Question (Latter-Day Saints, church, prophet, blessing, Apostle)

[Moni_Gail]

No, I'm not LDS, though I use to be. I don't know if it's appropriate for me to post in here or not. The reason I didn't do this in debate is that it's not debatable. It's merely a question I never got the chance to ask.

Most, if not all prophets, hold that office until death. My question is, what would happen, or has it happened, if the prophet's mental capacity is limited. In other words, if he were to get alzheimer's or something to that degree.

And no, I'm not at all implying that's the case. I have much respect for Gordon B. Hinckley. Thanks!

[Bishka]

That's a really good question, and that's not at all disrespectful.

We really appreciate people coming to our DIR forum to ask questions. To be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure, but I know if there are physical problems, his conselours help out. It's happened with previous prophets, but I cannot be sure this is the case 100% of the time.

I'll leave this to the other Latter-day Saints here to answer, their answers are usually much more comphrensive then mine.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Moni_Gail

No, I'm not LDS, though I use to be. I don't know if it's appropriate for me to post in here or not. The reason I didn't do this in debate is that it's not debatable. It's merely a question I never got the chance to ask.

Not a problem. Your question is a good one.

Most, if not all prophets, hold that office until death. My question is, what would happen, or has it happened, if the prophet's mental capacity is limited. In other words, if he were to get alzheimer's or something to that degree.

So far, it's been not "most" but "all." Unless I'm mistaken (and that's been the case on occasion ), the prophet would continue to hold that office until death, regardless of his mental capacity. However, I believe that if he literally were unable to function in the capacity to which he had been called, that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles would, in effect, be able to jointly be able to make any decisions that needed to be made.

And no, I'm not at all implying that's the case. I have much respect for Gordon B. Hinckley. Thanks!

You're very welcome.

[Moni_Gail]

Originally Posted by Katzpur

So far, it's been not "most" but "all." Unless I'm mistaken (and that's been the case on occasion )

No, I think you are correct, but I didn't want to assume. I was merely covering all of my bases.

And thanks so much for that answer. That makes a lot of sense.


One more:

Do they know beforehand that they will hold that office? Is it the senior most Apostle? Or is it something that is known from the patriarchal blessing?

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by Moni_Gail

One more:

Do they know beforehand that they will hold that office? Is it the senior most Apostle? Or is it something that is known from the patriarchal blessing?

The office of prophet? Usually it's the most senior apostle of president of the Quroum of the Twelve from what I understand. Katzpur is doing great in answering the questions. Maybe I'll just bow out and let the master take over.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Moni_Gail

Do they know beforehand that they will hold that office? Is it the senior most Apostle? Or is it something that is known from the patriarchal blessing?

So far, it's always been the senior Apostle (i.e. not in age, but in years of service as an Apostle). So basically, when someone is called to the Apostleship, he knows that, should he outlive all the others, he will more than likely eventually be the prophet. In other words, any individual who is called as Prophet will have been chosen as a "candidate" years before it actually happens. I'm not aware of any of our Prophets who have ever been told in their patriarchal blessing that they would someday serve as Prophet. I would suspect, however, that many of them were probably told something along the line that the Lord was well pleased with them and that they would be blessed to serve Him and His Church in a position of leadership if they continued to live righteously.

[Moni_Gail]

Wow! Thanks so much Katzpur.