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Chapter 18, Cover-Ups, Conspiracies, and Controversies
The LDS as Mindless Followers
The Quote
One Nation under Gods, page 413-414
Some of the most disturbing instructions about blind obedience came from LDS president Ezra Taft Benson in
his "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet" speech. His fundamentals for living a righteous Mormon
life left little room for independent thought (see this endnote for transcript).39
The Reference
Endnote 39, page 609-610
39. Ezra Taft Benson, "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet," February 26, 1980, online at
http://www.xmission.com/~country/authority/14_fund1.htm. Excerpts from this speech:
"To help you pass the crucial tests which lie ahead I am going to give you today several facets of a grand key which, if you will honor, will crown you with God's glory and bring you out victorious in spite of Satan's fury . . . . Here then is the grand key: follow the prophet. And here now are fourteen fundamentals in following the prophet, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . . . . 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 [i.e., Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price] . . . . Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet . . . . [T]he most important prophet so far as you are concerned is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us. Therefore, the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the prophet contained each week in the Church Section of the Deseret News, and any words of the prophet contained each month in our Church magazines . . . . Beware of those who would pit the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence . . . . Fourth: The prophet will never lead the Church astray . . . . Sixth: The prophet does not have to say "Thus saith the Lord" to give us scripture . . . . Said Brigham Young, "I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call it scripture" [JOD, vol. 13, 95] . . . . Ninth: The prophet can receive revelation on any matter - temporal or spiritual . . . . Fourteenth: The prophet and the presidency - the living prophet and the First Presidency - follow them and be blessed; reject them and suffer." Benson's lecture also included this remarkable anecdote: "Brother Joseph turned to Brother Brigham Young and said, 'Brother Brigham, I want you to take the stand and tell us your views regarding the living oracles and the written word of God.' Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and he laid it before him, and he said: 'There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day. And now,' said he, 'when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books.' That was the course he pursued. When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation: 'Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth'" [See Conference Report, October 1897, 18-19). For an in-depth analysis of the lecture, see http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/followingthebrethren.htm.
The Problems
This endnote is actually at least three citations rolled into one. The first citation, which
refers to the original speech given by Ezra Taft Benson, and the date the speech was given, is fine, as it
is the primary reference. The problems begin with the second citation, which is a reference to an Internet
site purporting to have the text of the speech. The final reference to the speech is an "in-depth" analysis
to be found on yet another Web site, the Utah Lighthouse Ministries site run by Jerald and Sandra Tanner.
Richard Abanes has thus directed the reader willing to plow through the endnotes to two Web sites critical
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which smacks of bias, and in the process Abanes directs
the reader to an analysis of, or commentary on, the speech, rather than let the reader develop his or her
own opinion about the piece. This is only the beginning of trouble with this endnote.
Pages 412 to 414 of One Nation under Gods comprises a section of Chapter Eighteen
called "Thinking is a Sin," and Abanes' use of President Benson's speech is an effort on his part to show
that LDS are blindly, even unwillingly, led down a slippery doctrinal path by the Church's general
authorities. The end of the quote by Abanes (above) promises that the reader only need "see
this endnote for transcript." What the reader really discovers in the endnote, following the proper
citation and the first of the spurious references, are "excerpts from this speech" followed by a vastly
condensed presentation of Benson's words.
There is a fundamental rule used when citing any reference material, that the final
condensed quote still retains the meaning intended by the quote's author. Abanes, in his Tanneresque
use of ellipses, conveniently ignores this essential rule and then butchers several pages of text down
to one extended paragraph, which in the final analysis says something that barely resembles what Ezra
Taft Benson actually said. Abanes pays no attention to the structure of the speech, save that the disparate
quotes he draws from it are taken to some extent in the order he found them, and pastes them together
with his trademark ellipses, thus making his condensed version difficult to follow. A final insult to
the reader is that Abanes offers up not the fourteen fundamentals that Benson laid out, but only seven
of them, with just enough of the speech's text to twist the meaning into something more pleasing to him.
At first flush it seems strange to relegate an entire speech to an endnote. If Abanes truly
intended to discuss this speech, he could easily have done so in the text of Chapter Eighteen, or he could
have put it in an appendix where he could have given it special treatment. He makes no effort to do so,
and those portions of the speech he offers up for scrutiny do little to support his assertion that LDS
are not allowed to think. The title of the speech should have been a clue for Abanes, or for anyone actually
reading it: "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet" (emphasis mine). Were the speech
entitled "Fourteen Fundamental Ways the Prophet Leads the Church", Abanes might have had a stronger case.
Benson, of course, was teaching how to follow, which is something else entirely.
As previously mentioned, Abanes has to alter the text of the speech in order to build
his argument. Consider, for example, this excerpt from Elder Benson's original talk:
Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet. The living prophet
has the power of TNT. By that I mean 'Today's News Today.' God's revelations to Adam did not instruct Noah
to build the ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore the most important prophet so far as you and
I are concerned is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing his will to
us. Therefore, the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the prophet contained each
week in our Church magazines. Our marching orders for each six months are found in the general conference
addresses, which are printed in the Ensign magazine.
I am so grateful that the current conference report is studied as part of your religion
classes--the course entitled 'Teachings of the Living Prophets,' number 333. May I commend that class to
you, and suggest that you get a copy of the class manual at your bookstore, whether you're able to take
the class or not. The manual is entitled 'Living Prophets for a Living Church.'
Beware of those who would pit the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the
living prophets always take precedence.
Abanes' renders this excerpt thusly:
Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet . . . . [T]he most
important prophet so far as you and I are concerned is the one living in our day and age to whom the
Lord is currently revealing his will to us. Therefore, the most important reading we can do is any
of the words of the prophet contained each week in our Church magazines . . . . Beware of those who
would pit the dead prophets against the living prophets, for the living prophets always take precedence.
Gone are the instructions of an Apostle, and now the reader is given a command and a
warning. Compliance with the mandates of the prophet now becomes mandatory. The context of the quote
is not only ignored, but the quote has been raped and pillaged. Little is left of actual worth, and
the meaning has changed dramatically. Yet for all that, he doesn't show how this reference supports
his assertion that thinking is a sin in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It seems Richard Abanes had no actual intention of picking apart Ezra Taft Benson's speech,
almost as if he recognized that his own argument was weak. Far easier it was to put part of it in the
back of the book, where most would ignore it. His two Internet-based references are subject to question
not only because they are secondary, but also due to the volatility of Internet addresses. Will the
reader be able to find the references on the Web in five years? Abanes glosses over this reference with
little thought of its importance. He barely offers his own opinion, but leaves the reader to find the
opinion of another anti-Mormon writer. One wonders if Abanes actually read the text of the speech itself, since
he offers little evidence that he has. Benson's Fourteen Fundamentals become just another reference to
bolster Richard Abanes' illusion of scholarship.
Written by Don Neighbors
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