bcspace wrote:I'm still looking for examples of how LDS doctrine has been swayed by public opinion. Do you have any?
Temperance Movement. It is undoubtedly the root from which the WOW was born. As noted in my previous post, it also remains plastic in it's interpretation due in large part to norms that originate outside of any revelation received by the LDS leadership.
The world is always full of the sound of waves..but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it's depth? ~ Eiji Yoshikawa
Non authoritative, reverse chronological loose list of some of the most obvious changes:
Church's stance on: *Lamanites going from the "principal" ancestors to "among" the ancestors of the American Indians as DNA evidence and understanding has emerged.
Church President Spencer W. Kimball said that Lehi, the family patriarch, was "the ancestor of all of the Indian and Mestizo tribes in North and South and Central America and in the islands of the sea."
Spencer W. Kimball:
"The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians, the Guatemalans, the Peruvians, as well as the Sioux, the Apache, the Mohawk, the Navajo, and others. It is a large group of great people." ("Of Royal Blood," Ensign, July 1971, p. 7).
*Laminites and others going from "white and delightsome" to "pure", and the whole view of their skin tone actually changing from accepting the gospel.
*Non procreative, recreational sex for married couples. As to sex in marriage, the necessary treatise on that for Latter-day Saints can be written in two sentences: Remember the prime purpose of sex desire is to beget children. Sex gratification must be had at that hazard." (J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report 1949, Oct: pp. 194-95)
*Use of birth control. "When the husband and wife are healthy, and free from inherited weaknesses and disease that might be transplanted with injury to their offspring, the use of contraceptives is to be condemned." (David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1943, p. 30)
"We seriously regret that there should exist a sentiment or feeling among any members of the Church to curtail the birth of their children. We have been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth that we may have joy and rejoicing in our posterity. Where husband and wife enjoy health and vigor and are free from impurities that would be entailed upon their posterity, it is contrary to the teachings of the Church artificially to curtail or prevent the birth of children. We believe that those who practice birth control will reap disappointment by and by." (First Presidency {David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, N. Eldon Tanner} Letter to presidents of stakes, bishops of wards, and presidents of missions, 14 April 1969)
Compare to (for both topics, recreational sex and birth control):
"Birth Control:
It is the privilege of married couples who are able to bear children to provide mortal bodies for the spirit children of God, whom they are then responsible to nurture and rear. The decision as to how many chldren to have and when to have them is extremely intimate and private and should be left between the couple and the Lord. Church members should not judge one another in this matter.
Married couples also should understand that sexual relations within marriage are divinely approved not only for the purpose of procreation, but also as a means of expressing love and strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife." (1998 Church Handbook of Instructions)
*Oral sex. "The First Presidency has interpreted oral sex as constituting an unnatural, impure, or unholy practice. If a person is engaged in a practice which troubles him enough to ask about it, he should discontinue it." (Official Declaration of the First Presidency of the Church, January 5th, 1982)
Now the policy is don't ask and even if asked you can still go to the temple if you regularly engage in oral sex with your spouse.
*Blacks and the priesthood. Too obvious, do I need to provide references?
*Evolution (this kind of depends on who was the president of the church).
*Word of wisdom going from a suggestion to a mandate for temple worthiness and the understanding of what is prohibited. Too obvious, do I need to provide references?
*Masturbation teachings. This one has evolved over time from the time of Brigham Young, to Mark E Peterson to now. See the various threads.
*Polygamy. Too obvious, do I need to provide references?
Do you have the intellectual honesty to admit that the views on these issues have changed, and that the changes were due to the pressure of an evolving society?
It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener at war.
Some of us, on the other hand, actually prefer a religion that includes some type of correlation with reality. ~Bill Hamblin