The two greatest BLUNDERS of Bruce R. McConkie

[_Daheshist]

Many of you are too young to remember Elder Bruce R. McConkie, author of "Mormon Doctrine"; the most popular LDS book of all time, outside the Book of Mormon. I would guess more Mormons read "Mormon Doctrine" than any other single book, the Scriptures included. I met Bruce R. He gave a talk at the Missionary Training Center. His monotone voice would put all us to sleep, then he would RAISE HIS VOICE and you'd see a bunch of missionary heads bob up, and then over a few minutes of his rambling the heads would slowly go down again and HE'D RAISE HIS VOICE AGAIN and the heads would bob up again, and this would repeat itself all through his talk. Boring as hell. Nay...hell could not be as boring.

Bruce R. McConkie was perhaps one of the most smug, self-righteous, audacious men ever born! He spoke in what I call "PURE ARROGANCE". All his life he fought against what he called "heresies" (false teachings) in the Church, such as Adam-God, and also the evil Luciferian doctrine of Evolution!!! He insisted that Adam was the first man, Eve the first woman, and that was "The Doctrine of the Church" and God help you if you disagreed with him! I remember reading a CES Institute Manual I once bought, and it had multiple quotes from "Mormon Doctrine" on every page! Every Member I knew had a copy of "Mormon Doctrine" on their shelves. This was before the Internet. So, if you wanted to know "What the Church teaches" on a subject, you grabbed "Mormon Doctrine". It was used in Sunday schools all the time, and in Priesthood meetings, to settle issues. Few members know now, and even fewer then, that President David O. McKay hated "Mormon Doctrine" and wanted it s***-canned, and Joseph Fielding Smith agreed no further editions would see the light of day. But, after McKay went senile, JFS allowed further editions. Of course he did! Joseph Fielding Smith would have agreed with everything in Mormon Doctrine, and JFS just was "not" a very honest man.

Bruce R. was the son-in-law of Joseph Fielding Smith. They were too peas in a pond. Bruce R. was the "clone" of JFS. They were the founders of "The Smith-McConkie School" of Mormon interpretation: the "Wahabiism of Mormonism". They'd deny that of course. They would insist that their writings were "Eternal Gospel Truth" and if anybody else deviated from what THEY wrote, then the other people were wrong!

Bruce R. made to BIG blunders in "Mormon Doctrine":

1. He wrote that the "Negro" would NOT get the priesthood until after the Millennium was over. Oops!

2. He wrote that the leaders of the Church have "the Spirit of Discernment" whereby they can actually "read the intents of the hearts" of others. If somebody tried to fool them or the Saints, the Church leaders would immediately detect them!

Well, of course, Joseph Smith never claimed such a thing, and neither did Brigham Young. In fact, no President of the Church ever claimed to be able to detect fraud or to read minds or hearts!

In 1981, I tried to tell Church leaders that Mark Hofmann (former/bomber/murderer) was forging documents. Of course, EVERYBODY said "You are delusional" and "You are a conspiracy nut" and "You are lying" and "You are trying to make money off of the Church" and "You are trying to steady the Ark" etc. Why? Because.....they told me: "The Brethren have the Spirit of Discernment. To try to fool them would be like trying to fool God Himself! It can't happen!"

They believed that (that the Brethren CANNOT BE FOOLED) thanks to......"Mormon Doctrine".

Of course, Hofmann later confessed to murder and hundreds of forgeries, and that he was an Atheist since age 14, when he was taught evolution in school, but his Mormon father (an avid reader of the works of Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie) told him that he COULD NOT believe in God and evolution at the same time. So, Mark Hofmann chose evolution.

Ironically, the writings of Smith-McConkie was a CAUSAL FACTOR in the entire Mark Hofmann Episode! Joseph Fielding Smith created a false dichotomy (You cannot believe in God and evolution), which caused young Mark to become an Atheist. Then the writings of Bruce R. convinced an entire generation of Mormons that THE BRETHREN CANNOT BE FOOLED!__________A claim Joseph Smith never made, and cannot be found in the D&C.


Followers of the Smith-McConkie School still exist today. Elder Boyd K. Packer is the most prominent "McConkite". But, there are still several million McConkites in the Church.

Bruce R. McConkie died in April of 1985, 13 days after General Conference. I remember being in a meetinghouse, with satellite (a new thing then), looking at General Conference. Before then, you can listen to it on radio if you lived outside of Utah, but of course BYU TV and another channel carried it in Utah. Also, in the chapels, they could pump it over the speaker system. I'd just stay home and listen to it on the radio, rather than going to the Stake Center and listen to it pumped over the speaker system. In 1985 was the first time I saw it via satellite in a Meetinghouse.

