October 2024
The false doctrine of inerrancy impedes our spiritual progression. This false idea claims that 1) past and current prophets never teach any false doctrine, 2) that the Lord’s chosen prophets will never lead us astray in any thing, 3) that all scripture is inerrant (no human fingerprints) and univocal (no scripture disagrees with another scripture because it all came from God), and 4) that there is no false doctrine within the church. The doctrine of inerrancy is a deception which sets up false expectations that ultimately damages faith when doctrinal errors are discovered within the scriptures, within official church doctrine, and in the words spoken by living prophets. When errant teachings and doctrines are inevitably discovered (because they exist) it leads to cognitive dissonance. Black and white, all or nothing, its all-true or all-false thinking then may lead to a faith crisis. The false doctrine of inerrancy leads to a weak and fragile type of faith built on false expectations. In order to develop a stronger faith, I believe that the truth of human errancy in official church doctrine, scriptures, and the words of living prophets must be acknowledged. This also transforms black-and-white thinking into something more complex and more beautiful, with greater room for grace, forgiveness, and divine love.
The purpose of life is to learn and grow into beings who have a greater capacity to radiate divine light and love. Agency and learning from failure (individually and collectively as a church) are important aspects of God’s plan of individual and collective growth. The errancy, complications, and messiness of mortal humans even when they are chosen by God, ultimately builds faith in the saving grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. We all need the saving grace of Jesus to not only save us individually, but also to save us collectively as a church and across the spectrum of humanity. Instead of looking for perfection in things that have never broken, we begin to see with Christ’s eyes, the beauty of broken things repaired with divine grace. “For whosoever has been forgiven much [and received much grace,] loves much.”
The principles of faith, repentance, humility, grace, and growth applies to individuals, prophets, and to the entire church. When we don’t humbly acknowledge our errors, then we prevent ourselves from learning and growing from our errors. We stop our growth towards our individual and collective divine potential. Divine truths (like scientific truths) are often revealed and discovered a little at a time rather than all at once. [also see D&C 50:24, 93:20, 98:10-14, 128:21] Nephi was inspired by Isaiah’s words
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough! For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have. Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Before continuing, I would like to state that my understanding is a work in progress. I don’t know everything and am still growing. I am an imperfect communicator. There is sure to be some fallacy and error in my own written words. I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn and grow in the gospel. I am a faithful (as far as I know how to be) disciple of Jesus Christ. I am a member in good standing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I acknowledge that ancient prophets interacted with God. I believe that scripture contains spiritual wisdom and truth. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established by God and that it is continuing to be established and built by Jesus. When I write about errancy and false doctrine within the church, my writing is about the state of the church today and in support of what the church will eventually become. I believe that the gifts of the living spirit are within the covenant church. I believe that there is enormous goodness and light within the church. I believe in so much of what the church proclaims and teaches even if there are errors within it. I believe that it is the destiny of the church to continue to awaken to the light of Jesus, shake off the dust and chains of spiritual darkness, and come to a unity of faith in Christ (see Ephesians 4:13-16). I believe in the final words and prophecy in the Book of Mormon directed towards the modern church and all of covenant Israel. By acknowledging the fallibility and error of prophets, scripture, and the church, the church can rise above that error and no longer be confounded. If past and current errors are not acknowledged then the church and each of us are halted in our repentance and progression through the grace of Christ.
[To the church and all the tribes of Israel] And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes [of the church] and enlarge thy borders forever [of the church], that thou [the church] mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee [through Christ’s atoning grace], O house of Israel, may be fulfilled. Yea, [the whole church] come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves [as a church] of all ungodliness; and if ye [the church] shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you [the church], that by his grace ye [the church] may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye [the church] are perfect in Christ, ye [the church] can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye [the church] by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye [the church] sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins [in the church], that ye [the church] become holy, without spot [from the sins of your generations].
The false doctrine of inerrancy leads to spiritual dissonance, contradiction, paradox, pain, black-and-white thinking, exclusion, and othering. It leads to an inability to adapt, discover, receive new revelations, and to grow. The false doctrine of inerrancy is contradictory to both a living church and the principle of agency. Those who subscribe to the doctrine of inerrancy will twist themselves in apologetic knots trying to justify things that are unjust and attempt to demonstrate that falsehoods are true when seen from just the right angle. If we are to adapt and grow beyond our current state, there must be an ability to recognize error so that we can grow beyond it. This is the spirit of humility and the doctrine of repentance. The ability to recognize error and become self aware is a critical attribute of a disciple of Christ and of a living church. If we can’t see and acknowledge our past and current errors then we are limited in our ability to repent, heal, and unlock Christ’s grace to grow beyond them.
Acknowledging doctrinal errors within the church, within the words and actions of prophets, and in the scriptures can feel like we are condemning God’s representatives on earth. It may feel like we are questioning God rather than seeking Him. While a prophet may be given words by God to speak, they are not God nor is every word that they speak from God. Prophetic error can challenge common ideas of what a prophet is. The idea of errors within the church acknowledges a human partnership with God with God walking with each of us rather than God doing everything alone. A purpose of life is to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. We have a Savior who is there to help us recover and grow beyond our mistakes and sins. Seeing our own flaws, our own repentance, our own growth, and receiving the miracle of Christ’s grace allows our empathy for others to increase. We can see beyond their flaws and sins if we have stumbled and experienced redeeming grace ourselves. We can see ourselves in those who have offended us. We see that they may be wounded, lashing out in pain, or simply misguided. As we grow in empathy and see ourselves in others, we grow in love. The purpose of life is to more fully realize our divinity and grow into beings of greater light and love who extend mercy and grace to others. Our individual and collective failings provide opportunities for growth as we partner with Jesus. With Jesus, we learn to have empathy and hope for others when they fail because we have also failed and received grace. We learn to even love our enemies as we recognize that we also have acted as enemies to others.
Acknowledging errors is necessary because it allows for progression beyond those errors. It allows for Christ’s grace to make us clean and better than we were before. It allows the church to become a heavenly community united in love. Making mistakes is a necessary part of growth, and growth beyond those errors is a necessary part of the gathering, restoration, and creation of all things in Christ. It requires humility, faith, and trust that God’s ways are higher than our ways. God is interested in our growth into greater divinity. Instead of giving us all truth all at once, he often allows us to fumble around and slowly discover it. God partners with people. The name Emanual means God is with us. Jesus came to earth to partner with us and show us how to grow into beings of eternal love. Part of Jesus’ example includes loving and working with flawed people who have biases, prejudices, and incorrect ideas of heavenly laws and who he is. These flawed people with false ideas included his closest disciples. They include our prophet, our church leaders, the church membership, and each of us.
