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ANNVER - What's the most important principle when it comes to a debate between obedience and the soul?
some examples:
1. A church leader needs to decide weather to allow a baptism of a non-member within a ward area where she/he does not live?
Obedience=is to baptise within correct ward area so they may receive future calling etc?
Soul=allow baptism within ward he/she does not live in because they can be asked to move into correct ward area later but first fellowship into church.
2. Obedience=not to renew recommend of endowed members because they are outside of Stake or Ward Boundaries even when they have been living there for 2years but do not have appropriate reason to request permission from first presidency?
Soul=They are fulltithe payers, willing to serve, they will help alot within Stake/Ward.
3. Obedience=not to sign temple recommend because they are only part-time tithe payers but have promised they will do better?
Soul=sign temple recommend to get them to attend temple and trust they will be full tithe payers from now on?
Obedience: D&C 130:21, 1 Sam 15.22, Story of Abraham sacrificing his son...and many more...(talking about the importance of obedience even in life and death situations....
Souls: D&C 18:10, Luke 15:4, Matt 22:39 and many more ...(Talking about the importance of people-the soul..
Hope these examples were clear and help bring more light to my question regarding "obedience vs Soul"
The versus I have provided are only some of the many scriptures that gets me thinking especially when people ask me if I was given chance to make certain decisions weather to be strictly obedient or be flexible towards the person(Soul).
JOEL - Sounds to me more like you want to know the difference between obedience and personal revelation. The church is guided by general policies that have been developed over the years that have proven to be effective under most circumstances. However, a Bishop or Stake President might under certain circumstances follow the promptings of the spirit and personal revelation to make exceptions to policy as needed. For example my
grandmother was LDS but had developed an addiction to coffee over many years. She wanted more than anything to be able to go to the temple to see her grandchildren get married. After many months of trying to give up coffee, she found that her old body suffered too much without it. Her inspired Bishop told her that if she could just cut down to one half cup of coffee per day he would give her the recommend. That she could do and
was given the recommend. In this case the Bishop was thinking more of her soul than just being obedient to a policy, but only after she made a serious attempt to obey the doctrine.
There are certain doctrines and commandments that should always be followed and obeyed. However, situations like in some of the examples you provided, are more what you call policy than comandments. In some cases, to quote a famous movie line, they "are more what you call guidelines than actual rules". In most cases they should be followed; except on the rare occasion when exceptions or modifications can be made through revelation.
Obedience to God and His laws and doctrines is most important; in fact it is through our obedience that we are able to receive revelation on how to conduct our lives or serve in callings we might have in the church; like being the Bishop my grandmother had.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson links obedience with revelation when he said:
"The Lord will increase our knowledge, wisdom, and capacity to obey when we obey His fundamental laws. This is what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said we could have "sudden strokes of ideas" which come into our minds as "pure intelligence". This is revelation."
(A Principle with a Promise, Ensign, May 1983)
Examples you provided are very unusual circumstances and would have to be decided on by revelation received by the involved church leaders. And it's not just obedience of the church leader that is in question, but also by the church member who should display their faith in the gospel by agreeing to follow the policies, if at all posssible.
If a person does not have enough faith to obey the law of tithing and show he can do it before going to the temple, he is not worthy to enter the temple. It might be better for his soul in the long run to obey the law of tithing first.
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