The Mormon Prophet on Prop 8
Was President Monson wrong on Prop 8? Such a thought is immediately deemed a heresy by most members of the church. But other faithful members disagree with the prophet, while still believing that he is the only man alive who can receive revelation for the entire earth.
Some of my Mormon friends have said, "I cannot understand someone who could disagree with the prophet."
I do not understand either, but I want to, even if I disagree with them. When most people say they do not understand something, they leave it at that. Such a lack of the want to learn will surely lead to damnation just as well as any other heresy. For we cannot be saved in ignorance.
Prophets have never been popular. The Bible, if anything, is a history of the rejection of the prophets. Those who grasp most closely to the Bible now days scoff at the idea of another prophet coming, and so the cycle of rejection continues.
Those of us who believe in a living prophet fear rejecting him and then being counted among the faithless. But I would say that blind faith in the words of a man is no faith at all. It is just a lazy acquiescence to the status quo. Where's the struggle of conscience that makes faith strong? Where's the intellectual discussion that marks us children of God, and not simply cattle?
One way to follow the prophet and grow in faith was laid out by Brigham Young:
"The First Presidency have of right a great influence over this people; and if we should get out of the way and lead this people to destruction, what a pity it would be! How can you know whether we lead you correctly or not? Can you know by any other power than that of the Holy Ghost? I have uniformly exhorted the people to obtain this living witness, each for themselves; then no man on earth can lead them astray."
Those who go along with the words of the prophet without seeking the confirmation of the Holy Ghost are as faithless as the infidels who will not prayerfully read the Book of Mormon to test its verity, but rest their convictions on the opinions of others.
Some of my Mormon friends have said, "I cannot understand someone who could disagree with the prophet."I do not understand either, but I want to, even if I disagree with them. When most people say they do not understand something, they leave it at that. Such a lack of the want to learn will surely lead to damnation just as well as any other heresy. For we cannot be saved in ignorance.
Prophets have never been popular. The Bible, if anything, is a history of the rejection of the prophets. Those who grasp most closely to the Bible now days scoff at the idea of another prophet coming, and so the cycle of rejection continues.
Those of us who believe in a living prophet fear rejecting him and then being counted among the faithless. But I would say that blind faith in the words of a man is no faith at all. It is just a lazy acquiescence to the status quo. Where's the struggle of conscience that makes faith strong? Where's the intellectual discussion that marks us children of God, and not simply cattle?
One way to follow the prophet and grow in faith was laid out by Brigham Young:
"The First Presidency have of right a great influence over this people; and if we should get out of the way and lead this people to destruction, what a pity it would be! How can you know whether we lead you correctly or not? Can you know by any other power than that of the Holy Ghost? I have uniformly exhorted the people to obtain this living witness, each for themselves; then no man on earth can lead them astray."Journal of Discourses 6:100
Those who go along with the words of the prophet without seeking the confirmation of the Holy Ghost are as faithless as the infidels who will not prayerfully read the Book of Mormon to test its verity, but rest their convictions on the opinions of others.
"We both believe, and disbelieve a hundred times an Hour, which keeps Believing nimble."
ReplyDelete—Emily Dickinson