Saturday, July 15, 2023

Joseph F. Smith on the Receipt of Revelation and how Such Becomes Authoritative For, and Binding on, Latter-day Saints

  

Mr. TAYLER. You have already touched upon the subject of revelation, and if you have anything further to say about it. I think this would be as good a time as any, as to the method in which a revelation would be as good a time as any, as to the method in which a revelation is received and its binding or authoritative force upon the people.

 

Mr. SMITH. I will say this, Mr. Chairman, that no revelation given through the head of the church ever becomes binding and authoritative upon the members of the church until it has been presented to the church and accepted by them.

 

Mr. WORTHINGTON. What do you mean by being presented to the church?

 

Mr. SMITH. Presented in conference.

 

Mr. TAYLER. Do you mean by that that the church in conference may say to you, Joseph F. Smith, the first president of the church, “We deny that God has told you to tell us this?”

 

Mr. SMITH> They can say that if they choose.

 

Mr. TAYLER. They can say it?

 

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir; they can. And it is not binding upon them as members of the church until they accept it.

 

Mr. TAYLER. Until they accept it?

 

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

 

MR. TAYLER. Were the revelations to Joseph Smith, jr., all submitted to the people?

 

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

 

Senator OVERMAN. Does it require a majority to accept or must it be the unanimous voice?

 

Mr. SMITH. A majority. Of course only those who accept would be considered as in good standing in the church.

 

Mr. TAYLER. Exactly. Has any revelation made by God to the first president of the church and presented by him and to the church ever been rejected?

 

Mr. SMITH. I do not know that it has; not that I know if.

 

Senator HOAR. That answer presents precisely the question I put to you a little while ago. “Not that I know of,” you replied. Do you know, as head of the church, what revelations to your predecessors are binding upon the church?

 

Mr. SMITH. I know, as I have stated, that only those revelations which are submitted to the church and accepted by the church are binding upon them. That I know. (Proceedings Before the Committee on Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate in the Matter of the Protests Against the Right of Hon. Reed Smoot, a Senator from the State of Utah, to Hold His Seat, 4 vols. [Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), 1:96-97)