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by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 14th, 2009
Help answer this question below.
by laie_techie on October 19th, 2009
"Doctrines of Salvation" was published in 1954 when Joseph Fielding Smith was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, not President of the Church. As such, it is on par with other books written by other Apostles. It is not doctrinally binding, but offers great insight.
Only the President of the Church may introduce new doctrine. The Apostles act as official representatives of the Church insofar as they perform an act in the office of Apostle. As an example, was writing these volumes part of Elder Smith's calling as an Apostle or was he sharing his own personal insights? As an opposing example, Elder Talmage was commissioned by the President of the Church to write Jesus the Christ.
I am not aware if the LdS Church has an official stance as to whether the Community of Christ is to be considered a cult, or merely as yet another sect.
by whew4 on October 15th, 2009
When "Joseph Fielding Smith wrote the "Doctrines of Salvation" he was not the President of the Church. And all the things contained in those books are his own opinions.
He was not speaking for the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ will not call any Church a "Cult". We may individually believe such, but it is not so, as a Church.
I have said before, the Lord does not call puppets to be His Prophets, He calls men, who are mortal and subject to flaws. They are only Prophets when they are acting as such.
To my knowledge, the Church has never called any Church a "Cult." Later
do mormons believe in being "saved"?
by Does it matter? on October 7th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
MORMONS True or False: People are essentially noble beings who can exercise their free agency to decide if they want to join the LdS Church.
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on December 10th, 2009
| 1 person likes this
LdS: what does "We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed"* mean EXACTLY?
by k on January 25th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
Do Mormons have to watch reruns of Battlestar Galactica?
by Mister_Bromide on May 13th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Mormons: are marriages that are not sealed in the temple valid or ordained in the eyes of God? Or in the eyes of the LdS church?
by k on January 25th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
You're reading Tenth Mormon President Joseph Fielding Smith described the RLDS Church, of which Emma Smith was a founding member, as a cult (Doctrines of Salvation 1:284). Does the LdS Church still consider the RLDS/Community of Christ a cult today?
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Comments
Thanks for your great answer as always Laie. +6
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>"Doctrines of Salvation" was published in 1954 when Joseph Fielding Smith was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, not President of the Church<
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What's your source for this? The only information I can find states that this was a compilation by Bruce R. McConkie and published in the 1970's.
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>As such, it is on par with other books written by other Apostles. It is not doctrinally binding, but offers great insight<
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I don't 'get' this at all. That's like saying that we should accept the New Testament Epistles as canonical because they were only written by Apostles (when they WEREN'T under a commission to act in the office of Apostle) and thus aren't binding.
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And I would say that whether his words were "binding" or not he was merely reflecting the general LdS Church consensus on the RLDS.
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 19th, 2009
Here you go again. You are imposing a standard on us that you don't follow yourself. You yourself stated that a number of writings by the ancient apostles were rejected from the Bible because not everything that they wrote was inspired, but you are insisting on asserting that anything written by our apostles must be binding on us as inspired writing.
by Glenn Blaylock on October 19th, 2009
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No, Glenn, I'm actually challenging an LdS inconsistency. You claim a unique authority and power for your Apostles simply because they rose through the ranks of the hierarchy.
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The early church made no such claims.
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Rather a work was considered inspired because it carried the mark (of if you prefer the "air") of inspiration. It was immediately received by God's people as such and treated as such.
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And anyone in the church could receive and transmit such a work not just people at a certain level in the heirarchy.
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The problem with the LdS system is that you claim that your leaders BOTH speak for god AND have plausible deniability. Like I said - any port in a storm will do. In other words your criteria seems completely arbitrary.
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AND your own scholars debate endless because of it.
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As the saying goes, "Yesterday's doctrine is today's heresy, today's doctrine is tomorrow's heresy."
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The Bible, on the other hand, remains constant.
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And how you all are dancing...
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 19th, 2009
around Joseph Fielding Smith's doctrine about the RLDS is a PERFECT example.
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I have NO doubt that if you all had it out for the RLDS/CoC right now your leaders would be quoting those passages in Conference.
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Whether you like it or not Mormonism is completely subjective, arbitrary, and relative. It changes. It changes. It changes. And then it changes again. And again . . .
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Like kids in a Theological and Doctrinal cafeteria.
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Like trying to nail Jello dipped in olive oil to a wall.
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And, as always, I'm sorry that the evidence upsets you.
by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 19th, 2009
If you search for "Doctrines of Salvation" on Amazon, it lists 1954 as the publication year. Joseph Fielding Smith was ordained an Apostle in 1910 and President of the Church in 1970.
by laie_techie on October 19th, 2009
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I can see why we're getting different results there are discrepancies between the listings - I count 4 PAGES of hits with the product information conflicting from entry to entry.
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WikiPedia was no help either.
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Neither was MormonWiki.org or .com.
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by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 20th, 2009
An interesting article (Agreeing to Disagree) on the Signature Books site lists 1954 as the publication date.
http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/harmony/chapter8.htm
by laie_techie on October 20th, 2009
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This is like a detective story isn't it?
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I give anything from Signature a LOT of weigh - their editors are top shelf. So I'm going with the 1954 date that's cited in that footnote:
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"6. Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954). For a concise view of his position, see Bruce R. McConkie, comp., Doctrines of Salvation—Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954), 1: chaps. 5, 9."
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However, I think a work that's been this influential deserves far better treatment and far more attention than it's getting in the Mormon Intellectual Community.
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At least a good - and accurate - entry in WikiPedia would be nice.
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by Mister IT is trying to Liahona outta here on October 20th, 2009