The thesis of this article is that a consensus of beliefs and values among Latter-day Saints is desirable and will be achieved. The purpose of this article is to assist in the attainment of that consensus by furthering understanding of it.
Unity as the Ideal
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one God. We are given to understand that the entire celestial community is one with them. This community acknowledges the same truths, accepts the same values, and abides a unified chain of command. It pleased our Savior to do nothing in his mortal mission except to do his Father’s will, though he was already a god in his own right. Indeed, because he was a god, being perfect in desires and decisions and knowing all things, he fully recognized the perfection of his Father and the importance of being one with his Father through complete obedience to his Father’s will. But the obedience came first. Our Savior became a god in the premortal existence because he was given the opportunity to test and try the Father’s will to see if it was good. Finding it to be good, he disciplined himself to do nothing but the Father’s will and thus was able to become a god and our Savior.
The invitation to join that celestial society and unity, to become one with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, is the “good news” of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every human being is invited to sample and to experiment with the truths, the values and the commandments which the Savior gives to men. Some sample, experiment and find the word of Jesus Christ to be satisfying, ennobling, and enabling to them in the quest of making this world a better place. Others sample, experiment and reject. A major cause of rejection is doubtless the fact that there is an adversary, the father of lies, whose mission it is to distort the message about Jesus Christ, to prevent people from receiving it in its purity and simplicity, thus to thwart the work of righteousness and unity. But that thwarting is temporary at best. Before any person is judged in final judgment, either by God or by himself or herself, he or she will have opportunity to receive a direct divine revelatory manifestation of the word of Christ through the Holy Spirit, not mediated by men of the world. Thus each tastes the pure word and is free to choose it or reject it according to their own personal desires.
The premise underlying this opportunity to hear and to test the word of the Lord depends upon two fundamental beliefs about the universe: 1) That there is one truth, one reality about any matter of fact about the universe. It is either true or false that men have spirit bodies separate from their physical bodies. It is either true or false that men’s spirits live on after the death of the physical body. It is either true or false that all men will be resurrected and will stand before the Savior and account for each decision the made during probation. It is also to be understood that each human being has some ability to tell truth from falsehood; using that ability, each human being is forced to judge the Savior where and as he or she can, to decide whether or not the Savior speaks the truth. 2) That there is value, as well as truth, attaching to everything. Value means that every idea, fact, or deed may be or should be preferred over another rival idea, fact or deed. One can prefer the idea of equity among men over the idea of inequality. One can prefer this poor person to be clothed rather than naked. One can prefer to share one’s goods with one’s neighbors rather than take their goods from them. We value what we prefer. “Values” are the abstraction of these preferences. The truths we accept and the values we hold cause us to act as we do, and are the framework within which we act.
The claim for the word of Jesus Christ is that it is the key to the learning of all truth, about any matter, and that it is also the key to the learning of correct values, how to act righteously (to bless others as much as possible). The gospel is thus seen as a selective net. It gathers out of the world those who are honest in heart and/or who hunger and thirst after righteousness. But as in the parable, some gathered by the net are sent away, because the real test is not accepting truth and righteousness as abstractions or ideals, but actually living by them in solving the many and varied problems of one’s daily mortal life.
The purpose of living by truth and righteousness under the personal direction of Jesus Christ is twofold: to bless those who are less fortunate and to band together with other servants of Jesus Christ to create a society based on truth and righteousness. The Church of Jesus Christ exists to provide an orderly cooperative means for the servants of Jesus Christ to bless the less fortunate (e.g. missionary work, welfare services, education) and to create a celestial society in a telestial world. That celestial society, when attained, is called “Zion.”
The scriptural description of a Zion is a people who have one heart and one mind. They dwell in righteousness and thus there is no poor person among them. To say they have one heart means they have the same values, the same desires. To say they have one mind means they have a common understanding of the truths of the universe. To say that they are Zion means that they live unitedly in bonds of shared values and truths, each a cooperative and faithful member of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is one because each member believes, prefers and acts under the direct leadership of the Savior. As he instructs, so each believes and acts. The beliefs and preferences are the same because each has yielded his or her heart and mind to the Savior, to become his little child. Each acts differently, according to the gifts and assignments each receives, but all act in harmony, the Savior being the head, telling the eye, the ear, the hand and the foot what to do and how to do it.
