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| | #REDIRECT[[The Purpose of Discipline in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] |
| {{Resource Title|Purpose of Church discipline}}
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| <onlyinclude>
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| == ==
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| {{QA label}}
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| {{:Question: What is the purpose of Church discipline?}}
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| {{:Question: Why might one be disciplined within the Church?}}
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| == ==
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| {{ChurchResponseBar
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| |link=http://www.lds.org/topics/church-disciplinary-councils?lang=eng
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| |title=Church Disciplinary Councils
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| |publication=Gospel Topics (lds.org)
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| |summary=Church discipline is an inspired process that takes place over a period of time. Through this process and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, a member can receive forgiveness of sins, regain peace of mind, and gain strength to avoid transgression. Church discipline is designed to help Heavenly Father's children in their efforts to be purified from sin through the Atonement, return to full fellowship in the Church, and receive the full blessings of the Church.
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| }}
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| == ==
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| {{SeeAlso|MormonFAQ/Church_Discipline_FAQ|l1=FAQ about Church discipline}}
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| ===Question: What Church disciplinary options are available?<br>Answer: 1) Excommunication, 2) Disfellowshipment, 3) Formal probation and 4) Informal probation.===
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| Leaders of the Church have various options for discipline. Bishops or stake presidents impose Church discipline, and do so after discussing the matter with the member, hearing from other witnesses (if any), and after prayerful consideration.
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| From most to least severe, disciplinary options include:
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| # Excommunication - the person is no longer a member of the Church. They can participate in no ordinances, cannot speak or pray at meetings, cannot hold Church callings, may not attend the temple, may not wear LDS temple garments, and may not pay tithing. Excommunicated members may continue to attend worship services if they are not disruptive or dangerous.
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| # Disfellowshipment - the person remains a member of the Church, but cannot speak or pray at meetings, cannot hold Church callings, and may not attend the temple.
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| # Formal probation - the person remains a member of the Church, and is asked to comply with a set of conditions specified by the bishop. Formal probation can last no less than one year.
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| # Informal probation - the person remains a member of the Church, and is asked to comply with a set of conditions specified by the bishop. The length of informal probation is determined by the bishop, and can be less than one year. | |
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| The last two penalties may be imposed by a bishop privately upon a member. The first two penalties require a formal "Church disciplinary hearing," held by either the bishop and his two councilors, or by the stake presidency and stake high council.
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| The goal in every case of Church discipline is to have the member's altered status be temporary; the goal is to encourage them to reform and return to full activity and participation in the life of the Church.
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| Church discipline ''cannot'' impose any financial or legal penalties (see {{s||DC|134|10-12}}).
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| ===Question: What specific transgressions might result in Church discipline?<br>Answer: Moral sins and apostasy ===
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| Elder Ballard:
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| :The First Presidency has instructed that disciplinary councils must be held in cases of murder, incest, or apostasy. A disciplinary council must also be held when a prominent Church leader commits a serious transgression, when the transgressor is a predator who may be a threat to other persons, when the person shows a pattern of repeated serious transgressions, when a serious transgression is widely known, and when the transgressor is guilty of serious deceptive practices and false representations or other terms of fraud or dishonesty in business transactions.
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| :Disciplinary councils may also be convened to consider a member’s standing in the Church following serious transgression such as abortion, transsexual operation, attempted murder, rape, forcible sexual abuse, intentionally inflicting serious physical injuries on others, adultery, fornication, homosexual relations, child abuse (sexual or physical), spouse abuse, deliberate abandonment of family responsibilities, robbery, burglary, embezzlement, theft, sale of illegal drugs, fraud, perjury, or false swearing. <ref>{{Ensign1 | author=M. Russell Ballard| article=A Chance to Start Over: Church Disciplinary Councils and the Restoration of Blessings|date=September 1990|start=12|}} {{link|url=https://www.lds.org/ensign/1990/09/a-chance-to-start-over-church-disciplinary-councils-and-the-restoration-of-blessings?lang=eng}}</ref>
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| President Gordon B. Hinckley on ''Larry King Live'':
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| :'''Larry King''': Are people ever thrown out of your church?
