Are you serious?

Many of the past presidents and leaders of the Church have made some wonderful contributions to the progress of the Church and the betterment of mankind, but they’ve also made their share of blatantly racist statements.

It’s really hard to make a case that Brigham Young, Mark E. Peterson, Bruce R. McConkie, and others who are sustained as “prophets, seers, and revelators” did not espouse racist views.

Uhh… no. Anything he has stated in an official church publication or during a conference is “the voice of the Lord”.

…his own grandson said he was incompetant at the end of his life;

So? Hugh Nibley’s lesbian daughter said that her dad was deranged.. does that make it so? No. Nibley’s other children have defended him and denounced their sisters’ statements, and Benson’s other grandchildren hold no such view of Pres. Benson. One apostate descendant isn’t necessarily an authoritative, unbiased source of mental competency.

It seems the church is always teaching that there are “evil” members, when in reality we are not allowed the right to question or to disagree.

It’s not “the Church” that’s teaching this, in an attempt to control its membership. It’s the Lord that’s teaching it. Ya know, that whole parable of the wheat and tares? Ring a bell?

I never cared for Benson nor his conservative politics.

I love this man, and I love his politics. I’m sorry you didn’t care for a Prophet of God, but he was ordained to and sustained in this calling and his statements and prophesies should be warranted as coming from a man in this high office.

1978 comes and Wham, those who believe in the apologetic are dead wrong. If they don’t immediately accept it, they are the heretics.

Bruce R. McConkie spoke about this:

There are statements in our literature by the early brethren which we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things… All I can say to that is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness, and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter any more. It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year [1978]. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the gentiles.

So often in history the ones we admire most are those whom time proved right but were considered rebels and heretics at the time.

This is true, but revelation and church policy stands. Whether you feel otherwise, or think something might “change” in the future, one must “sit tight” and obey the current policy and counsel. The Church is not an evolving, revolutionary organization where members with different ideologies and whims can sway its course. God is at the helm. It will change direction when He wishes it to. Until that time, whether some might seem “prescient” or not, we obey the “line” and “precept” the Church currently finds itself at.

It seems to be that beyond the basic foundational doctrines, we all need to keep an open mind.

Definitely. Where there are supporting quotes and statements from General Authorities, but no canonized revelation, those statements will shape my own faith and opinion since we hold these men to be servants of God able to act in His name. But yes, on speculative subjects with no scriptural or revelatory backing, we should keep open minds.

However, if something foundational is going to come to the Church, it will no doubt come through proper channels. We do need to be faithful is sustaining the Prophet.

I completely agree.

How often to we hang on to something the prophet once said when it is later corrected by further light and knowledge.

Well, whenever this is the case, the person is in error. Anything superceded by another revelation or authoritative statement is nullified.

These are questions that keep me thinking.

I’m glad somebody else’s wheels are churning too! :)

Frankly, Benson was also a racist. The church did have that racist stain during the 70s. If you look back at statements made by Benson, it’s appalling.

That’s quite the accusation, Cal. I don’t consider a Prophet of God racist at all. Sure, some of his personal and societal views would most likely be different in our world, but perhaps not. But I’d be careful about labeling a Prophet like that…

He kept none of his political views to himself.

Haha, is this supposed to be an accusation of some sort? It was John Taylor who said that the Elders of Israel should “understand that they have something to do with the world politically as well as religiously, that it is as much their duty to study correct political principles as well as religious.” I see no reason why a Prophet shouldn’t speak out politically. Our current one has done so. Those in the scriptures did so as well.

His grandson, Steve Benson, stated several times that Benson made private racist remarks all the time.

I wouldn’t expect anything different of somebody who apostatized from the Church… Again, as I commented above, Steve is hardly an authoritative, unbiased source of the character and disposition of a Prophet of God. Anybody with an axe to grind is going to remember their facts and events with a jaded, biased view.

His grandson, Steve Benson, stated several times that Benson made private racist remarks all the time.

Connor,
Here is where I struggle with this conception. Prior to the lifting of the Priesthood Ban, the naysayers would have been those who felt this policy was unjust. All manner of men desiring them to be put into their place could use these words to proclaim them as heretics. A large apologetic for the Ban saturated Mormon culture. 1978 comes and Wham, those who believe in the apologetic are dead wrong. If they don’t immediately accept it, they are the heretics. Meanwhile, yesterdays heretics are looking pretty prescient. It turns out that their gut feeling turned out to be right in the long run. Provided they were not overcome with venom and bile from the whole experience, they likely eagerly accepted this revelation.

So often in history the ones we admire most are those whom time proved right but were considered rebels and heretics at the time. All the prophets openning each dispensation and Jesus Christ himself fit this mold. How do we know that if Christ were to come again to correct folk doctrines that had crept into the church, he would not simply be branded the same way.

It seems to be that beyond the basic foundational doctrines, we all need to keep an open mind. We need to have room for disagreement because short of a messenger from heaven delivering us a revelation, we may be the ones on the wrong side of the fence. I think this is the real message I get from learning of the apostasy occuring time and again in the scriptures.

However, if something foundational is going to come to the Church, it will no doubt come through proper channels. We do need to be faithful is sustaining the Prophet. It is just that I don’t think that always means what some say it means. How often do we overread something a prophet says. How often to we hang on to something the prophet once said when it is later corrected by further light and knowledge. Then you could easily have division with both sides dead certain they are following the prophet. These are questions that keep me thinking.

I never cared for Benson nor his conservative politics.