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What If I Hope Future Revelation Changes a Church Teaching?

Could Continuing Revelation Change the Family Proclamation?

You believe in continuing revelation, so you may wonder whether a teaching you find difficult could change someday. These questions often involve marriage, gender, or sexuality, especially when someone you love is affected.

It makes sense to want to know what is genuinely open to further revelation. The Church does believe that God will continue to reveal truth. But continuing revelation does not mean that every doctrine is temporary or waiting to be replaced.

The Lord may give additional understanding, clarify how a teaching should be applied, or correct the way His people have treated one another. Those possibilities are different from reversing the central doctrine of The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

God Will Continue to Reveal Truth

The ninth article of faith teaches that God “will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (Articles of Faith 1:9).

This is an important part of Latter-day Saint belief. The Church does not claim that everything God knows has already been revealed. There is more to learn, and the Lord can give His children greater understanding over time.

Continuing revelation can help us understand doctrine more fully. It can also guide the Church in how teachings should be explained or applied in changing circumstances. But the fact that more revelation will come does not mean that every teaching is uncertain.

What Church Leaders Have Taught About the Proclamation

The Family: A Proclamation to the World is presented as a statement of eternal truth, not as a temporary policy.

In “The Plan and the Proclamation,” President Dallin H. Oaks described the proclamation’s central principles as divinely given doctrine. He has also taught that its core doctrines will not change and described them as irrevocable in “Divine Love in the Father’s Plan.”

That does not mean that every question about family life has already been answered. It does mean that we should not treat the proclamation as though it were simply a temporary position that the Church may eventually abandon.

Clarification Is Different From Reversal

In a 2019 leadership address, President Oaks explained that the proclamation’s long-standing doctrinal statements will not change, although their meaning or application may be clarified through inspiration.

This distinction matters. The Church may explain a teaching more clearly. Leaders may give different emphasis to a particular issue. Policies and procedures may change. The way members are taught to respond to a situation may become more specific.

Those changes are not the same as changing the underlying doctrine.

For example, greater understanding about how to treat someone with kindness and respect would not require the Church to abandon its teachings about marriage, gender, or the family. Better application should help people live the doctrine more faithfully, not make the doctrine disappear.

Why This Can Be Difficult

When a teaching affects someone you love, hoping that it will eventually change can make the situation feel more bearable. That reaction is understandable. You may not be trying to argue with God. You may simply want to know that there is a way for the person you love to be fully accepted without having to set aside what you believe.

The difficulty comes when hope that the doctrine will change becomes the only way you can live with it. You may stop asking what God wants you to understand now because you are waiting for a future answer that would be easier to accept.

You can ask God whether a teaching is true while remaining open to what He may teach you. That is different from deciding in advance what the answer must be. You can also ask how to treat people with greater kindness, patience, and respect without assuming that compassion requires a change in doctrine.

What Research Helps Us See

Research led by BYU psychologist Sam Hardy examined how young people work through questions of faith. The study found that spiritual practices, religious relationships, and supportive faith communities can help young people as they develop and examine their beliefs (research by Sam Hardy).

The study cannot tell you what is true about revelation or doctrine. It does suggest that people are often better able to work through questions when they remain connected to supportive relationships and spiritual practices.

You do not have to answer every question alone or decide what you believe in isolation. Prayer, scripture study, trusted Church leaders, and faithful people who can listen carefully may help you continue thinking without becoming more confused or isolated.

Questions Worth Considering

• Am I asking God to help me understand, or am I mainly hoping He will give me a different answer?
• What has the Lord already made clear to me?
• What could I learn by staying close to God while this question remains difficult?

Continuing revelation means that God is still teaching His children, but it does not mean that every revealed doctrine is temporary. How might it be helpful to keep asking honest questions while staying close to Jesus Christ and remaining willing to follow the truth He gives you?