There is a false (nay, blasphemous) belief among many, including some Latter-day Saints, that relegate true doctrine to a secondary, if not tertiary, place of importance. However, this ignores the explicit teachings of Jesus Himself, as one author noted:
Correct belief holds a central place in Christianity. It is far from being the only important thing, of course (Jas 2:19). But Jesus felt it was significant enough to devote much of his own ministry to the subject. Early in the Gospel of Mark, we see how the crowds are already “astounded” at Christ’s authoritative teachings, well before he performs any miracles. And even after he has literally worked wonders among them, the people are still talking excitedly about having heard “a new teaching—with authority!” (Mark 1:21-27). Evidently, these were people eager for true doctrine; who better to hear it from than “the truth” (John 14:6) himself? In the Gospel of John, Jesus gives a number of highly theological, doctrinal talks to various audiences (e.g., John 3:1-21; 6:25-65; 14:1-16:33), which even some of his closest followers find “difficult” to follow (6:60). Toward the end of his time on earth, Christ commands his Church to teach the new “disciples of all nations . . . to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). So essential is this task, that he sends the Holy Spirit as a kind of guarantor of the Church’s orthodoxy: he will “teaching you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). (Stephen Bullivant, The Trinity: How Not to be a Heretic [Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 2015], 3)