Acknowledging the fallibility and potential errancy of an official church doctrine or the words of a prophet taught from a pulpit, requires us to work and strengthen our faith. It requires us to ponder, study, wrestle, and test the fruits of the prophet’s words. It requires us to seek out the Holy Ghost and to develop our own relationship with God so that we can directly receive doctrinal inspiration independent of the church.
If our church leaders would acknowledge their own fallibility not just as men, but include the potential for errancy in their doctrinal teachings (i.e. their limited understanding is incomplete), then it would be easier for the church to heal and progress beyond past failings. It would reduce the power of precedent that locks errant teachings into stone so that they stick around for generations. Church leaders should be authentic and genuine about their failings. They shouldn’t fear to be imperfect representatives of Christ to the point that they project a false persona. Church leaders should have more trust in the members to be able to handle this rather than fear that the faith of members would fall apart if church leaders were perceived as imperfect messengers who are also influenced by their own political and faith environment. The church would be more adaptable to the current needs of its members. The church could seek answers together rather than assuming that certain topics are locked in stone and that all that needs to be revealed has already been revealed on those topics. The church could be moved upon and receive revelations as a body rather than assume revelations can only come from the top down. The potential downside to acknowledging prophetic fallibility and doctrinal errancy is that some members who had a false expectation that church doctrine is never errant may feel wobbly until they learn to stand. The “milk before meat” analogy [1 Corinthians 3] isn’t meant to keep members forever simplifying the gospel because they can’t digest more complex principles. Eventually, the church will need to digest the sustenance needed for stronger faith that facilitates growth. We can honor past prophets for their revelations and work for the church, while also acknowledging that they taught some doctrines that are now rejected. We can grow beyond their errors rather than be limited by them. Likewise we can acknowledge that some of the teachings of current prophets may not be eternal truths, but may be stepping stones to discovering greater truths. Real history is often complex and messy because life is messy. Real people are complex and flawed. Discovering that prophets hold contradictory and incompatible beliefs or that they are sometimes hypocrites because their actions do not always match their words is to discover that they are human. Rather than cling to prophets, the goal should be to cling to Christ, “for the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”[Revelation 19:10]. Every member should develop the spirit of prophecy for themselves.
In speaking of unquestioning faith in church leaders, Paul said the following:
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; [or if one say I follow every word of the living prophet] are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, [and who is the living prophet] but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered [and the living prophet tended]; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth [,or he that tended]; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth [and he that tends] are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we [all who minister in the church] are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry [flock], ye are God’s [church] building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon [with refinements and new revelations by the Holy Ghost]. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [Do not build your foundation on fellow laborers, but on Jesus. Don’t put your faith in flesh, but in God].
In summary, Paul admonishes us to not idolize prophets who are our fellow laborers, but rather we should build our foundation on Christ. As infants in the gospel, we follow prophets who point us to Jesus, but the end goal is not to just drink milk by following prophets. This was the error of ancient Jews which caused them to fixate on Moses and overlook Jesus. The end goal isn’t to follow Moses, but to follow Jesus. Jesus is our true meal and our true nourishment. He is our true foundation. He is our TRUE PROPHET. As fellow laborers, we are all building a house of faith on Jesus over time with each new brick of individual and community revelation.
Acknowledging that past and current prophets are fellow laborers who also stumble requires the development of stronger faith and requires greater spiritual work for members to seek God themselves. The church would come out better and stronger for acknowledging this truth. I believe that the membership would rise to the occasion. It would stop some of those who see problems in the church from leaving because of the dissonance between the false doctrine of inerrancy and the lived experience of seeing first hand some of the problems within the church. It would stop prophet idolization and lead to a refocused faith in Christ rather than a faith in Paul, Apollos, or the current Prophet. Jesus is not only our individual savior. He is also the savior of the church. We thank prophets when they point us to Jesus. While we honor and follow prophets as fellow laborers, the doctrine of prophetic errancy shifts our ultimate focus from prophets to Jesus. The goal isn’t to put prophets on a pedestal to idolize their every word. The goal is to follow Christ. The ultimate work of prophets is to point us to Christ. At some point in our spiritual journey towards Christ, we need to develop our own gift of prophecy and our own relationship with Jesus. We will become spiritual peers with prophets as we build our own connection with the Holy Ghost. Developing our own ability to receive individual and collective revelation could unleash a new waive of church revelations and spiritual gifts that are needed to advance Zion, advance the Gathering of Israel, and prepare humanity for Christ’s return. Imagine the hope of Moses realized for every member to become a prophet, a watcher, a shepherd, a minister, and a missionary. For every member to come to know Jesus. [Numbers 11:12]
Where does errancy come from?
God is perfectly good. God does not lie. God choses prophets to proclaim his word. This is feels true. Then where do errors come into the church? In some cases, the church is held back because of the biases, prejudices, and false beliefs of church leaders. At other times, it is held back by the biases, prejudices, and false beliefs of the membership. Both leaders and membership need to grow together in Christ for the church to be able to receive and incorporate new revelations.
- 1) God hasn’t revealed everything yet. The knowledge of the church on spiritual matters is incomplete which means that certain teaching and doctrines may require refinement. Article of Faith #9 states that the Lord will still reveal many things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
- 2) Prophets are fallible with their own limited understanding, biases, and agency. Not every word that a prophet speaks from the pulpit is a revelation from the Lord. Not every doctrine that a prophet teaches in church documents comes from the Lord. Often the prophets who are our fellow laborers, intermingle their own philosophies with heaven’s light. Doctrines that prophets teach are sometimes communicated to the church in a manner that intermingles the divine inspiration received by prophets with their human biases, fears, assumptions, personal philosophies, politics, and limited understanding. Prophets sometimes intermingle their personal philosophies (which are the philosophies of men) with divine word. And really, how could they not? It is almost inevitable. They are human as well and will stumble from time to time. They cannot communicate directly with our mind and heart the inspiration that they received in the exact way that they received it. Sometimes they will communicate with their flawed understanding. It is not always apparent in their words what is just their personal philosophy, what is inspiration that contains both the fingerprints of man and God, and what is pure revelation word for word directly quoted from on high. Prophets have to interpret God’s light and then attempt to communicate that to others. While prophets help gather the people to Christ, only the Holy Ghost can directly link our heart and mind with heaven’s light. The Holy Ghost witnesses of truth, chases away error, and correctly interprets and conveys true principles.
- 3) Errors creep in as the words of prophets are further filtered, interpreted, and relayed by other people until they arrive at the recipient. With each intermediary in a game of telephone, heaven’s light is further filtered by another human with their biases and flawed communication.
