They were formerly included in the LDS Doctrine and Covenants as part of the "Doctrine" implied from the title. The Lectures on Faith were quietly removed from the LDS Doctrine and Covenants in the 1921 edition, as they were considered "not inspired" at that time by the LDS Church.
The Lectures on Faith are very basic doctrinal teachings written by Joseph Smith. These "Lectures" were used in the first School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio in the 1830's. Among the topics covered in the Lectures on Faith include the importance of having a correct idea of the nature of God in order to have true faith in him, how this faith is to be applied in our lives unto gaining salvation, and the correct definitions of terms related to faith, such as knowledge, power, justice, judgment, mercy, and truth which enable us to properly understand more advanced doctrinal concepts.
The Three Important Facts Stated By Joseph Smith
Let us look at what Joseph Smith had to say about the importance of knowing God's attributes. Joseph Smith, the founder and first president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons, also called LDS), in the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants (abbreviated D&C; one of their Scriptures) said the following:
In verse 4 above note what must be taught - "A correct idea of his character, perfections and attributes." In verse 5 note how important it is to teach the "three important facts - " without them your faith is imperfect and unproductive.
Could it be that these few verses were enough to remove these "Lectures" from the Doctrine and Covenants. They clearly do not harmonize with the current Doctrine taught by the LDS church nor did they harmonize with the stand Joseph Smith took later in his career as Prophet and President of the LDS church. For example:
God an Exalted Man --- I will go back to the beginning before the world was, to show what kind of being God is. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear,...God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!...you would see him like a man in form like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man;...it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity(5). I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see....(April 1844, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 345; History of the Church 6:305)
It can be seen very clearly that the teaching found in line 17 is a very sound "Doctrine" that did not harmonize with the prejudice later taught by the church. For example:
Joseph Fielding Smith also stated, "Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race" (The Way to Perfection, p.101).
Brigham Young taught a much greater extreme. In a sermon given on March 8, 1863, Young stated, "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so" (Journal of Discourses, 10:110).
For these reasons, Bruce McConkie would write, "The negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom…" (Mormon Doctrine, p.527, 1966 ed.).
See more about this subject here.
Overall it is my opinion that the reason the church removed these without a vote of the membership was because they added to the already conflicting teachings within the writings of the church, whether in scripture of in the writings of church leadership.
(1835 Doctrine and Covenants, Lecture Third of Faith, p. 36)
~~ Lectures
on Faith ~~
(From Mormonism
– Shadow or Reality? pages 166-167)
In 1835 the "Lectures on Faith", which were originally delivered before a class of the Elders, in Kirtland, Ohio, were printed in the Doctrine and Covenants. In these lectures it was definitely stated that God the Father was a personage of spirit. In the fifth lecture we find this statement about the Godhead:
"… the Father being a personage of spirit, glory and power, possessing all perfection and fulness, the Son, … a personage of tabernacle …" (Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 Edition, page 53)
The "Lectures on Faith" not only taught that God the Father is a spirit, but also that God is omnipresent – i.e., present everywhere at the same time. In the second lecture the following statement is made:
"2. We here observe that God is the only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fulness and perfection dwells; who is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnicient; without beginning of days or end of life; …" (Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 Edition, page 12)
On page 26 of the 1835 Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants the following is stated: "… he is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnicient; without beginning of days…"
President Joseph Fielding Smith admits that Joseph Smith helped prepare these lectures: "Now the Prophet did know something about these Lectures on Faith, because he helped to prepare them, and he helped also to revise these lectures before they were published…" (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 3, page 195)
These "Lectures on Faith" were printed in all of the early editions of the Doctrine and Covenants, but they have been removed from recent editions. John William Fitzgerald, in his thesis, A Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, states as follows:
"The reasons for the omission of these Lectures from the Doctrine and Covenants beginning in the 1921 edition and all the subsequent editions as given to the writer by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith were as follows:
‘(a) They were not received as revelations by the prophet Joseph Smith.
‘(b) They are instructions relative to the general subject of faith. They are explanations of this principle but not doctrine.
‘(c) They are not complete as to their teachings regarding the Godhead. More complete instructions on the point of doctrine are given in section 130 of the 1876 and all subsequent editions of the Doctrine and Covenants.
‘(d) It was thought by Elder James E. Talmage, chairman, and other members of the committee who were responsible for their omission that to avoid confusion and contention on this vital point of belief, it would be better not to have them bound in the same volume as the commandments or revelations which make up the Doctrine and Covenants.’ " (A Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, M.A. Thesis, Brigham Young University, page 344)
The reasons Joseph Fielding Smith gave John William Fitzgerald as to why the "Lectures on Faith" were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants are very interesting. Reason (a), that they "were not received as revelations," could hardly be considered at all. If every section that is not a revelation was removed from the Doctrine and Covenants, it would be a much shorter book. There are a least nine, if not more, sections from the Doctrine and Covenants that are not revelations; they are sections 102, 113, 121, 123, 128, 131, 134 and 135.
Reason (b), that they were not doctrine does not agree with the statement on page 256 of the 1835 Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. This statement reads as follows: "… that the lectures were judiciously arranged and compiled, and were profitable for doctrine…"
Joseph Smith himself signed a statement which was printed in the Preface to the 1835 Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. In this statement we read: "The first part of the book will be found to contain a series of Lectures as delivered before a Theological class in this place, and in consequence of their embracing the important DOCTRINE OF SALVATION, we have arranged them into the following work."
Reason (c) "that they are not complete as to their teachings regarding the Godhead" is getting much closer to the truth than the first two reasons. A more correct way of wording this, however, might be, "they contradict what is now taught concerning the Godhead in the Mormon Church."
Actually, these lectures were considered complete with regard to their teachings concerning the Godhead at the time they were given. On page 58 of the 1835 Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants the following question and answer appear:
"Q. Does the foregoing account of the Godhead lay a sure foundation for the exercise of faith in him unto life and salvation?
"A. IT DOES."
Now that the Mormon Church teaches a plurality of Gods and that men become Gods, these lectures are considered "not complete" as to their teachings on the Godhead. Actually, they contradict what is presently taught by the Church leaders with regard to this subject.
Reason (d), that to avoid "confusion and contention on this vital point of belief, it would be better not to have them bound in the same volume," is probably the true reason they were left out. Certainly it would cause confusion and contention in the Mormon Church if one of the elders started to teach that God is a personage of spirit and is everywhere present at the same time, as the Lectures on Faith taught.
To avoid "confusion and contention" the Mormon leaders slyly removed the Lectures on Faith from the Doctrine and Covenants, even though Joseph Smith had thought them important enough to be included. John William Fitzgerald states as follows on page 345 of his thesis, A Study of the Doctrine and Covenants: "The ‘Lectures on Faith’ were voted on unanimously by the conference assembled August 17, 1835 to be included in the forthcoming book of doctrine and covenants. The writer could find no documentary evidence that they were voted on by the general conference of the Church to be omitted in the 1921 and all subsequent editions of the Doctrine [and] Covenants."