Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written:
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:13)
What was the sin that the Gospel writer was pointing out through this act of Jesus? Some historical context will help:
“According to Exodus 30:11-16, every adult male Israelite was to pay half a shekel annually to the sanctuary. In the period of the Second Temple this tax was paid at Passover; to assist pilgrims to Jerusalem, money changers apparently functioned within the large open area known as the ‘Court of the Gentiles’ or in the porticoes that framed the Temple closure, converting to the proper payment different currencies or those that were religiously offensive because of portraits on coins…rabbinic sources provide some evidence for complaints about profiteering by money changers, who charged as much as eight percent for their service.”1
According to another source:
“Money changers converted foreign currency into Tyrian shekels, high-quality silver coinage accepted by the temple.”2
The sin was that the money changers were profiting on people’s spiritual experiences. Were the money changers fulfilling a needed and good role? Yes. Offering help to pilgrims and offering animal sacrifices to Yaweh were good things.
MODERN MONEY CHANGERS
Brother Devin G. Durrant of the Sunday School General Presidency, during the October 4, 2015 Sunday afternoon session of General Conference, introduced the world of Mormonism to a neologism:
PONDERIZE
Yep. Ponderize.
Brother Durrant said:
“The word ‘ponderize’ is not found in the dictionary, but it has found a place in my heart…So what does it mean to ponderize? I like to say it’s a combination of 80 percent extended pondering and 20 percent memorization.”
Mormon social media went completely nuts.
And I thought George W. Bush was the only authorized American neologist.
Now, this is just funny. No harm no foul. But wait. Just wait. A ponderize website has already shown up – I’m not sure when. I assume after Brother Durrant gave his talk. According to the about page of ponderize.us:*
“My husband and I, Ryan Durrant, are the son and daughter-in-law of Brother Durrant who spoke about Ponderizing in General Conference. We are trying to spread the word to Ponderize with these T-Shirts and bracelets. All of the profits will be going to the missionary fund, we won’t make a penny off this and we hope it will help you remember to ponderize.”
Okay, profits will go to the missionary fund. Sounds good. But wait, weren’t the money changers at the Temple also providing a righteous service? What’s the problem? The problem is using spiritual capital to manipulate people to spend money. That’s the rub brothers and sisters.
Wait. I lied. There is a bigger problem. Someone is now cutting into Deseret Books’ territory of making money from General Conference quotes. That’s where the true sin lies.
*As of 9:30 pm PST, the ponderize.us website has been taken down. Is this temporary? Do we smell conspiracy? Is this the work of the Deseret Book cronies? Or is it that the owners of the website realized what a horrible idea this was?
ADDENDUM
Monday, October 5, 2015, 5:50 pm PST
I had read rumors that pondrize.us (as well as ponderize.org) had been created in September of this year. I also had read that prices had been lowered, and that offering the profits to the missionary fund occurred only after pushback had been received from active Mormons. I researched these allegations and had collected several screen shots to share here with you all. And then…Brother Durrant issued an apology. The apology was on the ponderize weekly face book page, but it appears the page has now been taken down. KUTV did publish a screen shot of the apology from Brother Durrant and that is from where I obtained the screen shot below. In his apology, Brother Durrant explained everything and left nothing to speculation. It is hard to admit when one has erred, so I must applaud him. Just in case the screen shot is too difficult to read, here is what the apology says:
“A week before my address, my son obtained the ponderize.us domain name and subsequently created a website to offer t-shirts and wrist bands to highlight and extend the ponderize message, which we have long talked about in our family. Although we didn’t invent the term, as far as we know our use of it is unique. Because of the backlash he received in associating a commercial venture with a General Conference talk, he initially lowered his prices to cover his costs and then decided to keep prices as originally set and to donate the profits to the missionary fund of the Church. Ultimately, he decided to take down the website last night. The site will remain down. I was aware that my son was creating a website related to the topic of my talk. I should have stopped the process. I did not. That was poor judgment on my part. Of course, none of the Church leaders were aware of the site. I offer a sincere apology to any person who was offended in any way by the site.”
