Critics of past or present Mormon church leaders are often met with this retort by believing Mormons or apologists. It is variously put as "Prophets are imperfect men when not speaking under the power and inspiration of the Spirit" or "the church is perfect but its members/leaders aren't." Okay, I agree that no Mormon "prophet" has ever been perfect. However, I don't know that this excuse has the explanatory power commonly attributed to it.
This justification might account for inadvertent mistakes. For example, a miscalculation of how long it might take to cross the plains, or how much food would be needed for the journey. That could be a product of well-intentioned but erroneous thinking. Another more 'innocent' mistake might be found in Joseph's loss of the 116 pages. He certainly didn't intend for them to be lost, but he ultimately ignored his reservations and allowed Martin Harris to take them; sure enough, they were never seen again.
But many (perhaps most) of the criticisms leveled against these imperfect prophetic personages do not involve innocent or inadvertent (negligent) mistakes. Rather, they are deliberate and calculated actions for which no apology is offered or expected. These are not "oops" moments. They are not "I used my best judgment, but things went awry" situations. You don't accidentally or carelessly marry 14-year-old girls. You don't mistakenly order the slaughter of hundreds of men, women, and children. You don't accidentally concoct a bunch of nonsense and call it a literal translation of ancient Egyptian papyri. You don't mistakenly ban the priesthood from a certain race for over 150 years. You don't accidentally teach false notions on the origin of Adam and God. Indeed, when it comes to spiritual matters, this is supposed to be the domain and expertise of the Lord's anointed. If there is documented proof that prophets taught concepts that are now declared false doctrine by the church, how does one trust anything else said prophet ever declared?
This excuse should never be used as a blanket get-out-of-jail-free card. Each incident should be evaluated individually to determine whether the man in question made an honest mistake in judgment, or whether he usurped his authority and deliberately did something deplorable. Some situations may be a combination of the two. This notion, like many others in the church, serves as a substitute for critical thinking and keeps naive Mormons in blissful ignorance. It needs to go the way of the dodo.