The mission of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is thus two-fold: to share their wealth with the world, the greatest wealth being the knowledge of the mind and will of the Lord (the Gospel); and to establish Zion, a people who see eye to eye on all matters of truth, preference and action. These two efforts reinforce each other. The more unified the members of the church are, the greater the power of their missionary witness. The greater the labor and sacrifice in blessing others with the missionary witness, the greater will be the gifts of God in revealing more truth, understanding further correct preferences, and in carrying out greater works in unified effort.
What a marvel it would be to see Zion, a people who were informed, understanding and discerning about the politics, economics and social problems of this world and who were in full agreement with one another. What a marvel to see a people united about scientific matters, religious practice, where everyone would have a shared understanding of the truth about the creation of the earth and its living forms, about how religion is supposed to affect politics, about what kinds of music, art, dance, etc., are ennobling and strengthening and which are not.
But understanding of the “what” of Zion is not usually clear not useful unless accompanied by an understandable account as to how it can be made real in this world.
The Means to Unity
The world recognizes the importance of unity and tries to achieve it. One notable tactic employed by the world to gain consensus is careful management of the information and education a population receives, including the withholding of information, exposing all persons to a stipulated set of ideas, and the promulgation of falsehood. These variants on the management theme have been employed by governments, societies, and religious organizations from the beginning of recorded history and are in full flower today.
Another tactic of the world, actually an application of the first tactic, is to elevate a methodology to where it becomes the solution to all problems. In past ages this has been attempted for the oracles, in our age the enthronement of science is the application. This tactic, as those above, gives those who can employ the methodology great power over the rest of the population, which power has not always been used selflessly. The major drawback of this tactic is the inability of the methodology to work unerringly and sufficiently. The oracles did not always score; science often gives partial answers which must later be reversed and it cannot handle the most important questions of fact nor any of the questions of value.
The world is thus tossed to and fro by winds of doctrine, depending on who has power and/or prestige in a given society at a given time. This background highlights the strength and desirability of the alternative offered to the world in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospel mode of knowing and acting focuses on the inner experience of each human being rather that upon the testimony of the senses or the power of reason. It exalts the conscience of each person. The gospel message says that our challenge is to become spiritually alive. Each of us has personal knowledge of the existence of at least one spirit—our own. We can recognize in our own inner experience something qualitatively different from our experience with other persons and objects in the world. We have feelings and experiences within our own consciousness that we do not perceive in relation to anything but our own body.
The gospel message is that we should be honest in heart—to admit what our heart (our conscience) tells us and to honor that influence above all other things. But it is to be done in coordination with our experience of the world, our mind, and the relations we have with other people. It tells us that it is our spirit, our own unique individual inner person, that is our primary link with the Holy Spirit. As we are honest in admitting to ourselves what our own feeling (conscience) says to us, we can receive and profit from the continuing manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit tells each person receptive to it when the Restored Gospel is taught to them that they should believe in Jesus Christ. They should believe that he is the Son of God and will become our Lord and Savior if we will believe in him and obey him through the Holy Spirit. The obedience he requires is for us to forsake all selfishness and to focus our lives upon blessing others under his direction. To assist us in that obedience, he asks us to covenant with him by entering the waters of baptism, after which he bestows upon us the power and right to have the Holy Spirit (which is His spirit) with us at all times, to guide us in all matters. Then he commends to us to endure to the end, which is to repent of every sin, to cultivate the companionship of his Holy Spirit to the point where it does guide us in all things and reveals to us the truth of all things, until we have used our agency to use the help of the Holy Spirit to shape and forge a new mind, a new heart, a new countenance—until we have become as he is. For he is the end. Then, having access to all truth and all correct values, our power to do the work of righteousness, to bless others, is limited only by their willingness to receive.