SCREENSHOTS
These screenshots were not part of the original post. They were added on Monday, September 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm PST. It was felt that they should be archived here in case the other online sources where they are also found are later deleted. My friend Gwen Hutchings did the sleuthing for me. So much thanks to her:
These images can be found at imgur.com. They show the price changes that Brother Durrant mentions in his apology:
The following can be found here. It shows that Brother Durrant’s son also purchased the domain name ponderize.org back in September:
The following is a screen shot forwarded to me by Gwen,which shows when the domain name, ponderize.us, was purchased. It was also purchased in September. I don’t have a website link on which to click.
_______
Notes:
1 The Oxford Companion to the Bible, Money Changers, pg. 524
2 The Jewish Annotated New Testament, footnote to Matthew 21:12-17
Just for fun:
Miguel Barker-Valdez
Miguel is a Guatemalan-American Mormon living in the Northwest with his family. He is one of the proprietors of the Rational Faiths blog.
All posts by Miguel Barker-Valdez
Here’s the difference: The half-shekel tax was a requirement made by God. No one was “manipulated” into paying it. Those to whom it applied had to pay it. Moneychangers were profiteering on this valid requirement. Buying T-shirts, quotes from General Conference, etc. are not requirements of any kind. In fact, there is no requirement to ever buy anything from Deseret Books or other merchants. No one has to pay anything if they don’t want to. Also, my guess would be that the moneychangers were not forwarding their profits to the missionary fund, or to any other righteous purpose.
Selling “Ponderize” T-shirts may be a bad idea for any number of reasons; if so it will go the way of all the earth. The idea/program itself might actually help increase spirituality and testimonies. What the T-shirt purveyors are not doing (unlike the moneychangers) is seizing on a monetary or spiritual obligation made by God. It seems to me that readers of this post are being manipulated to simply reject the program wholesale so as not to feel foolish following something that is held up as having some kind of connection to Sponge Bob and George W.
From FB threads I have read that have been reporting on the rapid changes in this event it seems that the donation to the missionary fund came late in the game after some backlash already was received, which is simply post-hoc and ad-hoc damage control.
Also:PRIESTCRAFT
Men preaching and setting themselves up for a light to the world that they may get gain and praise of the world; they do not seek the welfare of Zion (2 Ne. 26:29).
Maybe those pushing multi-level marketing schemes will get this meme as well? …. we can only hope
Brian D.,
Which only leads to speculation. What reference points are used to apply 2 Ne. 26:29? Are the T-shirt providers really setting themselves up “for a light to the world” – or just selling T-shirts? They can’t be angling for much gain and praise “from the world”, as the world is not a likely partner for buy-in for this product. And they may well have the welfare of Zion in mind by promoting this way of scripture study. Who decides? And who decides who decides? Whatever this is, it hardly rises to the level of the moneychangers in the Temple, or to priestcraft.
Tim Bone,
I agree Tim Bone. It does not rise to either priestcraft or money-changer in a technical sense but I think it is pointing in that direction. It is out of taste for me personally so to support my position I cite scriptures to support me, which is kind of a Mormon/Christian thing to do. 😉
Wait a minute. Is this really money-changing in the temple? How is it different from a John Bytheway or (insert popular seminary teacher here______) cassette tapes that I used to purchase from Deseret Book for $16.99? In those tapes, they would often bear their testimonies, closing with “in the name of JC amen”. Similarly we could say the same thing about church-themed books, music, conferences, etc. How is that any different? It seems to me like the t-shirts were a lesser offense.
It is quite rare that church authors give their profits to the church. Talmage was an exception and wouldn’t accept any money for ‘Jesus the Christ’. President Monson spoke about how noble that gesture was- and how spiritual the content of the book was. I think President Hinckley may have donated profits from his biography to the Perpetual Education Fund. For the most part though, the brethren recycle their conference talks into books or in the Silver Fox’s case, forget-me-not crafty-quotey-stuff. Of course GAs can sell books merely with their reputations- and so do their families.
It makes no difference whether an item is sold at DB or Seagull or McGraw-Hill or Scholastic or Oxford. The authors profit. (Publishing in a non-LDS press just means you won’t have the right market to maximize sales.)
I would love to make a push that in today’s digital world and with the volunteerism of the church’s distribution center, that ALL works produced through a calling would be distributed for free, with a creative commons attribution-only license.
No one should have to pay for words of the prophet, for spiritual nourishment from general authorities. I believe these works should be free.
