Reddit reviews Conflict in the Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith

The brethren used to publicly disagree about things. Now they disagree in a closed room. Because members are not privy to these disagreements, they assume:

1. that the brethren are completely united
   
2. that anything from church headquarters = the literal voice of God
   
   I’d love to see more of this healthy public debate among church leaders. The gospel of “having all the answers” is falling short for people in my generation. We ask deep, challenging questions. The exploration of deeper questions is far more fulfilling to me than having rote answers. I wish church leaders were engaging in this discussion rather than implying that they have all the answers and to just “get in line”.
   
   >> “You must work through the Spirit. If that leads you into conflict with the program of the Church, you follow the voice of the Spirit.” (Elder S. Dilworth Young, First Council of the Seventy, 1945; quoted here, p. 17)
   
   >> “We have hitherto acted too much as machines, as to following the Spirit. I will confess to my own shame that I have acted contrary to my own judgment many times. I mean hereafter not to demean myself, to not run contrary to my own judgment. …When President Young says that the Spirit of the Lord says thus and so, I don’t consider that all we should do is to say let it be so.” (Elder Orson Pratt, 1847, quoted here, cover jacket)

I encourage you to read Conflict in the Quorum that shows how much of these things were not agreed upon.