The thought sounds great but then come all the caveats and questions. Who is the Lord that is issuing the command?
1. If it is Christ Jesus and He is speaking directly to our souls then we have been given a private revelation and such a private revelation is solely binding on the individual not on the community. Since it comes from Christ Himself, then we should obey and do it.
2. What if the command comes from a prophet who claims that Christ gave him/her this command? First we must judge the standing of this prophet. There have been suspect prophets in the past and will be more in the future. Mohammed found it convenient to announce a command from Allah for actions that he wished to have justified. For instance, he wished to marry his 8 year old niece but hesitated until he conveniently announced that Allah had become angry with him for hesitating and had ordered him to marry the girl. Now knowing all these facts, I would feel that this command was suspect from the start.
3. Joseph Smith appears to have also found his prophecy a convenient justification for actions he personally wished to take. When a man begins to practice polygamy and then later announces his prophecy as a command from the Lord, I would say that that is a very suspicious use of prophecy for personal justification.
4. Both Mohammad and Joseph Smith must be tested as prophets why the

We should judge prophets and their so called commands from the Lord by the criteria appointed in scripture. The Bible never says to test a prophet by prayer, but by his message. Deuteronomy 13 warns that a prophet must teach correctly about God. Chapter 18 tells us the prophet’s prophecies must come to pass. Paul tells us in Galatians 1:8-9 that even angels can appear with a wrong message. We are to compare the message with the teachings of the apostles. In Acts 17:10-12, when Paul went to Berea to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah to the Jews, we read “these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed…” Note, Paul did not tell them to go home and pray about it. They were praised for searching the scriptures, in other words, testing the message to see if it agreed with the prophecies of the Messiah.
Note that John also made an appeal to fact, not feeling, when he declared “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;…that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us…” (I John 1:1-3) He continued in the next chapter, verse 21, “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth…let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning….” Chapter 4, verse 1, “beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Peter wrote specifically to warn about false teachers: (2 Peter 1:15-16) “Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty….” In Chapter 2, verse 1, he continues “but there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,…and many shall follow their pernicious ways…” Then in Chapter 3 he continues “this second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers…” Notice, he refers them to past teachings and facts, not to feelings or prayer.
I think we misuse James 1:5. That verse is for wisdom during times of temptation and persecution, not for knowledge or testing a prophet. He goes on to warn in Chapter 4, verse 3, about those who pray (and we assume it was in Jesus name) for the wrong things—”Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss…” This verse shows our own desires or misdirected ideas can play a part in the answer. If someone claimed God said we should rob a bank and give the money to the poor, would we need to pray about it? God has already spoken on the issue in the Ten Commandments.
So why should we pray to know if God and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith to show him that they are two totally separated gods with resurrected bodies? Or that there were gods BEFORE our heavenly father. (See Smith’s sermons in the LDS History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 305-312, 474-476)
Compare his sermons with Isa.43:10-11, 44:6-8, 24-25, 45:5-6, 18-24, 46:5-10. Joseph Smith contradicts Isaiah—which one should we believe? Until J. Smith’s time, Christians test prophets, pastors, and teachers by the Bible. Even the Popes ground their pronouncements with biblical references and verses. Even they do not speak infallibly off the cuff.
But we seem to test the Bible by our prophets. Maybe we go about testing the message backwards. The Bible was here first. Therefore even Joseph Smith must be tested by it, not the other way around. Certainly a decision regarding our eternal life is the most important one we will ever make and deserves careful examination.
So at the end, we return to the beginning we need to judge who is saying the Lord commands and by what authority do they say He commands. Only then can we judge that we should do it.

Here’s what it says.

“We realize there are many people who disagree with us on marriage freedom and political independence. That’s fine, and we encourage those people to follow the First Presidency’s advice to contact your “local Church leaders [who] will provide information about how you may become involved …”

However, we’ve summarized some of the arguments we’ve heard from people who disagree with us, and you’ll see our response to each of these arguments below. We encourage everyone to understand both sides of this debate and make up their own mind about the issue of marriage freedom.

Here are some of the arguments that don’t persuade us. (If you’ve got an argument we didn’t include, e-mail it to dissent@signingforsomething.org.”

This is then followed by a discussion of the church’s talking points for defeating Proposition 8.

I don’t think they mean to be disengenous… not all of them have any desire to resign, they just want a broad coalition that can include everyone’s voice who dissents from the current political push.

I’m curious if you all see that push as a “commandment” or a suggestion?

I love your series! Please keep it up. Some of us are lurking with little time to leave a thoughtful comment.

