Prophets

I've pondered for awhile what the purpose of a prophet is. Those I taught on my mission had a hard time grasping what a prophet is. I would try to say it in concrete terms like, "A prophet speaks with God face to face." This is not really true and believed today. I started thinking recently how I am different than the prophet. What does the prophet have that I don't?

The LDS church says that the prophet is an "inspired man called to speak for the Lord." OK. Great. So, it's not that the prophet speaks to God face to face, but he feels the spirit and will tell us what the spirit will tell him. Does a prophet "know all" through the spirit?

Hardly. President Hinkley had the wool pulled over him by a scammer with the infamous "Salamander Letter." If we were to believe that President Hinkley was fully connected through the spirit with God, then he should have merely prayed to God and had it revealed it was a scam. Instead, we waited for months or years later for Mark Hoffman to murder a few people and his scams to come unraveling. So, it appears that the prophet doesn't necessarily have everything revealed to him, or everything that would be beneficial to the church, or how the church could help others (prevent these murders) revealed to him.

How about everything a prophet says is said through the Holy Spirit. Well, there are big problems here too. Bruce R. McConkie wrote Mormon Doctrine. He wrote:

Those who were less valiant in the pre-existence and who thereby had certain spiritual restrictions imposed upon them during mortality are known to us as the negroes. Such spirits are sent to earth through the lineage of Cain, the mark put upon him for his rebellion against God and his murder of Abel being a black skin.... Noah's son Ham married Egyptus, a descendant of Cain, thus preserving the negro lineage through the flood....The negroes are not equal with other races when the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom, but this inequality is not of man's origin. It is the Lord's doing, based on His eternal laws of justice, and grows out of the lack of spiritual valiance of those concerned in their first estate.

This statement seems flat out wrong today in the face of civil rights. Even Bruce R. McConkie redacted his own statement:

Forget everything I have said, or what...Brigham Young...or whomsoever has said...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. 

OK. Opponents say. Maybe it's just that we should only consider things scripture if it was said by the actual prophet instead of a member of the quorum of the twelve (technically, a prophet, seer and revelator). "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. God bless you" (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 212-13; see also Official Declaration 1). However, Joseph Smith claimed from which he translated the book of Abraham to be written by him. However, it has since been found by Egyptologists that that papyrus was not written by Abraham and was a general funeral text of the day. The translation that Joseph Smith provided was wrong.

Brigham Young taught the Adam God theory from the pulpit during General Conference which has since been contradicted by the church. Wilford Woodruff said that the founding fathers, including George Washington, appeared to him and berated him for not performing their work for the dead. Their work had already been done by that time. Gordon B. Hinkley was fooled by a forgery called the Salamander Letter.

In the end, the church believes that prophets are fallible.

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.

—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Approaching Mormon Doctrine (May 4, 2007)

Apparently, the doctrine that we can consider "scripture" represents the four "standard works". General Conference addresses do not constitute scripture and must not necessarily be followed. This statement is contrary to Wilford Woodruff's statement above that the prophet will never lead the church astray. I suspect that Wilford Woodruff's statement will be removed from OD1 at some point since it is problematic and contradicts with the official statement today.

So, what are we to believe anymore? One "apostle" of the day said:

Wilford Woodruff said (of Brigham Young), "He is a prophet, I am a prophet, you are, and anybody is a prophet who has the testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit of prophecy" (Journal of Discourses 13:165)

 We are all prophets. We all have the right to receive revelation from God. Why do we need a lossy channel that is fallible and could tell us lies if we are all prophets? What value do we receive from having a prophet if the only time we know that they are not telling us lies is when they modify the standard works, which hasn't happened in generations?