Once a person has begun to honor his or her inner spiritual resources, which come through the Holy Ghost, all other powers the person has can become active to assist them in learning about the trustworthiness of this spiritual mode of knowing and acting. As the Holy Spirit testifies of some truths, our senses can test the ideas to see if that is the way the physical world is. With other ideas we can use our reason to check for consistency and continuity. With yet others we can bring to bear our experiences in the past. Or we can perform and experiment, to see if a given principle is true. In all things the Lord says “Try me. You judge whether or not my word ennobles and strengthens your soul.” With all the intelligence we have, we may test and prove all things. At the same time we must know ourselves. Would we reject a truth because it is not acceptable to our peers? Would we reject instruction to share with someone because we would rather be selfish? Would we have to “eat” too many of our own previous statements if we became little children before Jesus Christ? Would we be willing to lose our job, our family, our friends, to embrace truth and righteousness? Whenever we measure the Lord, we automatically measure ourselves.
The emphasis in the gospel mode of knowing and acting is upon character. As one strips oneself of pride, arrogance, carnality, dishonesty and every other selfish thing, one becomes a fit vessel for more and more light and truth. The light and truth are not just for having, but for doing, for blessing others, instead of doing it in the weakness of our own limited views. We have access to the omniscience of our God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Important truth and the whole truth cannot be learned by those who are not committed to moral action, to use that knowledge correctly. The end of the gospel is not to produce knowers; it is to produce doers full of knowledge who act fully under the direction of Jesus Christ.
Let us note some special features of the gospel mode of knowing and acting.
1. No human being is the final authority on any topic. Servants of Christ are specifically enjoined not to rely upon the arm of flesh nor to believe the words of any man save that man speak by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we know by the power of the Holy Spirit that what some person says is by the Holy Spirit, then we can accept and agree, because the Savior is the source of what we both accept, not any mortal human. Our hope, our trust, our faith is in the Savior. If the president of the Church of Jesus Christ speaks, we rejoice and accept because we know by the Holy Spirit within us that he speaks by the Holy Spirit: he speaks for the Savior. We give special attention to his words because he is president; we accept his words not because he is president but because we ascertain that he speaks for our Savior as he speaks. The same is true for any other speaker. We listen to many persons in and out of the Church, but we believe and act only upon that to which the Holy Spirit bears witness.
2. Use of the gospel mode is available to every human adult of normal mentality.
The proviso here is that a person cannot use the gospel mode of knowing and acting until he or she has heard it. Thus faith comes only by the hearing of the word of the Savior. The word needs to be preached to all the world, that all may be truly free to become partakers of the heavenly gift. But having heard it, any person, regardless of race, culture, creed or experience can turn to their inward resources and judge and evaluate all ideas and actions as long as the Holy Spirit is their personal tutor, taking each person where he or she is, leading each in a perfectly designed path to that growth necessary to become like the Savior.
3. A growth process is engaged in by every person employing this mode, which enables each person to become more knowledgeable, more able. It is the mission of the Holy Spirit to lead each covenant servant into a fulness of truth and light, i.e., knowledge and wisdom. We are led by it to that water, which, if we partake, we never need thirst again; but we must drink. If we are humble, we have the opportunity to test and try the Lord at each step, with each instruction. Some things revealed to us may take years for us to understand, accept and assimilate. Other things will be taken in stride. The provision here is that once we see and accept something as true or good, we must not go back on it. If the Holy Spirit reveals something to us and we ponder, evaluate and test it, then realize that we for ourselves know it is true, we must then never pretend that we do not know about that something, or that it is false. We are required to be honest, never to reject something we know to be true.
Doubtless it is pleasing to the Lord when our line by line, precept upon precept learning moves at a good pace. But should we for some reason of upbringing or professional training pause longer than most at some point, he is kind. He labors with us, helping us to assemble and assess the evidence, but will not overwhelm us with more evidence than we care to have. He loves us and wishes for each of us individually all of the experience, the growth from which we can profit consistent with all the honesty and humility which we can bring to bear.
As we are humble and honest he reveals to us first the basics and then even the mysteries as we demonstrate that we will use such revelation to do good under his direction. This increases our knowledge until our understanding reaches to heaven and increases our power until we too can perform mighty miracles in blessing our fellow beings.
