Pres. Hinckley answers myriad questions about the LDS Church
Associated Press: What does it mean to be a Latter-day Saint?
President Hinckley: It means to be a member of this church in the first place and, in the second place, to conduct one's life according to the doctrine and tenets of the church.
Associated Press: The church through its Doctrine and Covenants lays out a pretty clear and some would say rigid path for living. Is Mormonism a culture as much as it is a religion?
President Hinckley: Out of religion grows a culture. Culture is an expression of behavior, and behavior comes of belief.
Associated Press: How do you hang onto that culture, those ideals in a world that is so rapidly changing and where social standards are changing?
President Hinckley: That's the big challenge. That's also our great opportunity . . . to teach people, to provide for them something of stability and strength and solidarity in a world of shifting values.
President Hinckley: To a measure, I suppose. Understanding and appreciation come of knowledge. The more people come to know us, the better they will understand us.
Associated Press: So will they find you a little less peculiar?
President Hinckley: Oh, I don't mind being called peculiar. We are a little peculiar. We're a little different. We don't smoke. We don't drink. We do things in a little different way. That's not dishonorable. I believe that's to our credit.
Associated Press: Why do you think the Mormon Church is not perceived as a Christian church?
President Hinckley: Of course we're Christian. The very name of the church declares that. No one believes more strongly in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more strongly in the power of his redeeming sacrifice. The Book of Mormon is another witness for the divinity and reality of Jesus Christ. The more people see us and come to know us, the more I believe they will come to realize that we are trying to exemplify in our lives and in our living the great ideals which he taught.
Associated Press: In the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith says the church is "the only true and living church upon the whole Earth." Where does that leave other denominations?
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