- 4) Errors persist if either prophets, the membership, or both are not ready to receive new revelations by letting go of current beliefs. To receive new doctrine often means acknowledging that current teachings or the ways that things are currently done are not in perfect alignment with heaven. The Lord reveals line upon line. If he revealed it all at once before members were ready to receive it, they may not be able to bear it. They may experience sudden cognitive dissonance that leaves everything in shambles rather than a slow and steady remodeling of their belief system. They may experience desperation and hopelessness if the required life changes are beyond their current reach. To ask the Lord to see to our core and show us each and every flaw could overwhelm and destroy us if we are not humbly ready to receive it and rely on Christ’s transformative power and grace to change our very nature.
Positive social change is often a slow process taking generations. For example, it took over 200 years after slavery was introduced into the colonies of the united states before there was enough outrage to stop it with a civil war. It took another 100 years after the U.S. civil war until the U.S. had the civil rights movement. It took longer than that for the church to change its errant policy, stop teaching false racist doctrines, and allow blacks to hold the priesthood. A half a century after the civil rights movement, we still have more work to do in terms of racial equality and justice in society and within the church. Positive social change is a multi-generational work. Women gained the right to vote over 100 years ago. The women’s liberation movement (1960s to 1980s) which the church opposed, gave women additional rights. It took longer still for the church to slowly grant additional rights to women within the church and to slowly change a small portion of its sexist policies. Even today, there still exists gender inequality within U.S. society and the church continues to lag behind. The current work for LGBTQ rights mirrors the history of racial inequality and gender inequality within the church. This includes hard line statements, false doctrines, and fears of family degradation from interracial marriage, women working outside the home, equal pay for women, women who have rights and then may be more empowered to divorce their husbands and so on. There is more work to do within society and the church until we can become a community of one heart and one mind united in righteousness.
Hate within humanity causes us to wound one another and has even resulted in mass genocide. Instead of killing an entire village in revenge for the death of one person, the Lord revealed the principle of an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth [Exodus 21:22-25]. This was emergency triage and stopped humanity from escalating hate and entirely bleeding out. Putting pressure on a wound to stop it from bleeding out does not mean that the wounds of hate have been healed. It is a stop gap measure. The Lord also asks that we stop causing more hate filled wounds within humanity. Instead of stopping at the doctrine of an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth, Jesus revealed the principle of turning the other cheek without striking back and going the extra mile. This helps humanity to stop causing new wounds in revenge and forcing the aggressor to view the victim in a new way. It helps to jolt their conscience, activate their guilt, and reconsider their aggressive actions. Stopping new wounds from being formed doesn’t mean that existing wounds from hate have been healed. Jesus also said that we should pray for and bless our enemies. This begins the healing process. The wounds of hate ultimately cannot be healed and scarred over until we love our enemies. The end goal is for individuals and society to become like Christ and to love our enemies with the knowledge that we are all interconnected. Our enemies often lash out because they are wounded and in need of healing and grace. Returning hate for hate only causes more suffering. The way to combat the wounds of hate is with the healing grace of love. Christ died for everyone because he loves everyone. He calls us to love everyone as well. Healing the wounds that have been inflicted over multiple generations is not done over night.
Numerous scriptural errors and interpretations have been documented throughout the Bible. Some of these are simple scribal errors in copying scripture. Others were deliberately made to change the original meaning of the text to reinterpret it. Biblical scholars have documented all sorts of contradictions, errors, and changes. There are many Biblical teachings in the scriptures that most modern Christians reject. The Bible is a collection of independent books whose prophetic authors do not always agree with one another. The Bible is not a perfect univocal transmission of God’s word. Some books and doctrines benefit and build upon previous ones. For example, the New Testament reinterprets passages from the Hebrew Bible in ways that original Hebrew authors may not have intended. The Bible, is a library of separate books compiled together. It was not compiled into one collection as we know it today until many centuries after Christ. The New Testament is not arranged chronologically and Revelation was not the last book to be written. Some books were included and other common books accepted in Christ’s day were excluded from the Biblical cannon. This is evident since there are many passages in the Bible which quote other books not included in the Bible.
As for the Book of Mormon, Mormon 8:17 states, “And if there be faults [in the Book of Mormon] they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things; therefore, he that condemneth, let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of hell fire.” In Mormon 9:31, Moroni states, “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.” The Title Page to the Book of Mormon which is also scripture written by Mormon states, “And now, if there are faults [in the Book of Mormon] they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgement-seat of Christ.” In each case, the prophet allows for the possibility of some unintentional error in the scriptures and cautions the reader to be wise.
The words of prophets both dead and alive must be interpreted by the Holy Ghost to be understood with a divine heart, mind, eyes, and ears. The Holy Ghost allows us to receive our own divine communication. The Holy Ghost witnesses to us what portion is true and carries it to our heart. The Holy Ghost provides the gift of interpretation of tongues and interpreting the messages that come to us. It allows us to distinguish between truth and error, and between human bias and divine light. Nephi stated that we must have the gift of tongues to both communicate and receive/interpret the words of Christ so that we can feast on them.
Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ [not the scriptures, but divine communion with Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost], and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost? Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. [the Holy Ghost directly communicates truth to the hearer’s heart so that they receive divine communion] Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ [i.e. feast upon the divine light and communion received by the Holy Ghost]; for behold, the words of Christ [i.e. the direct divine communion and communication with God] will tell you all things what ye should do. Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock [this requires us to not just hear, but to get on our knees and seek direct communication with God]; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ…
Since it is the Holy Ghost that does all of the work in communicating and interpreting truth, what is the role of prophets? The role of prophets as I understand it is to help guide and gather people together. They share their experiences with God and point us to heaven so that we can each establish our own link with Christ via the Holy Ghost. They help us to connect with each other and with Christ as a collective. The great commandments to love God and to love each other requires us to connect with each other. Because we are all human we connect imperfectly. We see with limited vision and sometimes we don’t know that something is possible until someone provides an example that opens our minds to a new possibility. If there were no birds to inspire the thought of flight, it may have taken great innovators longer to discover how to fly. Once the Wright brothers flew, and it was positively known that human flight was possible, it unlocked a mental barrier for many other people to also make advancements and investments in human flight. Likewise, we may not know that we can have a personal direct communion with God until someone tells us about their own experience with God. We may not be open to the possibility of a remission of sins until someone tells us their own experience of being washed clean. We may not be aware of all that exists beyond our limited vision until someone who traveled beyond our horizon bubble comes to us to tell us what wonders they encountered. Prophets pop our mental horizon bubble by sharing their own experiences and discoveries which allows us to then to take new spiritual adventures.
