The Standard
Works are scripture. They are binding upon us. They are the mind and will and
voice of the Lord. He never has, he does not now, and he never will reveal
anything which is contrary to what is in them. No person, speaking by the
spirit of inspiration, will ever teach doctrine that is out of harmony with the
truths God has already revealed.
These words
of President Joseph Fielding Smith should guide all of us in our gospel study:
It makes no difference that is written or
what anyone has said, if what has been said is in conflict with what the Lord
has revealed, we can set it aside. My words and the teachings of any other
member of the Church, high or low, if they do not square with the revelations,
we need not accept them. Let us have this matter clear. We have accepted the
four standard works as the measuring yardsticks, or balance by which we measure
every man’s doctrine.
You cannot accept the book written by the
authorities of the Church as standards of doctrine, only in so far as they
accord with the revealed word in the standard works.
Every man who writes is responsible, not the
Church, or what he writes. If Joseph Fielding Smith writes something which is
out of harmony with the revelations, then every member of the Church is duty bound
to reject it. If he writes that which is in perfect harmony with the revealed
word of the Lord, then it should be accepted.
(Bruce R.
McConkie, A Letter to “Honest Truth Seekers,” 1980, pp. 2-3)
