Following the Prophet

Do I just ignore everything I’ve learned and everything I’ve felt and pretend that everything is okay? Do I stop researching things in church history and pray that I can forgive, move on, and forget? Help 😥

Frankly I don’t think doing these things will bring you peace. It’s too hard to do that kind of “pretending” when you know better.

You are not alone with your struggle in following the prophet – there are some threads here where it has been discussed. Different contributors here cope with it in different ways.

My own coping mechanism is that I believe the prophet is a good person, trying to do the best he can, just like the rest of us. I do sustain the prophet in that I do believe he is the person given the authority at this time to run the church – it is particularly easy for me with President Monson because his message is usually a simple “love your neighbor.” I did dearly love Pres. Hinckley as well, but he strayed often from the core messages of the gospel with things like one set of earrings. Please, I have a great deal of confidence that is not going to be on the checklist to get into the CK. I also believe that the prophet is not always speaking as a prophet, hence things like the earrings may be his opinion and not the opinion of the Lord. Like you I do struggle to try and decide when he’s speaking as a prophet and when he isn’t but I have decided he isn’t most of the time. I do believe that if God has something really important to say to the church, he will say it through the prophet – and we will know when that is happening (and it hasn’t happened for a long time). The rest of it is mostly just good advice from an old guy who has been around for a while and I can take or leave it as I would take or leave advice from my grandfather. If it’s “love you neighbor,” all well and good, I’m trying to do better at that. If it’s “one set of earrings,” eh, thanks for sharing your opinion – I’m not crazy a pound of earrings on someone’s ear, either, but that’s their own business.

I too have been disgusted by the church and blacks. Some of the most Godfearing and Christian people I’ve known have been black, and some of the most incredible spiritual music comes from black origins whether Bob Marley or Gospel etc.

However, the church HAS moved on. You’ll find black people at nearly all levels except the First Presidency. You’ll see them in the temple.

It’s not very comforting to some people to point this out, but people have been racist throughout the history of the world, and religious understanding has been evolving just as long. All of religion, and, for purposes of this discussion, particularly Christianity, have a shared racist past. That’s not an excuse for our past leaders; it simply is a fact. It’s not the racism alone that is the issue; it also is our expectations of “our own” to have been better than everyone else in their times. I get that, but it doesn’t match our scriptural canon – and unrealistic expectations are the antithesis of charity. It’s really hard to understand and accept that, but it’s really important.

Ironically, the LDS Church now is more integrated than many of the Christian churches in the Deep South. I really appreciate that simple fact.

One of the most profound experiences I have had in the temple was when the Lord reached through the veil in Atlanta, GA . . . and he was black. I wish every white member of the Church could have that experience.

Thank you all for your responses. You give me hope and help me to see a new perspective. I am so happy I found this forum and have a safe place to discuss these things. I have a lot to think and pray about, so thank you!!

I know a lot of the more orthodox types do not view following the prophet as blind obedience. I believe they’d say that the expectation from each member is to listen to the prophet and then pray to gain a personal testimony of their words before following them. If not prayer, then Alma’s experimentation upon the word to see if it is good.

That said I don’t think that they have a concession for cases where someone does not receive a personal testimony of a prophet’s pronouncements, or worse yet what to do in cases where an answer to a prayer seems to be in direct opposition to a prophet’s will. That’s understandable to me, some people are so strongly entrenched in their faith that once a prophet says something they can’t envision any deviation from that counsel.

The TR interview asks “Do you sustain…“

Some might interpret that as do you obey but I see it very differently. I had an experience on my mission (which I will spare you the details of) which taught me that sustaining a leader means helping a person carry out their calling when and where you can. A person might receive a calling for which they are not prepared to carry out perfectly. I also don’t think accepting a calling and being set apart even means you’ll be particularly good at it. I don’t need to look any further than myself for an example for that.

So here’s the question… how is the calling of prophet any different? Just like me they may not be adequately prepared, they may not even be particularly good at it. It’s a still calling, it’s still staffed by an imperfect person. IMO a prophet should be sustained in the same way a junior primary teacher is sustained. They might not be perfect for the job but sustaining them means I’ll help them carry out the calling as best I can.

So lots of words to say that I believe we’ve morphed the definition of “sustain” away from “help” and towards “obey.” Sure obeying every request might really help a leader but I don’t believe that’s what the lord intended… otherwise we’d be raising our right hand to “obey” leaders.

So here’s the question… how is the calling of prophet any different? Just like me they may not be adequately prepared, they may not even be particularly good at it. It’s a still calling, it’s still staffed by an imperfect person. IMO a prophet should be sustained in the same way a junior primary teacher is sustained. They might not be perfect for the job but sustaining them means I’ll help them carry out the calling as best I can.

So lots of words to say that I believe we’ve morphed the definition of “sustain” away from “help” and towards “obey.” Sure obeying every request might really help a leader but I don’t believe that’s what the lord intended… otherwise we’d be raising our right hand to “obey” leaders.

I totally agree and many months ago I made a thread about sustaining because at the time I was struggling with the idea. (That thread is here, BTW: http://staylds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4538&p=61635#p61635” class=”bbcode_url”>http://staylds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4538&p=61635#p61635) As a result of that thread I came to the same basic conclusion you did, Nibbler – a willingness to help them do their job in is all that’s required to sustain. Other than perhaps substituting when asked, there is little I can do to help the Primary teacher. Likewise, the bishop’s duties are fairly defined and sustaining him means helping him as much as a I am able, which is also little most of the time. I do believe, as SD pointed out, that I shouldn’t just say “Yes, I will cook at the ward picnic” if I have no intention of even coming (just an example, there are lots of people who accept callings just because they think they’re supposed to but have no intention of fulfilling their duties). I think part of sustaining the bishop is being honest with him and perhaps even sharing with him what I am willing to do or I am not willing to do (I know, another taboo, seeking certain callings). So, back on topic, sustaining the prophet would then mean helping him in any way I can or feel comfortable. Turns out, there is almost nothing I can do to actually help him do his job. I do not believe obeying every word that comes out of his mouth is the expectation of sustaining.

I also agree that this obeying idea comes partly from those who believe obeying and sustaining are synonymous. They are not, IMO, and as you point out that’s not even the question we are asked in the TR interview or in SM, SC, or GC. Everyone is free to believe as they wish (let them worship how, what, and where they may), so if someone believes sustaining the prophet means obeying him, fine – but that’s not what I choose to believe.

One other little side note since you mentioned being qualified – many of the OT prophets didn’t really seem to be qualified in any way and some of them were quite open about their lack of abilities. There also seems to have been no specific qualifications for the Apostles whom Jesus called nor the original Apostles of this dispensation. Joseph Smith himself had no qualities one might think of as necessary to be a prophet when he had the first vision. I don’t think our prophet today is anybody special (God is no respecter of persons). He is human and as subject to human frailties as the rest of – and perhaps this is evidenced very well by information about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young that is becoming more and more available. I suspect if we knew more of the intimate details of each of our prophets’ and apostles’ lives we would see them much differently.