The Gospel of Policy

[Anonymous]

Why are we run as a church so much more by policy than by revelation?

In the early days of the Church, almost every time Joseph needed information from the Lord about any topic, he wouldn’t just get “inspiration” (classification, not expressing doubt or repudiation of anyone’s beliefs), he would get a “revelation” (classification, not expressing doubt or repudiation of anyone’s beliefs) that would end up canonized in the Book of Commandments and then Doctrine and Covenants. Other than one revelation to Brigham Young regarding organizing the crossing of the plains and one to Joseph F. Smith on the spirits of the dead, there has not been another “revelation” to the canon. There have been LOTS of policies! But no “revelations” a la Joseph Smith. Why is that? Do we not need that level of guidance anymore?

God seems to (forgive my personal feelings in this regard) have fits and spurts of giving “commandments” (directly (0.01 of the time) or what those who listen to him say he is saying (99.99 of the time)) to his children. I don’t know that it is always because they HAPPEN to need those specific commandments at that time (or if it is intended for a much later time), but we have times that get very detail-oriented while being less big-picture oriented, such as:

Dietary restrictions in law of Moses

Sabbath “policies” from the Oral Traditions of the Jewish Rabbi’s

Specific demands on whom to kill (native inhabitants of lsrael territory)

Laws (“policies”) on weights, measures, family relationships, etc. ad infinitum

then

WOW consists of not drinking wine, alcohol is not for the belly, tobacco is for bruises (Johnny, don’t eat that! Give it here!), eat very little red meat (not taught, but gets just as equal attention as other WOW proscriptions in the scriptures), and don’t drink “hot drinks.” Policy on the revelation “policy”: hot drinks = coffee and tea. Policy on WOW: harmful drugs are “technically” but not officially included as being “not good for man.”

White shirts. Maximum “reverence” in sacrament meeting (as defined by those from Utah-area) in spirit and music (my daughters who are learning certain instruments in band will be surprise to find out that all the effort they’re putting in to find self-expression can’t be used in a church setting because some people “think it’s not reverent.”) There are pages and pages of others we could come up with.

Are we receiving policies now instead of revelations? Is it something wrong with us that we don’t merit canonical direction from the Lord like some of our direct ancestors and those in the scriptures did? Were we just born at the wrong time? Are we either not righteous enough or not wicked enough to warrant direct personal attention from “THE PARENT!” (joke my kids would get – you don’t want to get the attention of THE PARENT!)?

Why does it feel like a board of directors – using good, but very human wisdom – are left to set policy in the absence of direct input (as in past days) by upper management? Is “the company” so well founded that it doesn’t need the CEO (however high you want to place this office – earth or heaven) to provide at least some course correction every once in a while instead of waiting for the board to figure out what he MEANT to say by what he said when he used to actually get on the phone and CALL one of the board and authorize him to pass on what he wanted to get out into the company and/or the public.

What has changed, other than the passing of time and generations of people? Are we like the generation who would get to see the promised land, but because of rebelliousness, never get to go into it and have to wander around in this desert – without active guidance (they had a pillar of fire to follow that all could see and a prophet who claimed to speak in the name of the Lord the WORD of the LORD) – until we and our ways all die out?

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I think it’s a simple matter of relatively few people being able to be a combination of visionary, charismatic, inspiring AND truly innovative theologically (or in most other areas). There’s a reason there are no other Apples and Microsofts out there in the world. It’s also a simple matter of those who are that combination of characteristics generally burning bright for a time and then being extinguished by those who can’t handle the glare.

Think about it for a minute:

How many people who fit that description lived to be old? How many ended up diving completely off the deep end into the dark side? How many were killed just as they were entering chronological maturity?

People generally work hard to contain raging fires – both physical and spiritual / religious. It’s just too threatening and unstable to let them burn.

[Anonymous]

wjclerk wrote:

Why are we run as a church so much more by policy than by revelation?..In the early days of the Church, almost every time Joseph needed information from the Lord about any topic, he wouldn’t just get “inspiration” …he would get a “revelation”…that would end up canonized in the Book of Commandments and then Doctrine and Covenants. Other than one revelation to Brigham Young regarding organizing the crossing of the plains and one to Joseph F. Smith on the spirits of the dead, there has not been another “revelation” to the canon. There have been LOTS of policies! But no “revelations” a la Joseph Smith. Why is that?

Why does it feel like a board of directors – using good, but very human wisdom – are left to set policy in the absence of direct input (as in past days) by upper management? Is “the company” so well founded that it doesn’t need the CEO (however high you want to place this office – earth or heaven) to provide at least some course correction every once in a while instead of waiting for the board to figure out what he MEANT to say by what he said when he used to actually get on the phone and CALL one of the board and authorize him to pass on what he wanted to get out into the company and/or the public…What has changed, other than the passing of time and generations of people?

Maybe Joseph Smith just felt more confident or didn’t have any qualms about calling his own spontaneous ideas revelations compared to more recent LDS Church Presidents and Apostles. My guess is that these leaders generally think there is no real need for any significant new revelations anymore because the Church is supposedly already more or less the way it should be so any revelations they will receive will typically be “whisperings of the still small voice” to confirm or re-emphasize points that have already been officially published as revelations before. Also, there is not much of an advantage for them to specifically call their own teachings or minor suggested “improvements” revelations when so many members already treat whatever they say as if it came directly from God anyway.

For example, Ezra Taft Benson and others didn’t need to specifically add the ideas that women should be stay-at-home moms with as many children as possible or that R-rated movies are evil in the D&C in order to get many of my neighbors to go along with these teachings as if their life depended on it. Personally I would prefer for Church leaders to not claim they are receiving very many new revelations (if any) but it is interesting to see the difference between what Joseph Smith did and any lasting work any Church leaders since then have done. I do think their hesitancy to make many changes or look for more appropriate solutions to current problems while instead depending primarily on answers they have already inherited from previous generations is definitely not ideal or particularly inspired leadership especially when so much has already changed since 1844.

[Anonymous]

Is this the “silence in heaven for the space of one half hour”?

[Anonymous]

I personally think it has to do with the PR department. There wasn’t one in JS days. I’m hoping that when there is a big one(revelation that is) that they will just announce it in GC and let us deal with it. I think we could sure use a few right now but I would like it in the “thus saith the Lord” form and then a little follow up like the sky opening up or the lost ten tribe showing up or something.

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