How does your church arrive at decisions? Is it a vote? Is it revelation? Is it an appeal to scripture?
For LDS folk, many doctrinal decisions are left up to the individual.
Should I drink caffeine? You figure it out for yourself.
Is birth control OK? That's between you two and the Lord.
There is a saying that we must have unity on the essentials and toleration on the non-essentials. I feel the essentials are the things found in the scriptures. Many people misunderstand Mormons and their doctrine, and it's mainly because they don't understand what constitutes doctrine. They read Mormon Doctrine by McConkie and think that is official, but that's not the case. There is a very specific route to take to arrive at doctrine.
For something to become doctrine the High Council of the Church (consisting of the first presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles) must formally declare it as such. This happens very rarely. So rarely, in fact, that you can find pretty much all of our doctrine in our standard works: The Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. If you ask an authority in the LDS church about doctrine they will always refer you to the scriptures. A major line that has to be drawn is the line between a practice or administrative standard, and doctrine. The denial of the priesthood to African Americans was a practice, not a doctrine.
When our prohpets and Apostles speak to us in their official capacities we think of their words as being the will of the Lord for us. We liken it to scripture, but not in the sense that it is canonical - only in that it is inspired counsel. This is the case because we know the will of the Lord is not always the same for us. As times change so does the specific will of the Lord. This should be pretty darn evident, but some don't see how this can be.
For LDS folk, many doctrinal decisions are left up to the individual.
Should I drink caffeine? You figure it out for yourself.
Is birth control OK? That's between you two and the Lord.
There is a saying that we must have unity on the essentials and toleration on the non-essentials. I feel the essentials are the things found in the scriptures. Many people misunderstand Mormons and their doctrine, and it's mainly because they don't understand what constitutes doctrine. They read Mormon Doctrine by McConkie and think that is official, but that's not the case. There is a very specific route to take to arrive at doctrine.
For something to become doctrine the High Council of the Church (consisting of the first presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles) must formally declare it as such. This happens very rarely. So rarely, in fact, that you can find pretty much all of our doctrine in our standard works: The Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. If you ask an authority in the LDS church about doctrine they will always refer you to the scriptures. A major line that has to be drawn is the line between a practice or administrative standard, and doctrine. The denial of the priesthood to African Americans was a practice, not a doctrine.
When our prohpets and Apostles speak to us in their official capacities we think of their words as being the will of the Lord for us. We liken it to scripture, but not in the sense that it is canonical - only in that it is inspired counsel. This is the case because we know the will of the Lord is not always the same for us. As times change so does the specific will of the Lord. This should be pretty darn evident, but some don't see how this can be.