The God of Brigham Young

Jason Wallace (pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Magna, UT) has posted a video, "The God of Brigham Young" which deals with Adam-God and Brigham Young:

Unfortunately (though not surprising), Wallace does not interact with the best scholarly discussions of Brigham Young on this issue, such the best paper ever written on this topic (IMO):

Matthew B. Brown, Brigham Young's Teachings on Adam

Furthermore, Wallace does a lousy job at articulating (due to ignorance and/or deception) the formation and development of LDS doctrine (click here for a discussion of this issue; see also my paper in response to Mike Thomas, Latter-day Saints and the Bible, which also goes into this issue). For instance, For instance, via Ezra Taft Benson, Wallace quotes the following from 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.

No doubt, this was given to give people the impression that Brigham believed that everything in his sermons are to be accepted as inspired revelation/scripture. However, Wallace engages in quote-mining, another demonstration of his lack of integrity.

Let us quote the text in full (taken from JOD 13:95):

Well, brethren and sisters, try and be Saints. I will try; I have tried many years to live according to the law which the Lord reveals unto me. I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom, as I know the road to my office. It is just as plain and easy. The Lord is in our midst. He teaches the people continually. I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually. In the days of Joseph, revelation was given and written, and the people were driven from city to city and place to place, until we were led into these mountains. Let this go to the people with "Thus saith the Lord," and if they do not obey it, you will see the chastening hand of the Lord upon them. But if they are plead with, and led along like children, we may come to understand the will of the Lord and He may preserve us as we desire.

Clearly, when read in context, Brigham Young did not mean that his sermons were "inerrant" are, ipso facto, authoritative Scripture in the fundamentalist sense. Therefore, to read into this comment a statement supporting the infallibility of LDS leaders, or at the very least, Brigham Young, is ignorant at best; deceptive at worst.

Let us quote another text from Brigham Young that some critics (e.g., Ron Rhodes and Marian Bodine) quote-mind too to prove their claim:

Brother Orson Hyde referred to a few who complained about not getting revelations. I will make a statement here that has been brought against me as a crime, perhaps, or as a fault in my life. Not here, I do not allude to anything of the kind in this place, but in the councils of the nations--that Brigham Young has said 'when he sends forth his discourses to the world they may call them Scripture.' I say now, when they are copied and approved by me they are as good Scripture as is couched in this Bible, and if you want to read revelation read the sayings of him who knows the mind of God, without any special command to one man to go here, and to another to go yonder, or to do this or that, or to go and settle here or there. (JOD 13:264; emphasis added)

As seen from the above quotes, Brigham had two prerequisites for calling a sermon "scripture"--firstly, he needed to review the sermon and make any necessary corrections; secondly, it had to be explicitly identified as Scripture. It should be noted that there are few sermons that Brigham reviewed for correction, and even fewer were announced as Scripture.

That Brigham Young and other early LDS leaders did not want Church members to accept "at face value" their sermons can be seen in many places; consider the following comment urging Latter-day Saints to examine his claims and the claims of other LDS leaders:

What a pity it would be if we were led by one man to utter destruction! Are you afraid of this? I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not. This has been my exhortation continually. Brother Joseph W. Young remarked this morning that he wished the people to receive the word of the Lord through his servants, be dictated by them, and have no will of their own. I would express it in this wise: God has placed within us a will, and we should be satisfied to have it controlled by the will of the Almighty. Let the human will be indomitable for right. It has been the custom of parents to break the will until it is weakened, and the noble, Godlike powers of the child are reduced to a comparative state of imbecility and cowardice. Let that heaven-born property of human agents be properly tempered and wisely directed, instead of pursuing the opposite course, and it will conquer in the cause' of right. Break not the spirit of any person, but guide it to feel that it is its greatest delight and highest ambition to be controlled by the revelations of Jesus Christ; then the will of man becomes Godlike in overcoming the evil that is sown in the flesh, until God shall reign within us to will and do of his good pleasure. Let all persons be fervent in prayer, until they know the things of God for themselves and become certain that they are walking in the path that leads to everlasting life; then will envy, the child of ignorance, vanish, and there will be no disposition in any man to place himself above another; for such a feeling meets no countenance in the order of heaven. Jesus Christ never wanted to be different from his father: they were and are one. If a people are led by the revelations of Jesus Christ, and they are cognizant of the fact through their faithfulness, there is no fear but they will be one in Christ Jesus, and see eye to eye. (Journal of Discourses 9:150 | January 12, 1862)

