Church Courts

K. Douglas Bassett

Book of Mormon 121-122 Student Manual, p. 144; refer in this text to Mosiah 26:36

“Church discipline … is not for the purpose of punishment only, but is intended to heal and renew.” (Ronald E. Poelman, Ensign, Nov. 1993, p. 85)
“Church discipline is not limited to sexual sins but includes other acts such as murder, abortions, burglary, theft, fraud, and other dishonesty, deliberate disobedience to the rules and regulations of the Church, advocating or practicing polygamy, apostasy, or any other unchristianlike conduct, including defiance or ridicule of the Lord’s anointed, contrary to the law of the Lord and the order of the Church… . Among the activities considered apostate to the Church include when members ‘(1) repeatedly act in clear, open, and deliberate public opposition to the Church or its leaders; (2) persist in teaching as Church doctrine information that is not Church doctrine after being corrected by their bishops or higher authority; or (3) continue to follow the teachings of apostate cults (such as those that advocate plural marriage) after being corrected by their bishops or higher authority’ (General Handbook of Instructions, 1989, p. 10-3)” (James E. Faust, Ensign, Nov. 1993, p. 36)

Latter-Day Commentary on the Book of Mormon

References