Doctrine vs. Principle
I was chatting with my mom last weekend, and she had just taught a lesson at church and she said her class got stuck on doctrine and principles. The overall consensus was that they were the same thing, but my mom was perplexed because she didn't agree (and like me, she doesn't like contention), so she continued with her lesson. This entire week I have been pondering on this, because - like my mother - I don't agree. Obviously this was inspiration for a blog post. In a Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) devotional, David A. Bednar explained that, "doctrine refers to the eternal, unchanging, and simple truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Doctrines are never altered. They never vary. They will always be the same. You can always count on them," (Bednar, " Teach Them to Understand ," June 1998). One example - that my husband and I used various times this week in our discussions of this - is the doctrine of eternal families. Regardless of faith, religio
