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Apostasy/Individual versus organizational
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Apostasy
Authority: and Priesthood
Doctrinal shift:
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Contents
- 1 Criticism
- 2 Response
- 3 Conclusion
- 4 Further reading
- 5 Endnotes
- 6 The early Christian Church and the Great Apostasy
- 7 Evidence of a total apostasy
- 8 Extent of the apostasy
- 9 Reasons why the apostasy occurred
- 10 Mormonism and priesthood
- 11 Restoration of the priesthood
- 12 Administration of priesthood authority
- 13 Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood
Criticism
Critics point out that Joseph Smith's First Vision told him:
- He must join no existing church
- They were "all" wrong
- "All" their creeds were an abomination
- The churches' professors were corrupt.[1]
They argue that this commits the Latter-day Saints to the view that no genuine Christians existed or exist outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
Response
The Latter-day Saint understanding of "apostasy" is heavily weighted toward the concept of divine authority. In the LDS view, the loss of the apostles and the apostolic authority virtually assured the onset of the apostasy. There is clear biblical evidence that challenges to the apostles' teachings and authority occurred even while they were alive. With the death of the apostles, such efforts would have gone unchecked.
With the loss of authority, error will inevitably creep into religious belief and practice, since only revelation can reveal God's will. Even well-intentioned human reason and study of the scripture has not produced a consensus, but thousands of competing beliefs and denominations.
The Latter-day Saints do not, however, believe that being "wrong" or "corrupt" in some aspects of belief and practice mean that people are not devout or sincere Christians. Likewise, those who may suffer from some false beliefs still have many true and valuable beliefs. Apostasy results in a partial corruption of belief and teaching, not a wholesale loss of all truth.
The Church therefore sees the matter of apostasy as complete organizational apostasy (no denomination retained the authority to act in God's name and definitively establish doctrine) and partial individual apostasy (some individuals fell away from truths they had previously had; others merely inherited a set of beliefs, some of which were true and some false).
The Book of Mormon's description of the last days makes this matter clear:
...they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men. (2 Nephi 28꞉14)
Thus, while corruption is widespread in the pre-Restoration era, there remain a few "humble followers of Christ." Yet, even these humble followers still have some error mixed with their truth, because they do not have the benefit of on-going revelation to authorized prophets and apostles.
Conclusion
Latter-day Saints believe in a universal institutional apostasy. As a result of that institutional apostasy, present-day Christians are the victims, not perpetrators of it. They or their churches are not responsible for the loss or corruption of doctrines and authority to which they never had access.
Non-LDS Christians are perfectly capable of being "humble followers of Christ," whose remaining errors persist only because they have not yet had the benefit of on-going revelation by authorized servants. They have much that is true and valuable, and if they heed the Holy Ghost, will be guided to an even fuller acceptance of the truth of Christ which can only be known by revelation.
Further reading
Endnotes
FAIR wiki articles
The early Christian Church and the Great Apostasy
Jump to Subtopic:
- Evidence of a total apostasy
- Extent of the apostasy
- Reasons why the apostasy occurred
- The office of Apostle within the ancient Church of Jesus Christ
Evidence of a total apostasy
Jump to Subtopic:
- Biblical evidence of an apostasy after Christ
- Evidence of an apostasy after Christ from early Christian history other than the Bible
- Visible evidence of the apostasy
Biblical evidence of an apostasy after Christ
Jump to details:
- Question: Is there any Biblical evidence that the apostasy began?
- Question: Was the apostasy predicted by the Bible not complete?
Evidence of an apostasy after Christ from early Christian history other than the Bible
Summary: Do the Early Church Fathers and other post-Biblical documents shed any light on the apostasy?
Jump to details:
- Question: Is there any evidence of the apostasy from materials from early Christian history besides the Bible?
- Clement of Rome: "For this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you"
- Hegesippus: "These also, as there were none of the apostles left, henceforth attempted, without shame to preach their false doctrine against the gospel of truth"
- Ignatius: "the false prophets and the false apostles"
- Irenaeus: "evil is spread abroad among men"
- Tertullian: "Away with all attempts to produce a mottled Christianity of Stoic, Platonic, and dialectic composition!"
