quote:Rather, because Mormonism is allowing for personal interpretations of doctrines. The theology is as much what we want it to be as it is what it is.
Hmmm.... I see what you're saying but I think it's liable to come across wrong. Phrasing it this way makes it sound like a postmodern take on religion - "get out of it whatever you want; take your own meaning."
Whereas personal revelation is an important part of our beliefs, there IS most definitely an absolute truth. The prophets would all be able to give authoritative statements on this absolute truth, and it is possible, for me as an independent member, to be wrong.
I think the important key here is that we believe in a "line upon line" way of learning truth. We each, individually, have to learn it for ourselves, but we each are understanding different things at different times. We can listen to each other's ideas, but ultimately we need to pray and find out for ourselves if it's true. Even if I really like what afr said in this discussion, for example, it's my responsibility to read and pray and ask God if it's true. Even when the prophet makes an authoritative statement, it's my job to pray & reconcile myself to what an authorized leader of the Lord has told me.
I think that's what a lot of this is boiling down to. Kate is raising some objections based on the fact that it's not up to any of us to decide who is and isn't righteous. And this is true - judge not unrighteously. But we would say that there are authorized representatives of the Lord who DO have the right to discern people's worthiness for certain purposes. These are still men, and they're still fallible, but they have the responsibility and authority to make certain judgments. It's significant to note that they don't hold this office for their entire lives - your bishop can give you a temple recommend, but next week he might not be your bishop any more and he won't have the right or the responsibility to do that again.
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This thread has moved beyond Big Love, but I thought it worth mentioning that in tonight's episode we found out that the letter validating polygamy was a fake. So it looks like they've eliminated the plot line that was truly antagonistic to the LDS church.
For any that watch the show- what a fantastic episode! I was prepared to be thoroughly annoyed by the Nicki's daughter plot line but I think they've handled it in a way that I'm actually excited about it. And Bill establishing a new church right as Roman's being killed... well I've always thought they were setting him up to be prophet and it looks like they're moving forward with that plot line. Next season should be interesting.
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The whole forgery subplot was interesting; it roughly paralleled the actual Mark Hoffmann episode, down to the bombs.
Bill's attempts to buy the church off struck me as fairly implausible, among other reasons and not least because BYU's rolling in money. They wouldn't need his 5%.
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What the heck. Why would you do that? Oh man, that is infuriating.