The will of God is for each member to become a prophet or prophetess who feasts on the words of Christ having direct communion with Christ via the Holy Ghost. Moses wished that all the people were prophets and had their own communion with God. (see Numbers 11:29) When we have the gift of prophecy and receive inspiration we are changed. We have received divine light and have accessed greater understanding. However our understanding is still incomplete and we don’t understand everything. While our understanding has been increased, it remains incomplete and hence has the potential to still contain some error, bias, and personal philosophy that is still in need of correction. Likewise, prophets who lead the church are errant and they can only take us so far in connecting us with heaven and each other. We must develop our own relationship, testimony, and communion with Christ and we must undergo our own personal growth to love our neighbor.
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus [i.e. direct communion with God by the Holy Ghost] is the spirit of prophecy.
The Words of God spoken by Prophets
I do not worship prophets. I love and support them. I listen, heed, and ponder on their words. However they are not God. They are fallible. They sin. Only Christ was sinless. Their words and actions are sometimes flawed. Even though they commune with God on behalf of the church and are chosen by God to lead the people, they do not represent and speak for God at all times and in all things. In sermons at the pulpit and in written communications to the church, they do not always perfectly represent the will of the Lord. Because they are human with limited sight, they may unknowingly teach things that aren’t true. In order to obtain the will of the Lord for my life, I must seek out direct communion with God who will tell me all things that I must do by the Holy Ghost (2 Nephi 32:2-6).
Prophets are human. They sin. They act out of fear. They error. On rare occasion because of their own biases, personal philosophies, fear, or limited understandings they may even teach false doctrine or act contrary to God. Sometimes their words and actions may even temporarily push people away from God. Numerous examples are found in the Bible. A very few examples are listed below.
- Moses and Aaron sinned against the Lord. Because of this they were not allowed to enter the promised land with the rest of the host of Israel. Numbers 20:24, 27:12-14, Deut. 3:23-27. Even though Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land, Moses repented. The transfigured Moses appeared a millennia later to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
- Jonah ran away from his mission to go to Nineveh to declare that the wicked city would be destroyed. The Lord followed him and caused a whale to swallow him. Jonah prayed for mercy and was spit out on dry land. He then went to Nineveh to deliver the message. When Nineveh repented and was spared, Jonah was angry because the prophecy of destruction that he declared did not occur.
- Peter believing that he was acting in righteousness to protect Jesus, cut off the ear of a soldier at the Garden of Gethsemane. The chief apostle offended the Lord with his violent action stemming from good intentions that were in error. Jesus silently chastised Peter that the harm he caused was against his will by restoring the ear and healing the soldier. When prophets and apostles cause harm, they will be chastised. We look to Jesus to repair the harm that they may have caused and to bring healing.
- When the resurrected Savior appeared to Mary Magdalene, he sent her to declare his return to his disciples. They did not believe her. I hypothesize that they likely spoke in error to one another reinforcing their disbelief thereby marginalizing Mary and also temporarily leading each other away from the truth that Christ had risen. I wonder how else we would know that they disbelieved Mary if they didn’t speak of their disbelief to each other? Later that evening the Savior appeared to them correcting their error, and then they repented and believed.
Numerous examples of prophetic fallibility are also found in the modern church which causes pain to both those inside and outside the church. Modern examples of the fallibility of modern prophets begins with the prophet Joseph Smith Jr. even before the Book of Mormon was revealed and before the church was established.
For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him. Behold, you have been entrusted with these things, but how strict were your commandments; and remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them. And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men. For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble. Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall. But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work; Except thou do this, thou shalt be delivered up and become as other men, and have no more gift. And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man [Martin Harris who assisted with the work and also later repented], Who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment and boasted in his own wisdom. And this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges [as a Prophet and Seer restoring the Book of Mormon] for a season—
The spiritual and scriptural loss and damage that resulted from Joseph and Martin fearing men more than God cannot be understated. Roughly a third of the Book of Mormon was lost. To put this in context, it would be as if we had lost a third of the New Testament. What a colossal loss of scriptural information! And yet, the Lord forgave them and continued to work with them after they repented. It is a wonder that the Lord will continue to work with flawed humans and have grace on those who repent and return to him. I’m glad that he doesn’t give up on me either. His love and mercy are endless.
The Only True and Living Church is Fallible and Sometimes Errant
I believe in the restoration of the church. I believe that the restoration and the gathering of the righteous is in its early stages. The Lord has much more to reveal to us.
We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus chose the prophet, seer, and revelator Joseph Smith Jr. to establish his church in 1830. In addition to the Book of Mormon, Joseph received many revelations which were compiled into the Doctrine and Covenants. These books of scriptures acknowledge that there may be errors within the scriptures and even wickedness within God’s church. These errors and wickedness do not come from God, but from humans. God chooses to work with us despite our flaws, sins, and wickedness to help us grow into divine beings of light and love. This is the miracle of Christ and his mission. He came to save us. This applies to us individually as well as collectively as a church. As a Latter-day Saint, I have received the Holy Ghost and have been sanctified as a saint through baptism and confirmation. However, at the same time I am also a sinner. I am both a sinner and a saint. To be human is to error. My connection and communion with God is what sanctifies and “saint-ifies” me. I am a work in progress and eventually will be fully sanctified, “saint-ified”, gathered, and restored at the last day when the Lord resurrects me into eternal glories. Likewise, the church which has been called to rise from the dust, come out of obscurity, no longer be confounded, shake off the chains of darkness, and rise to the light of Christ is also a work in progress. I have the seeds within me to grow into a divine being of light and love because I came from God and because of my communion and covenant with Christ. Likewise, the church has within itself the ability to truly become Zion where its members are united as one body as if they had one heart and one mind with Jesus, and there is no poverty of any kind within the tent and boundaries of the church. The church will not be fully gathered until after that last day when all the temple work for the dead has been completed (D&C 128:24), all of humanity is sealed together, and all are found safe in God’s Kingdom of many glories except the sons of perdition who have chosen to reject God’s love and not be there. (D&C 76:40-44)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus’ church. He established it. This is his church. It is also the church of Latter-day Saints. We the members make up the body of the church. It is both the church of Jesus and the church of its members who have covenanted with Jesus. This church is also my church because I am a member of the church. It is a wonder that the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth deals with the messiness, flaws, and errant thinking of humans. His love endures beyond our wicked sins, betrayal, and errors. The name Immanuel means, “God with us.” This is one of Jesus’ many names. The name of the church signifies that God is with his imperfect, flawed, sinful, and sometimes wicked children who continually struggle to choose his divine light and love. He is with us, and remains with us, to help us grow into divine beings of light and love. His wisdom and belief in us, sees what we can become as our wounded and errant minds and hearts are healed by his love and grace. He has not abandoned any of us nor will he abandon any of us. He has already proven this. He died for the entire world despite our sins and wickedness because we are each valuable to him because he loves us.
