The Poetic Gospel of the Newsroom

The LDS Newsroom just posted a remarkable new commentary piece, The Mormon Worldview. In church it would be called "the plan of salvation," but the PR team has upgraded the lingo to make the message understandable for the rest of the world, and even for journalists. The PR department isn't Correlation — they don't actually change the doctrine — they just use different words and images to convey the message. And they have produced a truly admirable verbal upgrade in this latest post.

From the first paragraph: "Latter-day Saints are animated by a much grander vision of life." I feel better about myself just knowing I have a grander vision of life. And that there is a "transcendent side of Mormonism." Here is the summary of a short Bushman quote: "This broad view of humanity stirs the inspiration of Latter-day Saints, elevates their earthy aspirations and gives poetic meaning to their eternal longings." Someone check, did Obama lose a speechwriter last week? Are they running a vacation to Hawaii contest in the Newsroom? Have they been receiving after-hours visitations from Gene England?

There's more. "God provided a mortal existence in which His children could prove their faithfulness and fulfill a very individualized destiny." Goodbye yellow brick road to heaven, hello straight and narrow path with your name on it. "[E]ach individual maintains a core identity and possesses immense capacity for growth and progress." This one is straight out of the Book of Mormon, where Alma the Younger told his wayward son Corianton: "My son, you are losing sight of your core identity! Verily, strive mightily to realize your immense capacity for growth as you fulfill your individualized destiny!" If he'd talked like that, the next book would have been named Corianton, not Helaman.

"Latter-day Saints embrace the acquisition of knowledge as a spiritual mandate." A mandate. Tase me again, bro. "[A]ll human striving blends seamlessly into eternity." I'm not sure how that happens or even what it means, but it sounds very appealing.

Alright, no more culling Ensign material for my sacrament meeting talks. Next time around, I'll head for the Newsroom.

Comments

[JKC]

Wow. That's good stuff.

[Eric Nielson]

Thanks for pointing this article out Dave.

I think the general point of this article as I see it has to do with the religious experience of Mormons, not theological debate about specific beliefs.

[Doc]

I like it!

[Geoff J]

Nice work Dave. I laughed out loud twice. That's pretty good for one short post.

("A mandate. Tase me again, bro." Awesome.)