Essay

Prophetic Fallibility and the Weight of the Proclamation

You may have wondered, Prophets are imperfect, so how do I know when they are really speaking for God? Maybe you have found an older statement from a Church leader that does not seem to fit what the Church teaches now. Or perhaps a living prophet or apostle has taught something about marriage, gender, sexuality, family, or another issue that is difficult for you to understand.

Those are sincere questions. The restored gospel does not require you to believe that prophets are flawless in order to believe that Jesus Christ speaks through them. Prophets are mortal men whom Christ calls, gives priesthood keys, and authorizes to lead His Church. He has also given you scripture, the united teachings of His prophets and apostles, and the Holy Ghost so you can seek understanding and learn to recognize His voice for yourself.

Why Does Jesus Christ Use Imperfect Prophets?

God has always worked through imperfect people.

When the Church was organized in April 1830, the Lord told the Saints to receive Joseph Smith’s words “as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:4–5). That phrase in all patience and faith is worth noticing. The Lord knew Joseph was still learning and growing. He did not ask the Saints to pretend their prophet was perfect. He asked them to trust that Christ could guide His Church through the prophet He had called.

The Lord made the same point in the opening revelation of the Doctrine and Covenants. He acknowledged that His servants had weaknesses and could make mistakes, yet He still declared, “whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:24, 38).

Human weakness and divine authority can exist at the same time. The Lord is capable of accomplishing His work through people who are still learning to become more like Him.

You already know something about this principle from your own discipleship. Your imperfections do not prevent Christ from giving you a calling, helping you receive revelation, or accomplishing good through you. A prophet carries priesthood keys and a stewardship for the whole Church that you do not carry, but the underlying principle is familiar: God works through mortals.

What Does It Mean That a Prophet Is a Seer?

The Book of Mormon helps explain why prophets matter even though they are mortal: “a seer is a revelator and a prophet also” and that through this gift hidden things could be brought to light (Mosiah 8:13–18).

That gives meaning to the title we use when sustaining the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. Their calling gives them a spiritual stewardship and perspective that the rest of us do not have on our own.

Sheri Dew once described this simply by saying that prophets can “see around corners.” The phrase does not mean prophets know every detail of the future. It describes the role of a seer: through revelation, the Lord can help His servants recognize dangers, consequences, needs, and eternal principles that may not yet be obvious from where we are standing.

Sometimes you may not immediately understand why a prophet is emphasizing something. Faith leaves room for the possibility that the Lord can help His prophet see something you cannot completely see yet.

Does Everything a Church Leader Says Become Doctrine?

Elder Neil L. Andersen gave a helpful principle for recognizing established doctrine. He acknowledged that “the leaders of the Church are honest but imperfect men,” and then explained, “True principles are taught frequently and by many.” (Read “Trial of Your Faith.”)

That means you should be careful about building your understanding of the gospel around one sentence discovered in an old sermon, quotation graphic, social-media post, or critical website. The Church’s explanation of how to approach doctrine similarly teaches that a single statement by one leader on one occasion does not necessarily establish doctrine for the whole Church.

Instead, look at the larger revealed pattern. What do the scriptures teach? What are the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve teaching together? What principles appear repeatedly? What has been formally taught and reaffirmed over time? And what are the Lord’s living prophets teaching His Church now?

That wider view can keep one unusual statement from becoming larger in your mind than the body of revealed doctrine surrounding it.

Why Does the Family Proclamation Carry So Much Weight?

The Family: A Proclamation to the World is a helpful example.

Its teachings about our identity as sons and daughters of heavenly parents, the eternal significance of male and female, marriage between man and woman, sexual morality, motherhood, fatherhood, and children are not based on an isolated statement from one Church leader.

They belong to a much larger revealed pattern. We see that pattern in our premortal identity, in the Creation of male and female, in the marriage of Adam and Eve, throughout scripture, in temple ordinances and covenants, and in repeated teachings from prophets and apostles.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband explained in “The Family Proclamation—Words from God” that the proclamation has a divine origin and that its principles are doctrine.

If one of those teachings is difficult for you, you do not have to pretend that it is easy. But difficulty understanding a doctrine and evidence that the doctrine is untrue are not the same thing. You can continue studying and asking Heavenly Father for greater understanding while giving appropriate weight to what He has already revealed.

President Ballard’s Experience with a Young Man Who Had Questions

President M. Russell Ballard once shared a firsthand experience with a returned missionary who came to him deeply worried about his testimony. The young man had been reading material critical of the Church and had accumulated questions he could not resolve.

President Ballard listened to him and tried to help him find answers. The young man’s questions were taken seriously. But President Ballard also helped him recognize that working through questions involves more than gathering additional information. It matters what is happening to your relationship with God while you search.

That experience gives you a useful pattern. A serious question does not force you to choose between ignoring the question and walking away from faith. You can investigate while continuing to pray, study scripture, worship, keep your covenants, and stay close to Jesus Christ.

Watch President Ballard tell the story here:

Where Does Personal Revelation Fit?

Personal revelation is essential, but the Lord has also established different stewardships for revelation.

When Jesus asked His disciples who they believed He was, Peter answered that He was “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus explained that Peter had received that knowledge from Heavenly Father (Matthew 16:13–17). Peter did not merely borrow someone else’s testimony. God confirmed the truth to him personally.