4. As people independently apply the gospel mode it brings them gradually into agreement with each other about all matters of truth and value. As there is only one true God, one faith, one baptism, so there is one truth about each matter of fact, one best way to act in any given situation. The Savior does not insist that we subscribe to all he says at once, but plainly is pleased when we choose his truth and righteousness in preference to the ideas and values of the world. Doubtless he is more pleased with careful, deliberate preferring followed by faithful endurance than by ready acceptance that cannot gain root. But the goal is plainly that we should become one with him even as he is one with the Father.
To that end, the Savior bestows the Father’s glory upon each of his covenant children. The glory of god is intelligence, or light and truth. It is bestowed by granting the gift of the Holy Ghost upon the head of each newly baptized person. All this that they might become one with each other and with him, even as he is one with the Father. The watchmen will see eye to eye when the Lord doth bring again Zion.
How It All Works In Our Lives Today
The Savior uses three prime instrumentalities to bring the inhabitants of this world to a knowledge of his will: 1) The Holy Spirit 2) his living prophet 3) the scriptures. The witness of the Holy Spirit is a necessary accompaniment to the other two. When the prophet speaks, the Holy Spirit testifies to all who will receive it. When people read the scriptures and can receive the Spirit, the Spirit witnesses to that truth also. The living prophet takes precedence over any dead prophet, to which the Holy Spirit also attests. But in the mouths of two or more witnesses, all things are established, the Holy Spirit being the usual second witness when we hear the living prophet or when we read the scriptures.
In 1831, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation now known as Section 42 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This section contains a commandment of the Lord for each faithful member of the Church to enter formally into the living of the law of consecration. The Lord labored with the members, giving them revelation after revelation through the Prophet Joseph encouraging them to implement this law. The people either would not or could not do so; in any case they did not do so. After several years the Lord relieved the Church of this requirement and substituted the lesser law of tithing, which is the church standard to this day. The consensus failed in that case. The principle of consecration is true, however, and this people cannot establish Zion until such time as they voluntarily achieve consensus and implement the law of consecration as the standard of the kingdom. That implementation can and will come only as the Lord again calls his people, through his living prophet, to live that principle. Meanwhile, the principle remains true and necessary for preparation for a celestial society. Every person who hopes to be like the Savior must accept it when they learn of it, before they can progress further. Thus, there are many in the Church today who are fully converted to the principle, and who could and would implement it immediately in their lives if the living prophet gave the signal. On the other hand there are many, faithful by present standards, who would choke and die spiritually if asked to swallow it. Some not now converted would eventually come to it and embrace it faithfully, but would need time and patience on the part of their leaders to come around.
Meanwhile, the hearts and minds of members are being prepared. A few years ago President Romney noted that faithful members really ought to double their fast offerings. Many heard, received the witness of the Spirit, and doubled. The next year the Spirit said to some to double again; the next year again. When President Kimball said subsequently that members who were able should be contributing ten times the amount saved by fasting, many faithful members could attest that was the will of the Lord because they were already doing it in obedience to the Spirit. That is faith. That is consensus indeed.
In 1833 the Prophet Joseph Smith received the revelation now known as Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants, The Word of Wisdom. It was not given nor received as a commandment, and some then faithful members of the Church did not readily accept and abide it. The principles of this revelation were true and good before the revelation and after. But the consensus was slow in coming. Later the revelation was made a commandment by a later living prophet. The active membership of the Church now has a consensus about the word of wisdom. The truths and values included in the consensus of the present membership of the Church is enlarged to include the word of wisdom.
The consensus is thus a moving quantity. It always begins small and enlarges gradually over a fixed territory of truth and righteousness, fixed in the sense that truth and righteousness do not change. Rather the spirituality and faithfulness of the members of the Church grows so that they come to agree on more and more items of truth and righteousness.
In June 1978 the living prophet said that faithful members of the Church of all races could then hold the priesthood. It had always been true that that event would take place, as had been prophesied. Some wanted it to be true earlier, when it was not yet appropriate. Some wanted it to become true later, even not in this world. Some only wanted the Lord’s will to be done and rejoiced when his will was made known. When the prophet spoke, the faithful went to their knees, seeking that second witness. It came in the still small voice of peace and joy. Suffice it to say, the consensus came quickly on this matter, for many who thought and desired otherwise quickly sought, received and rallied behind the living prophet.
