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The Book of Mormon exhorts us to "counsel with the Lord in all [our]
doings, and he will direct [us] for good" (Alma
37:37). God provides individual guidance in many ways. Everyone
on earth receives light from the Spirit (D&C
84:46-47). In the ordinance of confirmation, we commit to a life
of tutelage by the Holy Ghost, who will teach us all things (John
14:26). Personal revelation may come through prayer;
through the scriptures, the
words of living prophets,
a patriarchal blessing,
or other inspired teaching; through flashes of insight; or through a process
so gradual that we may not recognize until after the fact how God has
led us along (D&C 78:17-18).
We are told that we should not live on borrowed light—that we should
know the truth for ourselves (Alma 5:46).
This means that our own conscience or testimony
must be our ultimate authority. Living in community requires compromise,
of course, and respect for authorities outside ourselves. But when we
compromise or submit, we should do so because personal revelation tells
us to.
Because God adapts to our understanding, and because we are each at different
places in our life journeys, we should expect that one individual's personal
revelation will differ from another's (2 Ne. 31:3;
D&C 1:24). Maintaining oneness in essentials while accommodating
diverse understandings and dissenting consciences remains a challenge
for the community of Saints.
| Brigham Young: What a
pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter destruction! Are
you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so much
confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves
of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down
in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny
in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself
would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation . . . Let every
man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves,
whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates or
not. |
| Journal of Discourses
9:150 |
Heber C. Kimball:
The time is coming when no man or woman will be able to endure on
borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within
himself.
|
| Life of Heber C. Kimball
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992), 450 |
George Q. Cannon:
Our Father does not ask you to walk in darkness nor by another's
light, but it is His good pleasure to give each one of you the light
of His Holy Spirit in your own souls. By this light you have a right
to examine all things that you may hold fast to that which is good.
|
| Gospel Truth (Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 1987, 248 |
Joseph Fielding Smith:
If I do my duty, according to my understanding of the requirements
that the Lord has made of me, then I ought to have a conscience
void of offense. I ought to have satisfaction in my soul that I
have simply done my duty as I understand it, and I will accept the
consequences. With me, it is a matter between me and the Lord; so
it is with every one of us.
|
| Conference Report, October
1969, 108 |
Hugh B. Brown: While
all members should respect, support, and heed the teachings of the
authorities of the church, no one should accept a statement and
base his or her testimony upon it, no matter who makes it, until
he or she has, under mature examination, found it to be true and
worthwhile.
|
"Final Testimony,"
An Abundant Life: The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown
(Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1999) |
Chieko N. Okazaki:
We have a responsibility to take our questions to God and struggle
with those questions in the process of receiving revelation. Will
my personal direction from God be the same as yours? I don't think
so. We're individuals. God deals with us as individuals. This is
the same God who made not just apples but pears and apricots and
persimmons and grapes. He likes diversity. He invented it. |
| Disciples (Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998), 52 |
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