For other examples from Brigham Young himself, consider the following:

Were the former and Latter-day Saints, with their Apostles, Prophets Seers, and Revelators collected together to discuss this matter [the nature of Deity], I am led to think there would be found a great variety in their views and feelings upon this subject, without direct revelation from the Lord. It is as much my right to differ from other men, as it is theirs to differ from me, in points of doctrine and principle, when our minds cannot at once arrive at the same conclusion. (Journal of Discourses, 2:123)

I do not believe that there is a single revelation, among the many God has given to the Church; that is perfect in its fulness. The revelations of God contain correct doctrine and principle, as far as they go, but it is impossible for the poor, weak, low, grovelling, sinful inhabitants of the earth to receive a revelation from the Almighty in all its perfections. He has to speak to us in a manner to meet the extent of our capacities. (Journal of Discourses, 2:314).

I do not wish any Latter-day Saint in this world, nor in heaven, to be satisfied with anything I do, unless the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of revelation, makes them satisfied . . . Suppose that the people were heedless, that they manifested no concern with regard to the things of the kingdom of God, but threw the whole burden upon the leaders fo the people, saying, 'if the brethren who take charge of matters are satisfied, we are,' that is not pleasing in the sight of the Lord. (JOD 3:45)

As you have been told hundreds of times, how easy it would be for your leaders to lead you to destruction unless you actually know the mind and will of the Spirit yourselves. (Brigham Young; JOD 4:368)

In trying all matters of doctrine, to make a decision valid, it is necessary to obtain a unanimous voice, faith, and decision. In the capacity of a Quorum, the three first presidents must be one in their voice--the Twelve Apostles must be unanimous in their voice, to obtain a righteous decision upon any matter that may come before them, as you may read in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Seventies may decide upon the same principle. Whenever you see these Quorums unanimous in their declaration, you may set it down as true. Let the Elders get together, being faithful and true; and when they agree upon any point, you may know that it is true. (JOD 9:91-92 | September 22, 1878)

As an aside, Wallace cites Brigham Young as follows:

Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so (JOD 10:110; March 8, 1863)

Again, it would have been appreciated if Wallace demonstrated intellectual integrity and interacted with LDS apologetics and scholarship on this quote, such as this page which I will quote from:

Question: Did Brigham Young say that race mixing was punishable by death?

Brigham Young said that race mixing was punishable by death

First, yes, Brigham Young did makes statements to this effect. It was a complex issues (after all, laws against interracial marriage still existed in a number of states until June of 1967 (Utah was not one of them), when the Supreme Court finally argued that they were unconstitutional - a hundred years after some of Brigham Young's comments). President Young's views were connected to his views on priesthood and sealings, they were affected by his own cultural upbringing, and they were affected by changes that happened in the late 1840s. Among these was the challenge of black men actually marrying white women in the Church, and the stir this caused among certain groups of Church membership. While there were a couple of instances where violence actually happened (and several cases of interracial marriage),

Brigham Young didn't ever actually try to have someone killed for doing this, and this was typical of Young's over the top rhetoric that he used from time to time at the pulpit

Brigham Young didn't ever actually try to have someone killed for doing this, and we assume that some of this (although based in racist attitudes that were prevalent in American society and held by Brigham Young) was typical of Young's over the top rhetoric that he used from time to time at the pulpit for effect.

For a full discussion on the issue of blacks within Mormonism, see Russell W. Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013 (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2014).