Gentilization Pressures on Mormons

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Michael Graves

Every Mormon I've ever met is keenly aware of the (potential) hostility that their beliefs may engender in the "gentile" community generally, and orthodox Christianity in particular. To a person, the Mormons I've gotten to know well have remained faithful to their beliefs, in the face of often cruel treatment because of them. But it's quite disingenuous for you to pretend that you are not aware of the immense pressure on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to recast their "plain and precious truths" in a way that is more palatable (or at least less incendiary) to the gentile community.

In other words, the simple answer to your question "Why would we misstate our own positions?" is that misstating your position can provide important polemical shelter in debates like those that rage on a.r.m. There are some parts of LDS theology, and more importantly its history, that stated plainly and openly, are quite striking, and prone to emotional and ill-considered reactions. There's lot of examples, but the one that leaps to mind is the recent Neo-Mormon push to de-emphasize the Follett Discourse couplet. While I certainly don't agree with the idea expressed in the couplet, I certainly acknowledge its importance to Mormon theology. My experience over the last few months has been a decided soft pedaling on this issue when dealing with gentiles, while maintaining a fervent belief in the concept. And I don't really factor GBH's comments on 60 Minutes in here. I'm thinking of a recent stake newsletter I happened upon and conversations with several of the Mormon friends I maintain contact with from my Utah days.

The idea that "as God is, man may become" is organic to the faith of John Q. Mormon - at least those I know. And while they don't deny this belief when queried outright, when it comes up casually when conversing with gentiles, it is downplayed. It has been explained to me that the concept is much more complex than it first appears, and that it takes a deeper knowledge of things Mormon and an infusion of the Holy Spirit to "really get it". Anything short of this is likely to result in an unfortunate understanding, and so they think it best to defer on this topic.

Ultimately, the further down you drill into Mormon theology, the more radically different from mainstream Christianity it appears. Were old Brigham to be brought back to life and set loose on 60 Minutes, the damage would be severe; not one to posture and spin, he. As it is, One Temple Square stands to profit immensely (spiritually and financially) from its neo-orthodox stance, and the ecumenical rapprochement it portends. Selling family, faith, and universalist salivation is going to get you a lot farther in this world than selling Celestial Fecundity, the Mark of Cain, our Heavenly Mother, Adam-God, etc.

None of this is new. I'm sure that the early Christians faced similar pressures to "Judaize" or "Hellenize" their faith in order to make it more appealing, or at least less toxic to those around them. Modern orthodox Christians are want to oversimplify (and thus misrepresent) the Trinity in hopes of expediting the discussion in this area.

But let's not pretend that these pressures don't exist, or that believers, LDS or otherwise are so naive as to be ignorant of their effect on their faith, both collectively and individually.

Newsgroups: alt.religion.mormon
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997
From: Michael Graves mgraves@ccnet.com
Subject: Re: PRESIDENT Hinckley SPEAKS TO RELIGION NEWSWRITERS

Thanks for the nice note. I'm flattered and surprised. I certainly don't mind you putting my message on your site, but honestly can't see anything remarkable about it. Certainly nothing that merits canonization in your site. Nevertheless, you determine what you want on your site, and you're welcome to use my post however you want.

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