As a mission president I discovered that the way we present our message has a good deal to do with who accepts it and how deeply their roots are anchored in the soil of the gospel. On this matter some things are obvious. For instance, it would be no great surprise to you that shallow missionaries get shallow converts. In like manner, I do not think you would be surprised to learn that the more direct we are the more successful we are.
That’s our message: “Ask God.” The way we answer questions about our faith ought to be by finding the quickest and most direct route to the Sacred Grove.
Perhaps we need to rethink the idea of seeking common ground with those we desire to teach. Every likeness we identify leaves them with one less reason to join the Church. When we cease to be different we cease to be. The commandment to flee Babylon has not been revoked, nor has it been amended to suggest that we seek an intellectual marriage with those not of our faith. The fruit of such a marriage will always be outside the covenant.
Claiming the authority to speak in the name of God and at the same time claiming that the heavens have been sealed since New Testament times is no different than claiming to be God’s spokesman while admitting that he has not spoken to you for two thousand years. This picture simply does not hang straight.
True it is that there are those who think it quite “unchristian” of Latter day Saints to suggest they cannot be saved in their errant doctrines. Yet it is the same people who hold the gates of heaven open to all who profess Christ except us. Why, we might ask is it that virtually all testimonies of Christ are acceptable in their heaven save ours? And why is it that we are labeled unchristian for not accepting them while their rejection of us is the proof they offer that they are Christian? Let it not be lost on you that it is their creeds that require them to respond in this manner.
To the early missionaries of this dispensation the Lord said, “Preach my gospel which ye have received, even as ye have received it” (D&C 49:2). There is no suggestion here that they cover it with honey or put ribbons on it. A few months later the Lord said, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself” (D&C 1:38). The Lord has never commissioned anyone to make excuses for him, he has simply asked us to trust him.
The plain fact of the matter is that you cannot build strong testimonies out of weak doctrine.