As I’ve researched the LDS church in recent years, with a new understanding and different view-point on what I’m reading, I’ve come to realize that there are a lot of teachings taught within the LDS church that are taught as if they are scripture yet have no basis in anything remotely authoritative. These teachings are unknowingly taught as if it came directly from the prophet or from the Book of Mormon, yet are usually rooted in hearsay and half-truths.

Many apologetics responses to problems with Church history and doctrine have been to downplay the authority of some teachings to the point that the doctrine is just not valid because a revelation on the subject has never been accepted by the body of saints in General Conference. If this is the case, why can’t the church just come out and say that many things taught in the church are not necessarily correct and that many church leaders have erred and should not have said certain things and that they should not be considered to be authoritative? Wouldn’t this clear up a lot of confusion?

This just doesn’t happen. But it should. The Church would have much more respect in the world if it just owned up to its problems and fixed them. We are all left to decide for ourselves if certain teachings are correct or not using the “pray and find out for yourself if it is true” method. The church leaders who spoke wrongly are never publicly corrected and many Church members use these examples in class lessons which perpetuates the problem.