tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post7540142146959856024..comments2023-09-05T20:54:42.242-04:00Comments on A Latter-day Voice: "Important, But Not Essential"Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-50061019834740196592011-11-10T11:24:37.827-05:002011-11-10T11:24:37.827-05:00Ardis, your line of reasoning is the same my wife ...Ardis, your line of reasoning is the same my wife used as I described the phone call (and this post) to her. (In the course of the interview, I felt I had to respond very quickly, and in the aftermath I questioned my rubric. The very fact that I consciously developed an on-the-spot rubric is the result of my own hard wiring, I suspect.)<br /><br />And you're right about how I interpreted essential. And if I look at it the way you suggest, I would come to very similar conclusions to yours.<br /><br />I wondered if the poll would have included any of the faith-based doctrinal / religious practice questions had I identified a follower of another faith.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-42880247077453711502011-11-10T10:10:51.157-05:002011-11-10T10:10:51.157-05:00Interesting (very interesting, somewhat interestin...Interesting (very interesting, somewhat interesting, not very interesting ... :) ) <br /><br />I'm sure pollsters work over their questions to make them as clear and uniformly understood as possible. I'm also pretty sure that you and I would be very closely aligned in any doctrinal discussion -- yet we would have interpreted and answered some of the questions very differently. You seem to have interpreted "what is essential" as referring to "essential for salvation," and unless the precise wording of the question suggested otherwise I probably would have interpreted it as "essential to my faith and identity as a Mormon," given all those questions just asked to identify my level of Mormonness. Abstaining from alcohol, for instance, is not at all essential in the grand scheme of things, but I would find it difficult to be a Mormon without abstaining. Belief in Joseph Smith's prophetic calling is a far more interesting case -- that belief is essential to my faith in temple ordinances, the Book of Mormon, my understanding of what *is* essential for salvation, and a host of other points, even if those points were not technically essential to salvation. Certainly an active *disbelief* in that calling would bar me from beliefs and practices that I do deem essential.<br /><br />Not that our differences here are personally important -- they only serve to caution me that the results of a poll like this can be skewed by unsuspected things.<br /><br />Interesting about the current recommend question, too. I wonder what markers they used to assess the level of Baptist-ness or Muslim-ness, etc., when people identified themselves as followers of other faiths.Ardishttp://www.keepapitchinin.orgnoreply@blogger.com