The things Nelson has been coming up with have been pretty radical, and it's hard to see how they can really benefit the Church or the members. These things seem insignificant or crazy. There are many other more important things Mormons are "supposed" to worry about.

Monson just tried to keep the Church going. His changing of the mission program was in line with this.

Hinckley also just tried to keep the Church going.

Same thing with Hunter.

Benson had some wild ideas from the John Birch Society, but he didn't try to push them on members, and he was a decent, if gullible, person who just tried to keep the Church going.

Kimball was a bit crazy, but he tried his best to keep the Church going, too. The lifting of the Priesthood ban wasn't that radical.

Lee didn't make many changes. He also kept the Church going.

Fielding Smith had his own "original" theological ideas, but he didn't try to push them onto members. He mainly tried to keep the Church going.

McKay not only kept the Church going; he made it grow by leaps and bounds. However, he did this by using his personal charm and leadership skills, and his teachings were not really radical.

Albert Smith just kept the Church going. He talked a lot about his own take on Mormonism, but that was it--just talking.

Grant was a businessman who took a pragmatic approach to the Church and just tried to keep it going, like he would with a business.

F. Smith did not do much out of the ordinary other than have a revelation. That revelation became scripture but it did not affect the members much. He was a typical high level polygamist and he defended the Church by lying in court, trying to keep it going. He followed in the footsteps of Hyrum Smith and his brother Joseph.

Snow got members to pay tithing, but that was "necessary" to keep the Church going. Otherwise he just tried to keep it going.

Woodruff kept journals, but he didn't do much other than to keep the Church going, except for write the Manifesto, which came about because of political pressure.

Taylor didn't agree with everything Young had done, but he did not take the Church in a radical new direction. He just tried to keep it going.

Young was a special case because the Church was just starting out and it needed a lot of guidance and clarification of doctrine. However, he idolized Joseph Smith and did all he could to keep Smith's church going forward.

Joseph Smith created Mormonism; he could not radically alter Mormonism because he was the one who created it. He did contradict some of his teachings at time went on, so that can be considered radical, but it really is not that radical because his doctrine was not set in stone until he was gone. Under him the Church grew quickly, so he was "keeping the Church going."



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2018 10:30PM by behindcurtain.

The church is like the Energizer bunny. It keeps going and going and going...

Maybe radical “changes” are needed for long term survival, but when Nelson hypes up naming and schedule changes as “big”, I have to wonder if this bunny has much juice left.

Mormons have been conditioned to follow whoever is in the office. Right now it's Russ Nelson. I can be anybody. Changes will happen. Some prophets tend to be radical and others just let things be as they are. Monson was a pretty laid back prophet. He pretty much stayed with the Hinckley program. Nelson wants to rearrange the chairs on the deck.

With respect to Hinckley, I think he tried to build the image of Mormonism as "not weird" and a global rather than a Utah church. That was part of the media blitz on Larry King, 60 Minutes, Newsweek, etc. He also made big strides in aligning LDS, Inc. with the political right in the U.S. that in turn cast LDS folks as weird embracers of Dick Cheney and anti-gay public policy--oops!

behindcurtain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Young was a special case because the Church was
> just starting out and it needed a lot of guidance
> and clarification of doctrine. However, he
> idolized Joseph Smith and did all he could to keep
> Smith's church going forward.

Young revealed and institutionalized polygamy. That was more than just keeping "Smith's church going forward."

> Joseph Smith created Mormonism; he could not
> radically alter Mormonism because he was the one
> who created it.

Smith changed Mormonism through his entire life always adding and subtracting according to the interest it generated in the members especially his "Council of 50." He kept Mormonism going through changing it.