Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan
Maybe not so liberal compared to some here however. I fully believe that people can be very spiritual in other faiths. If they find peace there, great. But Mike, I do believe in the restoration and I will not apologize for it. I believe the priesthood was restored. I believe the D&C when it says that one can come closer to God by abiding by the precepts of the BoM than any other book (a book despised by virtually all other faiths). Yes, LDS folk act too pharisaic in practice, IMO, but with all of the factors weighed together, I believe it is by far the best place to be and the only one with priesthood authority. With that authority comes responsibility for its use. That is why I originally suggested in this thread that we focus on the micro level of what we can actually influence with our priesthood and stewardship, rather than righting the ship that is our of place, or that we perceive is out of place.
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What we are seeing is the price of believing in personal revelation. In a church where ANYONE can receive revelation, it soon became apparent that there needed to be rules instituted because there was chaos and confusion. So the extreme top-down structure is a reflection of the fear of chaos related to the belief in personal revelation. The Lord will never plant in my mind an idea to improve the church that he hasn't already planted in the mind of Thomas Monson. That is the current belief. So if you do have an inspired idea, it is either redundant (and therefore without need to be expressed) or it is uninspired (and potentially from Satan).
One of the greatest curses, I think I've come to believe, is to be Mormon and have the mind of a sociologist.