Practice
Each Latter-day Saint is expected to use personal revelation to determine how best to apply gospel principles and the commandments in his or her life in a path toward perfection. It is accepted that not all members will agree on how to interpret the same scripture; rather, each person is responsible to determine how it should be interpreted for himself or herself.
For example, the dietary code called the Word of Wisdom contains the statement "And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly." Church leaders later clarified the words "hot drinks" to mean coffee and tea. The Word of Wisdom is interpreted in various ways within the church. Although abstinence from coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco are considered 'absolutes' by most Latter-day Saints, many will drink decaffeinated coffee or herbal tea. A few LDS will even avoid Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other drinks containing caffeine, but most LDS see nothing wrong with drinking such beverages. Mormons interpret the other parts of the Word of Wisdom relating to the kinds of foods to be eaten and avoided in various ways. It is considered inappropriate for one person to challenge another person's interpretation, although a bishop may determine when an interpretation is outside acceptable bounds. Rationalization of interpretations is tempered by the belief that each person must answer for their choices at the final judgment.
Individuals are encouraged to rely on personal revelation and to never take leader's statements at face value without investigating for themselves if they be true. Brigham Young wrote,
"I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful that they settle down in a state of blind self security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purpose of God in their salvation. . . Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not."J. Reuben Clark wrote that there is only one way that Church members can be sure that leaders are speaking for the Lord,
"I have given some thought to this question, and the answer thereto so far as I can determine, is: We can tell when the speakers are ‘moved upon by the Holy Ghost’ only when we, ourselves, are ‘moved upon by the Holy Ghost.’ In a way, this completely shifts the responsibility from them to us to determine when they so speak."Read more about this topic: Revelation (Latter Day Saints)
Famous quotes containing the word practice:
“We black women must forgive black men for not protecting us against slavery, racism, white men, our confusion, their doubts. And black men must forgive black women for our own sometimes dubious choices, divided loyalties, and lack of belief in their possibilities. Only when our sons and our daughters know that forgiveness is real, existent, and that those who love them practice it, can they form bonds as men and women that really can save and change our community.”
—Marita Golden, educator, author. Saving Our Sons, p. 188, Doubleday (1995)
“Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work.”
—Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)