Church publishers began quite innocently enough. The church was small and poor and in order to have these types of materials at all, the niche industry began. For a long time, missionaries even sold BoMs because they wouldn’t be able to otherwise distribute them. Today, times have changed. We have the technological infrastructure to publish tremendous data and the financial capacity to give away print materials.
I’m delighted that we have LDS.org, scriptures online for free, that we’ve flooded the world with print versions of the BoM (for free), and have distributed many more resources for free. The Presidents of the Church manuals are a herculean effort of the church’s to provide free church books to people who couldn’t afford or didn’t have access to DB titles. (It was a concern of President Hinckley’s as well.)
I wish testimonies and spiritual content (writing, art, sculpture, music, genealogy, etc.) obtained as a result of a calling or through reputation of a calling, and/or in church service would never be sold for profit. Instead they could be a) posted/printed for free b) sold at cost or c) sold and then 100% of the profits donated to church charities or operations.
If the spirit gave it to you . . . you should give it to others for free. Period.
If it relates to eternal salvation . . . (e.g. genealogy names), they should be accessible for free. Period.
If you created it in the service of the Lord, you should give it to others for free. Period.
If you are in a full-time position for the church (and live on stipends) you should not create any church-related content for profit. Period.
The money isn’t worth turning bitter or losing a testimony about, but I do think that we as a people could technologically and operationally make these God-given resources accessible!!!
If I print up (for free) some bumper-stickers that say “If the spirit gave it to me, its yours- copyright free”, will someone trade me for a ‘keep mormonism weird’ bumper sticker?
Mortimer,
Um, ya we will trade!!! LOL
Thanks for your thoughtful response Mortimer. In light of more news on the subject, I’ve added an addendum.
Tim Bone,
Tim,
Thanks for stopping by and not only reading my blog post, but offering a fair critique.
I’ve added an addendum to my post. It’s stuff you probably already know about, but in light of this new information coming forth, I thought it was the right thing to do. It probably won’t change your mind about anything.
Damon,
Oh, please help us, Damon. I hope not.
As I’ve said in other replies to the other readers, I’ve added an addendum to the original post. It’s probably stuff you already know about. I thought it was the right thing to do given that some new information has come forth.
Thanks for reading my post.
Wonderful addendum, thank you for it. It takes a big person to admit a mistake, I admire elder durrant for his response. He could have rationalized it. He and his family are neat people. #1 Christians.
I just hope this doesn’t change Brandon Flowers mind about recording “Ponderize” to the tune of the Killers Tranquilize.
“I have a feelin’ they’re gonna shut down my store”
Both ponderize.net and ponderize.org were created by a D Durrant on September 4th. The address listed when the domain name was registered, is a property owned by Devin Durrant. A phone number and email are also listed. Ryan Durrant then created the ponderize.us on September 27. This is the site that had merchandise for sale. Ryan Durrant’s phone number and email are also available. All of this information is easily accessible.
On 9/27/15, Ryan Durrant registered ponderize.us with GoDaddy. On 9/4/15, D Durrant registered ponderize.org and ponderize.net, also with GoDaddy.
https://who.godaddy.com/whoisstd.aspx?domain=ponderize.us&prog_id=GoDaddy&k=TwxDxJq%20XwqbiMIKnwUTf8LLyIvLQ5R5v%203e7O0Qu%20Dwhh5EffljiNH9drtuyRTo
https://who.godaddy.com/whoisstd.aspx?domain=ponderize.org&prog_id=GoDaddy&k=TwxDxJq%20XwpMDzMKxtZaKF64vR0gmWzcknjtK17vQb6LJHDYSYxW686dk6nIzzbj
https://who.godaddy.com/whoisstd.aspx?domain=ponderize.net&prog_id=GoDaddy&k=TwxDxJq%20Xwp5AvJinLJGdl64vR0gmWzcknjtK17vQb6LJHDYSYxW686dk6nIzzbj
There is an lds man who arranges lovely lds hymns (rather like the piano guys), and who gives away all the mp3 recordings and sheet music for free. His name is Spencer Mangum (you can google him). The mobile version of his site doesn’t display the website’s background information, but in it he explains that he believes his music to be a gift and a spiritual service and freely gives it to others. Amen Brother Mangum! Amen.
Just how does anyone know what Neal Maxwell, Richard Scott, Boyd Packer or any other General Authority did/does with the profits from their books?
