Why Spend $1 Billion on the Salt Lake Temple If the Second Coming Is Near?

LDS Perspective

The question assumes a contradiction that Latter-day Saint doctrine does not contain. The Church teaches that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is near, but it has never taught that it is imminent in a way that would make long-term building pointless. The Savior said, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Matthew 24:36). The Lord repeated this in modern revelation: "the hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes" (D&C 49:7). When Joseph Smith pressed the Lord on the timing, he received an answer meant to stop speculation (D&C 130:14–17). Latter-day Saints are told to live prepared, not to stop planning. "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30). In the Savior's parables, t

Historical Perspective

# The Salt Lake Temple Renovation and Latter-day Saint Millennial Expectation The tension you describe is not new. It appears in the earliest construction history of the Salt Lake Temple. On August 23, 1862, while inspecting the newly relaid foundation with Wilford Woodruff and Isaac Morley, Brigham Young said: "I expect this Temple will stand through the Millennium & the Brethren will go in and give the Endowments to the people." In the same conversation he added: "I do not want to quite finish this Temple for there will not be any Temple finished until the one is finished in Jackson County, Missouri… Keep this a secret to yourselves lest some may be discouraged." Woodruff recorded this in both his personal journal and the Historian's Office journal. At the time Young was making a heavy