FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Pregunta: ¿Brigham Young declaró? "Si alguna vez llega un día en que los santos interfieren con los derechos de los demás a vivir como les parezca, puede saber con seguridad que la Iglesia ya no está dirigida por un Profeta, sino un simple hombre" ?
Pregunta: ¿Brigham Young declaró? "Si alguna vez llega un día en que los santos interfieren con los derechos de los demás a vivir como les parezca, puede saber con seguridad que la Iglesia ya no está dirigida por un Profeta, sino un simple hombre" ?
A blogger fakes a quote from Brigham Young
The following fabricated quote has gained circulation on the web. The introductory phrase "I have never given counsel that is wrong" was indeed given by Brigham Young. (See: Journal of Discourses 16:161) Unfortunately, the paragraph that follows is a complete fabrication:
I have never given council that is wrong. I am a Prophet of God in this dispensation. I carry on the work that began with Joseph Smith. I led the Saints to the barren Salt Lake Valley and it is where we built Zion, even though Joseph Smith taught the Savior would return in Jackson County Missouri. Monogamous marriage is not the order of heaven, for it is only through polygamy that a man may achieve exaltation. The government should stay out of the lives of the Saints and let us worship and practice our religion according to the dictates of our own conscience. If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man. The doctrines of this Church are eternal, for they were ordained before the world was and any man who changes these doctrines such as the temple ceremony, or the man who abandons polygamy, or allows blacks the Priesthood of God, is a fallen prophet.
I am Brother Brigham. And I am the voice of God.
Ex-Mormon critics of the Church became excited about the quote and attempted to verify its source because it represented "an astounding batch of ammo if it is a true quote from B[righam] Y[oung]."[1] On a different ex-Mormon board, one poster states that "I really, really want to post this quote tonight on my facebook wall, but I still am looking for a source," and that he "would really love for this quote to be a real B.Y. quote."[2]
Here is the real "I have never given counsel that is wrong" quote
Here is what Brigham actually said:
I am here to give this people, called Latter-day Saints, counsel to direct them in the path of life. I am here to answer; I shall be on hand to answer when I am called upon, for all the counsel and for all the instruction that I have given to this people. If there is an Elder here, or any member of this Church, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who can bring up the first idea, the first sentence that I have delivered to the people as counsel that is wrong, I really wish they would do it; but they cannot do it, for the simple reason that I have never given counsel that is wrong; this is the reason. This people, called Latter-day Saints, have been laboring now over forty years. [3]
The fake quote is a conflation of things that Brigham discussed, with a negative spin
We examine here the individual elements of the fabricated quote and provide responses to it.