Listen, I think the group that profits from the LDS culture can be vultures. I cringe when I see Deseret Book selling a game that is a basic trademark infringement of a Parker Brothers game. Or seeing a Book of Mormon action figure – gag!
But, I do think they can sell their wares. The Spirit gave many men a good mind for business or science or art, but we never ask those people to give their services for free. Many of the skills we gain that help us professionally were a result of our callings – even our callings as parents. So, I respectfully disagree.
I have been pondering the above comments. Why the backlash against “Ponderize”? How much merchandise has been sold re: President Hinckley’s 6 Bees?, One Little Match? The oak tree? and so on. Slogans from general authorities have been merchandized for years, especially now in our speedy technological age. Think of all the Mormon Ad posters sold to the youth. Perhaps the fault was jumping the gun by the Durrant family and merchandizing “before” the slogan was spoken in general conference. A mistaken judgment on their part.
I had the same thought. If not them, someone else. A great idea really to help spread the word. Just poor timing I guess. Stinks for them, just trying to get more people excited about the ponderize movement.
Or is it that it was the Durrant family that directly set up the websites, in advance, and not a clever sister or brother being able to capitalize offering “Ponderize” merchandise on Pintrest or Etsy? Some may still do that.
Interesting, just found this post on amazon from 2014…. I guess the ponderize concept was borrowed from this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/Think-These-Things-Ponderize-Joyful/dp/1494808781
I thought the same thing at first and then someone pointed out the following to me. That book was published in January of 2014. Brother Durrant was challenging his missionaries to ponderize three years ago.
That was the reason I didn’t include it in the body of my post.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Ah, thank you for clarifying. I hadn’t realized that. So, I guess the question is odd coincidence of wordsmithing or cross pollination 😀
At any rate, this wholesale profiteering off of church callings has had me sick for years. I hope there can be some lessons learned here, but I think most mormons will see this as a one-off thing and then when their rancor dies down, go back to buying the books, paintings, and bytheway-esque videos…. wo to the masses as they say.
-Great blog by-the-way and have loved reading through the comments on this one.
Ya. I had brought up this criticism with my (super-rad) bishop. He’s the one that pointed out the chronology to me. Onward and upward!!! Thanks for stopping by the blog. Don’t be a stranger.
How about paying for garments? That is definitely taking advantage of the members. We are required to always wear them to remain temple worthy, yet we have to buy them for up to $5.00 a piece. How about renting out the temple clothing? Is it right to charge money for something required for exaltation? I would love to hear some thoughts from anyone who desires to reply, it’s something I have wondered since the day I received my endowment.
Regarding the temple undergarment, I have a post in the works. I will say this, as you probably already know, Beehive Clothing has not alway been the only provider.
My brother brought up the rental fee for the ritual temple robes the other day. I guess one could look at that as covering costs for washing them? I don’t know.
If the Ponderize website had waited a week or two before launching (to quote a previous comentor) the website, I would have thought it as tacky. But since it was so coordinated and ready to go last Sunday, that’s where the big problem is.
What would it take for the church to start allowing unmarked sizing garments to try on? I am so tired of having to guess how something will fit, purchasing it, then not being able to return it when it doesn’t fit. I understand the hygienic concerns about the bottoms (and there are ways around this), but the tops shouldn’t be an issue.
Like I told Jacob, I have a pending post that will explore this idea. But it will only really be addressing it from a man’s angle. I don’t think I should be talking about women’s undergarments since I’m a dude.
I think everyone, even the very fair-minded Mr. Barker, is missing the big point here: The shirts were positively hideous and needed to be removed from the catalog of Mormon goods.
If I saw them sitting on a foldable Lifetime table next to the Living Scriptures kiosk in the mall I’d likely have a money-changer meltdown too. After the stress of delivering his conference talk subsided (can you imagine how good that must feel? I mean, how relieved are you after giving a simple talk in sacrament?), Brother Durrant likely saw the shirts with a more objective eye and said “What the fetchin’ heck are we trying to sell?! Good heavens Josephine these are some.blisteringly mediocre shirts!”
He did the right thing. (And Mr. Barker’s article is the most thorough article I’ve read on Pondergate.)
