In the following journal entry, Charles Lowell Walker records a doctrinal dispute between Edward Bunker (bishop of Bunkerville) and other Latter-day Saints concerning who or what is to be worshipped (similar to a doctrinal debate between Orson Pratt and Brigham Young years earlier):
St George June 11th, 92
Attended the High Council at which Pres Woodroof presided. G. Q. Cannon was
present also and a large body of the leading men of this Stake. Br Edward
Bunker Sen. and others of Bunkerville, Nevada, had been advancing false
doctrine. One item was, that he, Bunker, thought it was right to worship the
intelligence that was in God the Eternal Father and not God, who made all
things by the power of his Word. And another was that Adam was made of the dust
of the earth contained in the Garden of Eden. He had also advanced some
erroneous ideas concerning the ressurection. Pres Woodroof and Cannon showed in
a very plain manner that it was right to Worship the true, and the Living God,
and Him only, and not the intelligence that dwelt in Him; that His Son Jesus Christ,
or Jehova, never taught such doctrine, but always to worship my Father which is
in Heaven, and to always pray to the Father in the name of his Son Jesus
Christ. Showed that Adam was an immortal being when he came to this earth and
was made the same as all other men and Gods are made; and that the seed of man
was of the dust of the earth, and that the continuation of the seeds in a
glorified state was Eternal Lives. And after this Mortal tabernacle had
crumbled to dust in the grave, that God would, in the time of the ressurection
by his Matchles Power, bring together again in the form of a glorified and an
imortal to the Righteous to dwell with Him forever. Also that those that were
not righteous would also be ressurected, but not with a glorified body. Said it
was not wisdom for the Elders to contend about such matters and things they did
not understand. And not to teach such things to the children in the Sunday
Schools; they could not comprehend them. Pres Woodroof spoke of the false
doctrine taught by Amasa Lyman some years ago, viz, that the Atoning blood of
Jesus Christ was of no more efficacy than the blood of any other man or that of
a Bullock &c. Such false ideas had led him to apostacy and finally out of
the church. Also of the false teachings of the late Orsen Pratt, one of the
Twelve, arguing that every particle of matter which composed the elements had
all the attributes of the Deity in it, and that they, i.e., the particles of
Matter, by some unaccountable way united together and became God. Pres Woodroof
told of Orson's unyielding stubbornes, and of upbraiding the Twelve for not
being manly, for not declaring their views the way he looked at it, and
branding them as cowards &c &c. Spoke of the firmnes of Pres Young in
correcting Orson Pratt and setting him aright; Of Orson wishing to resign his
position in the Quorum; of Pres. Young saying "No you wont Orson, I'll rub
your ears until I get you right;" and had it not been for firmnes of Pres
Young in maintaining the right, and assiduously laboring and showing him his
gross errors, Orson would have been out of the Church. Showed the folly of some
men because they cannot look up and prove by the Bible the glorious Revelations
that God has given they receive them doubtfully. Showed that God had, and would
yet, reveal many glorious things that men could not prove, and Search out of
the old Bible. Pres Cannon said that it was not necessary that we should or
endorse the doctrine that some men taught that Adam was the Father of Jesus
Christ. Counsel was given for the Elders to teach that which they knew, not
that which they did not. The Meeting was in session over three hours, and much
good counsel was given to the Elders present on these things by Pres Woodroof
and Cannon. To me it was a feast for I had been pondering over some of these
things of late. (Charles Lowell Walker, Journal, June 11, 1892, in Diary of
Charles Lowell Walker, ed. A. Karl Larson and Katherine Milles Larson, 2
vols. [Logan, Utah: Utah State University, 1980], 2:740-41)
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