God does not abandon me when I unknowingly error or even when I sin. Jesus doesn’t abandon me nor does he stop loving me. His arms are continually outstretched reaching out to us. It is me who sometimes forgets or who even sometimes willfully rebels and abandons Christ. The church as a collective body also sometimes forgets the Lord’s revelations, falls into sin, or even willfully rebels. This is seen throughout the scriptures in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. A few scriptural examples are below. One example that I would like to focus on is in the Book of Mormon. The pride of the church, the inequality within the church, the disputations within the church, and the “othering” by its members caused great sorrow and pain. Other forms of inequality, exclusion, and “othering” have also been a source of pain within the Latter-day church that has held back its progress.
And it came to pass in the eighth year of the reign of the judges, that the people of the church began to wax proud, because of their exceeding riches …which they had obtained by their industry; and in all these things were they lifted up in the pride of their eyes… Now this was the cause of much affliction to Alma, yea, and to many of the people whom Alma had consecrated to be teachers, and priests, and elders over the church; yea, many of them were sorely grieved for the wickedness which they saw had begun to be among their people. For they saw and beheld with great sorrow that the people of the church began to be lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and to set their hearts upon riches and upon the vain things of the world, that they began to be scornful, one towards another, and they began to persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and pleasure. And thus, in this eighth year of the reign of the judges, there began to be great contentions among the people of the church; yea, there were envyings, and strife, and malice, and persecutions, and pride, even to exceed the pride of those who did not belong to the church of God. [sometimes those outside the church are more righteous than those inside]… and The WICKEDNESS of the CHURCH was a great stumbling-block to those who did not belong to the church; and thus the church began to fail in its progress… [and] Alma saw The WICKEDNESS of the CHURCH, and he saw also that the example of the church began to lead those who were unbelievers on from one piece of iniquity to another, thus bringing on the destruction of the people. Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with their pride, despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry, and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted. Now this was a great cause for lamentations among the people… [there was a portion of the church that remained righteous and humble] … And now it came to pass that Alma, having seen the afflictions of the humble followers of God, and the persecutions which were heaped upon them by the remainder of his people, and seeing all their inequality, began to be very sorrowful; nevertheless the Spirit of the Lord did not fail him.
As a whole, the people inside the church were more wicked than those outside the church. Zion is where everyone is united in Christ into one body, with one heart and one mind and there is no type of poverty [i.e. inequity]. The situation that Alma encountered was opposite to the principles of Zion. There was a great inequality and a great pride within the church where some members looked down on others. This caused sorrow, pain, affliction, persecution, and held back the growth of the church. The parallels to modern church history are striking. As a collective body during the civil rights movement, many of those outside the church who fought for equality were less racist than those inside the church. We have also seen similar trends and attitudes when it comes to the rights and privileges of women and God’s LGBTQ children. In each of these cases, the church has at one point lagged behind social reforms rather than led the cause of righteousness and equity. Part of the reason for this I believe is because of the false doctrine of inerrancy which prevents progress once a prophet has made a statement on the topic. Rather than say a church leader was a product of their time and was racist, apologists will tie themselves in knots to justify that which was unjust. They will even put the wickedness on the Lord stating that we don’t know the will of the Lord and that it was the Lord’s will that racism exist, rather than to admit that prophets are fallible and sometimes errant. They will imagine up arguments and justifications for why the Lord created the inequality in the church rather than admit it was the work of flawed humans.
Great responsibility is given to church leaders. When they cause the people to stumble because of their own personal philosophies or when they fear to take action without an angel directing them to do so because of the false doctrine of inerrancy of a past statement by a prophet, the Lord is displeased. There are many places in the scriptures where the Lord chastises and speaks harshly against his chosen shepherds who do not take adequate care of the sheep. Mormon counseled his son Moroni that if they were not diligent in their labor that they would be under condemnation. (Moroni 9:6)
In Isaiah 55-57, the Lord states that his thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways. Many members don’t take the time to study what the Lord has said here. The Lord states that his salvation is over all the earth. In chapter 56, the Lord addresses the inequality and pain in the congregation due to the pride of some in the community believing they were better than others. This caused new converts [not born under the covenant] to question whether they really belonged or were somehow less valued or less faithful. This same line of thinking of those born in the covenant being better than converts has also existed in the modern church. It has been used as a justification for all sorts of inequalities. My mother was a convert and my grandmother didn’t want my father to date her because she thought that she was somehow less good than someone born and raised in the church because of some premortal decision she must have made. I’m sure that this errant line of thinking caused a great deal of pain to my mother. Neighborhood kids were told to not play with or associate with my cousins who were not Mormon. They were only to play with other Mormon kids which of course caused enduring pain to my extended family. The idea of premortal worthiness, was also used as justification for the Priesthood ban before 1978. Official doctrines and statements from the First Presidency, which are now disavowed, claimed that the racial priesthood ban was in place due to the premortal actions of certain races of people who must have been less valiant. Jesus during his ministry even had to combat the idea of premortal actions led to some people being born into a lower or higher station than others. Jesus was asked by his own disciples whether it was the blind man or his parents who sinned that caused the man to be born blind. Note that for the man to sin, he would have had to sin before he was born. Jesus said that neither sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Jesus healed him on the sabbath day and the man advanced in faith until he became converted. (John 9:2-41)
Isaiah 56 also describes how sexual minorities who were not allowed to participate in temple worship may have wondered whether they would ever be granted full access to Abrahamic blessings. Analogous situations exist today with our LGBTQ members. The Lord tells these marginalized communities (new converts and sexual minorities) to not internalize these ways of thinking. His thoughts and ways of thinking are higher than our ways. The Lord addressed their pain. The Lord promised these marginalized communities that they would have a place in his house. Sexual minorities would be given a place and a name better than of sons and daughters! The humble offerings of converts would also be fully accepted by the Lord. Then the Lord states in Isaiah 56:7-8, “for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.”
