A Rational Theology, as Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

by John Andreas Widtsoe

**A Church with a Purpose.** According to the fundamental doctrines elaborated in previous chapters, the purpose of the earth-career is to assist in man's development, so that he may acquire more power and therefore more joy. In the nature of things, as already explained, it is impossible for an intelligent being to rise to the highest degree of joy unless other like beings move along with him. The Great Plan will be successful only if all or at least a majority of those who accepted it are saved. The Church, a feature of the Great Plan, must have the same main purpose. All must be saved! In fact, the work of the Church cannot be completed until all have at least heard the truth. There can be no talk of a few saved souls at the throne of God, with the many in hell. The great mission of the Church must be to bring all men into the truth. This is the cementing purpose of the Church.

**The Hope of Today.** However, men are not saved merely by being taught the truth. They must live it in their daily lives. Life, indeed, is an endless succession of days, each of which must be a little larger in development than the preceding one. Each day must be well spent. The Church must help, every day, in all the affairs of the day, from the food man eats to his highest spiritual thought. Each day must be a step onward to the eternal exaltation which he desires. This is the hope of today. To help in this daily work is one of the main parts of the missionary labors of the Church. All the days of all the members must be made happy ones.

**Temporal Salvation.** In a church based on the principles already outlined there can be no separation between the spiritual and the temporal. There is one universe, of many aspects, to which we belong. There is one Great Plan for us. In the heavens, spiritual things are probably of greatest importance, but on earth, temporal things are of importance. The impossibility of separating things temporal from things spiritual justifies the attempt of the Church to assist in the temporal affairs of its members. In fact, a large part of the missionary labors of the Church must be to better the temporal conditions of its members. Only when the temporal as well as the spiritual life is looked after, can the Church rise to its full opportunity. Only in sound bodies can the spirit experience the highest joy. Only under sound temporal conditions can the Church move on in full gladness.

**The Foreign Mission System.** In conformity with the cementing missionary spirit of a church, every member of which holds or may hold the Priesthood, it follows that every member of the Church, whether man or woman, may be called to go on a spiritual or temporal mission for the upbuilding of his fellowmen. In harmony with the law of free agency, it is voluntary with the individual, whether he accept or refuse the call. The custom in the Church of today has been that a man go on at least one mission, which varies in length, two or more years. The missionaries not only assist the members already gathered into the Church, but they travel all over the world, preach to all the everlasting Gospel, and bring those who accept the truth into the Church. The main purpose of the Church missionary system is to preach the Gospel to all the members of the human race, so that, as far as possible, none may be left with the excuse that he has not heard the Gospel.

**The Home Mission Service.** The whole Church, at home, is devoted to the home mission service. The organizations of the Priesthood and the auxiliary organizations, form a network of active service into which every member of the Church may be brought. The home missionary service concerns itself with the spiritual and the temporal side of man's nature and life. The amusements of the young people; the home life of the older people, and the daily duties of all, are made part and parcel of the organized missionary system of the Church.

**For the Common Good.** The genius of the Church of Christ stands for the common good; hence the ceaseless missionary activity which is the great cementing principle of the Church. Not for the one, not even for the many, but for all, does the Church stand.

CHAPTER 23.

TEMPLE ORDINANCES.

The Church of God has always been characterized by the possession of temples in which the holiest work of the Gospel has been done. The activities of the Church have, so to speak, centered about the temples.

**Educational.** The doctrines of the origin, present condition and destiny of man should always be well in the mind of all, for without this knowledge, it is difficult to comply fully and intelligently with the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. It has been provided, therefore, that the story of man, from the beginning, at the present, and to the last great day, shall be given as frequently as may be desired to the members of the Church. In the temples this information is given, in an organized and correct form, so that it may not depart from among men and women. That is, the temples are conservators of the great truths of the Gospel. To the temples, man goes to be refreshed in his memory as to the doctrines relative to man and his place in nature. The endowments given to members of the Church in the temples are, essentially, courses of instruction relative to man's existence before he came on this earth, the history of the creation of the earth, the story of our first earthly parents, the history of the various dispensations of the Gospel, the meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the story of the restoration of the Gospel, and the means and methods whereby joy on this earth and exaltation in heaven may be obtained. To make this large story clear and impressive to all who partake of it, every educational device, so far known to man, is employed; and it is possible that nowhere, outside of the temple, is a more correct pedagogy employed. Every sense of man is appealed to, in order to make the meaning of the Gospel clear, from beginning to end.