The full gospel is very full.

Think of the very basic version of the gospel.  Elevator-pitch Protestant Christianity.  There is Jesus and  you.

Then there is Elevator-pitch Catholicism.  God –> Church –>you.

Elevator-pitch Mormonism is God–>Church–>Family–>you.

Entropy being what it is, we always strawmanize ourselves, and we are always in danger of treating these elevator pitches as reality.

Reality is far more wonderful.

There is your past and future self.

There are the friends and heroes that have influenced you.  President Monson talked about the winsome concept of a “personal Hall of Fame.” Some of these people the scriptures introduce us to.

There are families.  Not just a subset of our Church activity.  In some ways, prior to and certainly independent in some spheres of our Church activity.  And not just our nuclear family and not just in the present.  President Kimball talks about families as ocean currents–vast moving forces under the visible surface that carry us far.

And there is the Mormon people–very much overlapping with but not identical to the Church.  When we honor the pioneers we are honoring that tie.  When we try to give Mormons a good name through our personal example, we are acknowledging that tie.

The heavenly  mansions are built of many parts, fitly framed together.

Other Posts from the Sunday afternoon session of the October 1974 General Conference

• The Home Is Our Peculiarity by Nathaniel Givens
• Because the Gospel is True, Then … by Jan Tolman
• A strong, steady current by Marilyn Nielson