why do mormon temple recommends have barcodes on them, like an business inventory type barcode?

why do mormon temple recommends have barcodes on them, like an business inventory type barcode?
is there a huge database somewhere containing all the temple attending mormons?
right senator, but one can only hope that they learn their temple recommend has been ‘turned off’ before an embarrassing scene at the temples front desk ensues.
so what happens when someone shows up with a revoked recommend? alarms go off, big men in suit coates show up, etc.?

Best answer:

Religions are businesses . . . or haven’t you noticed?

Tags: Barcode, barcodes, business, inventory, like, mormon, recommends, temple, them, type

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9 Comments for why do mormon temple recommends have barcodes on them, like an business inventory type barcode?

1. Monkey Pope [Simian Pontiff] | November 13th, 2005 at 6:57 am

I think the LDS church was having a problem with people using forged recommends to enter the temple so the barcodes were added to improve security. I never thought about the possibility of the church keeping track of temple attendance but it sounds like a reasonable possibility to me.
2. Pinkadot | November 13th, 2005 at 7:13 am

I think it was to enhance security and it could possibly be to track the attendence records… like if a certain temple is getting a lot of attendance or not. It wouldn’t be “who” is going, but how many from what Stake, or just simply how many are attending a certain temple, maybe even on certain days, times, whatever.
I remember getting the recommend a few years ago with the bar code and thought “Oh, they’ll know how often I go to the temple!” But really, it’s just not like that.
The temple is wonderful.
3. Enchantra | November 13th, 2005 at 7:37 am

Because back when they did not have barcodes, ex-mormon use to use jackmormons temple recommends that were still worthy enough to attend and sneak in. My brother use to allow his friends to use his temple recommend until they came out with the barcode system.
4. Yo yo | November 13th, 2005 at 8:07 am

Since the LDS church refuses to disclose what data they collect on members, we’ll never know.

I’m not aware of any members being confronted with attendance information.
5. Laffopuritain | November 13th, 2005 at 8:40 am

I know that they use it to track who attends the temple.

Part of the decision to place a new temple is made on how active an area is in attending their current temple. For example, I live about 250 miles from a temple. If everyone from my ward were to start going to the temple in Birmingham once a month, we could have a much closer temple in no time flat. How would they know we attend every month? by scanning the bar codes.
6. Senator John McClain | November 13th, 2005 at 8:52 am

It might have been able to keep Ed Decker and company out and Godmakers would have been even more pathetic.
7. venus_smrf | November 13th, 2005 at 9:42 am

It’s more about security and keeping those who do not understand or respect the temple from entering places they shouldn’t. Though there are certainly records of all those who hold active recommends for various reasons (mostly in case we lose ours or something), this just ensures that the recommend is valid and not a forgery. People kept trying to sneak in using fake recommends, and this pretty much took care of that.

I was there once when someone tried to sneak in using a fake recommend, actually. When it became obvious that the person was not a member, the man in charge very politely asked him to leave. The man just shrugged and went, and it wasn’t a big deal on either side. I would imagine, though, that if he had become confrontational, the other men in the room would have just escorted him out. It’s not like we have goons waiting to tackle people, after all. There aren’t any alarms or anything like that. There are just plenty of people assigned to work in the temple who would have stepped in if it became necessary.
8. arthvader | November 13th, 2005 at 10:28 am

Not all of them do, actually. It just helps us track the progress of the vicarious sacraments on behalf of the dead, such as baptism. I suppose we could always insist on pieces of paper like we used to, but that’s a little less efficient.

When we are disciplined, we are asked to return our recommendations to our church. We are much more likely to have an expired temple recommend than a revoked one. In that case, the person at the front desk either doesn’t notice and admits us, or he does notice and (sometimes) works with somebody in our stake presidency to establish our bona fides and let us in. Or he simply says, “I’m sorry.”

(A stake is a group of local congregations, called wards. So Stake is to Diocese as Ward is to Parish, or something like that.)
9. mormon_4_jesus | November 13th, 2005 at 10:50 am

I don’t know about a HUGE database, but it’s in the computer system. That way, if someone tries to get in with a recommend that’s stolen or something, they are quickly and very quietly led away before they can desicrate the sacredness of the building.

why do mormon temple recommends have barcodes on them, like an business inventory type barcode?

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