The sisters can always handle a tough question, in my experience. Also, the interesting point about the “law upon which it is predicated” would mean that obedience only brings blessings if you are basically obeying the spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law (entitlement problem).

Keeping the savior’s commandments is charity or the pure love of Christ which is it’s own reward in that we become aligned with the Savior. (see I Corinthians 13.)

Not only does the poor soul who tithes his last dollar not get the promised check, but it creates an inappropriate sense of entitlement with respect to blessings. Shouldn’t we pay our tithing because it’s good to pay our tithing, not because we want more money? Shouldn’t we be kind because it’s good to be kind?

I disagree with the quid pro quo teaching that God will bless us if we follow the rules. It’s not empirically true, and it encourages people to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Wonder if I can bring this up in R.S. next week rationally or if I’ll just start ranting about the Platonic idea of the Good.

Full disclosure: I went to signingforsomething-dot-org and indicated the reasons I supported Propostion 8 and the churches position. This was in all likelihood not forwarded, because following my post the page titled “Arguments that do not Persuade us” was removed form the site. It is their right to their opinion and to filter opinions going the the brethren from their site. it is disingenuous to try to suggest they are in anyway representative.

Moreover…

I received this welcoming e-mail:

“THANK YOU
Thank you for submitting your letter. We appreciate you voicing your opinion on this issue, and we’ll post it on our site as soon as our volunteers screen it for inappropriate or off-topic content.”

Apparently, being for proposition 8 was off topic.

“IF YOU’RE RESIGNING
Some members have expressed a desire to resign their membership over this issue. While we are not encouraging resignation from the Church, we recognize that members have this right. The website MormonNoMore-dot-com is a resource for those who have asked for this information. We would remind those contemplating resignation of the serious nature and ramifications of such action.”

Enough said…

Perhaps the biggest issue today is the recent instruction from the first presidency to support the ammendment of the constitution in california. I have personally spoken with many members who are deeply disturbed by this because in their hearts they do not agree. A number of people have written the brethren at http://www.signingforsomething.org and I suspect they will have collected hundreds or thousands of letters before november. Some of the letters are pretty hostile, but there are a number of thoughtful and articulate letters from active members as well.

Do you think this request to support a piece of legislation is an example of a suggestion? Is this something we should feel free to ignore if we don’t feel the voice of the spirit confirming it, or is this something vital to our salvation as a people? How does one discern what is a commandment vs. a suggestion?

1. Christs invites but doesn’t demand obedience: “If ye Love me keep my commandments.” John 4:15

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” John 5:10

This is abiding on the “Pure love of Christ” or “charity.”

Paul having experienced the Paul love of Christ as charity and describes it in his beautiful letter to the Corinthians. The wealthy Corinthians like American culture today were noted for their love of pleasure and a “corrosive atmosphere of public immorality, all of which encouraged moral laxity.” http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?vendorId=FWNE.fw..co217100.a#FWNE.fw..co217100.a

(I Corinthians 13: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”

We are also assured that now see “see through a glass darkly” which gives us more reason to cling to Iron rod.

Youmay have no doubt heard of Margaret Barker, a Methodist Minister whose studies about the First Temple have lead her into heretical (in the Nicean sense) thoughts about theosis wherein the High priest of the temple was said to be going to see God as he approached the veil of the temple and became god upon passing through the veil.

http://www.thinlyveiled.com/barker.htm

Christ seemed to think obedience was fairly important: “If you love me keep my commandments.” Moreover, Paul contemplated working out one’s salvation with “fear and trembling.” Our danger today is more likely taking our easy in Zion. Still there is great danger in sanctimony as C.S Lewis reminded us.

Bored – I have also been slipping into activity-centered worship lately. It’s a good one to remember.

Thanks for your comments. I had considered discontinuing this series, but maybe I’ll keep going on them.

Are you speaking from personal experience, or are you relying on faith in a prophet or book of scripture to tell you this?

There is this simple declarative statement from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:

“If you love me, keep my commandments.”

http://bible.cc/john/14-15.htm

And, of course, Paul was not a little concerned that the Philippians were becoming slackers and “chilling out” to much in his absence.

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

http://bible.cc/philippians/2-12.htm

I’m not sure how I’m going to approach this lesson, but these are excellent thoughts. Thanks!

All of us can have that opportunity – outside of faith in a prophet or a book of scripture.

“Is obedience requisite to progression or does it hamper progression?”

It depends on what one is obedient to. If a human, and a human’s whims, it will hamper it someday, at some point, without fail. If one has the Spirit of God to inspire, then it is definitely a prerequisite.

Things are entirely different if a person or some book commands us to do something.