The problem is not that prophets are fallible, but that prophets can teach false doctrine—just as Bruce R. McConkie accused Brigham Young of doing.
If prophets can teach false doctrine, then how do we know when they are teaching correct doctrine?
LDS apologist Jacob Hansen believes he has the answer in a recent video he released about his collective witness model.
His idea is that every prophetic teaching essentially acts as a data point that reveals a pattern of truth.
If truth is determined by consulting data points over time, no current statement by a living prophet can be accepted in the moment.
More importantly, if the answer to the prophet problem is consensus of the prophets, then the proposed solution is circular. It’s essentially an appeal to authority inside of an appeal to authority.
Is there a solution to the prophet problem?
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