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| :'''Gordon B. Hinckley''': Yes.
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| :'''Larry King''': For?
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| :'''Gordon B. Hinckley''': Doing what they shouldn't do, preaching false doctrine, speaking out publicly. They can carry all the opinion they wish within their heads, so to speak, but if they begin to try to persuade others, then they may be called in to a disciplinary council. We don't excommunicate many, but we do some. <ref>CNN Larry King Live, 8 September 1998</ref>
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| Generally, most Church discipline falls into two broad categories:
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| #serious moral sins
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| #apostasy
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| ====Group #1: moral sins====
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| Serious moral sins which could result in a Church disciplinary hearing include committing various felonies, such as: murder, rape, sexual abuse, theft, or fraud. Other acts considered to be serious sins by the Church include: adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, and submitting to, encouraging, or performing an abortion except in cases where competent medical authority has determined that the mother and/or fetus' life is in serious jeopardy by a continued pregnancy.
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| Other acts contrary to Church teachings that would ''not'' result in excommunication or disfellowshipment include failure to pay tithing, failure to attend meetings, failure to observe the Word of Wisdom, failure to attend the temple.
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| ====Group #2: apostasy====
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| The Church understands apostasy to be the repeated public teaching of ideas contrary to the doctrines, principles, or ideals of the Church. Those who are "apostate" continue to teach or preach their ideas even after being cautioned by their Church leaders.
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| Apostasy is the ''act'' of trying to persuade or mislead others; it is not the fact that one disagrees with Church actions, policies, or leaders. As President George Q. Cannon explained:
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| :We could conceive of a man honestly differing in opinion from the Authorities of the Church and yet not be an apostate; but we could not conceive of a man publishing these differences of opinion and seeking by arguments, sophistry and special pleading to enforce them upon the people to produce division and strife and to place the acts and counsels of the Authorities of the Church, if possible, in a wrong light, and not be an apostate, for such conduct was apostasy as we understood the term. We further said that while a man might honestly differ in opinion from the Authorities through a want of understanding, he had to be exceedingly careful how he acted in relation to such differences, or the adversary would take advantage of him, and he would soon become imbued with the spirit of apostasy and be found fighting against God and the authority which He had placed here to govern His Church. <ref>George Q. Cannon, ''Gospel Truth'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974), 493.</ref>
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| ===Question: What does not fall within the scope of Church discipline?<br>Answer: Civil or criminal cases, tithing, Word of Wisdom or church attendance.===
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| Elder Ballard:
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| :Disciplinary councils are not called to try civil or criminal cases. The decision of a civil court may help determine whether a Church disciplinary council should be convened. However, a civil court’s decision does not dictate the decision of a disciplinary council.
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| :Disciplinary councils are not held for such things as failure to pay tithing, to obey the Word of Wisdom, to attend church, or to receive home teachers. They are not held because of business failure or nonpayment of debts. They are not designed to settle disputes among members. Nor are they held for members who demand that their names be removed from Church records... <!--the following statement, "or who have joined another church" is no longer true as joining another church is, according to the current handbook, defined as apostasy and warrants a disciplinary council -->; that is now an administrative action. <ref>{{Ensign1 | author=M. Russell Ballard| article=A Chance to Start Over: Church Disciplinary Councils and the Restoration of Blessings|date=September 1990|start=12|}} {{link|url=https://www.lds.org/ensign/1990/09/a-chance-to-start-over-church-disciplinary-councils-and-the-restoration-of-blessings?lang=eng}}</ref>
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| Paul, who had suffered much, observed in his epistle to the Hebrews: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12:11.) <ref>Neal A. Maxwell, ''Notwithstanding My Weakness'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1981), p.67</ref>
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| == ==
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| {{Endnotes label}}
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| <references/>
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