Tag Archives: authority

Priesthood power claimed by the LDS church. A key truth claim is that authority was restored through Joseph Smith.

A Loving God?

When deconstructing religious beliefs, examining whether the God we’ve been taught to worship and admire is indeed as loving as we think is on the table for many. Christianity teaches that “God is Love,” but examining scriptural narratives reveals inconsistencies in this portrayal, especially concerning God’s actions as a parental figure. Here are several examples …

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Martha Brotherton: Pressured by Church Leaders to Become a Plural Wife

In July 1842, the Sangamo Journal published the affidavit of Martha H. Brotherton, a young English convert who had only recently arrived in Nauvoo with her family. In it, she recounts a disturbing encounter where she was pressured by church leaders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Joseph Smith himself to become Young’s plural wife. …

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Religion and Tribes

The LDS Church is Just Another Man-Made Religion One of the hardest truths to face when stepping back from Mormonism is this: The LDS Church is just a man-made religion, no more divinely authoritative than any other. That sentence alone might feel heavy, especially for a “true believing Mormon” (TBM). It cuts directly against the …

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Mormon Leadership On Women

The LDS or Mormon Church has long articulated clear and restrictive expectations for women. Framed as divinely inspired guidance, these teachings portray a woman’s highest calling as homemaking, motherhood, and submission to traditional gender roles. While many women in the church find meaning in family life, the rigid and one-dimensional framework leaves little room for …

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Did Sidney Rigdon Influence the Priesthood Restoration?

The modern LDS Church presents the restoration of priesthood authority—first the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist on May 15, 1829, and then the Melchizedek Priesthood by Peter, James, and John—as pivotal, well-documented events in church history. However, early sources and the timeline of doctrinal development tell a much murkier story, one that raises serious …

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Scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself. * Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, vol. 9, no. 4 (Winter 1965), 862–903. - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor | wasmormon.org
Scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself. * Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, vol. 9, no. 4 (Winter 1965), 862–903. - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor

Priesthood Restoration Apologetics = Retrofitting and Narrative Engineering

A BYU Studies article, Priesthood Restoration Documents (BYU Studies, Volume 35, Number 4, 1996), attempts to compile and legitimize the historical claims surrounding the restoration of the priesthood in Mormonism. While the compilation appears scholarly on the surface, the conclusion it draws is apologetic rather than academic. The piece says one thing, but the data …

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Retrofitting the Priesthood Restoration into the Doctrine and Covenants Revelation

The church narrative states the priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry in 1829. There are a few Revelations used to tell this narrative. There are problems with these priesthood restoration claims, and specifically these revelations, they aren’t contemporary to the stories, and the few that are the closest, have been changed. Doctrine …

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“In no place in the word of God does it say that an Elder is after the order of Melchisedec, or after the order of the Melchisedec Priesthood. An Elder is after the order of Christ. This matter of "priesthood," since the days of Sydney Rigdon, has been the great hobby and stumbling-block of the Latter Day Saints. Priesthood means authority; and authority is the word we should use. I do not think the word priesthood is mentioned in the New Covenant of the Book of Mormon. Authority is the word we used for the first two years in the church—until Sydney Rigdon's days in Ohio. This matter of the two orders of priesthood in the Church of Christ, and lineal priesthood of the old law being in the church, all originated in the mind of Sydney Rigdon. He explained these things to Brother Joseph in his way, out of the old Scriptures, and got Brother Joseph to inquire, etc.” - David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 1887 | wasmormon.org
“In no place in the word of God does it say that an Elder is after the order of Melchisedec, or after the order of the Melchisedec Priesthood. An Elder is after the order of Christ. This matter of "priesthood," since the days of Sydney Rigdon, has been the great hobby and stumbling-block of the Latter Day Saints. Priesthood means authority; and authority is the word we should use. I do not think the word priesthood is mentioned in the New Covenant of the Book of Mormon. Authority is the word we used for the first two years in the church—until Sydney Rigdon's days in Ohio. This matter of the two orders of priesthood in the Church of Christ, and lineal priesthood of the old law being in the church, all originated in the mind of Sydney Rigdon. He explained these things to Brother Joseph in his way, out of the old Scriptures, and got Brother Joseph to inquire, etc.” - David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 1887
“Joseph Smith learned about the Aaronic Priesthood after finding mention of baptism for the remission of sins during his translation of the Book of Mormon. On May 15, 1829, Joseph and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, went to the woods to pray about what they had read about baptism. In response, John the Baptist descended from heaven and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood, which includes the authority to baptize, upon Joseph and Oliver.” - LDS Website: The Life of Joseph Smith: Restoration of the Priesthood | wasmormon.org
“Joseph Smith learned about the Aaronic Priesthood after finding mention of baptism for the remission of sins during his translation of the Book of Mormon. On May 15, 1829, Joseph and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, went to the woods to pray about what they had read about baptism. In response, John the Baptist descended from heaven and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood, which includes the authority to baptize, upon Joseph and Oliver.” - LDS Website: The Life of Joseph Smith: Restoration of the Priesthood
“Sometime after John the Baptist’s appearance, the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John also appeared to Joseph and Oliver, again under the direction of Jesus Christ, and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer in spiritual things. With this authority again on the earth, the Church of Jesus Christ could be restored in its fulness.” - LDS Website: Topics and Questions: Restoration of the Priesthood | wasmormon.org
“Sometime after John the Baptist’s appearance, the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John also appeared to Joseph and Oliver, again under the direction of Jesus Christ, and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right of presidency, and has power and authority over all the offices in the church in all ages of the world, to administer in spiritual things. With this authority again on the earth, the Church of Jesus Christ could be restored in its fulness.” - LDS Website: Topics and Questions: Restoration of the Priesthood

