"I want the liberty of believing as I please."

[_Buffalo]

"I never thought it was right to call up a man and try him because he erred in doctrine. It looks too much like Methodism and not like Latter-day Saintism. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be kicked out of their church. I want the liberty of believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammeled. It don’t prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine." - Joseph Smith

Do you feel that the church was right in abandoning this ideal? Why or why not?

[_Some Schmo]

"I never thought it was right to call up a man and try him because he erred in doctrine. It looks too much like Methodism and not like Latter-day Saintism. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be kicked out of their church. I want the liberty of believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammeled. It don’t prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine." - Joseph Smith

Do you feel that the church was right in abandoning this ideal? Why or why not?

Wouldn't be much of a church (population-wise) if they didn't.

[_bcspace]

Do you feel that the church was right in abandoning this ideal? Why or why not?

It doesn't seem like the Church has abandoned this ideal at all. Members are not called up simply for erring in doctrine. They are called up for persisently teaching false doctrine after having been corrected. And after having been called up, the member is not forced to give up his beliefs.

Were there no excommunications in Joseph Smith's time?

[_Buffalo]

Do you feel that the church was right in abandoning this ideal? Why or why not?

It doesn't seem like the Church has abandoned this ideal at all. Members are not called up simply for erring in doctrine. They are called up for persisently teaching false doctrine after having been corrected. And after having been called up, the member is not forced to give up his beliefs.

Were there no excommunications in Joseph Smith's time?

*Cough* *September Six* *Cough*

Joseph Smith actually abandoned his own ideal first, I suppose. He usually excommunicated people for disobeying him or letting the polygamy cat out of the bag.