Mormon Doctrine Summary - LDS Authority

Basic Mormon Doctrine Summary

Chapter: LDS Authority

Overview of Mormon sources of Authority presented in the Foreword chapter (article: Mormon Doctrinal Authorities)

Review - Sources of Doctrinal Authority include:

Scriptures

	Bible (KJV & JST)
	Book of Mormon
	Doctrine and Covenants
	Pearl of Great Price

Priesthood authority

Divine authority bestowed on LDS church authorities

Personal authority

The Bible

The LDS church takes the official stance that there are many errors, deletions, additions, and mistranslations in the Bible

Historical evidence refutes these claims

The LDS church claims the Bible is "the foremost of her standard works"

Joseph Smith "fixed" the Bible in the Joseph Smith Translation (JST)

	The JST is not endorsed as the LDS church's Bible
	The LDS Church claims Joseph Smith never finished the work, although historical evidences indicate he claimed he had
	JST passages are included as footnotes to the KJV Bible the LDS church publishes
	The LDS church does not include all of Joseph Smith's changes

The LDS endorses only the KJV Bible (with selected JST footnotes)

The LDS Church's positions on the Bible allow it to 'pick and choose' among biblical teachings and Joseph Smith translations to create whatever doctrine support it desires

Most Mormons are unfamiliar with the Bible

The Book of Mormon

	The LDS church claims it was translated into English by Joseph Smith from golden tablets
	It claims Joseph was led to these tablets by an angel
	These tablets are not currently in the possession of the LDS church
	The LDS church misinterprets Ezekiel 37 to claim it proves the validity of the Book of Mormon
	The Book of Mormon does not contain many of the unique teachings of the Mormon church
	The LDS church strongly encourages people to read the book and pray about its validity
	Several books have been written that expose both historical discrepancies and contradictions with other Mormon scripture
	Even though the book contains few of the foundational doctrines of Mormonism, it is regarded as the bedrock of the Mormon faith
	Mormons have a great emotional attachment to the book itself, much greater than the content would account for

Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants is routinely called 'D&C'

D&C is a series of recorded "divine revelations"

	138 in all
	Each different revelation is a separate section
	133 of the 138 revelations were supposedly received by Joseph Smith, over 75% within a five year span
	Early 'revelations' directly served the purposes of keeping the followers of Joseph Smith 'in line', rather than to introduce new doctrine
	Later sections introduce many of the exotic doctrines of Mormonism
	Appended to the D&C are two official declarations (discontinuation of plural marriages and allowing black males to receive the priesthood)

D&C is the most quoted of the LDS scriptures

Doctrines introduced in the D&C

	Baptism for the dead
	Celestial marriage
	Plurality of wives
	Plurality of gods
	Possibility of attaining godhood
	Word of Wisdom
	Three kingdoms of heaven
	Missionary work in the spirit world

The dilemma of responding in love to Mormons' high regard for scriptures that Christians consider the fabrication of a false prophet

The Pearl of Great Price

The Pearl of Great Price is the least used of the Mormon scriptures

It is a collection of five brief works totaling 60 pages

Book of Moses

	Joseph Smith's reworking of the first five chapters of Genesis
	Stresses man's agency
	Expands on the story of Enoch

Book of Abraham

	Expands the teaching of a plurality of gods
	Discusses preexistence
	Joseph Smith translated from Egyptian hieroglyphics written on papyri he obtained from a traveling exhibition show
	The papyri is currently in the Metropolitan Museum in New York
	Modern translation of the hieroglyphics reveal the writings to be a description of burial rites and have no similarity to Joseph's translation
	This fact does not sway Mormon faith in the standing of Joseph Smith as a true prophet

Joseph Smith-Matthew

Joseph Smith's translation of Matthew verse 23:39 & chapter 24

Joseph Smith-History

	A couple of brief excerpts from Joseph Smith's history of the Church
	Includes a description of a vision he claimed to have received as a youth in which the Lord told him all the existing Christian churches were false and that their creeds were "an abomination in his sight"
	Non-Mormon research has exposed numerous historical problems with this "vision"

