Faith and Ambiguity
Before entering college, most of us think of things for the most part in terms of black and white—there is very little gray in either the intellectual or the spiritual dimension of our perspective. … As time goes on, however, new experiences may introduce a new dimension to a student’s perspective. In general, I would characterize this new dimension as a growing awareness that there is a kind of gap between the real and the ideal—between what is and what ought to be. … Students at a large Church college may suffer disillusionment when they lose some great battle with the giant red-tape machine, or when they remain unknown and nameless to their student ward bishop for weeks or even months, or when they brush up against a faculty member whose Church commitments seem to them to be in doubt. At a more personal and spiritual level, perhaps an important prayer goes too long unanswered, or they suffer some devastating setback with grades, good health, or the prospects for marriage; and the heavens may seem closed in a time of great need. They may also become increasingly conscious of the imperfections of others, including parents, other Church members, or even a bishop or a stake president. … Students may also begin to confront such controversial issues as the role of women in the Church and differing political views among Church members. …
Experiences such as these can produce confusion and uncertainty—in a word, ambiguity—and one may yearn with nostalgia for simpler, easier times when things seemed not only more clear but more under our control. Such experiences may bring about the beginnings of skepticism, of criticism, of unwillingness to respond to authority or to invitations to reach for ideals that now truly seem beyond one’s grasp. Not everybody will encounter what I have been describing, and I do not mean to suggest that everyone must encounter such experiences. But college students are probably more likely to encounter “ambiguity” than almost any other group.
The fundamental teachings of the restored gospel are potent, clear and unambiguous; but it is possible, on occasion, to encounter some ambiguity even in studying the scriptures. … [gives various examples of ambiguity in the scriptures and in life] … I believe that there are three different levels of dealing with ambiguity. There may be more, but I would like to talk in terms of three. …
We must develop sufficient independence of judgment and maturity of perspective that we are prepared to handle the shafts and whirlwinds of adversity and contradiction that are so likely to come along in our lives. When those times come, we cannot be living on borrowed light. We should not be deceived by the clear-cut labels some may use to describe circumstances that are, in fact, not so clear. Our encounters with reality and disappointment are in fact vital stages in the development of our maturity and understanding. …
The ability to acknowledge ambiguity is not a final form of enlightenment. Having admitted to a willingness to suspend judgment temporarily on questions that seem hard to answer, having developed greater tolerance and more patience, our basic posture toward the Church can, if we are not careful, gradually shift from being committed to being noncommittal. That is not a healthy posture. … I hope that I will never be so aware of “reality” that I am unresponsive to the whisperings of heaven. …
It seems to me that the most productive response to ambiguity, then, is at level three, where we not only view things with our eyes wide open but with our hearts wide open as well. … I believe that it is always better to give the Lord and his Church the benefit of any doubts we may have when some such case seems too close to call. I stress that the willingness to be believing and accepting in these cases is a very different matter from blind obedience. It is, rather, a loving and knowing kind of obedience.
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"I Never Told You I Was Perfect, But There Is No Error in the Revelations"
We should be careful not to claim for Joseph Smith perfections he did not claim for himself. He need not have been superhuman to be the instrument in God’s hands that we know him to be. In May 1844 Joseph declared, “I never told you I was perfect, but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.” And he had commented earlier, “Although I do wrong, I do not the wrongs I’m charged with doing. The wrong that I do is through the frailty of human nature like other men. No man lives without fault. Do you think that even Jesus, if he were here, would be without fault in your eyes? His enemies said all manner of evil against him, and they all watched for iniquity in him.” Joseph was a mortal man striving to fulfill an overwhelming divinely appointed mission against all odds. The wonder is not that he ever displayed human failings, but that he succeeded in his mission. His fruits are both undeniable and incomparable.
I say to Israel, the Lord will
never permit me or any other man who stands as president of this Church to lead
you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God. If I were
to attempt that the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so he will any
other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of
God and from their duty.
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Yes, we believe in a living
prophet, seer, and revelator, and I bear you my solemn witness that we have a
living prophet, seer, and revelator. We are not dependent only upon the
revelations given in the past as contained in our standard works—as wonderful
as they are—but we have a mouthpiece to whom God does reveal and is revealing
His mind and will. God will never permit him to lead us astray. As has been
said, God would remove him out of his place if he should attempt to do it. You
have no concern. Let the management and government of God, then, be with the
Lord. Do not try to find fault with the management and affairs that pertain to
Him alone and by revelation through His prophet—His living prophet, His seer,
and His revelator.
