Common Latter-day Saint perceptions
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Cultural sources versus official sources
Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as others outside the Church often cite speculative sources, journal accounts, and other traditions as official doctrines of the LDS Church.
For authoritative sources about the church, one can read information that has been approved by the LDS Church Correlation Committee in officially-published works by the Church. Most of these materials were printed after 1970. They do however, contain information from earlier verified and authoritative sources.
Truisms in the LDS culture
Although many LDS look to the leadership of the church for inspiration one of the main criticisms of the LDS church is historical inconsistency. The perception of the LDS people is one dictated and controlled by the current views of the "quorum of Seventy", "Quorum of the Twelve", and ultimately the president of the corporation of the LDS church. According to church tradition, the LDS Church President and First Presidency alone has the right to modify or change doctrine or policies for the entire church. This continuing revelation is cited when massive doctrinal changes such as the temple endowment initiatory that took place on January 16th, 2005.
Topics which are suppressed and-or not publicly taught any longer include but are not limited to:
- Polygamy
- Polytheism has been replaced by a more monotheistic approach.
- Outer Darkness
- What it actually means to be a god or exalted human.
- Pre-existence issues including divisions by valiancy, pre-mortal sin, and the war in heaven.
- The nature of pre-mortal intelligence, and how it (and/or/if spirit and spirit matter) was created
- The Adam-God theory
- Blood Atonement
- Miscellaneous Mormon Folklore and "faith promoting rumors" such as encounters with the "three Nephites".
Although members may be correct in their speculations, the church is very careful about what is official doctrine.