Thirteen Articles of Faith

	Supposed to be a concise set of statements that define the Mormon faith (like a Christian creed)
	This set of statements gives a false definition of Mormonism as it does not mention any of its unique beliefs such as the progression to godhood

The more divine revelation the LDS church possesses, the more enriched Mormons believe themselves to be. They consider Christians less fortunate because they have only the Bible as scripture

The Priesthood

Mormonism teaches that its god did not complete his revelation with the scriptures

Men should expect to receive direct revelations from God

Mormons value such direct revelations more than they do the written scriptures

It is through the priesthood that these revelations are received

Every male member in good standing will be a "holder of the priesthood"

The organization of the priesthood was discussed in the chapter Plan of Salvation (Chronological) under Mortal Existence in the article: Priesthood

Mormons believe the priesthood endows them with God's authority and power

Mormonism teaches that the priesthood was gone from the earth between the times of the Apostles and the time of Joseph Smith

	Claims that John the Baptist visited Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1829 and conferred on them the Aaronic priesthood
	Claims about a month later Peter, James, and John appeared to them and conferred the Melchizedek priesthood
	Claims that later Elias, Moses, and Elijah visited Joseph Smith and bestowed on him additional "keys" of authority
	These "keys" are passed down through the priesthood
	Claims that therefore, the LDS church is the only true church, because only the LDS church has the power and authority of God

It is difficult for non-Mormons to comprehend how all-important and how all-pervasive the priesthood, with the authority of the "keys", is in Mormonism

Sometimes these keys are defined as the right to communicate directly with their god

However they may only receive divine revelation within the sphere of their own authority

Authority of the bishop

	A bishop is the leader of a local ward and has a great degree of authority at that level
	A bishop is a very different role than a pastor
	A bishop judges the worthiness of each member annually
	A bishop is not a trained theologian; it is not his main role to teach or preach doctrine
	A bishop is not dedicated full-time to his role within the church, he will have an outside, fulltime job. His bishop duties are performed outside of his primary job
	Mormonism teaches that their god gives every bishop to ability to read hearts through the 'gift of discernment'
	Mormons have high respect for and often fear of bishops

Authority of the "General Authorities"

	There are several levels of "General Authorities"
	These positions are called general because the authority associated is not bound by a geographical region
	Most General Authority positions are lifetime callings

Authority of the Mormon apostles

	The highest levels are the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency
	The First Presidency consists of three positions, the President of the Church and his two counselors
	When the president dies, the apostle with the most seniority becomes the new president
	Progression to these 'callings' proceeds through a system of progression from the lower ranks to the higher ranks
	The words of these fifteen men are authoritative throughout the church
	Mormons look upon these fifteen men as infallible prophets

The Living Prophet

The President of the Church is also called the Living Prophet

Mormons believe that a sign of the true church is that it will always have a living prophet

The Bible teaches that the Bible is all we need, that it makes us wise for salvation and equips us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Mormonism refutes this biblical teaching

The living prophet is highly respected and revered

He is considered their god's "mouthpiece" and "vice-regent"

Mormonism teaches that the words of their living prophet are more important than their scripture

The instructions of the prophet and other authorities are frequently given

	Two general conferences broadcast world wide every year
	Tightly coordinated Sunday school curriculums
	Highly encouraged to subscribe and read *Ensign* and other monthly periodicals

Critical Thinking

Mormons are instructed to give greater weight to the writings of the current prophet and apostles than to scripture, as they consider current revelation more relevant to their modern lives

As a result, rather than reading scriptures, Mormons can listen to and read the words of their current authorities

