Why don’t we preach of Christ more often?

[Anonymous]

I knew the title would get peoples attention. I do have a strong testimony that we are Christian church that preaches of Christ. I love the fact that we believe in latter-day revelation, more than just the Bible, modern-day prophets, Joseph Smith as God’s chosen instrument, chastity (just like Christianity in general), a very detailed word of wisdom, and teachings of the atonement that blow away most of Christianity’s understanding on it. But in all of this, something is starting to bother now. Why don’t we preach of Jesus Christ himself more often? It’s my understanding that the things that make the Church and the Gospel worthwhile are nothing without Jesus Christ. It seems so often that we talk about what we should do to live Christian lifestyles that Christ is barely part of the picture. I’m not suggesting that we are truly a Pharisee church like “Christian” anti-Mormons are suggesting we are. And I’m not saying that we should strongly favor grace over works like most of Christianity and the “Christian” anti-Mormons. I’m not saying that we don’t try to emphasize Jesus Christ that balance in the teachings of the atonement. I’m just saying why can’t we emphasize Christ a bit more often in our teachings with everything else? I know Church is improving this, but we have a long way to go. Your thought?

[Anonymous]

You should come to my ward. Seriously. I teach and speak up a lot and I always bring everything back to Christ. Last year in RS, I told the sisters that if the lesson didn’t tie directly to Christ, then we were missing the point somewhere. And we found Christ in every lesson I taught.

Now there are a lot of “I”s in those sentences but here’s the most important one…. I am not alone in this. There are numerous others who do the same thing in my ward. There is always the danger of seeing “the law” (i.e. our practices, policies, commandments, and rituals) in isolation and elevating them above “pure religion”. The antidote for this kind of ignorance which sometimes leads to Pharisee-ism is to go beyond just teaching the law to explaining why we have the law and how it brings us to Christ. Thankfully, our ward is blessed with teachers who go beyond repeating the lesson verbatim and search out the “why”. In my experience, that has made all the difference.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on the local ward or branch.

I’ve lived in a couple over the years that fit your description, but most I’ve lived in didn’t – and a big part of that has been the Bishop and some members who always reference Jesus. The lessons are set up to do it, but Sacrament Meeting is one of the keys. If the Bishop assigns non-Jesus related subjects all the time . . . but if he assigns Jesus-related topics . . . I’m relentless about this. I’m not obnoxious about it, but I’m relentless. I’m gentle about it, but I’m relentless.

It really is that simple. In this case, we really can be the change we desire.

[Anonymous]

All good points.

[Anonymous]

I agree with Ray. I think it varies a lot by local congregation and by time. I think as a Church, many are taking this valid criticism (at times) to heart and doing better. I hear more about Jesus in my last two local wards. But I know what you mean. Sometimes we really goof it and have too much non-Christ stuff assigned for a period. Mormonism has two things: we do a LOT LOT LOT more church meetings than most other denominations, and we also have a large body of supplemental material outside of just purely the New Testament. In a lot of ways, those are good. But yeah, we can get off track sometimes.

[Anonymous]

I agree with everything that is being said. It probably depends on the ward and we do have a lot of supplemental things other than the Bible, which is good. I definitely get off track sometimes.

[Anonymous]

I have often thought that since we believe Christ is leading the Church, then, whatever we are being asked to do or to teach lessons about are about Christ’s call for us to follow Him, and less about looking back on what He did and his grace. I’m not saying that is right, and perhaps different wards get things out of balance, but I just think one thing that may separate us from other religions is the forward looking works we are called to, therefore talking about Christ less than maybe other religions, but trying to do more with the faith that is Christ’s will for us today.

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