After addressing the pain of the marginalized communities, the Lord then addresses the religious leaders with harsh words. Some of these include, “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way [their personal philosophies], every one for his gain, from his quarter.” Isaiah 57 continues with the Lord’s statement that he is aware of the righteous who perished. We might compare that to members who were unjustly excommunicated or who were marginalized and gradually pushed out of the church. Those members will have their peace in the Lord. Then the Lord continues his chastisement against prideful and wicked members of the community to include some of the religious leaders who caused so much pain. He asks them whether he should receive comfort in their offerings when they have spread falsehood and slayed his children. Those who perpetuated this pain are hypocrites and have sought after their own philosophies rather than the Lord’s righteousness. They have debased themselves to hell. They have not feared the Lord. Their righteous works will not profit them. Vanity will take them. Then the Lord goes back to the idea that his ways are higher than our ways. He inhabits eternity and his name is Holy. He dwells with those of a contrite and humble spirit and will revive the hearts of those who are contrite. The Lord will not always be wroth. The Lord is merciful and will heal and lead those who turn to him. In Isaiah 58, the Lord says to “cry aloud and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.” The Lord’s people will return to seek him daily and will delight in approaching him. The Lord then states that the purpose of fasting is to liberate the marginalized who are hungry or poor. The Lord’s purpose is to break every yoke and to undo heavy burdens of the oppressed. This again calls to mind the definition of Zion as a people united in God and where all types of poverty have been vanquished. Then when the community has become as Zion, the Lord will shower them with blessings and revelations. The church will rise out of obscurity and the darkness will be less than at noonday. The Lord will answer when called and the riches of heaven will be upon the people. The people will repair the harm that was caused. The Lord will honor those that follow his ways and adopt his thoughts rather than following and speaking their own philosophies.
In the New Testament, there was sometimes arguments and fights among the leaders of the church about what to do. Sometimes the apostles argued and disagreed during the Lord’s earthly ministry as well as after the resurrection. They did not have a perfect understanding about the will of the Lord and how the work should move forward. Nevertheless this did not mean that they were not chosen and were not inspired to declare the gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost. Despite their shortcomings, the Lord chooses to work with imperfect people and does act through them. This does not remove their agency and they may find themselves out of harmony and in need of constant repentance. As often as they continually repent, Jesus offers grace, sanctification, and power through the Holy Ghost so that they can continue to declare his good news.
In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord chastised the church on more than one occasion in order to correct errors and sins.
And also Satan hath sought to deceive you, that he might overthrow you. Behold, I, the Lord, have looked upon you, and have seen abominations in the church that profess my name. But blessed are they who are faithful and endure, whether in life or in death, for they shall inherit eternal life.
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you—Wherefore, ye must needs be chastened and stand rebuked before my face; For ye have sinned against me a very grievous sin… They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noon-day… my servants sinned a very grievous sin; and contentions arose in the school of the prophets; which was very grievous unto me, saith your Lord; therefore I sent them forth to be chastened… If you keep not my commandments, the love of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore you shall walk in darkness.”
My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom. Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear; For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite,
Doctrine and Covenants 136:31-33
In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord states that he established the modern church to prepare the world for his second coming. He has called prophets and apostles to declare his word that the fulness of the gospel might be “proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world.”
Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding. And inasmuch as they [the Lord’s servants] erred it might be made known; And inasmuch as they [the Lord’s servants] sought wisdom they might be instructed; And inasmuch as they [the Lord’s servants] sinned they might be chastened, that they might repent; And inasmuch as they [the Lord’s servants] were humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time…[and also having received the Book of Mormon]… And also those [the Lord’s servants] to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth [to rise up] out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually— For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven; And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts. And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh; For I am no respecter of persons… What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether [transmitted] by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. [meaning that the Lord’s words will endure]
It is important to note that the Lord’s words will endure regardless if they are transmitted to the hearer directly by God or are relayed by prophets. This does not mean that everything that prophets speak is the word of the Lord and will endure and be fulfilled. Only the Word of God that is relayed through prophets will endure.
Behold, there shall be a record kept among you; and in it thou [Joseph Smith Jr.] shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, Being inspired of the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up unto the most holy faith. Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April. Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them [as he receives them by God is an often overlooked caveat!], walking in all holiness before me; For his word [that he receives from God] ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory. For thus saith the Lord God: Him have I inspired [by the Holy Ghost] to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good, and his diligence I know, and his prayers I have heard. Yea, his weeping for Zion I have seen, and I will cause that he shall mourn for her no longer; for his days of rejoicing are come unto the remission of his sins, and the manifestations of my blessings upon his works. For, behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing, and they shall believe on his words, which are given him through me by the Comforter [who is the Holy Ghost], which manifesteth that Jesus was crucified by sinful men for the sins of the world, yea, for the remission of sins unto the contrite heart.
The statement that “… his word ye shall receive as if from mine own mouth” is often quoted without the full context. It does not mean that everything that Joseph Smith Jr stated was to be received as if spoken by God. The word that we are to receive is not every word that a prophet speaks. Rather it is the word that the prophet received from God and which is relayed to the people by the Holy Ghost. It is the “Living Word” of the Holy Ghost within a prophet which testifies of Christ and his grace of salvation.
The church has a special mission to arise out of darkness and out of obscurity to prepare the world for the Lord’s return. The idea of Zion coming forth has been an ongoing prophecy of the Lord communicated by Isaiah, Nephi, Moroni, and many other prophets. It is also important to note that there are various ways to interpret the Lord’s statement that this is the “Only True and Living Church.” Sometimes members unfortunately interpret this as a statement of spiritual privilege over others. They may then view other churches as “lesser than.” I don’t believe that this is what the Lord wants. During his ministry Jesus who was a Jew, elevated the Samaritans [a separate but related religious denomination] with his parable of the Good Samaritan. There is no doubt that the Lord guides and inspires the minds and hearts of humble believers regardless if they are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or not. As in the days of Alma, those outside the church may sometimes be more righteous than those in the church. Nephi said that the Lord inspires good people in every nation to receive and write his words. Nephi prophesied that eventually as part of the future gathering, we will have the inspired words of Christ across the world and the ages gathered together in one. I see the spirit of the Lord guiding other churches and inspiring their leaders from time to time. I see the Spirit of the Lord behind efforts such as “The Chosen” TV ministry which seeks to foster faith in Jesus and bring various Christian denominations together in their love and devotion for Jesus by reenacting the stories found in the gospels. The LDS church and many LDS members along with many other Christians have supported this noble effort. I see the Spirit of the Lord behind the “One for Israel” Christian ministry which proclaims the gospel of Jesus in the nation of Israel and in the middle east. They collect and share testimonies of Jews and Arabs who have communed with God and have been converted to Jesus. What believer in Christ can doubt their testimonies and their conversion experiences? I believe that those in the “One for Israel” Christian ministry are part of the Lord’s plan and they are also fulfilling Book of Mormon prophecy to preach the gospel of Christ to Jews as part of the gathering and to prepare the way for peace when Christ returns.
