Maxel,
I do actually believe in modern prophecy and modern day prophets. I have a prophetic word spoken to me nearly 20 years ago, which I hold dearly and count as a specific word of God to me.
I do realised that LDS do not take every utterance by a prophet as words from the Lord, you do have a vetting process through which it has to pass before being accepted by the church. A prophet cannot just be having a bad hair day, make an on off the cuff remark and change peoples actions or beliefs.
However the impression I had from the posters in this thread was that a prophetic word absolves them of moral responsibility before God. That even if they had a testimony or conviction that a prophecy wasn’t from God, God expects them to follow the prophet’s words against their own witness and God will absolve them of any wrong if they do.
Prophets do make mistakes (Num 20:7-12) and I’m sure Moses would have thanked the courageous man if he had stepped up and said, "God told you to speak, don’t use your staff." I’m not LDS but I have the distinct impression from other threads that the LDS church today follows closer to the opinions of Orson Pratt then Brigham Young on some particular issues. And to be a little "Burkean", surely you owe a true prophet of God loyalty and respect but not your conscience on an issue. I’m sure I’ve read about several LDS apostle when confronted with polygamy struggled before God about it. They didn’t seem to just say the prophet has spoken, off I go and obey the prophet without gaining a personal testimony that it was true.
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