What's in a question? I recently reread some of the transcript from the PBS documentary, 'The Mormons', where those who have been excommunicated for intellectual apostasy and wondered where these people went wrong. I think it all started in the kinds of questions they were asking. It appears that the questions they asked and thus the answers they later came to were wrong. Yet, they felt they had reached truth and taught accordingly. This teaching led to their excommunication? So, is it bad to ask a question?
When we look to the scriptures about examples of questions we do good and bad. Think of all the Pharisees tried to do with the Savior. They would always ask Him questions, trying to see if they could hold His answers against Him. The Savior would always see what they were trying to do. And then stump them by asking questions back (Mark 11:28-33). The same kind of trapping questions were given to Abinidi. Their intent is recorded as "they began to question him, that they might cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to accuse him; but he answered them boldly, and withstood all their questions, yea, to their astonishment; for he did withstand them in all their questions, and did confound them in all their words" (Mosiah 12:19). Their questions were bad because they were trying to justify their own actions and beliefs that were in opposition to God and His prophets.
How do these intellectuals, these September Six, fare the same? By pursuing their research and questions, they effectively put themselves in opposition to God's word by calling into question they doctrines the Brethren had taught. In the end, their questions weren't necessarily wrong, but their conclusions and teachings thereafter were. They were teaching contrary to the living prophets. Hence, why President Packer answers in the documentary, "It's very simple. Down some of those paths, you have a right to go, but in the Church, you don't have a right to teach and take others there." He's essentially saying that we can ask any question we want, but when our answers are in opposition to the Brethren, than that is wrong.
Does that mean we should blindly follow the prophets just because they said so? Hardly. Elder Angel Abrea said this about questioning and blind obedience: "I’m sure that many questions have come to your mind. The truth is that you will not be condemned for wondering or questioning if you make a sincere effort to find the answer. Our mental powers have been given to us to use. Faith based on personal prayer, study, and obedience is more lasting than blind faith; it is more rewarding, and for sure it is better grounded." In reality, we as a Church don't believe in blind obedience. Perhaps, those who rely on others testimonies could be considered as blind, but they are also trusting in someone they love to lead them aright. They are told to eventually get their own testimony, to not rely on others.
Elder Oaks explains that when we follow the prophets it is not blind obedience. He said, "Of course, we have leaders, and of course, we are subject to their decisions and directions in the operation of the Church and in the performance of needed priesthood ordinances. But when it comes to learning and knowing the truth of the gospel—our personal testimonies—we each have a direct relationship with God, our Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, through the powerful witness of the Holy Ghost. This is what our critics fail to understand. It puzzles them that we can be united in following our leaders and yet independent in knowing for ourselves...We all act upon or give obedience to knowledge. Whether in science or religion, our obedience is not blind when we act upon knowledge suited to the subject of our action. A scientist receives and acts upon a trusted certification of the content or conditions of a particular experiment. In matters of religion, a believer’s source of knowledge is spiritual, but the principle is the same. In the case of Latter-day Saints, when the Holy Ghost gives our souls a witness of the truth of the restored gospel and the calling of a modern prophet, our choice to follow those teachings is not blind obedience." And so the real matter is of testimony not questions. Questions are encouraged. They ideally lead to more truth and not less, as what occurs when apostasy is the result.
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