- Cyprian: Cyprian argued that since the Saints had sunk to such low levels of depravity they rightly deserved the harsh judgments of God
- Cyril of Jerusalem: "For men have fallen from the right faith; and some preach the identity of the Son with the Father...This, therefore, is the falling away"
Visible evidence of the apostasy
Jump to details:
Extent of the apostasy
Jump to Subtopic:
- Complete apostasy after Christ
- Apostasy and the "gates of hell"
- Priesthood on the earth during the apostasy
Complete apostasy after Christ
Summary: Do other Christian denominations believe that no other church on earth is complete, or is this an arrogant belief assumed only by the "Mormons"?
Jump to details:
- Question: Did Christ establish a Church while on the earth?
- Question: Was the apostasy after Christ complete?
- Question: What is the Catholic view of the apostasy?
- Question: What is the reformation view of the apostasy?
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that no genuine Christians exist outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
- Scholarly quotes on the historical evidence for apostasy
Apostasy and the "gates of hell"
Summary: Is Jesus' teaching about "the gates of hell" prevailing against "the rock" inconsistent with a belief in a universal apostasy?
Jump to details:
- Question: Does the fact that Jesus said, "upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" mean that universal apostasy was impossible?
- Question: What are the "gates of hell" or "gates of Hades?"
Priesthood on the earth during the apostasy
Jump to details:
- Question: Was the priesthood on earth during the apostasy?
- Question: Since John the Apostle and the three Nephites did not die, then how could there have been a "complete apostasy" on the earth?
Reasons why the apostasy occurred
Jump to Subtopic:
God permitted the apostasy to occur
Summary: If there were some people who would have accepted the Gospel as taught in Mormonism, why did God allow the earthly Church to pass from the earth?
Jump to details:
Relationship of Mormonism to other branches of Christianity
Summary: What does the apostasy doctrine mean with respect to the relationship of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to other branches of Christianity?
Jump to details:
- Question: How does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints relate to other branches of Christianity?
- Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb: Creedal Christians can learn from LDS views about Jesus Christ and creation
The office of Apostle within the ancient Church of Jesus Christ
Jump to details:
- Question: Was Paul a "real" apostle, with authority over the Church like the original Twelve?
- Question: Were the early apostles married?
- Question: Was the Apostle Paul Married?
- Question: Does the Biblical reference by Paul to "apostles and prophets" refer to Church offices?
- Question: Why did Jesus call Twelve Apostles?
Mormonism and priesthood
Jump to Subtopic:
- Restoration of the priesthood
- Administration of priesthood authority
- Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood
Restoration of the priesthood
Jump to Subtopic:
- The manner in which the priesthood was restored
- Date of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood
Administration of priesthood authority
Jump to Subtopic:
- Exercising priesthood authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Granting of priesthood authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Criticisms of the Mormon priesthood
Jump to Subtopic:
- Criticisms by traditional Christians of the Mormon concept of priesthood
- Claims by ex-Mormons that Church leaders have lost priesthood authority
- Evidence that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Possesses Priesthood Authority
FAIR web site
| Apostasy FairMormon articles on-line |
- Roger Keller, "The Apostasy," FAIR 2004 conference. FAIR link
Dr. Keller is a former Presbyterian minister.
Video
| The Apostasy, Roger Keller (Former Presbyterian minister), 2004 FAIR Conference |
- Part 1: The Apostasy
- Part 2: The Apostasy
- Part 3: The Apostasy
- Part 4: The Apostasy
- Part 5: The Apostasy
External links
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Printed material
| Apostasy printed materials |
- Matthew B. Brown, "Evidences of Apostasy," in All Things Restored, 2d ed. (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 2006),1–32. AISN B000R4LXSM. ISBN 1577347129.
- Noel B. Reynolds (editor), Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2005), 1. ISBN 0934893020. off-site (Key source)