Harold
B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy
Places (1974), 164.
It is not to be thought that every
word spoken by the General Authorities is inspired, or that they are moved upon
by the Holy Ghost in everything they write. I don’t care what his position is,
if he writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything you can
find in the standard church works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and
revelator — please note that one exception — you may immediately say, “Well,
that is his own idea.” And if he says something that contradicts what is found
in the standard church works, you may know by the same token that it is false,
regardless of the position of the man who says it.
Harold
B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy
Places (1974), 162-163.
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With all their inspiration and
greatness, prophets are yet mortal men with the imperfections common to mankind
in general. They have their opinions and prejudices and are left to work out
their problems without inspiration in many instances. Thus the opinions and
views, even of a prophet, may contain error, unless those opinions and views
were inspired by the Spirit. …
Well, the point of this is that
prophets are men and that when they act by the spirit of inspiration, what they
say is the voice of God; but still they are mortal and they are entitled to and
do have private opinions. Unless these are inspired and unless they accord with
the revelations, they are just as subject to being in a field by themselves, as
anyone else in the Church. What I really ought to do is, not talk about General
Authorities, but talk about bishops and elders, because the principle is
precisely the same where everyone is concerned.
Bruce
R. McConkie, “Are the General Authorities Human?” (1966), 5, as quoted in Top,
Dahl, and Bowen, Follow the
Living Prophets (1993),
117-118.
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To be perfectly frank, there have been times when members or leaders in the Church have simply made mistakes. There may have been things said or done that were not in harmony with our values, principles, or doctrine.
I suppose the Church would be perfect only if it were run by perfect beings. God is perfect, and His doctrine is pure. But He works through us—His imperfect children—and imperfect people make mistakes.
In the title page of the Book of Mormon we read, “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.”
This is the way it has always been and will be until the perfect day when Christ Himself reigns personally upon the earth.
It is unfortunate that some have stumbled because of mistakes made by men.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Come Join with Us," Ensign, November 2013, 22-23.
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A man may have a wart on his cheek and still
have a face of beauty and strength, but
if the wart is emphasized unduly in relation to his other features, the
portrait is lacking in integrity.
There was only one perfect man who ever
walked the earth. The Lord has used imperfect people in the process of building
his perfect society. If some of them occasionally stumbled, or if their
characters may have been slightly flawed in one way or another, the wonder is
the greater that they accomplished so much.
Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Continuing Pursuit of Truth," Ensign, April 1986, 5.
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Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. A single statement made by a single leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, but is not meant to be officially binding for the whole Church. With divine inspiration, the First Presidency (the prophet and his two counselors) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (the second-highest governing body of the Church) counsel together to establish doctrine that is consistently proclaimed in official Church publications. This doctrine resides in the four “standard works” of scripture (the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price), official declarations and proclamations, and the Articles of Faith. Isolated statements are often taken out of context, leaving their original meaning distorted.
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A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine. There is an important principle that governs the doctrine of the Church. The doctrine is taught by all 15 members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. It is not hidden in an obscure paragraph of one talk. True principles are taught frequently and by many. Our doctrine is not difficult to find.
The leaders of the Church are honest but imperfect men. Remember the words of Moroni: “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father … ; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Ether 12:6).
At the same time it should be remembered that not every statement made by a Church leader past or present necessarily constitutes doctrine. It is commonly understood in the church that a statement made by one leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well considered, opinion not meant to be official or binding for the whole Church. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that a prophet is a prophet only when he is acting as such.
D. Todd Christofferson, “The Doctrine of Christ,” Ensign, May 2012.
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The central, saving doctrine is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of humankind; that He lived, taught, healed, suffered, and died for our sins; and that He rose from the dead the third day with a glorious, immortal, resurrected body (see 1 Corinthians 15:1–3; D&C 76:40–42). It was the Prophet Joseph Smith who spoke of these central truths as the “fundamental principles” of our religion to which all other doctrines are but appendages.[3]
Robert L. Millet, “What Is Our Doctrine?,” Religious Educator 4.3 (2003): 15.
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