Prophecy in the Nick of Time

The LDS "church" is composed of individual members that hold opinions across the spectrum. It's not an entity, except in a collective sense. The collective consensus opinion does change with time. Thus, the church changes. It is intended to be dynamic rather than static, as indicated by its reliance on continuing revelation. If it was fully suited for application in real time, the principle of revelation would not be incorporated. The base tenant of Mormonism speaks of dynamic revelation as a function of evolving cultural forces. It was never intended to be static and dogmatic.

How does change happen?

It takes place through social evolution on a collective level. That is what we are doing, building a consensus, the 100th monkey thing, regarding areas that are changing and evolving within consensus reality on a national level and trying to ensure that our basic belief matrix stays flexible enough to provide us with spiritual guidance and structure in the face of change. We are addressing change on the macro level and attempting to understand and interpret it according to our mythos. I don’t think this changes “God’s church”, it only stretches and enhances our own ability to find a context within the gospel structure for social and cultural issues as they evolve.

If the church is a club with static, dogmatic rules, why do we require ongoing revelation through a prophet? If all the answers are contained within the canonized works, why do we need the patriarchal structure for real time interaction with deity?

Things change. Revelation happens. Most of the revelations given in the early church were in direct response to issues raised by the membership. Keep that in mind. We are asking some very hard questions based on some very hard observations. We are asking our leaders to take these concerns to God and to receive additional revelation regarding them. That is all we are doing. That is what this church is all about, not a “take it or leave it” kind of organization really… the “bylaws” are not static in this organization. If you are looking for something more dogmatic and pedantic, you should probably turn your attention to some other organization.