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This old high priest from Ogden appreciates very much what Interpreter is doing
Thanks for this. Your argument also seems to be consistent with Elder Ballard’s conference a while back wherein he urged us to get engaged on the Internet to promote and defend the faith. After reading this last night, it didn’t seem coincidental to come across in my morning reading today the quotation below from Richard L. Evans. He began by asserting that the notion of the brotherhood of man, though literal, is usually given only theoretical or an idealistic value, but when we consider things correctly we discover that we have more in common than differences. His example was the common ignorance of man–which I thought helped nail your point about academics speaking to the blue collar folks rather than disdain them. Here is his quotation:
“Consider, for example, that gulf which lies between him who is academically informed and him who is not. There is so much of which we are all ignorant that it would seem our common ignorance is a greater common denominator than the difference between our ignorance and our knowledge. Then, too, the man who is an authority in one field is so often innocent of reliable knowledge in so many other fields, which again lessens the fundamental difference between him and the man who is totally uninformed. And, except for the occasional special endowments of genius, and for occasional mental incapacity, the difference between the greatest and the least of us in the field of acquired knowledge is a few years of study and research. In the brotherhood of man such differences are not fundamental, and the plan of life and salvation which the Savior of the world left for our guidance may surmount all such superficial barriers as men pursue their eternal journey.”
Richard L. Evans, Unto the Hills, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1940), pp. 142-43.
Brilliant article! I love everything about the interpreter, and it’s mission. Dr. Peterson continues to be an all star. As I pondered this article, my mind went to D&C 50:1-7 wherein the Lord one year after the church was organized revealed his attitude toward hypocrites and deceivers who have harmed members of the church or those little ones who believe. The powerful doctrine in that section is that the “such” or those who have been deceived shall be reclaimed. I see this as a major part of the mission of the interpreter; namely, to reclaim those who do not have the academic training or background to answer the critics of the church and therefore at times are deceived. Unfortunately, this situation may even happen via those who have not consecrated themselves, or their talents to the sustaining of the kingdom…….