What, specifically, must mainstream Christians learn from Mormons?

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1. Theology must be simplified by being made concrete and personal. God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost should be talked about as persons with motivations, dispositions, intentions; and with whom we have relationships over mortal time and beyond.

2. In such terms, Christians need to know as a story what we are doing on earth, God's plans and our intended purpose - how we engage with the purposes and plans, how we should exercise our free will.

3. Christian life should be framed in terms of God's direct involvement in the minute details of daily life: to be engaged by frequent prayer, for thanks, worship and repentance; with expectation of personal answers and revelations, guidance and strength and encouragement, personal miracles.

4. Marriage and families must become central to the Christian life: men and women seen as complementary and mutually dependent and with a divinely ordained role in family; but marriage and family as primarily sacred relations, in recognition that we all are literally God's children, and therefore brothers and sisters.

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This last centrality of marriage and family is not a necessary nor universal Christian doctrine in terms of the history of the faith; but it is absolutely necessary here and now and in these circumstances.

Although it is not primary (individual salvation is, of course, primary) the sacred centrality of marriage and family is the major secondary imperative around which Christian society should be organized, here and now and henceforth.

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If the response to this is "But you don't need to be a Mormon to do all that stuff" - then I reply: "That is exactly my point!"

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