- The doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consists of the entirety of the teachings that have been severally accepted by the Church as a body.
- These teachings are found in their authoritative form only in the following sources:
- The Holy Bible;
- The Book of Mormon;
- The Doctrine and Covenants;
- The Pearl of Great Price. These four volumes are collectively referred to as “the Scriptures” or “the Standard Works of the Church;” and
- Joint statements of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve.
- These teachings may be expounded upon, explained, announced or interpreted in other media, such as:
- Official Church periodicals;
- Official Church curriculum materials such as lesson manuals to be used in adult, youth or child classes;
- The two official Church websites, www.lds.org and www.mormon.org;
- Talks by Church presidents, apostles and other General Authorities in General Conference;
- The published records of such talks;
- Talks by local leaders and members in local Church meetings such as Stake Conferences and Sacrament meetings;
- Books written by Church leaders and members;
- Discussions by Church members in various formal and informal settings.
Such sources may be taken as representing
the views of those who make them, and as evidence of what the Church’s position
may be upon the subjects discussed.
None of these sources are held by the Church to be infallible, and as such are not binding upon the Latter-day Saints in matters of faith and morals.
- Latter-day Saints believe that prophets are those to whom the Lord may choose to reveal His will on specific subjects from time to time. Latter-day Saints have never believed, and the Church has never taught, that God somehow takes over a prophet’s mind so that he is henceforth incapable of error. Such a view is unreasonable, unscriptural and untrue. Put simply: there is no doctrine of “prophetic infallibility” in the Church.
- The nearest thing to such a doctrine is the oft-quoted statement that the Lord would never allow the Prophet to lead the Church astray. However, this is in nowise a claim that the Prophet’s statements would never lead anyone to hold a doctrinally incorrect opinion, because it is not our belief that we will be judged for the doctrinal purity of our opinions. Rather, it asserts that the Lord would never allow the Prophet to turn the Saints away from their duty. Orthopraxy, rather than orthodoxy, is the “gold standard” for the Latter-day Saints; and orthopraxy is mostly viewed in terms of covenant keeping.
- From time to time, various Church leaders have taught that Latter-day Saints ought to follow the Prophet’s counsel faithfully in all things. These statement do not affirm or imply that the Prophet is actually infallible, but rather must be understood in terms of point (5) above. Inasmuch as the Lord will not permit the Prophet to lead the Church astray, the Saints will at all times be safe in following the Prophet’s counsel.
What this means for Catholic Answers is this: there is, in some quarters, a popular and rather mean-spirited game that is played wherein a handful of sentences are excerpted from statements made by leaders of the Church, ripped from the context that gives them meaning, and then flung in our faces exclusively for their shock value.
The value of such an approach is limited exclusively to the entertainment it provides to those who are hostile to the Church. It does not help anyone to better understand LDS life and teaching in any way. Believing Latter-day Saints are rightly offended by this tactic, the sole purpose of which is to inflame rather than to inform. Furthermore, to the extent that any less-informed person believes such statements to have any doctrinal force, the game is misleading. Informed, believing Latter-day Saints have a positive duty to not permit such a campaign of misrepresentation to go unchallenged, but vigorously oppose it.
