5
4 And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.
5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

Without fully understanding why, Adam was obedient and did as the Lord commanded.

Moses 5:6-8
6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.
7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

Sacrifice for the Lord is a basic and fundamental principle of the gospel. It shows the Lord that you are willing to separate yourself from the vain things of the world and focus on spiritual things.

Perhaps if you spent less time focusing on the flaws of other people, and more time learning doctrine, you would have a better understanding of this most basic of principles.

Gaz

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

How utterly ghoulish. Just when I thought the heirarchy couldn't sink any lower, well, they find a new way to surprise me.

From the article:

President Faust . . . said that he had purchased some of the gold fillings for more than the market price to impress upon the minds of congregations the nature of the sacrifice made by these members (Church News, 9 May 1998).

??? Maybe I'm missing something, but rather than buy their fillings, why didn't Faust just skip the middleman and donate that money straight to the temple himself?

Can someone help me out here?

No, I'm still trying to make sense out of it myself. Maybe Gazelem, who understands sacrifice so beautifully, can help out here?

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

After Adam was cast from the garden, he eventually returned to the edge of Eden and prayed for a re-unification with the presence of the Lord.

Moses 5:4-5
4 And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence.
5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

Without fully understanding why, Adam was obedient and did as the Lord commanded.

Moses 5:6-8
6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.
7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

Sacrifice for the Lord is a basic and fundamental principle of the gospel. It shows the Lord that you are willing to separate yourself from the vain things of the world and focus on spiritual things.

Perhaps if you spent less time focusing on the flaws of other people, and more time learning doctrine, you would have a better understanding of this most basic of principles.

Gaz

That's one way to look at it. Here's another way:

M-13.5. What is the real meaning of sacrifice? 2 It is the cost of believing in illusions. 3 It is the price that must be paid for the denial of truth. 4 There is no pleasure of the world that does not demand this, for otherwise the pleasure would be seen as pain, and no one asks for pain if he recognizes it. 5 It is the idea of sacrifice that makes him blind. 6 He does not see what he is asking for. 7 And so he seeks it in a thousand ways and in a thousand places, each time believing it is there, and each time disappointed in the end. 8 "Seek but do not find" remains this world's stern decree, and no one who pursues the world's goals can do otherwise. ACIM

[_Dr. Shades]

Sacrifice for the Lord is a basic and fundamental principle of the gospel. It shows the Lord that you are willing to separate yourself from the vain things of the world and focus on spiritual things.

Since when is a dental filling--of all things--considered a "vain thing of the world?"