And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ shall also become a delightsome people [filled and radiating with the light of Christ]. And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth.
Note that LDS missionaries are not bringing Jews and Arabs to Jesus Christ in the middle east, but other Christian ministries are inspired by Jesus to do this work. Who can doubt the humanitarian good that many humble Christian believers do across various religious denominations to relieve suffering in the world? Some of these churches have done more humanitarian good per offering that they receive for those outside their membership than the LDS church has done to date. In many ways, they are the Good Samaritan that the LDS church aspires to become. Their spiritual gift has been to relieve physical suffering and lift up the poor. They do all sorts of good work from food banks and kitchens, shelters, refugee support, emergency response, and many other good things. Surely these humble disciples are also inspired and led by Christ. Moroni chapter 7 states that all good works are inspired by Christ. When Jesus returns, he will unite all believers and correct all misunderstandings and errors. Our duty is to love and build connections of love rather than divisions. I think it pains Jesus when there are disputations, envying, and strife between believers. He would have us work together to do good according to each of our unique spiritual gifts and talents. The cause of Christ, and the body of Christ, and the unity of Zion is to eventually encompass all of humanity. Eventually we will see how the spirit of Christ inspired and worked through each individual and every group of believers. Christ died for everyone and his ultimate aim is to save the world with his transformative love and grace.
A Few Examples of Errancy and Correction
Divine Oneness
Warnings to the church
Awakening the Church so that it is no more confounded (Moroni 10:31-33)
We must expect our spiritual leaders to occasionally stumble and then support (sustain) them when they do. Each person must take responsibility for their own spiritual journey with Christ rather than blindly following fallible men chosen by God.
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FALLIBILITY OF PROPHETS
Peter cut off the ear of the soldier near the garden of Gethsemane in an attempt to defend the Savior. Prophetic harm can occur when prophets act with good intentions to defend the church but actually cause spiritual harm to others. The Savior silently chastised Peter by healing the soldier’s ear. May the Savior also heal all the ears of those who have been wounded by the misguided words of errant prophets.
“There are many who are willing to teach the philosophies of men mingled with scripture.” Rather than thinking that this temple quote applies to people outside the church in an “us vs them” paradigm, I believe it is better applied to the members and leaders in the church. I feel that we need to quit looking down on people outside the church as being lesser than us and beneath us in goodness. If we look closely, we may find that it is church members who are sometimes on the rameumptom rather than those outside the church. Maybe it is a cautionary tale for the modern church. Like you say in your book…maybe we are sometimes the villians and bullies. I think that the parable of the wheat and tares is more meaningful and actionable, when I consider the tares within me that I am trying to remove rather than thinking I am pure wheat and the Lord will burn all the world around me. Jesus came because God loved the world. Our teachings unfortunately intermingle two definitions of the term “world” which creates confusion and error. This then leads to marginalization, harm, and the opposite of what God desires. 1) world: all of humanity that God loves and Jesus died for 2) world: the systematic sin of social systems and the sin we cause. Mix these 2 definitions up and error is the result.
I believe that most Church leaders mix their personal philosophies with the divine inspiration that they receive. And to be fair…how could they not? We all have unknown biases that we are unaware of. How could these not seep out of us in our words and actions? Of course most church leaders in most instances mingle their own philosophies and biases with heaven’s light when they teach others. They are fallible humans doing the best they can.
One of the great failings of Joseph Smith Jr. was the loss of the 116 pages. Think of all of the martyrs who died to give us the Bible in the Reformation. How many more saints would be willing to die to ensure that the world (humanity) wouldn’t lose just one chapter of the New Testament let alone an entire book? Now think of what a monumental loss it would be if we didn’t have a third of the New Testament. What true believing Christian wouldn’t sacrifice much and perhaps even their own lives in order to prevent a third of the New Testament from being lost for generations so that the world (humanity) and their children could have those scriptures? What a loss of Biblical proportions! And yet, after much repentance, God chose to allow Joseph to retake the work even after such a big failure and loss.
Mormon 9:31 “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, nether them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.”
The scriptures have some pretty harsh words for errant church leaders. Only the Savior is the Great & True Shepherd (Helaman 15:13, 3 Nephi 16:3). Perhaps many church leaders who are thought to be shepherds over the church are actually just hirelings watching the sheep.
Below is some name calling by the Lord against religious leaders who marginalize the sheep. Following Nephi, I liken the scriptures to my day. I find Isaiah 55 – 57 particularly insightful to me in my own faith journey that the Lord’s ways are higher than my ways. I find that these chapters are strikingly applicable to LGBTQ church members (my daughter is lesbian). The passages also apply to other members who are marginalized such as new converts who weren’t born in the covenant and were in the past treated lesser than by some members because of it. My mother was a convert and my grandmother didn’t want my dad to marry her because she wasn’t born and raised in the covenant. Isaiah 55 contains the famous scripture of the Lord’s ways being higher than our ways. If you keep reading you will see that it also discusses that religious leaders and members of the community who marginalize new converts and eunuchs (sexual minorities – also see Matt 19:12) are not the Lord’s ways, but his ways are higher than that. The Lord is displeased with religious leaders who hurt his sheep.
Isaiah 56:10-11 “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.”
Here is my commentary on Isaiah 55-57 if you are interested in the Lord’s ways being higher than the ways of the church anciently. https://hopesofglory.com/jesus-loves-everyone-yes-everyone/
2 Nephi 28:31 “Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.” I believe that this verse applies to prophet-worship and also to the words spoken at the pulpit that intermingle personal philosophies and human biases with heaven’s light. Nephi is telling us to ignore the words of prophets unless they are given by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Bible also has some choice words about not putting our trust in the arm of flesh. We should put our trust in God.