The living prophet also spoke out against the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, asking church members not to support it. Many were already of that mind and supported immediately. Others prayed and supported because they later received the second witness. Others say they have no witness and do not join the consensus. Yet others actively fight the stand of the living prophet, even going so far as to hold him up to ridicule. It is of the latter two groups that we must speak more particularly.
Those who have no witness are in a quandary. They have given assent to the gospel message and to many if not all of the statements of the living prophet. They may be keeping a journal, beautifying their home, raising a fine garden, doing extra missionary work, acting faithfully in their callings. The prophet does not say they must accept the anti-ERA position. They are given time, much time to ponder, pray, and to work out their feelings in the matter. Meanwhile, there is considerable rational evidence and experience to give them reason to see possible problems with ERA. And there is the sustaining witness of all of the other general authorities and of most members of the Church. They feel some pressure from within the Church to accept the prophet and some pressure from other sources to reject what the prophet says on this issue.
The pressure on each side is appropriate. It is under pressure of repeated hammerings that the fine steel is forged. To be under pressure and yet carefully to make one’s way to truth and righteousness is the way of the Lord. This world is so constructed that no one ever traverses the narrow way by accident.
The question does and should arise, Can I give allegiance to the prophet, sometimes accepting his word only because the Spirit attests to it? When the opinion of knowledgeable people of our society is contrary because the known evidence seems to indicate that a position contrary to the word of the prophet is true, some people find themselves with a difficult conflict. Could one be intellectually honest and prefer faith over evidence? The answer is that faith (the revelation of the Spirit) is evidence of things not seen which are true. The question then becomes one of preference. Does one prefer the evidence of human authority and inconclusive sensory data, or does one prefer the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Human authority and sensory data have proven to be a sandy foundation so many times in the life of mankind and in the life of each individual that one need not know about revelation to hope for something better. One need only be intellectually honest. But dependence upon the Holy Spirit is an option only for those who understand it and have tried it and proved that it works. Anyone who has proved himself or herself that it does work has had the experience of following a sure, unerring guide. The real question is then: would I prefer the testimony of the leaders of our worldly society that say abortion is a morally neutral act and will bring improved conditions to our society? Or, will I prefer the testimony of the prophet and the Holy Spirit that cutting up, scalding to death, or poisoning a live human body is one of the most heinous and repulsive crimes ever perpetrated by a human being and will eventuate in terrible consequences both for the society that allows it and for the individuals that participate in it? Where is intellectual honesty? Anyone who knows enough about intellect to be honest about it knows that an intelligent person will fly to genuine divine revelation with the greatest of avidity. The problem of intellectual honesty is a difficult problem only for those who know no alternative to the hypotheses and inductive leaps of the best of ordinary human thinking.
Some are confused by the supposed desirability of the separation of church and state. In our present circumstance that separation seems good; however, when the Savior comes, we will have no laws but his laws. Meanwhile, we need not confuse church with religion and state with politics. While it may be necessary now to hold entirely distinct the institutions of church and state, it is surely not either desirable nor possible to separate one’s religion from one’s politics. Our religion is the pattern of our choices in the problems of our daily lives. It is what we really believe, for out of it all of our actions flow, including our thinking and acting about government, social relations, taxes, wars, and voting. To attempt to separate religion and politics is to become schizophrenic—two-headed. No man or woman can serve two masters. Our political stance is always a clear reflection of our true religion. Confused or not, each person must eventually declare for or against the prophet, which is to say for or against the Holy Spirit, for or against the Savior.
When the living prophet speaks on ERA and says it is a matter of morality, what does that mean? It seems to mean that while church members are free to take opposite sides on some political issues because they don’t yet matter a great deal, this one is different. This one is of sufficient importance and danger that every member should seek for special spiritual witness in this matter; not to join the consensus out of blind obedience but out of prayerful faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This matter is so serious that it cannot be left only to those who already know by the spirit where they should stand. The witness goes forth to rally the sleeping and the indifferent and the temporarily misdirected as well. Hopefully, the consensus will become great enough that the amendment will be defeated and its train of presently unseen evil averted. Faith is to believe what is true but not seen; the faithful believe because they too know that their living prophet is led by Jesus Christ. They know that because they are also led by Christ.
