Benson Censored By Kimball, But...

[CaptainM]

it hasn't stopped the blind leaders from doing the same things. Here is a synopsis of the controversy around Ezra Taft Benson's talk on 14 Principle of Following the Prophet. It was given 26 Feb 1980 at BYU and OFTEN used in many other talks by people not realizing he got in trouble for giving it.

What about President Ezra Taft Benson’s 14 Fundamentals Devotional Talk? Should we follow the President of the Church without question?


“Marriott Center, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah” by Ken Lund under CC BY-SA 2.0
On February 26, 1980, at the Brigham Young University Marriott Center, President Ezra Taft Benson, who was then serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave what has become an extremely controversial devotional address.

The background for the address to which most conservatives and traditionalists are in full support, was President Benson’s desire to make the words of inspired latter-day prophets of God more relevant and life-changing in the lives of the young men and women in the Church. President Benson had watched as the words of his general authority colleagues, Presidents David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, and Spencer W. Kimball, had been largely ignored on issues including birth control,1 music and media choices,2 scripture study, socialism,3 sexual purity, and a myriad of social issues. President Benson, feeling an anxiety for the youth of the Church, and certainly with only good intentions, proceeded with his message, which, unfortunately, contained some fatal flaws not in harmony with the words of scripture, the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith4 and the words of other presidents of the Church, including Brigham Young5 and George Albert Smith.6 It appears that President Benson did not understand the flaws relating to the subject of blind obedience at the time he gave his address, but it is clear that he later became aware of the issues. What he discovered was missing from his address was the fact that these teachings could only be adopted by the saints through love and persuasion, and not by dictatorially demanding obedience to any leader, including the President of the Church.7


“Marriott Center at Brigham Young University” by Mark A. Philbrick (Brigham Young University) under CC BY-SA 3.0
The message of his address was immediately attacked by liberals and by the news media who believed that the address was merely a publicity stunt by President Benson to set the stage for his likely upcoming succession as the thirteenth President of the Church. We believe there is little or no evidence for such claims, and such behavior is certainly not in accordance with President Benson’s devotion to truth, his unwavering integrity, and his stalwart, even unimpeachable character.

The address, however, also distressed President Spencer W. Kimball, current President of the Church, and a handful of other leaders who believed the message could be misunderstood as “espousing an unthinking ‘follow the leader’ mentality.”8 According to multiple sources, President Benson was also required by President Kimball to apologize to both the Quorum of the Twelve and then later, to a combined meeting consisting of all other general authorities the following week. President Benson’s family and others close to him were well aware of the issues and the upcoming meeting before the general authorities. All had been praying for him, including President Benson’s son Reed, who left a supportive phone message, and his son Mark, who left him a brief letter of encouragement: “All will be well—we’re praying for you and know all will be well. The Lord knows your heart.”9 It is unfortunate that a public correction of the obvious issues within the address never happened. Despite his retraction, considerable talk among disgruntled general authorities continued. Of all the discourses ever given by President Benson, this stands as one of very few—and possibly the only one—that sparked concern from both sides—friends as well as those more prone to find fault.


Meanwhile, the news media had a fit over President Benson’s message, although largely for the wrong reasons. As President Benson had served as Secretary of Agriculture under United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the controversy attracted national attention, and the story made its way into the national news. Newsweek referenced President Benson’s address and included some of the reproofs suffered by him in at least two articles.10

The flames of criticism were being fanned by liberals, but conservatives privately, including close personal friends, also saw dangerous flaws in President Benson’s talk11—problems he had not anticipated. Although unintended, the talk became a new mantra for a non-thinking, blind obedient movement that had members aligning behind a supercharged “follow the Prophet” message as opposed to their taking a personal-responsibility attitude—a movement that began sweeping through the Church. This had not been President Benson’s intention, but the message he delivered clearly had that tone and influence. Some close personal friends of this veteran leader considered this address his most unwise and uninspired act as a public figure.12 Traditionalists had already weathered frequent criticism for blindly following the words of scripture over academic philosophy and culture, but this added fuel to the flames and a new round of criticism, unfortunately this time it was partially deserved.

(Borrowed from https://josephsmithfoundation.org/fact- ... e-prophet/) Footnotes 1-12 may be referenced at the above website.

[Reluctant Watchman]

Apparently, these “fundamentals” were so awful they decided to quote them repeatedly in future conference addresses.

[Reluctant Watchman]

They reprinted it in the June, 1981 Liahona magazine: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... t?lang=eng

And then twice here:

Oct. 2010 – Claudio M. Costa, General Conference “Obedience to the Prophets”

Oct 2010 – Kevin R. Duncan, General Conference, “Our Very Survival”

[Reluctant Watchman]

From a BYU speech, April 2016:

Good morning, brothers and sisters. Thank you for participating in the devotional today. I know it is a busy time of year, with papers, projects, and finals pending. I promise to do my best to reward your time investment with something helpful to you now and throughout your life.

According to a very fun website1 that I found, it was thirty-six years, one month, and ten days ago that, as a freshman student at BYU, I sat where you are sitting today. I listened carefully as President Ezra Taft Benson, then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk titled “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet.”2 He shared how we could more faithfully follow the living prophets and better keep the commandments of God.

The Spirit was strong that day, and I was motivated by President Benson’s remarks. I thought to myself, “I am going to follow his counsel to be a better follower of the prophets and to be more faithful in keeping the commandments of God. But I can do better than that. From this point on, I’m not even going to make any mistakes!”

That last comment from him reminds me of Wendy Nelson’s book “The Not Even Once Club” which received horrible reviews, for good reason: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Even-Once-Cl ... 144&sr=8-7

[endlessQuestions]

And then they used one of the most controversial claims in the talk in their legal argument, when it suited their purposes...

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