Trust Us—We Don’t Know: Dallin H. Oaks, Polygamy, and the Promise of Mormon Heaven

In a 2019 talk, Dallin H. Oaks—apostle and current First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—responded to a question that hits at the heart of the legacy peculiar Mormon doctrine of plural marriage, especially for women today: If a woman marries a widower sealed to his first …

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“Joseph Smith ordered a marshal, with the assistance of the Nauvoo Legion, to destroy the printing press. On Monday evening, June 10, the marshal and his posse of approximately 100 men removed the press, scattered the type, and burned the remaining copies of the newspaper... The Nauvoo City Council had reason to believe their actions were legal... Scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself.” - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor | wasmormon.org
“Joseph Smith ordered a marshal, with the assistance of the Nauvoo Legion, to destroy the printing press. On Monday evening, June 10, the marshal and his posse of approximately 100 men removed the press, scattered the type, and burned the remaining copies of the newspaper... The Nauvoo City Council had reason to believe their actions were legal... Scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself.” - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor
“On Friday, June 7, 1844, dissenters from the Church published the one and only issue of an opposition newspaper they called the Nauvoo Expositor... The dissenters... voiced their discontent with the practice of plural marriage, Joseph Smith’s teachings on the nature of God from his recent King Follett sermon, and his mixing of religious and civic authority in Nauvoo.” - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor | wasmormon.org
“On Friday, June 7, 1844, dissenters from the Church published the one and only issue of an opposition newspaper they called the Nauvoo Expositor... The dissenters... voiced their discontent with the practice of plural marriage, Joseph Smith’s teachings on the nature of God from his recent King Follett sermon, and his mixing of religious and civic authority in Nauvoo.” - LDS Website: Church History Topics: Nauvoo Expositor
“The legality of the council's action in suppressing the Expositor depends upon the nature of the charges in the Expositor... some of the charges involve facts that are essentially undisputed... Politics. The Expositor's general complaints about the union of the authority of church and state in Nauvoo were essentially true... Religion. The same can be said of the Expositor's charges that Joseph Smith was teaching false religious doctrines, notably polygamy. Morality.... Whether the charges were true or false, they were malicious, scandalous, and defamatory.” - Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1965 | wasmormon.org
“The legality of the council's action in suppressing the Expositor depends upon the nature of the charges in the Expositor... some of the charges involve facts that are essentially undisputed... Politics. The Expositor's general complaints about the union of the authority of church and state in Nauvoo were essentially true... Religion. The same can be said of the Expositor's charges that Joseph Smith was teaching false religious doctrines, notably polygamy. Morality.... Whether the charges were true or false, they were malicious, scandalous, and defamatory.” - Dallin H. Oaks, “The Suppression of the Nauvoo Expositor,” Utah Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 4, 1965
“The revelation is clear in its purpose... President Taylor’s God declares, when “my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with.” All who wish to enter into God’s highest glory “must and shall obey my law.” ... it raises thorny issues for Latter-day Saints. Was Taylor’s revelation true, and were the prophets who followed him traitors? And what does it mean for Latter-day Saint authority if revelations — and revelators — are fallible?” - Benjamin Park, Teacher, Author, President of the Mormon History Association | wasmormon.org
“The revelation is clear in its purpose... President Taylor’s God declares, when “my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with.” All who wish to enter into God’s highest glory “must and shall obey my law.” ... it raises thorny issues for Latter-day Saints. Was Taylor’s revelation true, and were the prophets who followed him traitors? And what does it mean for Latter-day Saint authority if revelations — and revelators — are fallible?” - Benjamin Park, Teacher, Author, President of the Mormon History Association
“My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant how far it is binding upon my people. Thus saith the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever. ... I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof; even so, Amen.” - John Taylor, LDS Church President, 1886 Revelation | wasmormon.org
“My son John, you have asked me concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant how far it is binding upon my people. Thus saith the Lord: All commandments that I give must be obeyed by those calling themselves by my name unless they are revoked by me or by my authority, and how can I revoke an everlasting covenant, for I the Lord am everlasting and my everlasting covenants cannot be abrogated nor done away with, but they stand forever. ... I have not revoked this law, nor will I, for it is everlasting, and those who will enter into my glory must obey the conditions thereof; even so, Amen.” - John Taylor, LDS Church President, 1886 Revelation

Bishop Warren S. Snow’s Teenage Brides and The Castration of Thomas Lewis

In 1857, just as tensions with the U.S. government were escalating toward the Utah War, a dark and largely forgotten episode of Mormon frontier justice played out in Manti, Utah. It involved a young man named Thomas Lewis, potentially an unnamed teenage girl, and Warren S. Snow, a high-ranking Mormon bishop and militia leader. What …

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Can Mormons Wear Tank Tops? What are Porn Shoulders?

In Mormonism, modesty has long been tied to righteousness, especially for women and girls. From early youth activities to temple preparation, countless lessons reinforce the idea that spiritual worth is directly connected to how much skin is covered. Among the most scrutinized body parts? Shoulders. For generations, sleeveless dresses have been seen as taboo—unworthy of …

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