Right Even When Wrong

If you ever want to know what's like arguing with a Mormon, just read the following story:

"A friend's world history teacher told his class that Confucius once remarked "It is wasteful to try to kill a fly with a cannon or a bullet." Someone mentioned that Confucius lived thousands of years before gunpowder was invented, in response to which the teacher argued he was right for some time. The next day he told the class "Even though he wasn't right, they shouldn't have questioned him because he has authority and experience."

He is not teaching at our school next year."

What If Abinadi Lived Today

Perhaps the most repeated defense for the Prophets and leaders of the LDS Church, and why members or non-members (mostly ex-members) cannot or should not criticize the Prophet or other Church leaders, is that these men have the Authority to speak for God. To so many active and devoted members of the Church their authority seems like an impenetrable defense, unfortunately for them however, it is actually a very weak scriptural defense, one that is contradicted regularly in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. There are multiple accounts in both scriptural records proving that a Prophet's Authority is not enough to protect a Prophet from being rebuked over his own wrongdoing. Anyone who desires to protect the Prophets and Apostles will need to prove the defense of their leaders by other means after these examples are published and explained.

Abinadi's story is well known to Mormons, as is the painting of his trial before the Wicked King Noah, but perhaps the details of his situation are not so clearly understood.