I hope the perception is not that I am tearing down the Lord’s anointed - but I will tear away at false notions.
I have an old Boeing buddy that is getting baptized in four weeks. I am encouraging him to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon which will lead him to Christ while a secondary witness will be obtained of Joseph Smith who was called to direct this latter-day work as the Dispensation head.
If my intentions were warped, I would be dissuading him. My only dissuasion has only been to not fall for the cult of personality in leader or ship or falling for a pretty sister missionary, etc. Do it for truth’s sake.
Here are the quotes:
You will NEVER find this declaration in scripture. It is a "tradition"... HERE ARE JUST A FEW STATEMENTS OF GA TRUTHS ON THIS MATTER...
I make no claim of infallibility.”
Spencer W. Kimball, Improvement Era, June 1970, p. 93
“We make no claim of infallibility or perfection in the prophets, seers, and revelators.”
James E. Faust, Ensign, November 1989, p. 11
“The First Presidency cannot claim, individually or collectively, infallibility.”
George Q. Cannon Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, 1957, 1:206
“We respect and venerate” (the prophet), but “we do not believe that his personal views or utterances are revelations from God.”
Elder Charles W. Penrose, Millennial Star, 54:191
“Even the President of the Church has not always spoken under the direction of the Holy Ghost.”
Elder J. Reuben Clark, quoted in Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History, p. 82
“…if He (God) should suffer him (Joseph Smith) to lead the people astray, it would be because they ought to be led astray…it would be because they deserved it…”
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 4:297-298
“The First Presidency have of right a great influence over this people; and if we should get out of the way and lead this people to destruction, what a pity it would be! How can you know whether we lead you correctly, or not? Can you know by any other power than that of the Holy Ghost? I have uniformly exhorted the people to obtain this living witness each for themselves; then no man on earth can lead them astray.”
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 6:100
“I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation…Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.”
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 14:205
“Individual members are encouraged to independently strive to receive their own spiritual confirmation of the truthfulness of Church doctrine. Moreover, the Church exhorts all people to approach the gospel not only intellectually but with the intellect and the spirit, a process in which reason and faith work together.”
Thank you for posting these, they have answered a lot of what I have been feeling and didn’t know where to find them.
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