Church Talks
STAYING FOCUSED ON CORE DOCTRINES
[Talk by John E. Enslen, visiting high councilor, at a sacrament meeting of the Selma Branch of the Montgomery Alabama Stake on July 15, 2012.]
In the 1831 preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, there is a reference to the Lord’s desire for his Church to be brought forth out of obscurity and darkness. “[That] those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth….” (D & C 1:30)
To a significant degree the Church has been steadily coming forth out of obscurity and darkness ever since it was founded. But there seem to be foreordained events and circumstances from time to time that tend to abnormally propel the Church from the realms of obscurity and into the public light at an increased velocity. I believe we are privileged to live in just such a time of increased enlightenment, perhaps thus far the greatest of such times when considering the growing number of mortals who are presently being exposed with regularity to at least some aspect of our religion.
Public interest in the Church and its doctrines being at an all time high is probably a good thing because we obediently desire to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Every covenant-making member has an important individual role to play in proclaiming the gospel, and our member-missionary job is actually made a little easier by the vast amount of interest-creating media attention that the Church is receiving.
The natural downside of all the publicity is the increased intensity of the opposition in all things, especially all things righteous. (By the way, there is less of an increase in the South because opposition has always been rather intense.) There are plenty of Korihors in the world who do not want us to accurately define our own beliefs and doctrines. They desire to mis-define them for us. They want to control the narrative by framing us and our doctrines in a false light that promotes their Satanic interests. The resulting war of words is a sustained continuation of the War in Heaven in which we took an active part during our pre-mortal existence.
Our critics often engage in “ad hominem” arguments, thereby appealing to people’s prejudices, emotions, or special interests instead of appealing to their intellect or reason, or to a logical consideration of the relevant facts. Opponents attack our position by attacking our alleged character or status rather than directly answering the merits of our position.
A common ploy of those who oppose us is to first mischaracterize us as a people through name calling and stereotyping, and then discrediting us with ad hominem references associated with their fabricated mischaracterizations of us. That’s a double dose of creating a distraction from the consideration of that which should always be the genuine issue under consideration—the Truth.
A look at anti-Mormon responses to the restored gospel and the Latter-day Saint community it has produced reveals the heavy use of such arguments. Instead of a critical examination of substance, irrelevant considerations become the exclusive focal point. Such attacks are designed to prevent others from actually reading and pondering and praying about our core beliefs—the revelations of the restoration.
For instance, our critics never say “carefully read the Book of Mormon for yourself and formulate your own conclusions.” They much prefer that people never take the Book of Mormon seriously enough to even place a copy of the book in their hands.
I will mention a common example of ad hominem argument. Since the 1980s, some have referred to our Church as a “cult.” The word “cult” is an ambiguous term that is most often used to describe something sinister or evil when the speaker or writer lacks specific evidence of anything that is in fact sinister or evil. There is certainly no evidence that the president of the Church is going to entice the members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir into the jungles of South America and compel them to drink poison Kool-Aid. But calling the Church a cult immediately creates the image of a brainwashed people, precisely the negative image that our critics wish to portray when defining us.
Just like you, I don’t consider myself to be a person who is easily brainwashed. I think more creatively, have more personal initiative, and ask more penetrating questions of that which goes on around me than ever I did prior to my becoming a member of the Church. I do not follow gospel principles and Church leaders because I am blind. I follow gospel principles and Church leaders because I see.
Another tactic is to label us as “non-Christians” or say that we are “counterfeit Christians.” I assure you that we do not need to be the least bit concerned when someone creates his or her own personal, narrow, strained, self-serving definition of “Christian” and then excludes us because we do not meet their warped definition. By any reasonable definition of “Christian,” we will meet all of the criteria with no difficulty. In fact, we practice original Christianity as revealed directly from the heavens in multiple dispensations.
On a personal level, we need not care whether some self-appointed spokesman for another faith considers us to be a Christian or not. Rather, we need to be infinitely more interested in the judgment of Jesus Christ on that issue, He being the only person who can provide a certificate of authenticity for our profession of faith as a Christian. Fortunately, a growing number of people realize that when anyone, including each of us, attempts to judge another’s level of Christianity, the person doing the judging makes a mockery of his own Christian religion and exposes to the public his prideful usurpation of the authority and unique role of Jesus Christ as the ultimate judge in Israel.
Perhaps part of the reason that some in other Christian churches do not count us as Christian is because they have been practicing a traditional, doctrinally deviant, Nicene form of Christianity for so long that they are not able to recognize true Christianity when they see it. When churches theologically define a Trinitarian type of Jesus as being of one substance with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, they in effect deny the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the strongest single piece of evidence establishing that Christ was the very son of God.
The fact that we are not acceptable to the modern Christian world should actually be quite comforting to us. Such non-acceptance is powerful evidence that there was indeed a need for a restoration of original Christianity, and we will rue the day if ever we become fully acceptable to, or integrated into, so-called traditional Christianity. Their erroneous traditions extend into the past no further than the creeds of the fourth century. Their traditions do not extend to the teachings of the mortal Christ and the New Testament Church that He established.
Not all truths are of equal value, and there are many of our doctrines that are of lesser import than our core beliefs. Such peripheral teachings are not less true, but they are tangential to our core beliefs regarding salvation. Furthermore, the revelations relating to fringe aspects of our faith constitute at best only a limited glimpse.
