What do prophets know?

Thomas R. Valletta

“It is interesting to see a prophet of God admit he does not know something. Nephi confessed that he did not know the meaning of some doctrine (1 Nephi 11:17), and so did Mormon (Words of Mormon 1:7; see also 3 Nephi 28:17). And because something has not yet been revealed, prophets may also give their judgment or their opinion, as did Alma (Alma 37:11; 40:3–4, 8, 20–21) and Paul (1 Corinthians 7:12, 25). Prophets, like all mortals, learn line upon line. They, too, have to inquire. They ask, and the answers that are revealed to them often become scripture” (Ogden and Skinner, Book of Mormon, 1:398–99).

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References