You can seek that same kind of witness.

The Holy Ghost can help you know that Jesus Christ lives and that He has called prophets. He can help you understand prophetic teachings, recognize how they apply to your life, and receive peace when understanding develops slowly.

At the same time, your personal revelation does not replace the revelation given through those who hold priesthood keys for the whole Church. Early in the Restoration, the Lord specifically taught that revelation directing the Church comes through the person He has appointed to receive it (Doctrine and Covenants 43:2–7).

Personal revelation therefore helps you receive and understand God’s truth. It does not give you the responsibility to redefine doctrine for the Church.

How Can the Adversary Affect the Way You Think About Prophets?

Once you understand the Lord’s pattern, it becomes easier to notice how a reasonable question can gradually lead somewhere else.

You may hear the argument that because prophets are imperfect, their teachings are simply another set of opinions. That can sound convincing because the first part is true: prophets are human. What the conclusion leaves out is Christ’s authority to call prophets, give them priesthood keys, reveal His will through them, and authorize them to guide His Church.

Another difficulty arises when our own preferences quietly become the standard we use to judge revelation. A prophetic teaching about marriage, gender, sexuality, abortion, family, or another moral question may conflict with ideas you hear repeatedly from people you respect. Those voices may be sincere, intelligent, and compassionate.

But sincerity and intelligence are not the same thing as prophetic stewardship.

This is where you need to pay attention not only to what you are hearing but also to who is shaping the way you interpret the question. The adversary does not need to convince you that prophets are wicked. It may be enough for you gradually to treat prophetic counsel as meaningful only when it agrees with conclusions you have already reached.

Questions can lead you toward greater revelation when they bring you toward prayer, scripture, covenants, temple worship, and the Holy Ghost. Be more cautious when a way of approaching your questions consistently pulls you away from those things.

What Does Research Add?

Research cannot determine whether someone is a prophet of God. That witness comes through the Holy Ghost. But research can teach us something useful about how people work through important religious questions.

BYU researchers David Dollahite and Loren Marks have studied religious conversations within families of faith. Their work found that young people particularly valued conversations where they could speak honestly, ask real questions, and be listened to rather than simply being lectured or pressured. (Read their summary of the research.)

That principle still matters when you are an adult. You do not need to keep a difficult question hidden because you are afraid someone will think you are unfaithful. Find people who can listen seriously while also helping you remain anchored in scripture, prophetic teaching, covenants, and Jesus Christ.

Sometimes understanding grows because you finally have a place where you can say clearly what you are struggling to understand.

What If I Hope Future Revelation Changes Something?

Latter-day Saints believe deeply in continuing revelation. The ninth article of faith teaches that God “will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (Articles of Faith 1:9).

Policies and practices can change as the Lord directs His Church. Continuing revelation means that the Lord is still guiding His people and can give additional instruction according to His wisdom and timing.

But continuing revelation does not mean that every doctrine we find difficult is eventually going to disappear. Some truths are connected to the eternal structure of God’s plan. The doctrine of our identity as sons and daughters of heavenly parents, the eternal significance of male and female, and marriage between man and woman belong to that revealed pattern.

You may still have questions about those teachings. Questions can become part of learning when they lead you to study more carefully and seek greater light from Heavenly Father.

Faith sometimes requires allowing yourself to say, I do not understand everything about this yet. But Heavenly Father understands His plan better than I do, so I am willing to keep learning from Him.

A Few Questions Worth Thinking About

• When something a prophet or apostle teaches troubles me, who or what is shaping the way I interpret it? Am I hearing the full teaching and its scriptural context?
• Am I looking at the larger pattern of scripture and repeated prophetic teaching, or allowing an isolated statement or online commentary to define the issue for me?
• Have I begun assuming that because prophets are imperfect, their prophetic counsel carries no greater authority than the opinions of other sincere and intelligent people?
• When I encounter something difficult, are my habits of scripture study, prayer, sacrament worship, and temple worship helping me stay close enough to the Holy Ghost to continue receiving light?
• Is there something I could approach with the faithful posture, I do not completely understand this yet, but I am willing to keep learning and trust God?

What Can You Do This Week?

Choose one prophetic teaching you are genuinely trying to understand. Read the entire message rather than relying on a quotation, clip, or someone else’s explanation of it. Then look at the scriptures it uses and see how the same principle has been taught by other prophets and apostles.

Take your actual question into prayer. Tell Heavenly Father what you understand, what you do not understand, and what is difficult for you. Ask Him to help you recognize His truth and know how He wants you to live while your understanding is still developing.

If the question is weighing heavily on you, talk with a bishop, institute teacher, parent, mentor, or another faithful person who will listen carefully and help you return to scripture and the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you can attend the temple, take the question there and give the Holy Ghost quiet space to teach you.

Jesus Christ gave His Church prophets, seers, and revelators because He intends to keep leading His people. You will not always understand immediately everything they teach, and faithful discipleship does not require pretending that you do. But as you study their teachings carefully, seek your own witness through the Holy Ghost, and remain close to Christ while questions are still unresolved, He can gradually help you see more clearly what you could not yet see from where you were standing.