[ErikJohnson]

Hey Maxel—


To sum up—LDS are to follow their prophet, even if he teaches a doctrine that contradicts their consciences, contradicts their reading of Scripture, and which will later be repudiated by successor prophets (e.g., Young’s “Adam-God” doctrine). You gave us an unequivocal answer to AnthonyB’s original question (post #22): “The person would be under no condemnation for following the prophet instead of his conscience.”

And yes, you tacked on an additional requirement (variations of which you repeated several times)—that the member who finds himself/herself conflicted must make some reasonable amount of effort (via prayer and study) to try and reach an understanding. Once they’ve met this requirement, any conflicted LDS who choose to follow their prophet will stand “absolved” (as AnthonyB expressed it) from following the dictates of conscience, Scripture, or anything else. I appreciate your directness.

But you take it further than I would be willing to go. You tell us—“it’s nigh impossible for the average member to concretely know whether the prophet is right or wrong concerning doctrinal matters…” Forgive me for saying it Maxel, but you seem to have a low view of the “average member” (or at least the average member’s capacity for discernment). Your experience may be quite different than mine—but I can’t agree with you on this one.

And then you say it was the responsibility of the 19th century LDS Sunday School teacher to teach the Adam-God doctrine—even if the teacher knew in his heart the doctrine was a falsehood! You wrote: “Ultimately, though, the duty of the teacher is to teach the lesson.” Your reader will conclude you place a higher value on obedience than you do on truth, Maxel. Is that really your position? In the LDS “hierarchy of truth”—is the value of truth itself subordinate to the value of obedience? Have to admit I wouldn't have thought of this on my own, but reading your posts it sure seems to be the case.

Always a pleasure to read your posts, Maxel. Plenty of food for thought. Between my reprimand and a lot of general busy-ness, I needed to take July off from the board. But I’ll try to be a bit more regular going forward, God willing.

Regards,

--Erik