Understanding why all the thinking has been done...

[_moksha]

In Church almost everything is put forward by approval of the membership. We are even asked for a vote of support for the Primary Children's chorister.
However, in all those votes, there is nary a dissenting vote. Agreement is the order of the day. The members do not need to think about what has been put forward to them. They trust their leaders and know that they have thought about it. That way the members do not have to think, they know that all the thinking has been done for them.

This same mechanism is what makes FARMS and FAIR so effective and comforting for the members. They know that critics of the Church have been arguing against it. However, once they discover that groups like FARMS and FAIR exist to provide an answer to the criticism, they are content. They also know in this case that the thinking has been done.

You may say that FARM and FAIR information may be insufficient, but it does not matter. The simple fact that they have supplied any answer at all is sufficient for the bulk of the membership. Dan Peterson is heralded in my Gospel Doctrine class. They might not know what it is that he said, but the fact that he is manning the battlements at the Maxwell Institute means that they do not have to further trouble themselves over any of the issues to which this forum or even MAD addresses on a regular basis. Dan has done the thinking.

[_Inconceivable]

I thought in like mind for years.

Nibley, Benson, Kimball, McConkie, Skousen etc.

They were deep, deep, thinkers. They were Mormon. I trusted that they had a profound understanding of a great many things.

I trusted them when they said "nothing to see here..". Like many, I didn't have time to look into a detour that they had declared "fruitless".

I wasn't being lazy at all. I was taught that my Mormon leaders could be trusted from a very young age.

oops? Well no.

Honestly, I just did not know any better until I began my own personal fruitless attempt to defend the lives of my lifelong heros - to myself.

[_ludwigm]

...
However, in all those votes, there is nary a dissenting vote. Agreement is the order of the day. The members do not need to think about what has been put forward to them. They trust their leaders and know that they have thought about it. That way the members do not have to think, they know that all the thinking has been done for them.
...

This was valid for the socialism too, as we have experienced it in East Europe from 1945 to 198X.
Our representatives was elected by the 99.97% of the votes.

(Really with a little difference: substitute the word "member" with "comrade".)

[_bcspace]

I think it would be useful to see the context of this statement ("the thinking has been done") as well as the Church's response to questions about it......

The leaflet to which you refer, and from which you quote in your letter, was not "prepared" by "one of our leaders." However, one or more of them inadvertently permitted the paragraph to pass uncensored. By their so doing, not a few members of the Church have been upset in their feelings, and General Authorities have been embarrassed.

I am pleased to assure you that you are right in your attitude that the passage quoted does not express the true position of the Church. Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church, which is that every individual must obtain for himself a testimony of the truth of the Gospel, must, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, work out his own salvation, and is personally responsible to His Maker for his individual acts. The Lord Himself does not attempt coercion in His desire and effort to give peace and salvation to His children. He gives the principles of life and true progress, but leaves every person free to choose or to reject His teachings. This plan the Authorities of the Church try to follow.

Geo. Albert Smith [signed]

http://www.fairlds.org/Misc/When_the_Prophet_Speaks_is_the_Thinking_Done.html

[_moksha]

Even to imply that members of the Church are not to do their own thinking is grossly to misrepresent the true ideal of the Church, which is that every individual must obtain for himself a testimony of the truth of the Gospel, must, through the redemption of Jesus Christ, work out his own salvation, and is personally responsible to His Maker for his individual acts.

From a PR point of view, saying all the thinking has been done is unfortunate. After all, it makes members look like drones in the Morg Collective. But, from a purely practical point of view it makes meetings much shorter by never having alternate opinions discussed. The ability to raise one's hand to the square and trust that all the thinking has been done, does have a certain expediency factor - does it not?

[_Dr. Shades]

bcspace:

Was that letter from George Albert Smith read aloud to the general membership, or was it mailed out to only one guy?

[_bcspace]

Was that letter from George Albert Smith read aloud to the general membership, or was it mailed out to only one guy?

Only one guy as far as I can tell. However, in answer to your obvious questions, what is the overall teaching of the Church in this regard? Do members have agency or not? Are they required to adhere to every teaching and policy under the penalty of censure or not?

[_moksha]

Are they required to adhere to every teaching and policy under the penalty of censure or not?

I certainly hope not, although every once in a while you hear a talk or read a post that suggests we are not good Mormons if we deviate from someone's expectation of what should be thought or done.