Mormon Church

There is an important difference between Mormon doctrine and Mormon practice. Doctrine doesn’t change, but practices do. For instance, baptism has been a commandment and a doctrine from the very beginnings of the church. Everyone must be baptized to become a member of the church, and that baptism must follow the example set by the Savior, so it has to be done by a person with the authority to baptize, and it must be done by immersion. Those are doctrines critical to our eternal salvation, and they will never change. However, there is no specific doctrine stating how many times a person can be baptized by a person in authority. Because of this, in the early church, people sometimes got re-baptized many times. Unfortunately, some people took this as a license to sin. Since baptism washed away their sins, they thought it meant they could do whatever they wanted as long as they were re-baptized afterwards. For others, it was similar to renewing wedding vows-a sign of commitment, which was a more appropriate use of the practice. Because the practice of re-baptism was being abused by some, however, by 1897, church leaders decided to discontinue the practice. Today, only those who are excommunicated for serious sin are re-baptized. Re-baptism was not a doctrine; it was a practice and therefore, could be changed. Baptism itself is a doctrine and cannot be changed.

God has always taught certain things that were only to be done at a certain time-every generation needn’t build an ark or travel in the wilderness, but some did. The law of Moses was upgraded to a higher law, creating different practices for people living in different times. This is why we need prophets. There are situations arising regularly which require new programs or information.

The ninth Article of Faith (a statement of thirteen core beliefs of the Mormons) states: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” This teaching makes the Mormons stand out among most other religion, and is essential to understanding the question asked.

Amos taught that God would do nothing without revealing it through His prophets. (Amos 3:7) God sent prophets to prepare us for the first coming of the Savior, and He’s now sent them for an equally important event-the Second Coming of the Savior. The Mormon church is headed by a prophet of God. God didn’t go into hiding and refuse to speak to us for the rest of mortality. He is once again speaking to us, guiding us toward the Second Coming and our own eternal salvation. As circumstances change, Mormon prophets make some changes, not to doctrine, but to practice.

One point of confusion is that often, people misunderstand the difference between doctrine and personal belief. There are many things leaders have said that they believed personally, but that were never canonized or made doctrine. There are also things members believe that were never taught by leaders, and there are also cultural things that are culture and not doctrine. Sometimes what people looking at the church see as changes in doctrine are really a matter of a return to true doctrine.

Mormons teach their members to follow a living prophet. When seemingly contradictory information is found in a search of teachings of church leaders, they are counseled to select the teaching of the current prophet. Harold B. Lee explained this to members:

“It is sometimes very interesting to get the reaction of people,” he observed. “I recall when President McKay announced to the Church that the First Council of Seventy were being ordained high priests in order to extend their usefulness and to give them authority to act when no other General Authority could be present. I went down to Phoenix, Arizona, and I found a Seventy who was very much disturbed. He said to me, ‘Didn’t the Prophet Joseph Smith say that this was contrary to the order of heaven to name high priests as presidents of the First Council of Seventy when they were named in the beginning?’

“And I said, ‘Well, I had understood that he did, but had you ever thought that what was contrary to the order of heaven in 1840 might not be contrary to the order of heaven in 1960?’ You see, he had not thought of that. He … was following a dead prophet, and he was forgetting that there is a living prophet today. Hence the importance of our stressing the word ‘living.’ ” (Harold B. Lee, “The Place of the Living Prophet, Seer and Revelator,” address to seminary and institute of religion faculty, Brigham Young University, 8 July 1964. )

This is exactly the pattern we see in the Bible. Each prophet received additional information that expanded our knowledge of God’s teachings-everything that would be needed from the day of creation to the end of the earth was not given to Adam in a single, neatly tied up package. We received our knowledge of God’s teachings line upon line, and we’ve gradually learned more about what God wants of us.

In New Testament times, people frequently did not understand this concept, and Jesus Christ was often criticized for “changing” the law. He responded, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. He then went on to give examples of laws they had been taught, and his own additions to them-not changes, but greater light. He reminded them they had been taught not to kill. He added additional light by telling them they must not even be angry with others without cause. While they had already been taught not to commit adultery, He now taught them that even having impure thoughts toward another was adultery. He didn’t change the law-murder and adultery were still wrong. He simply enlarged it to meet the new capabilities of the people and helped the Church to progress toward perfection.

Throughout the Bible, we see that God gradually added new levels of responsibility to His people’s lives, and that He frequently gave commandments to one group that didn’t apply to another. In a church with a living God, we must expect things to change periodically to meet the needs of God’s kingdom. We must allow God to continue leading His people. Core doctrine will never change, but teachings may be enlarged upon and practices may be changed as God works to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children.

Tags: Mormon doctrine, Mormons, prophets

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 7:09 am and is filed under Array. You can follow any responses to this entry through the /feed feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.