I served as a Bishopric counselor. One time a sister came up to me and told me that while I consistently thanked those who gave the prayer and thanked the speakers, I consistently overlooked those who oversaw the music. That probably stings your ears with your music callings. I thanked her and then corrected my actions when I conducted sacrament meeting from then on. She sustained me even though she didn’t agree with how I was conducting the meeting. She sustained me in my calling by providing feedback and pointing out an error and a bias that I was unaware of that I was making. I’m grateful that she came to me because it helped me to grow. We don’t sustain our leaders by always agreeing with them and never speaking up. We don’t sustain them nor do we fulfill the principle of church councils by becoming “yes-men.” That type of group behavior in the literature is called “Group-Think.” It is part of the human condition and something that we have to move beyond to become effective in making group decisions as a fully formed body of christ. Group-Think leads to dysfunctional decision making. It is characterized by an in-group and an excluded out-group, mind guards, a lack of creativity and a purposeful ignorance to look at alternate solutions, echo chambers, peer pressure to not rock the boat and so on. Wikipedia also lists that GroupThink leads to illusions of invulnerability, unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, rationalizing (apologetics and getting twisted in knots comes to mind), stereotyping (everyone outside the church is bad), self-censorship (this takes courage to overcome), illusions of unanimity, direct pressure to conform and not be disloyal, etc. Time and again in my career I’ve been a first hand witness to GroupThink and the dysfunction that it creates. GroupThink has definitely plagued the church because groups can easily get caught in it. The principles of GroupThink are counter to how we are supposed to hold and run church councils. We should give everyone a voice without judgement, obtain a diversity of perspectives for a fuller, more complete, holistic understanding of an issue. Then we can then be inspired on how to address it holistically without willfully ignoring parts of the problem or overlooking potential solutions. It’s supposed to be a bit messy because different points of view of the problem may conflict or be contradictory to others. Only in the integration of diverse look angles can a holistic understanding of the problem and potential solutions be achieved. That’s a basic principle in systems engineering. I looked at your email and just found the canonizer site. I haven’t really had time to really search the site, but if the principle is to gather what everyone thinks on a topic and then reach some sort of integrated consensus… then those involved are in a dialog that avoids the trap of GroupThink which is music to me.
FALLIBILITY OF SCRIPTURES
Book of Mormon Title Page: “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God…” Up-front the Book of Mormon which is the most correct of any book also contains a disclaimer!
Article of Faith #9
If God has yet to reveal many great things pertaining to the kingdom of God, then there are undoubtedly things that we must unlearn that are not in perfect alignment with heaven. This is why we must be humble. If we are prideful thinking we know everything, then we are not teachable and cannot receive higher light.
As Nephi said, spiritual light is given line by line and precept by precept. We don’t receive all the light all at once. If we don’t have all the light and all the precepts of heaven…then there are things we must unlearn in order to climb to higher heights of light and love.
There are numerous scriptures in the Bible that contradict one another. The Bible is not univocal and contains many different perspectives by many different authors. It is a library of books with varying levels of inspiration with each book intermingled with the personal philosophies and biases of their authors.
FALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH
The Book of Mormon (and other scriptures) discuss problems in the church. A couple of my favorite scriptures on this topic are below:
Inequality: I also liken Alma 4:11-15 to Blacks & the Priesthood, looking down on gay latter day saings, power differentials of men over women in the church, and any other kind of inequality that results in marginalization and sorrow.
Alma 4:11-15 “…Alma saw the wickedness in the church, and he saw also that the example of the church began to lead those who were unbelievers on from one piece of iniquity to another, thus bringing on the destruction of the people. Yea, he saw great inequality among the people…Alma, having seen the afflictions of the humble followers of God, and the persecutions which were heaped upon them by the remainder of his people, and seeing all their inequality, began to be very sorrowful; nevertheless the Spirit of the Lord did not fail him.” I pray that the Spirit will not fail us when we also encounter wickedness or inequality in the church.
The New Testament and the D&C are full of examples of apostles and members in conflict with one another.
In the very last verses at the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni references Isaiah and exhorts for the church and Zion to rise, be enlarged, be no longer confounded, come unto Christ, and be sanctified in him. I believe these last verses of coming to Christ apply to me as an individual…but I also think it useful to think that they apply to the church as well. The church is also in need of the saving grace of Christ. If the institution was infallible then it wouldn’t need Jesus. However, because the church is fallible, it of course needs the healing grace of Jesus. Just because this is the Lord’s true and living church, doesn’t mean that it is fully true or fully living yet. This “true and living” also applies to me. In some sense, I am not yet fully true. Jesus is the truth and I am still working on taking his name upon myself and becoming a full Christian disciple. In some sense, I am not yet fully living as I am still growing and have not been resurrected yet. The prophecy is that as Adam was created from the dust, so will the church also rise from the dust, shake off the dust, shake off the chains of sin, and rise out of obscurity as a new divine creature. And so will all those who follow Jesus also become new creatures. I am currently a work in progress. I am both a sinner and a latter-day SAINT in a covenant relationship with Christ with a promise to rise into glories. I am growing through stages of development. Hopefully I’ve grown past the terrible twos. Likewise the church is also a work in progress being both sinful and holy and in a covenant relationship with Christ with the eternal promise to rise out of darkness and obscurity into glories. The church is the only living and true church but here again like with the term “world” there are multiple possible definitions some of which might lead us astray. It is not true in that there is no error or that it is infallible. It is true in that it is faithful to Christ in its commitment to continue growing towards Christ like a true friend. It is true in that it is in a covenant relationship with Christ. It is living in that it is changing, adapting, breathing, stumbling, learning, and growing. The tent of Christ’s church will eventually encompass all of humanity. If we adopt a “Big Tent” view, all the righteous are in some sense already to some degree in the tent. Perhaps analogous to the ancient tabernacle that Israel carried with them in the wilderness for 40 years, there are borders within borders or tents within tents. According to Moroni, the spirit of Christ moves all of God’s children towards that which is good. The spirit of Christ inspires those outside the LDS church to do all sorts of good and is also inspiring them to do work as part of the restoration of all things in preparation for Christ’s return. Don’t we already teach that the restoration began with the Enlightenment and the Reformation? Why can’t it also be continuing in the broader Christian community and among all people who are humble believers in God outside the LDS faith? I don’t think that the restoration is limited to the LDS membership. Isaiah who was quoted by Abinadi and also by Jesus, states that eventually through Christ all the watchmen will see eye-to-eye the miracles that Christ has done for each of us.
Finally the End: Ok so this email sort of evolved into a quasi-essay of my ponderings on fallibility. You are an expert on the topic as you’re writing a book. Hopefully there was still something in here that resonated or inspired your mind to help you refine your work. I think that what you and Ian are doing has the goodness of God in it… in which case it is inspired by Christ according to Moroni. In my own faith journey, I had to discover the principle of fallibility and there would have been less pain, fewer false expectations, and less cognitive dissonance to work through had I read your book many years ago. Hopefully your book will help its readers to focus their eyes on Christ. Following the prophet is not the end game. We are to move past the prophet to gain the spirit of prophecy for ourselves which as the Book of Revelation states is the testimony of Jesus. We are to continue moving forward in Jesus growing brighter and brighter in charity which is the pure love of Christ and a defining attribute of every divine being, and eventually enter into eternal communion with him as the trunk of the tree of life, and through him have divine connection with the rest of the heavenly host.
Hopes of Glory 