McConkie died six months before Mark Hofmann killed two innocent people with pipe-bombs, on October 15th, 1985. Hofmann later confessed, about five months later. I WONDER what Bruce R. would have thought had he lived to "see the day" when President Hinckley admitted to the Utah Media: "Yes, Mark Hofmann fooled us!"? That would have hit him harder than the blacks getting the priesthood in 1978. He would have had to issue a second letter saying: "We spoke with LIMITED light and understanding...."

In 1999, the First Presidency decided that NO MORE EDITIONS of "Mormon Doctrine" would be published, by anyone. The book has done SO MUCH DAMAGE! I'm convinced that book has sent at least 100,000 Mormon intellectuals out of the Church since it was first published in 1958. Perhaps more. David O. McKay wanted the book GONE in 1962, and it only took to 1999 to get this done!

Hopefully, Boyd K. Packer is the last McConkite Apostle! If he becomes "Living Prophet" look for a new surge in ignorance in the Church; where one must accept Adam and Eve as the first human beings, or be silenced.

I saw the last talk of Bruce R. McConkie in General Conference in April of 1985. He was a in tears, very humble. His testimony was of Jesus Christ: NOTHING about Joseph Smith or the Church! This was completely and TOTALLY different from all the other talks I saw him make (and I saw quite a few). He was a BROKEN MAN! He was dying, and he knew it. Perhaps that's why he was humble. Or, perhaps he believed in the forgeries of Hofmann, and concluded that Joseph Smith was indeed a fraud. I don't know. All I know, is that, for the first time, I saw a HUMBLE man who truly had a testimony of Jesus Christ, probably for the first time in his life. Before that, it was all about "THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH, THE CHURCH!!!" Now, it was all about Jesus Christ. Just two weeks before his death.....he finally........"got it".

[_bcspace]

Not a problem. Most members know that BRM's "Mormon Doctrine" was never considered a doctrinal work by the Church.

[_Buffalo]

Not a problem. Most members know that BRM's "Mormon Doctrine" was never considered a doctrinal work by the Church.

How does one get to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ without being aware of the doctrine?

[_Mayan Elephant]

Not a problem. Most members know that BRM's "Mormon Doctrine" was never considered a doctrinal work by the Church.

this is probably true, because most Mormons don't even claim to be Mormons.

to say it was not considered doctrinal is also very Mormon. this book, along with talmage's jesus the christ, was one of only a few books that missionaries were allowed to carry and keep during their missions. it is only logical that a Mormon, now seeing that the works of bruce M are embarrassing, would dismiss it as not-doctrinal.

again. the doctrine is not as relevant as the obfuscation and lying. who cares if Mormons believe that adam was the first man or that he lived missouri. that is not relevant. what is relevant is that Mormons cannot honestly look at their own history with any integrity.

[_Zelder]

Not a problem. Most members know that BRM's "Mormon Doctrine" was never considered a doctrinal work by the Church.

It's not much of a problem anymore. However it used to be a problem because most Mormons believed McConkie's book was doctrine. What matters most is public perception. The percption was that the title was true and the bretheren were not correcting that false perception.

[_lulu]

Not a problem. Most members know that BRM's "Mormon Doctrine" was never considered a doctrinal work by the Church.

That's just your personal opinion. It is not official doctrine that "Mormon Doctrine" is not official doctrine.

[_Drifting]

It is ironic that a book written by an Apostle about Mormon doctrine and titled Mormon Doctrine is supposed to not contain actual Mormon doctrine now that the author is dead.

[_DarkHelmet]

It is ironic that a book written by an Apostle about Mormon doctrine and titled Mormon Doctrine is supposed to not contain actual Mormon doctrine now that the author is dead.

It only seems weird to non-mormons and exmormons. Mormons find it perfectly normal.

[_Drifting]

It is ironic that a book written by an Apostle about Mormon doctrine and titled Mormon Doctrine is supposed to not contain actual Mormon doctrine now that the author is dead.

It only seems weird to non-mormons and exmormons. Mormons find it perfectly normal.

Mormons revere the words of the Prophets and Apostles whilst they are alive and reject them when they are dead.

[_Daheshist]

When a Living Prophet speaks that is Church Doctrine, until he dies, then his words while he lived were merely his own opinion.

Mormons revere the words of the Prophets and Apostles whilst they are alive and reject them when they are dead.