{"id":3150,"date":"2016-01-17T15:51:35","date_gmt":"2016-01-17T22:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/?p=3150"},"modified":"2016-01-17T15:51:35","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T22:51:35","slug":"following-the-prophet-is-easy-when-all-you-need-to-do-is-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/2016\/01\/17\/following-the-prophet-is-easy-when-all-you-need-to-do-is-agree\/","title":{"rendered":"Following the prophet is easy when all you need to do is agree"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sacrament speaker brought up the November policy change<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

That marks yet another consecutive week of someone mentioning the policy change at least once during sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and elders quorum class.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve beaten to death my feelings on the wordings and implications of the policy change, but as I was stewing on<\/del>\u00a0pondering the words of the speaker, a thought came to me that I hadn\u2019t considered before, particularly connected with something the following speaker mentioned.<\/p>\n

Why are Mormons\u00a0so quick to stand firm behind the prophet when what he says requires no sacrifice?<\/p>\n

In this case, I am definitely in the minority in my ward and stake regarding my feelings regarding this policy change. Most ward and stake members I know (and for that matter, Mormons I know outside of my stake) support the brethren on this change.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s easy to support it. You don\u2019t have to invest anything into supporting them. In fact, all you need to do is agree with them.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s contrast this with home teaching.<\/p>\n

Our high council speaker today reported that home teaching in our stake sits at 27%. That means that 3 out of every 4 families in our stake don\u2019t receive visits from their home teachers. While anecdotal, friends of mine have shared similar statistics where they live.<\/p>\n

So, back to my question: why are Mormons so quick to stand firm behind the prophet when what he says requires no sacrifice but so slow when what he says requires sacrifice?<\/p>\n

Conversely, why am I labelled an apostate or a heretic when I disagree with the brethren on a policy (like the recent decision to prohibit children of gay parents from being baptized) but follow their counsel in other ways (like home teaching every month)?<\/p>\n

Why are\u00a0others not labelled apostate or heretics when they\u00a0agree with the brethren on a policy (like the recent decision to prohibit children of gay parents from being baptized) but don\u2019t follow their counsel in other ways (like home teaching every month)?<\/p>\n

To be abundantly\u00a0clear, I\u2019m not judging those who don\u2019t visit their home teaching families. I\u2019m simply using that as an example. And it\u2019s certainly not the only example we could use.<\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0you know what the irony is in all this? Thomas S. Monson sat on the committee that established the current home teaching programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sacrament speaker brought up the November policy change today. 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