For instance, our critics may want to focus on a subject like Kolob. But Kolob does not define the basis of our religion. Don’t be trapped by a request to expound in detail upon matters about which the Lord has revealed precious little. Only a fool believes himself to be equal to that task.
I have attended almost 2,000 sacrament meetings and more training and leadership meetings than I care to count, some of which were at high levels of the Church. Not in any of those meetings of any type at any time have I ever heard a presentation on the role of Kolob in our theology. There has been total silence on the subject. That does not mean that we should not read and ponder the subject on our own as we study the relevant scriptures, but Kolob and other planets in the afterlife is not the focus of our religion. Placing inordinate attention on the fringes of our doctrine can become a speculative distraction to us individually, and it is certainly used as a distraction by our critics.
Some may claim that our revelations are the pronouncements of mere men who whimsically bend to the various pressures of the day. Despite all that the world may proclaim, one can acquire a well founded historical knowledge that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not change its doctrines or practices based on an effort to be “traditional,” “accepted,” “normal,” “politically correct,” or “mainstream.”
If you want to invest the time in research and study, you can come to know that the Church did not abandon the practice of plural marriage in 1890 so that Utah could be accepted as a state six years later. You can come to know that the 1978 revelation on the extension of the priesthood was not motivated by a concern for the well-advanced civil rights movement in America.
If the Church was prone to yield to such external pressures, then Church members would have avoided being murdered and robbed as they were driven from Ohio, and then from Missouri, and then from Illinois. They would have avoided an arduous and dangerous exodus from the United States to untamed desert territory belonging to Mexico.
I have a testimony that the Church marches only to the drum of revelation, and is concerned with keeping its doctrines pure, undefiled, and strictly in line with those revelations from God, no matter the social or political costs involved in so doing.
So at its core, what is it that we do believe? Actually our core beliefs are very simple. Having complex doctrines that only a certain few can allegedly understand is not the Lord’s way. Complexity and confusion is rather an essential element of any system of priestcraft.
Jesus himself proclaimed the simplicity of his doctrine with this summation recorded in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ: “This is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me.
And whoso believeth in me and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost….
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine….” (3 Ne. 11:32-34, 39)
The doctrine of Christ is pure and simple. It is clear. It is so easy to understand that even a child can comprehend it. The basic message in that scripture is believe in Jesus, repent, get baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. That’s it. The rest is window dressing. I enjoy window dressing and it is there for us to enjoy. But it should not become our focal point.
That basic message of “believe in Jesus, repent, get baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost” presents a unique combination of two elements: (1) self-improvement conduct in the form of faith-based repentance on a continuing basis, and (2) compliance with the more technical requirements in the form of participation in sacred ordinances.
A fair and just God would never keep someone out of heaven based on a technicality. Thus, where necessary, the more technical ordinance-related requirements can be fulfilled vicariously by proxy. But the daily conduct requirement of faith-based repentance can never be fulfilled vicariously by someone else. That’s because no one else can believe in Jesus for us, and no one else can repent for us or keep the commandments for us.
All people, whether baptized in person or not, will be “judged every man according to their works,” (Rev. 20:13) “yea, even the works which were done by the temporal body in their days of probation,” (1 Ne. 15:32) “whether they be good or whether they be evil.” (3 Ne. 26:4)
Is it any wonder that the Savior instructed the prophet Joseph: “Say nothing but repentance unto this generation....” (D & C 6:9) It is even appropriate at times to refer to the entire gospel of Jesus Christ as “the gospel of repentance.” (D & C 84:27) Our universal need to repent comes into play in the keeping of every commandment. There is no commandment that is disconnected from the ongoing process of repentance that is associated with that particular commandment.
The importance of our need to repent is further made clear by these sobering, core-doctrine words from Alma: “Behold, now I say unto you that he commandeth you to repent; and except ye repent, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” ( Alma 9:12)
While on the earth, the Savior’s personal ministry was a ministry of asking individuals to repent. Can we not internalize his merciful words, “Go and sin no more?” (John 8:11) The words of Christ remove religion from the realm of theological debate and into the realm of the practical realities of our private daily lives.
The New Testament writings of James also define pure religion in the realm of personal practice and behavior: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
In the end, it is how we live that matters most. Living righteously as a latter-day saint will always be the most effective means of acquiring peace and happiness. As a by-product, how we live constitutes the best and worst advertisements that are ever produced for the Church.
Joseph Smith had an occasion to express our simple core beliefs as latter-day saints. Said he: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that he died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” Jesus Christ and his atonement should be at the center of everything that we believe and teach.
We are blessed beyond measure to be members of a living Church that is not tied to a static position at some specific point in the historical timeline. “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” (Ninth Article of Faith)
The sole original source of our doctrine is divine revelation in some form. Primarily, we have living prophets, seers, and revelators who guide and direct the affairs of the Church, including the pronouncement of our official doctrines. We as individuals have available to us the Holy Ghost for our constant personal guidance. Under God’s plan, each of us individually is accountable for forming our own opinions regarding the authenticity and worth of the revelations of the restoration, including the doctrine of Christ.
In the end, only I will be responsible for my response to the restored gospel that will ultimately sound in every ear across time and place. I have come to know, independently of any other man, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of this Church that bears his holy name, reveals his mind and will to us today through his chosen servants. I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the simple core doctrine of this Church is the doctrine of Christ.
To these sacred truths I bear my witness in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.