After gathering Conference predictions a few weeks ago, the Main Street Plaza team has has been scouring social media to see if any of our predictions came true (it’s not like we’re going to actually watch conference or something…), but we have come up empty-handed.
Actually, it looks like nothing from Conference went viral this time, which I guess is normal. The only thing people are talking about is this new statue in the Conference Center, and it is a winner!
So I’ll drop in another view of it — along with two other sculptures of Jesus that were recently added to Temple Square, and then we will discuss!
chanson: So, I think the theme of this new sculpture is “Don’t worry, Jesus is not a hippie and he is not gay — he is the type of god who could star in his own Marvel movie!!!
Donna: Yeah. Or maybe “Dazed and Confused.” The sculpture of him standing above the two women brings to mind Matthew McConaughey’s character: “I get older, they stay the same age.”
chanson: I’m impressed by his stylish short hairdo and his super-short beard. Not bad for a guy who wouldn’t have owned a pair of scissors, much less a beard-trimmer. You have to look closely to see he has a beard at all!
Of course they can’t just portray him clean-shaven because then nobody would recognize him as Jesus…
I think the two Temple Square sculptures tell an interesting doctrinal story:
When I was a kid, they used to teach that the atonement really took place in the Garden of Gethsemane (when Jesus sweat tears of blood). I’m not sure they still teach/emphasize unique doctrines like those, but I’m sure that tourists from rural Utah (who remember the olden days) will appreciate the Gethsemane statue — especially after seeing the other statue of Jesus with his cross!
Donna: Good point. I’d be surprised if that doctrine about the atonement is still taught. But these statues appear to be for the benefit of non-LDS tourists who question whether the Mormons are Christian. And, I suppose, for the benefit of Marvel Comics fans!
chanson: Exactly! I can just picture the pioneer-stock LDS tourist taken aback by the cross imagery — “Isn’t that how they portray him in the Great and Abominable Church?!” (and then being reassured by the Gethsemane statue) — while the Catholic tourist (who has no idea that his church was ever called “The Great and Abominable Church”) is reassured by the crucifixion imagery.
(Unless all of the tourists are just confused about why Jesus has so many women sitting on the ground reaching up to Him…)
Donna: Well, I guess the multiple women at the foot of one man is a nod to the traditionalists. Otherwise, I don’t how these expenditures benefit the rank and file. Your tithing dollars at work, brothers and sisters!