It is very difficult to pin down Mormon Doctrine

	The idea of changing doctrine is built right into the system by the emphasis on continuing revelation
	There is no process of removing scripture or previous revelation that has been superceded by new revelation
	Older, seemingly superceded doctrine will be restated in church publications that post date new revelations on the same subject
	The system of continuing revelation is not so much a system of refining doctrine and removing superceded doctrine as it is a system of continually adding new doctrine and different slants on old doctrine
	The result is a constantly growing body of inherently inconsistent doctrine that can be used to substantiate various conflicting positions
	The consequence of this circumstance is that most Mormons are conditioned not to do critical thinking about spiritual matters - even though they may be experts at critical thinking in other aspects of their lives, they will avoid critical analyses of their beliefs and their church
	This conditioning is exasperated by the LDS church's encouragement of blind obedience as illustrated by the quote "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done"
	This conditioning makes Christian witnessing more urgent and at the same time more difficult and frustrating

One may conclude that the priesthood, culminating at the living prophet holds a tight rein on the members of the LDS church

Feelings

A subsequent effect of being conditioned not to use critical thinking about spiritual matters is to rely more heavily on feelings

Mormonism also teaches that feelings are a key avenue by which the Holy Ghost communicates with individuals (often called a "burning in the bosom")

These two factors combine to create an environment where critical thinking, scriptural evidence, historical proofs, etc can all be overruled by "I know Mormonism is true because it feels right!"

Mormonism teaches that if a person's feeling go against established LDS doctrine, then the feeling is false

However, this teaching is much less prevalent that the overriding teaching that feelings are an irrefutable authority professing the trueness of the LDS church.

As a result, many Mormons will rely on their feelings to justify personal belief structures that do not follow church teaching and yet not question the trueness of the church in general

Example: A Mormon woman expresses a belief in the biblical teaching of forgiveness freely offered by Christ, saying that even though it is not what the LDS church teaches, she knows it to be the correct doctrine because it feels right. However she still clings tenaciously to the 'truth' that the LDS Church is the only true church.

When combined with the conditioning of avoiding critical thinking about spiritual matters, this reliance on feelings to discern truth becomes of paramount importance

Such irrational thinking is further illustrated through exploring the concept of a Mormon's testimony

Often Mormons want to "bear you their testimony", usually comprised of four major points:

	"I *know* that Jesus is the Christ"
	"I *know* that Joseph Smith was the true prophet of God"
	"I *know* that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church on earth"
	"I know that the Book of Mormon is true"

In each point the word 'know' is not an indication that these statements are based on knowledge. A Mormon's testimony is based on feelings

Mormons view their testimony as having supernatural powers.

Mormons will use the recitation of their testimony to 'protect' themselves

A Mormon will often will use his or her testimony when a Christian's witness exposes the falseness of a particular doctrine of the LDS church; or when irrefutable historic evidence brings into question the legitimacy of the LDS church itself

By "bearing their testimony", the person seems to be saying "I cannot refute your evidence or your conclusions but I have my testimony, which is more powerful than your argument! Your evidence and conclusions are therefore nullified."

In this very real sense this carefully taught and conditioned response 'protects' millions of Mormons from the truth

In the Witnessing Windows section of this web site, we will be writing a witnessing window titled "Building a Biblical Testimony". The premise is to teach Mormons how to build a testimony based not on feelings, but on the words of Jesus Christ and the teaching in his Holy Book

Authority as a General Concept

	We have covered two crucial issues in this chapter that directly and immensely affect witnessing to Mormons
	One is the perception of the absolute requirement of official authority from God to substantiate any church
	The other is the perception that one's feelings, as direct guidance from God, is to be used as a validation for one's beliefs - over and above any other resource
	These two Mormon perceptions make witnessing to Mormons much more difficult
	In the Witnessing Windows section of the web site, we will be writing articles that directly address ways to witness the truth in love taking into account these Mormon perceptions
	For the everyday Mormons, man’s word (LDS Authorities), logic and emotions are the ultimate authority.