LDS scholar Noel B. Reynolds wrote the following about the
sentimentalism one all too often encounters among Church members and various
publications as opposed to true gospel learning:
Sentimentalism vs. Spirit
My first example may be a simple hazard of youth, though I suspect it is
a general problem of our times. We are witnessing a widespread inability to
distinguish between sentimentalism and true spiritual experience.
Unfortunately, some of the literature used in the Church today is too much like
the popular sentimental trash which is designed to pull our heartstrings or
moisten our eyes, but which does not communicate true spiritual experience.
The tendency of our youth to use sentimental stories in Church talks
creates a culture of spiritual misunderstanding in which thinking and learning
are discouraged. When I was a bishop years ago in an Orem ward, I felt strongly
the need to counsel the youth not to use the compilations of sentimental stories
that are available. I feel that our failure to immerse these young people in
the scriptures and other high-quality literature makes them vulnerable to the
cheap tactics of every moralistic movement which they encounter. Every teacher
of youth knows what a challenge it is to make every lesson into a spiritual experience.
Because youth respond positively to sentimentalism, there is a danger that we
might come to rely on it as a more dependable way of getting their attention
and creating an intensified classroom atmosphere. Genuine spiritual experience is
not mechanically available to us. Both teacher and students must work together
in a thoughtful and humble way for it to occur. This must be a particularly
difficult challenge for seminary teachers who meet daily and for long hours with
many young people who would prefer to be somewhere else.
But is it possible to imagine that Nephi was brought up on such
sentimentalism? On the contrary, as he informs us in the first verse of his
record, he was carefully instructed in all the learning of his father. And that
learning was of no small effect, for, as he encountered the real problem of
real life, he responded in a supremely intelligent and powerful way, quickly
learning the Spirit of God and obtaining its guidance in the most difficult
tasks.
It may be that some sentimentality is a good and necessary thing, and
certainly there is a place for it in our relationships with our loved ones. But
it should never be leaned upon as a substitute for spirituality. Reliance on
sentimentality will strunt our spiritual growth by robbing us of the spiritual
gift of discernment and filling our understanding with false experiences.
Our spiritual immaturity can also be revealed through our choice of
books. I was dismayed several years ago as editors of major LDS publishing
houses apologetically explained to me that they are primarily interested in
books which can either feature a well-known Latter-day Saint author or are
written on a very simplistic level and in such a way as to give people a warm,
comfortable feeling without any challenging ideas. Anything more demanding of
the reader, I was informed, will not sell enough to justify publication. As a
Latter-day Saint I was chagrined. But as I took more occasion to observe what
is selling well in our bookstores, I could see they had only been candid with
me. (Noel B. Reynolds, “Reason and Revelation” in Philip L. Barlow, ed. A Thoughtful Faith: Essays on Belief by
Mormon Scholars [Centerville, Utah: Canon Press, 1986], 208-9)