Church members are told they may oppose the prophet’s stand without jeopardizing their membership. This freedom is necessary to give time, ample time, for each person to wrestle with his or her conscience. To be a convert, to support the prophet because of the whisperings of the Spirit, even if it takes a long time, is of infinitely greater worth than grudging external allegiance gained only by fear and sanction. The prophet bears his witness, borne out of faith and prayer, and invites all members to do the same. The unavoidable conclusion is that those who cannot eventually agree with the prophet reject him as the prophet. Is it possible that the prophet and all of the general authorities could be wrong? Not if this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. To reject the prophet and the other authorities is to say this is just another church of men.
What of those who fight the living prophet and the general authorities openly in opposing their stand on ERA or any other issue? It is plain that they are fully apostate. They may indeed see cultural value in the Church and desirable features of the theology, but they have rejected their covenant with the Savior and the instruction to receive the Holy Ghost. The most important thing about their excommunication is that then the disbeliever is better off, being relieved of the obligations of his or her covenant.
The Future of the Consensus
The issue of ERA is not the final item. The living prophet will not be stayed. He must lead this people as the Savior directs. He must love the Savior and the members of this church enough to bring the bridegroom and the brides together. The brides must have oil in their lamps. The oil is their faithfulness. The wise virgins are they who are wise, have received the truth, have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived. Doubtless there will be a series of statements by the living prophet, attested to by the general authorities, each of which will give each member repeated chances to declare himself or herself in or out of the covenant and the kingdom.
The natural course of events would seem to portend that as the pronouncements of the prophets probe more deeply into faith, life and politics, the circle of those who accept it will grow smaller and smaller. But this Church is not a natural phenomenon. This is the work of the Savior to prepare a kingdom for his second coming. Out of every nation, kindred, tongue and people they will come. They are the humble and faithful who will be wise, will receive the truth, will take the Holy Spirit for their guide and will not be deceived. They will form a mighty army of the Lord, as army so obviously good and righteous that even the unbelieving nations of this world will be constrained to acknowledge that these truly are the servants of Jesus Christ, for they love one another and are one in heart and in mind, even as He said.
What mechanism, what cultural pattern can or will engender the consensus we hope for? Likely the strength of the process will be found in the homes of Latter-day Saints. Whenever the living prophet speaks or writes to the Church, husbands and wives will carefully review what he has said. If the Holy Spirit has not already attested to his words in the process of initial hearing, they will try to gain complete familiarization with what the prophet has said, simultaneously seeking the witness of the Holy Spirit, yea or nay. As each person independently receives revelation, they then bear witness to one another. If they agree with the prophet, they rejoice, because they then have three witnesses to the truth: the living prophet, the Holy Spirit, and each other. Then they will encourage each of their children to gain his or her own personal witness as they encourage each of their children to gain his or her own personal witness as they review the words of the prophet on Sunday or during Family Home Evening. Unmarried adults will follow a similar pattern, seeking and treasuring the second witness. Ministering brothers and sisters will share their witness with the people they minister to. Bishops will share their testimony with their ward, as will stake presidents with their stake. Thus will we come to be of one heart and one mind and dwell in righteousness.
But what if a husband or wife both gain no witness from the Holy Spirit? They should continue to strive for that witness. Perhaps they will hear the witness of their bishop or ministering brother or sister and will receive the quiet warm assurance of the Spirit that they speak truly. To be able to believe in the words of others is also a gift of the Holy Spirit.
What if they receive a witness they feel is contrary to the word of the prophet? Then there is trouble indeed. They need to look to their lives, to see if they are keeping the commandments; if not, they have gotten out of tune and are receiving and accepting revelation from the adversary, who is only too willing to tell anyone anything they wish to hear as long as it is not the truth. If they finally cannot agree with the prophet, they say in effect, that for them he is no prophet. If they once knew that he was a prophet and represented the Lord, they have now begun to reject the prophet and the Lord.
In the last days there will come an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked. Yet a while do the wheat and the tares grow together. The love of a prophet of God calls all men to declare themselves as wheat. But he cannot compromise the truth. He must speak as he hears. And all who hear the same beloved Savior agree with the prophet. Perhaps the separation has begun. “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.”
