huckelberry wrote:I gather from this response that we cannot trust our own sense of right and wrong or Gods direction for ourselves but must rely upon someone else.
I do not think that view represents moral living.
That's my take away from this post as well.
Instead, I would like to comment on what I see as a very concerning trend among certain types of “Internet Mormons,” particularly more “liberal” types, for lack of a better term. I’ve noticed a certain type of thinking among them, and I’ve seen it several times. Lori’s post is but the latest example. It goes something like this:
X is just too unpalatable in some way.
Therefore, God could not be involved in x.
Therefore, it must be the fault of prophet y or z, etc.
In most cases, x is polygamy, or the priesthood ban, or the Church’s current and continued teachings regarding same-sex attraction or women and the priesthood, and so on. And prophet y and/or z, and/or prophets a, b, c, and so on is/are the prophet(s) perceived as responsible for whatever x is.
So, there you have it. Setting aside the fact that Lori is confusing her (very emotionally charged) interpretation of the origins of polygamy with the actual facts, what is truly concerning to me is how Lori—and so many others—have fashioned for themselves a God after their own image, and then cast aside the prophet(s) in favor of this idol of their own making. It is not the idea that prophets can be wrong that is concerning, but rather the staunch insistence that they, the bloggeratti of today’s Mormonism, know better what God’s will is than do his chosen prophets, past and present. Such a view is not faith of any kind, except perhaps an over developed sense of self-faith (faith in oneself). By demonstrating a lack of confidence in God’s prophets, she also betrays no confidence in God’s ability to actually guide and direct his prophets, to correct them when they are in error, and to this day can’t seem to get the right message about polygamy to his chosen leaders. She would replace a God who commands polygamy under some circumstances with one that is inept in actually guiding his Church, or alternatively chooses (for some reason) entirely inept leaders.
So what happened exactly with the priesthood ban? Everything he is saying would apply perfectly to Mormonism pre-1978.
It's a good summary of one of my core problems with Mormonism. Prophets can supposedly make mistakes, but look what happens when you suggest one actually did make mistakes.