Tag Archives: doctrine

Official teaching. What constitutes ‘doctrine’ vs ‘policy’ is unclear.

“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return.” - Orson F. Whitney, LDS Apostle, Conference Report, Apr. 1929 | wasmormon.org
“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return.” - Orson F. Whitney, LDS Apostle, Conference Report, Apr. 1929
“Dissenters within the Church and opponents outside the Church brought about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith. Their deaths added a powerful seal to their testimonies of the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. A study of the life and martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith will help students consider the many blessings the Lord has given them through the ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith, through whom He restored His gospel in the latter days... Joseph Smith laid the foundation for God’s work in this gospel dispensation. The Prophet Joseph Smith was innocent at the time of his death, and he had faithfully fulfilled the mission given to him by God.” - Foundations of the Restoration Teacher Manual, Lesson 22: The Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith | wasmormon.org
“Dissenters within the Church and opponents outside the Church brought about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith. Their deaths added a powerful seal to their testimonies of the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. A study of the life and martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith will help students consider the many blessings the Lord has given them through the ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith, through whom He restored His gospel in the latter days... Joseph Smith laid the foundation for God’s work in this gospel dispensation. The Prophet Joseph Smith was innocent at the time of his death, and he had faithfully fulfilled the mission given to him by God.” - Foundations of the Restoration Teacher Manual, Lesson 22: The Martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith

Millions Shall Worship Brother Joseph Again But Don’t Google Us

In his BYU–Idaho devotional Millions Shall Know Brother Joseph Again, Jayson Kunzler urges students to reject any information—inside or outside the Church—that might “humanize” Joseph Smith or acknowledge his flaws. He warns that those who study inconvenient history “serve the wrong master” and risk their eternal standing. He insists that members can only truly know …

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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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Deseret News on Polygamy

The Audacity The recent Deseret News opinion piece condemning polygamy and polyamory as a “direct threat to kids” and insisting that “monogamy ought to remain our social ideal” is dripping with irony. For a newspaper owned by the LDS Church to rail against the supposed dangers of polygamy—without mentioning their own history as America’s largest …

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“We declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband... We have given the above rule of marriage as the only one practiced in this church, to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett's "secret wife system" is a matter of his own manufacture... We know of no other rule or system of marriage than the one published from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we give this certificate to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett’s “secret wife system” is a creature of his own make as we know of no such society in this place nor never did.” - Joseph Smith, October 1, 1842. At the time, he had at least 13 wives. Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 21, October 1, 1842, On Marriage | wasmormon.org
“We declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband... We have given the above rule of marriage as the only one practiced in this church, to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett's "secret wife system" is a matter of his own manufacture... We know of no other rule or system of marriage than the one published from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and we give this certificate to show that Dr. J. C. Bennett’s “secret wife system” is a creature of his own make as we know of no such society in this place nor never did.” - Joseph Smith, October 1, 1842. At the time, he had at least 13 wives. Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 21, October 1, 1842, On Marriage

Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Denials: Carefully Worded Lies, Loopholes, and Lasting Damage

One of the most unsettling aspects of Mormon history is the secret practice of polygamy. Joseph Smith publicly denied practicing polygamy while secretly marrying between 30 and 40 women, including teenagers and other men’s wives, as the church’s published essay confirms (in a footnote). The exact number of women to whom he was sealed in …

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Nathanael Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight

Meet Nathanael, whose story demonstrates the profound courage required to choose integrity over comfort, even when it means dismantling the very foundation upon which you’ve built your life. As a descendant of Mormon pioneers with deep ancestral roots in the faith, Nathanael’s journey represents one of the most authentic and thoughtful deconversion stories we’ve encountered. …

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What eventually tipped the balance for me was learning about the excommunication of Natasha Helfer, a licensed marriage counselor and former Mormon, who was excommunicated the year prior for openly speaking out against the harm the church's doctrine of chastity, and it's accompanying purity culture. I researched her story more. What she had said made sense, and resonated with my own experiences. She seemed to want to help people find healing, but in the end was punished for it. Something clicked in my brain as I contemplated what all of this meant. It became very clear to me that no benevolent God would accept or condone any of it. That’s when I realized that my integrity was on trial, not my faith. I knew then that I needed to resign from the church immediately. - Nathanael's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/nathanael-davenport/
What eventually tipped the balance for me was learning about the excommunication of Natasha Helfer, a licensed marriage counselor and former Mormon, who was excommunicated the year prior for openly speaking out against the harm the church's doctrine of chastity, and it's accompanying purity culture. I researched her story more. What she had said made sense, and resonated with my own experiences. She seemed to want to help people find healing, but in the end was punished for it. Something clicked in my brain as I contemplated what all of this meant. It became very clear to me that no benevolent God would accept or condone any of it. That’s when I realized that my integrity was on trial, not my faith. I knew then that I needed to resign from the church immediately. - Nathanael's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/nathanael-davenport/
I experienced a lot of joy in connection with my membership in the church, but also a great deal of pain, which I managed to bury deeply for many years without realizing it. The earliest memory I have of any kind of dissonance about church doctrine, related to the necessity of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As a teenager, I couldn’t understand why God would make the conditions of salvation so unattainable that he had to sacrifice his only perfect son in order to let us have a chance to return to him. It seemed unnecessarily complicated and incoherent, and no explanations/parables/metaphors that were taught to me helped me understand it more. It was one of those things that I just accepted on "faith." - Nathanael's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/nathanael-davenport/
I experienced a lot of joy in connection with my membership in the church, but also a great deal of pain, which I managed to bury deeply for many years without realizing it. The earliest memory I have of any kind of dissonance about church doctrine, related to the necessity of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As a teenager, I couldn’t understand why God would make the conditions of salvation so unattainable that he had to sacrifice his only perfect son in order to let us have a chance to return to him. It seemed unnecessarily complicated and incoherent, and no explanations/parables/metaphors that were taught to me helped me understand it more. It was one of those things that I just accepted on "faith." - Nathanael's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/nathanael-davenport/

