Question: Are study aids in Mormon scriptures considered binding or authoritative?

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Question: Are study aids in Mormon scriptures considered binding or authoritative?

McConkie: "None of these are perfect; they do not of themselves determine doctrine; there have been and undoubtedly now are mistakes in them"

Are study aids (e.g., the Topical Guide, Bible Dictionary, footnotes, etc.) in LDS scriptures considered binding or authoritative?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who supervised the preparation of many of the LDS study aides said this:

[As for the] Joseph Smith Translation items, the chapter headings, Topical Guide, Bible Dictionary, footnotes, the Gazeteer, and the maps. None of these are perfect; they do not of themselves determine doctrine; there have been and undoubtedly now are mistakes in them. Cross-references, for instance, do not establish and never were intended to prove that parallel passages so much as pertain to the same subject. They are aids and helps only. [1]


Notes

  1. Mark McConkie (editor), Doctrines of the Restoration: Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1989), 289–290. ISBN 978-0884946441. GL direct link