The Nehor wrote: Hence why we have the whole Holy Ghost thing. You know that thing we keep talking about that reveals the truth of things. I highly recommend it.
But people sometimes wrongly think they are receiving revelation from that source, don't they? How do we know that didn't happen to Smith at crucial points in his career?
That would be Joseph's problem. I have my own revelations to worry about.
Ohhhhh Kayyyy .... (But that's the prophet he's talking about. The prophet gets a revelation wrong and it's just the prophet's problem. Right).
Brigham Young said something to the effect that one of his greatest worries is that the people would trust him and the other leaders so much that they wouldn't bother seeking revelation of their own. So yes, it is the people's problem if they don't do just that. Mindless adherence to teachings and doctrine may present a veneer of holiness and even make the Church look nice and tidy to those in and out of it but it never exalted anyone. Again, Brigham Young talked about this. He said that he would teach a secret that some people would never be exalted as they would never be weaned from needing others to tell them what to do whether that's Peter, Moses, Joseph, or Brigham.
Whaddaya know? God believes in personal responsibility.
But when those "personal revelations" conflict with another's "revelation," kinda makes you think it's not really the same source, doesn't it? I guess that's why the church has evolved to the paradigm of "only the prophet gets revelation for the church -- you just get it for yourself, and your family if you're a worthy, priesthood holding male (unless a leader gets a different answer than you....hmmmmm!)"
Fool proof!
Überzeugungen sind oft die gefährlichsten Feinde der Wahrheit.
[Certainty (that one is correct) is often the most dangerous enemy of the
truth.] - Friedrich Nietzsche
Chap wrote:And indeed a robust independence of judgment, leading to a sceptical approach to all prophetic utterance, however authoritative its claims may be, has ever since Brigham been a distinguishing mark of LDS belief and practice.
I didn't say we were commanded to be skeptical. I said that you should rely on your own revelation and not on another's. Exaltation requires a personal relationship with God with no middle-man. The Prophet has a function but my search for truth/enlightenment/obedience/revelation/salvation is MINE. To abdicate that responsibility is to give up your full potential and to deny yourself exaltation. Or is it surprising to anyone that one who needs another to follow and has no godliness themselves from God himself should end up spending eternity serving the Gods instead of joining their number?
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
BishopRic wrote:But when those "personal revelations" conflict with another's "revelation," kinda makes you think it's not really the same source, doesn't it? I guess that's why the church has evolved to the paradigm of "only the prophet gets revelation for the church -- you just get it for yourself, and your family if you're a worthy, priesthood holding male (unless a leader gets a different answer than you....hmmmmm!)"
Fool proof!
No it doesn't. I know the source from which I get mine. Everyone else...it's their own problem. I would correct your statement to be "only the prophet receives revelation for the whole Church with the command to declare it."
I also assume that anyone who has a revelation and is using it to manipulate me into doing something or teach me something when it is not their place to do so has not received revelation and are practicing a form of priestcraft, a very, very common affliction in the Church that is difficult to deal with.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo