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The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly. …
DUH! Again, I see this as an attempt to create a fundamental to get to the alliterative fourteen.
I think prophets aren’t popular at all times with the Church and the religious, either – and I think that’s true when they are right, wrong or a combination of the two. They are us, and we just aren’t popular all the time with everyone – even those who love us deeply.
My only beef with this is the implication that the prophet WILL be popular with those who are not worldly – that it sets up a false dichotomy with a too simple separation of the worldly as those who disagree with a prophet and the non-worldly as those who do agree. When prophets themselves don’t always agree with each other, as is the case constantly, that’s a silly dichotomy.
I couldn’t agree more with your points on this one Ray. Yep, just filler to make sure he gets a full “14 points” so the title sounds cool. Don’t forget Ezra Taft Benson’s commentary on this point: Quote:As a prophet reveals the truth it divides the people.
The honest in heart heed his words, but the unrighteous either ignore the prophet or fight him. When the prophet points out the sins of the world, the worldly either want to close the mouth of the prophet, or else act as if the prophet didn’t exist, rather than repent of their sins.Popularity is never a test of truth. Many a prophet has been killed or cast out…As we come closer to the Lord’s second coming, you can expect that as the people of the world become more wicked, the prophet will be less popular with them.This one actually makes more sense to me than some of the others. For example, I understand the idea that people typically don’t like to hear they are wrong even if it is true so one easy way to be more popular is simply to tell people what they want to hear. So the idea is that prophets should not be afraid of telling people what is right even if it will make some people uncomfortable. I guess the question I have is how exactly do we know that “the world” is becoming increasingly wicked and that anyone that disagrees with the LDS prophet about anything is automatically unrighteous? Personally, I don’t see any convincing evidence of this.
Sure if you pay attention to the news they often like to focus on many negative events so we will hear about gangs, murders, terrorism, etc. and on top of that the Church also assumes that drugs, alcohol, pornography, and any sexual experiences outside of marriage are all terrible and repulsive sins they can’t even stand the thought of. So everywhere you look there is all kinds of sin and supposed moral degradation going on according to the Church. However, even if there is some truth to this is it really worse on average now than what we saw with the World Wars, Vietnam War, Nazis, brutal communist regimes, slavery, witch hunts, etc.?
It seems like there have always been things going on that are less than ideal as long as there have been people around and some of these difficulties make anything we have to deal with nowadays seem rather mild by comparison. In fact, to be honest I would even rather live here and now than in the 1950s America which is what some Church leaders seem to think was the ideal environment of all time that we should supposedly all strive to emulate and recreate by getting married young, having as many children as possible, and dressing properly with white shirts and ties, only one pair of modest earrings, etc.
Good point DA. Why is it that ETB interpretation and commentary of the F14s is usually much worse and disturbing than the actual fundamental? :wtf: I think the church is DEAD WRONG when/if they claim the world is more wicked today. I’m sure that grumpy old men have been sitting on porches or whatever for the last 4000 years saying this exact same thing. It seems like we have to create “a cause” to keep people united and in line.
For me, this fundamental is simply a statement about leadership. Every single person who tries to lead large groups of people get resistance. This fundamental is simply a statement that “The prophet will get opposition when he makes public statements”. However, I agree with the false dichotomy part — the rejoinder that anyone who disagrees is some kind of spiritual leper. There will be times when the leaders, including prophets, make grand errors. And they will see the gravity of their errors from the reaction of their followers. If righteous people are willing to express disapproval in enough numbers, then I think even the most self-professed, inspired leaders take this into account and revise the policy. I can think of at least one example, however, I don’t have good sources so I won’t quote it.
Quote:Why is it that ETB interpretation and commentary of the F14s is usually much worse and disturbing than the actual fundamental?
Because he was who he was?
I wonder what the original commentary would have been if it had been presented by Elder Wirthlin – or what his 14 Fundamentals would have been. That sort of thing is worth considering, I believe, since it removes the “eternal immutability” factor from the commentary.
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