The 1886 Revelation Denial and the LDS Church’s Longstanding Dishonesty

In the complex history of Mormonism, few documents expose the tensions between prophetic revelation and institutional survival quite like John Taylor’s 1886 revelation. This revelation, written in Taylor’s own hand, declared that the divine commandment of plural marriage would not and could not be revoked. Yet for over a century, the Church of Jesus Christ …

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“Other churches at the time—including ones with which many early Church members were familiar—taught about the priesthood. The Disciples of Christ, from which many early members of the Church converted, for example, had developed its own priesthood doctrines, influenced by Alexander Crawford, a Scottish minister living in Canada. In 1827, Crawford had delineated the existence of three distinct priesthoods: a patriarchal priesthood (which he also called a priesthood after the “order of Melchisedec”), an Aaronical priesthood (originally held by Aaron)... Alexander Campbell and the Disciples of Christ were influenced by Crawford’s ideas...” - Matthew C. Godfrey “A Culmination of Learning: D&C and the Doctrine of the Priesthood” 2012, Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, Religious Studies Center, BYU | wasmormon.org
“Other churches at the time—including ones with which many early Church members were familiar—taught about the priesthood. The Disciples of Christ, from which many early members of the Church converted, for example, had developed its own priesthood doctrines, influenced by Alexander Crawford, a Scottish minister living in Canada. In 1827, Crawford had delineated the existence of three distinct priesthoods: a patriarchal priesthood (which he also called a priesthood after the “order of Melchisedec”), an Aaronical priesthood (originally held by Aaron)... Alexander Campbell and the Disciples of Christ were influenced by Crawford’s ideas...” - Matthew C. Godfrey “A Culmination of Learning: D&C and the Doctrine of the Priesthood” 2012, Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, Religious Studies Center, BYU

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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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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Revelation given September 1830 “You shall not purchase wine, neither strong drink of your enemies” ... “John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, jr. and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto this first priesthood which you have received, that you plight be called and ordained even as Aaron” ... “And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles” - 1835 Doctrine & Covenants Section 50 (Pages 179-181) Revised 1833 Book of Commandments Chapter 28 - Equivalent of D&C 27 today | wasmormon.org
Revelation given September 1830 “You shall not purchase wine, neither strong drink of your enemies” ... “John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, jr. and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto this first priesthood which you have received, that you plight be called and ordained even as Aaron” ... “And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles” - 1835 Doctrine & Covenants Section 50 (Pages 179-181) Revised 1833 Book of Commandments Chapter 28 - Equivalent of D&C 27 today

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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“Some of the revelations as they are now in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants have been changed and added to... When the Book of Commandments was printed, Joseph and the church received it as being printed correctly. This I know. In the winter of 1834 they saw that some of the revelations in the Book of Commandments had to be changed, because the heads of the church had gone too far, and had done things in which they had already gone ahead of some of the former revelations. So the book of Doctrine and Covenants was printed in 1835, and some of the revelations changed and added to.” - David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 1887 | wasmormon.org
“Some of the revelations as they are now in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants have been changed and added to... When the Book of Commandments was printed, Joseph and the church received it as being printed correctly. This I know. In the winter of 1834 they saw that some of the revelations in the Book of Commandments had to be changed, because the heads of the church had gone too far, and had done things in which they had already gone ahead of some of the former revelations. So the book of Doctrine and Covenants was printed in 1835, and some of the revelations changed and added to.” - David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 1887
“Trust in the Lord is a familiar and true teaching... the best principle we can use when our efforts to learn or our attempts to find comfort encounter obstacles in matters not yet revealed or not adopted as the official doctrine of the Church. That same principle applies to unanswered questions about sealings in the next life or desired readjustments because of events or transgressions in mortality. There is so much we do not know that our only sure reliance is to trust in the Lord and His love for His children.” - Dallin H. Oaks, LDS Apostle, “Trust in the Lord”, October 2019 | wasmormon.org
“Trust in the Lord is a familiar and true teaching... the best principle we can use when our efforts to learn or our attempts to find comfort encounter obstacles in matters not yet revealed or not adopted as the official doctrine of the Church. That same principle applies to unanswered questions about sealings in the next life or desired readjustments because of events or transgressions in mortality. There is so much we do not know that our only sure reliance is to trust in the Lord and His love for His children.” - Dallin H. Oaks, LDS Apostle, “Trust in the Lord”, October 2019

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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