I'm on the Band-Wagon Now With the 14 Fundamentals

Okay, I've been avoiding what I'll deem as 'pop-ex-Mormon material' such as Prop 8 and Packer, an such, but this cannot be avoided. This is just too much. Here is the list for anyone who hasn't dealt with it yet:

First: The prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything.

Second: The living prophet is more vital to us than the standard works.

Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet.

Fourth: The prophet will never lead the Church astray.

Fifth: The prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time.

Sixth: The prophet does not have to say "Thus saith the Lord" to give us scripture.

Seventh: The prophet tells us what we need to know, not always what we want to know.

Eighth: The prophet is not limited by men's reasoning.

Ninth: The prophet can receive revelation on any matter, temporal or spiritual.

Tenth: The prophet may be involved in civic matters.

Eleventh: The two groups who have the greatest difficulty in following the prophet are the proud who are learned and the proud who are rich.

Twelfth: The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly.

Thirteenth: The prophet and his counselors make up the First Presidency--the highest quorum in the Church.

Fourteenth: The prophet and the presidency--the living prophet and the First Presidency--follow them and be blessed; reject them and suffer.

GOOD GODS! Need I say more?

...

Well, yes, I will.

This is Ezra Taft Benson's 1980 talk "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet" and is almost as bad as that talk Packer did back in the day ... not the little factory one about boys testicles ... hold on I can't remember ... let me do a haphazard Google search, Google knows everyth-AH here it is, "The Mantel is Far Far Greater Than Intellect." Good gravy the Brethren have such amazing insights into making cult-like atmospheres!

So I generally avoid topics like these cause everyone else knows about them or talks about them, but when I heard this was brought up in Gen. Conf. and I heard all 14 points I was like, "how can people think these are good things?!" Course, I do know how people can think that, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to bring up my own opinions on it. Since I'm sure all of you have heard of this by now, though, I will be brief.

First: The prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything.
Fair enough, though this is definitely a tyrannical power grab in many ways.

Second: The living prophet is more vital to us than the standard works.
Again fair given the Mormon mindset. I would hope that if their prophet or the standard works were about to burn they would pick him. Strangely, I think the prophet would sacrifice himself to save the standard works from extinction if he had a choice ....

Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet.
Clever move, like an en passant in chess. This removes so many problems for the church. Things that Brigham Young said, like the Adam-God DOCTRINE don't matter since he is dead, the living prophet trumps anything in the past, including all the crazy/bigoted/sexist/racist things said by former prophets. That's continuous revelation for ya.

Fourth: The prophet will never lead the Church astray.
Repeat: Brigham Young didn't do this with Adam-God, or Spencer Kimball when he gave blacks the priesthood? Ah, yes, refer back to number three ....

Fifth: The prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time.
Holy Hells Bells! Seriously? What about brain surgery, just for starters? No earthly credentials. The mantle is far greater than intellect. Any subject. Any matter. Any time. And this was brought up more than once at conference. I don't remember thinking this about the prophet when I was a member, but things like this statement have to put some dissonance into the believers mind. Has to ....

Sixth: The prophet does not have to say "Thus saith the Lord" to give us scripture.
Joseph Smith did this quite regularly and Brigham Young kind of hiccuped on receiving this baton. Course now anything the prophet says could be, or could not be, scripture. Ambiguousness wins again!

Seventh: The prophet tells us what we need to know, not always what we want to know.
Makes sense in Mormondom, course you NEVER question the prophet.


Eighth: The prophet is not limited by men's reasoning.
Such as the scientific method, or reason, or logic, or intellect. Well, we're about to establish that intellect is bad in #11 so scratch that. I like how essentially their God is not logical or reasonable. In the end it is just a new version of the Nicene Creed God but different and the same ... at the same time. That's neither here nor there however, when the prophet asks you to do something incoherent and illogical and unreasonable, just do it!

Ninth: The prophet can receive revelation on any matter, temporal or spiritual.
This seems like a repeat to #5. Also this never seems to happen with anyone in the church. No bishop or mission president knew when I was unworthy, or the prophets never seemed to know when people would betray them or were crooks. Revelation seems useless, or is very similar to how 'good ideas' get brought about.

Tenth: The prophet may be involved in civic matters.
Like Prop 8. Tax exempt status should be taken away right about now please.

Eleventh: The two groups who have the greatest difficulty in following the prophet are the proud who are learned and the proud who are rich.
Well, he is clever by saying proud. Basically what he means though is anyone who has money and/or is smart and is against the church, or doesn't agree with the church. Especially if they sound smart and are clever. Oh the learned, you have to watch out for them. The smarter you are the more likely you are to hate God. How about the smarter you get the more you understand things. 'Nough said.

Twelfth: The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly.
Case in point - Prop 8. Second piece of evidence - the church fighting against the Equal Rights movement. Third - fighting for polygamy and then using their opponents arguments against polygamy 100 years ago against gays today!

Thirteenth: The prophet and his counselors make up the First Presidency--the highest quorum in the Church.
Centralize the power. These are the old white men you do not f@#$ with. Not even the apostles mess with them. Thank you for clarifying this Ezra.

Fourteenth: The prophet and the presidency--the living prophet and the First Presidency--follow them and be blessed; reject them and suffer.
Ah, I see, #13 was setting up #14. Gotta say it with a self-righteous, looming voice - Reject them and suffer!! Yes, wonderful thing to say. Everyone suffering? Anyone who reads this is probably not a True Believing Mormon, so are you suffering? Is the whole world suffering? Are all Mormons NOT suffering? Are there suffering Mormons? Are there Mormons who have doubts and are leaving the church but are suffering because of things like this being ingrained in their heads? Out of my readers, who suffered while leaving the church? I sure did. It is moments like this where I feel like I am thinking the most clearly, no glass darkly, the LDS church is a cult! Such a happy cult in so many ways, but it IS a cult. It builds a cultish atmosphere. And statements like this reinforce it. Good gods! Ugh!

Okay, enough of my rant. Hardly anything other than that. I've only barely tapped into the discussion a document like this can initiate. I'm sure other blogs out there approach this much better than I have, and I'm sure they will have posts back around mid-October on it. I'm sure USU Shaft has somewhere. Anyways, I'm done for now, goodnight.