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Originally Posted by Elphaba
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There are other non-doctrinal items I was also taught, such as God literally had relations with Mary. I KNOW this came straight out of “Mormon Doctrine,” as I remember seeing the book in the instructor’s hands. And frankly, my shock at the words he was saying was significant. But I also know it was not taught often; rather, I suspect the instructor was excited about receiving his MD, and was gleaning his lesson plan from the book. I've also wondered if he was instructed not to teach from it again, because there were no more shocks like that one. Of course, I'll never know for sure.
So, how could it be that the Garden Grover 5th ward, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, emphatically taught that God had once been a man, and that we could become Gods, yet there are so many people, including some here, who say they were never taught these things.
And for those who doubt me, I promise you this is what I was taught as a young child/woman in Church. I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Yet so many others, here on the board, were never taught these beliefs. How is this possible?
Elphaba
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Many members of the LDS Church continue to seek learning and understanding from books that are not in our canon. That may or may not be a good thing to do, depending possibly on the degree to which we give heed to the disclaimer that such books are not official LDS doctrine and that the author/s speaks for him/herself, and to the degree that doing so takes away from time we could have spent studying our canonized revelations directly.
A case in point is the well-known book (several versions) "Mormon Doctrine" by Elder Bruce R. McConkie formerly of the Twelve (now deceased) which I think is the book you are referring to.
According to the authors of a new book titled
"David O. McKay and the Rise and Fall of Modern Mormonism" brother McConkie's book was never authorized by the First Presidency because they knew such a book written by a General Authority would indeed be considered authorititive even though it would contain on many topics only the opinions and understandings of the author, rather than revelation on the matter from the Lord.
Apparently two members of the First Presidency reviewed the book "Mormon Doctrine" and found more than a
thousand incidences of exactly the above where an opinion was rendered but there was nothing revealed by the Lord on the matter. (E.g. evolution.)
Elder McConkie was a spiritual giant, there is no doubt about that, and I will always remember his final testimony in General Conference. But his book "Mormon Doctrine" is NOT in our canon and as such we will not be held accountable by God for what is written in it.