From Jeffrey R. Holland, a previous post. . . . To My Friends of Other Faiths. Now continuing. . . .
. . . As the dialogue began to take shape, it was apparent that the participants were searching for a paradigm of some sort, a model, a point of reference—were these to be confrontations? Arguments? Debates? Were they to produce a winner and a loser? Just how candid and earnest were they expected to be? Some of the Latter-day Saints wondered: Do the “other guys” see these conversations as “tryouts” for a place on the Christian team? Is it a grand effort to “fix us, to fix Mormonism, to make it more traditionally Christian, more acceptable to skeptical onlookers? In turn, some of the evangelicals wondered: Are those “other guys” for real? Or is this just another form of their missionary proselytizing? Is what they are saying an accurate expression of LDS belief? Can a person be a New Testament Christian and yet not subscribe to later creeds which most of traditional Christianity would adopt? A question that continued to come up on both sides was just how much “bad theology” can the grace of God compensate for? Before too long, those kind of issues became part of the dialogue itself, and in the process, the tension began to dissipate.
My LDS friends tell me that the initial feeling of formality has given way to a much more amiable informality, a true form of brother-and-sisterhood, with a kindness in disagreement, a respect for opposing views, and a feeling of responsibility to truly understand (if not necessarily agree with) those not of one’s own faith—a responsibility to represent one’s doctrines and practices accurately and grasp that of others in the same way. In the words of my friend Richard Mouw of Fuller Theological Seminary, the dialogues came to enjoy “convicted civility.”2
Realizing that Latter-day Saints have quite a different hierarchical and organizational structure than most other Christian churches, no official representative of the church has participated in these talks, nor have there been any ecclesiastical overtones to them. Like you, we have no desire to compromise our doctrinal distinctiveness or forfeit the beliefs that make us who we are. As our third article of faith makes clear, “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” We believe that the authority to perform those saving ordinances was restored to the earth by divine messengers in the earliest years of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That authority to perform those saving ordinances is one of the crucial foundation stones to—and reasons for—the restoration of the church Christ established. Others may not agree that ours is that church, but we are anxious that others not misunderstand us, nor accuse us of beliefs we do not hold, and not dismiss out of hand our commitment to Christ and His gospel, to say nothing of demonizing us in the process.
Furthermore, we are always looking for common ground and common partners in the “hands-on” work of the ministry. For today’s complete post, click. . . . To My Friends of Other Faiths II.
~ Jeffrey R. Holland, To My Friends (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2014), 220-227 Dwarsligger®