Just a few more thoughts:
1) Yes, Heather, the Spirit inspires many persons in their daily vocations which in turn creates magnificent products and earns us money. We don’t have a choice, that’s how we survive. As a fellow saint, what you do for a living probably doesn’t affect me very much. But, the GAs do affect me- they affect us all. They are called to serve us and the world. They have revelation and information that is meant to be a beacon and light to us. When they charge for that revelation and information- then a) the poor don’t have access b) that’s priestcraft. It’s WRONG.
I admit that this isn’t a black and white area, there are several greys (e.g. BYU scholarship, LDS art and music, etc.)
But, as a general rule, I think we could ask GAs and their immediate families who already receive a living stipend from the church to make their publications open access. If they are called to be missionaries, special witnesses of Christ, and modern-day revelators that serve the globe, then it just makes sense. Their words should be available to all, regardless of economic status. We could also ask those who are serving in church CALLINGS to give of themselves as a service- not a cost. So, the sunbeam teacher SERVES for two hours without babysitting money or combat pay. The ward activities director who writes a play for the ward gives it to the world for free. The ward organist plays without pay. If as ward organist I compose a special musical number, I do not charge the bishop or the ward for that work. That was my choice, my calling and my service.
In the past, it was necessary to sell BoMs and GA books in order for the material to be printed and shared. An innocent model evolved where GAs began selling their writings, Forget-Me-Not books, Ponderize t-shirts, etc. I think we need to use this debacle to reflect and re-structure our model for the 21st century.
Today, we have the money to give books away (or at cost) and the infrastructure (lds.org) to do it. In the 19th c we failed at the United Order, but it seems like we have the opportunity to take the sacred and elevate it above the world’s money changing and serve humanity equally.
FYI
The $ for temple clothing rental is subsidized (less than actual cost) and covers the cost of laundering and re-stocking. (It’s not just throwing stuff in a laundry machine. It requires purchasing industrial laundry machines and irons, electricity, water costs, soap/bleach, re-stocking items after wear and tear, etc.) The newer temples have saints bring their own clothes. I travel long distances to the temple and for the number of times I attend, I would do better financially renting than purchasing clothing.
It also appears to me that the church sells temple clothing at around cost. I sew pretty well and could make temple clothing, but the cost of the fabric is about the same as the finished dress at Beehive Clothing, so I don’t bother.
Garments are highly subsidized and essentially at-cost. Keep in mind that the material is milled especially by the church with high-quality cotton (in order to get the color) and specialized synthetic knits in a very fine warf/weave. We look at the material as being cheap, but it isn’t. The cost is comparable to similar items from Fruit of the Loom or Haines, and below cost for similar items sold at department stores or outfitting companies. I suspect saints in the US and other wealthier countries defray the costs for saints in developing countries where they pay FAR LESS per item. I’m ok with that.
I have to say I am NOT pleased with Time Out for Women, which seems to be a commercialized regional Relief Society Activity with several current and former GA speakers, Sheri Dew, and Deseret Book. It has the appearance and sheen of a church sponsored event, but it’s commercial and freakin’ expensive ($69-$79 PER PERSON!!!)
I am stunned that we have reduced the number of RS activities in our wards to 4 per year- citing that women don’t have time or inclination for more, then this business model emerged because women want and need and miss LDS interaction together.
I am stunned that in all my lifetime, I’ve only seen ONE regional RS meeting and I’ve NEVER seen a General RS activity. Now this business model emerges.
I refuse to go, but I would probably blow my stack if I saw a commercial meeting being opened and closed with a prayer.
It tells me that women would indeed like to spend time with one another and that they would like to focus on spiritual things to enrich themselves, their families and their communities.
Evidently it just costs $69-$79. (BTW, Joyce Meyer Ministries does not charge admittance for a similar women’s all-day conference with a similarly expensive rented venue, traveling speakers, paid musicians, products for sale, etc.)
Tim Bone,
About a year before President Hinckley died, I attended a regional conference with President Monson. He spoke about his family’s work as book publishers for the church and talked about how unusual and rare it was for Elder Talmage to refuse author royalties for Jesus The Christ, citing that it was too sacred to sell for a profit. President Monson explained the rationale for the model and that even today it is common practice for LDS authors to receive author royalties- even he had one so.
There are rumors on the bloggernacle about income streams from books for general authorities.
It is possible that some of the GAs donate their author royalties back to the church. If they do, it is not normal. President Hinckley may have donated some of his royalties from his later books to the PEF- which he cared very deeply about.