Ralf, it is how LDS doctrine is produced in regards to distribution to the folks…
distribution doesn't make doctrine. If that were true, every book would be considered doctrine.
Doctrine according to the LDS church is God’s teaches as revealed by the prophets, wether official canonized or direct teachings.
Doctrine, according to our church, is that which is accepted by common consent and canonized. All other communication is an elaboration on the scriptures and, even the prophet has opinions. That doesn't mean they are right. We can trust that they have been well thought out and they do carry a lot of weight, but that doesn't make it doctrine.
There are 15 prophets in the LDS church with the one head prophet or president who is “the” prophet. These prophets and apostles, are sustained by the folks to interpret the the official canonized doctrines of the church, and whether you want to accept the current process of not, they chose some time ago to do this through correlation,
correlation is not doctrine. It is simply aligning the teachings amongst different groups. That's it.
The church also is clear that God speaks to the folks by these 15 prophets.
The church is quite clear that the only person on the earth able to receive revelation for the church is one person, not 15. The other 14 come and go and never generate doctrine. They expound on the doctrine but they are entitled to their opinions and could be wrong. Elder McConkie found that out - and they may not be wrong but it's not up to them to generate doctrine.
The problem with this is that no member really knows what is truth coming it of these folks mouths…What one of these men say might be a long standing agreed upon doctrine, or a temporary doctrine later discarded as just an opinion.
Let's get something straight here. I'm not aware of any opinion offered by any GA that has been discarded. We may not teach it, but most of their teachings remain. Yes, the mother church of all you critics is the Catholic church which is clearly represented in the Book of Revelation. We don't teach it, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Some things that are true are not very helpful and that is one of them. It's not your fault that the Catholic church led you all astray. Besides, it's not very helpful to bash other Christians because all of us are only doing the best we can with what we've been given. Our doctrine opens the door to all people regardless of religion or what god they happen to believe in because salvation depends on works. Thankfully, we know that the opportunity to receive the ordinances of salvation can be performed at any time. The gospel will be taught well after the grave. The only thing we can't undo is the way we lived. There are good people in every walk of life, in every country, in every religion. There are also bad people. It doesn't matter what church you belong to, if you're evil, you're going to pay a heavy price.
The reality in the LDS church is, a doctrine is more or less whatever someone wants it to be according to their personal interpretation
That's certainly the course you're taking. It seems that if you pen it, it must be our doctrine.
Aaron‘s interpretation of doctrine is different than yours as an example…
And what Aaron believes doesn't make it doctrine either. There are a lot of people in every religion that believe they are in the right place even though they disagree with some of the tenets. I haven't met a woman who is happily married that believes that God will separate her from her husband yet, but that's what you all teach as doctrine. Certainly, Aaron is entitled to his opinion even if he's wrong. The thing that I press upon him and you is that one's opinion doesn't make it true or church doctrine. Without substantiation, it is just smoke and mirrors. I asked the same question of Aaron over and over and never got an answer. He refused and dodged rather than addressing the elephant in the room. That's the same tactic we see here with our critics, but you can't tell me what I believe. You can't tell me what my church teaches. I know better than you because I live it. You fight it and that creates a problem. You have a vested interest in finding fault because if it's not wrong, then you are wrong and that's a bad place to be.
If you want to move me from my perch, you need to have a lot more than your opinion about what we believe to move me. I have been moved by discussions on these boards, but never assume that just because you got one thing right, it means that you're right about everything else.
and your way around it for you is to just throw him under the bus and claim you are not really sure he is a Mormon because he does not interpret the same way as you.
He's not working around the arguments with you using that excuse. He just disagrees with Aaron and rightly so. Aaron, and you know this, has some off-the-wall ideas. We clearly teach deification through Christ. He rejects that in an effort to display humility and complete fealty to God. To me, that's just an effort to downplay our doctrine in order to make it more palatable to our critics. He accuses me of chasing potential investigators off because of my rigid doctrines. He's not fooling anyone though. His approach will only disappoint anyone who investigates the church and finds that Aaron was wrong.
You, OTH, don't fit any of that. If you're telling me what I believe, you're wrong from the top. it's going to take some considerable evidence to change that and so far, all you've done is bloviate. I've caught you twice trying to explain your beliefs. I was impressed, but the problem was, you're still using your opinion to explain them, no evidence, no support, just offering what you think is right and that's simply not good enough.