By Jerald and Sandra Tanner
At a Brigham Young University Devotional held March 2, 1982, the Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie delivered a very significant message. In this speech, Apostle McConkie emphatically declared that members of the Mormon Church “should not strive for a special and personal relationship with Christ.”
[Bold in quotations is added for emphasis and does not appear in originals.]
McConkie maintained that he was expounding the “doctrine of the Church” on this subject and said that “you have never heard one of the First Presidency or the Twelve . . . advocate this excessive zeal that calls for gaining a so-called special and personal relationship with Christ.” McConkie also admonished that:
“everyone who is sound spiritually and who has the guidance of the Holy Spirit will believe my words and follow my counsel.”
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie
“Our Relationship With the Lord”
(BYU Devotional, March 2, 1982)
In concluding his remarks, Apostle McConkie set himself up as one of the greatest living authorities on Christ: “It just may be that I have preached more sermons, taught more doctrine, and written more words about the Lord Jesus Christ than any man now living.”
Bruce R. McConkie seemed to be especially upset with “a current and unwise book” which he does not identify by name. It is believed, however, that he was referring to the book What It Means To Know Christ, by George Pace, an associate professor at BYU. In the Foreword to this book, Dr. Pace maintained that people should “center their lives in Christ and . . . develop their own personal relationship with Him.” From an article published in the Seventh East Press, an independent student newspaper which is published just off campus of BYU, it would appear that George Pace has a number of supporters:
. . . we have been surprised at the overwhelming number of traditionally conservative, orthodox, sustaining LDS members who have expressed criticism of Elder McConkie’s presentation. People who we would never have suspected to say an unkind word about their delinquent home teacher have gone out of the way to state their distress over Elder McConkie’s “uncharitable rebuke” of George Pace, abrasive style of presentation, unneeded mocking of other religion’s rituals and saints, dogmatic approach, and condescending tone. . . . Many of the offended saints seem to be looking beyond the mark of learning truth from a great gospel scholar in the Church by going out of their way to find fault. Indeed some seem to be trying to position themselves so that Elder McConkie would be sure to knock off the chip on their shoulder. (Seventh East Press, March 14, 1982, p. 8)
The speech delivered on March 2, 1982, was not Apostle McConkie’s first attack on those who stress a personal relationship with Christ. According to the Seventh East Press, November 18, 1981, he had warned students against this doctrine a few months before:
On the weekend of October 31, 1981 Elder Bruce R. McConkie and other General Authorities presided over the 14 BYU Stake Conference. . . .
Elder McConkie counseled students against praying on dates, saying that this practice develops a relationship that should only exist in marriages. . . .
Elder McConkie believes that the Second Coming of Christ will not take place during his lifetime, nor the lifetime of his children, and maybe not during the lifetime of his grandchildren. He said that there is too much to be done before the Savior’s return can take place . . . as we measure time, it is a long way off.
He also spoke on a subject he said had been going around the church—developing a personal relationship with Christ. He said that those who preach this doctrine, that is, “take it as a goal in life and focus on it or single it out” become “unbalanced.” He discussed the fact that we worship God the Father in the name of Christ through the Holy Ghost, and that we don’t pick out one member of the Godhead to have a “special” relationship with, but should seek to obtain the spirit.
While Bruce R. McConkie claims to be one of the greatest authorities on the life of Christ, he is certainly out of step with the teachings of the Bible. From beginning to end the New Testament stresses the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In Matthew 11:28 we find Jesus Himself saying:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11:28)
This same theme continues right into the book of Revelation where Jesus says:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me
(Revelation 3:20)
The Apostle Paul certainly taught a close personal relationship with Christ in his epistles. For instance, in Philippians 3:8-10 we read:
8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
(Philippians 3:8-10)
Jesus also made it very clear that his followers were to know God the Father by virtue of himself, the Son, actually dwelling in them in the closest of relationships. Before going to the cross he prayed for his disciples and for all who would come to believe in him thereafter:
22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. . . .
26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
(John 17:22-26, NIV)
Apostle McConkie’s teachings are not only out of harmony with the Bible, but they are contrary to the Book of Mormon as well. For example, McConkie claims that “We worship the Father and him only and no one else. We do not worship the Son . . .” He also warns that those who claim a personal relationship with Christ “often begin to pray directly to Christ because of some special friendship they feel has been developed. . . . Our prayers are addressed to the Father, and to him only.” The Book of Mormon, however, has the ancient Nephites both worshipping and praying to Jesus:
. . . they did cry out with one accord, saying: Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him. (3 Nephi 11:16-17)
And behold, they began to pray; and they did pray unto Jesus, calling him their Lord and their God.
(3 Nephi 19:18)
And when Jesus had spoken these words he came again unto his disciples; and behold they did pray steadfastly, without ceasing, unto him; and he did smile upon them again; and behold they were white, even as Jesus.
(3 Nephi 19:30)
Actually, Apostle McConkie’s recent statement is only the last step on a long pathway leading away from Biblical teachings about Christ. This process began during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, although the Book of Mormon itself emphasized the importance of Jesus. The Book of Mormon, in fact, teaches that Jesus is God Himself manifest in the flesh (see Mosiah 15:1-5).
Brigham Young, the second President of the Mormon Church, departed even further from Biblical doctrine in his teachings concerning the Godhead. For a complete treatment of the changing conception of God in Mormon theology we recommend our book Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? pages 143-178.
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