I was studying and I learned something worthy to take note.
As a missionary I talk to a lot of people about their beliefs and how their beliefs help them in their lives. I love talking to people and I have seen a pattern how a firm belief in God gives people a purpose, a motive to do good, and a love for life and for others. When people let their beliefs help them make desicions, they see a positive influence in their lives and in the lives of others.
But the question remains to me "Why are there so many different Christian churches?" Is there one that is correct or are they all good depending on the kind of person that you are and what you want in a church? They all believe in that Christ is our Savior right? They all help us be better people so what does it matter?
I think that it is safe to say that every different religion and church has different beliefs and different doctrine that they believe are correct. For if two churches taught the EXACT same things they would be the same church just at two different locations.
Hmmm.... Good questions.
I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and I know that He came down to earth about 2000 years ago.
I "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; [I] also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." -The Articles of Faith
When Christ started His misitery He did two things of most importance
1. He preformed the Atonement
Which includes His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemany, His suffering and death on the cross, and His resurrection 3 days later.
2. He established His church.
We are so blessed that Christ suffered and died for us but I want to focus today on the second wonderful thing that He did when He was on the earth.
Christ established His Church so we would no longer be "strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and [a part] of the household of God;" We must realize that the church that Christ set up was " built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians2:19 -20)
He choose 12 rightoues men to be His apostles and He gave them the priesthood power of God. This is the power to literally act in His name (Luke 9:1-2) to receive revelation from God, to heal the sick, to preach the true word or true doctrine of God, and to preform ordinacnces such as baptism.After Christ died His church remained and Peter was called to be the prophet, to lead and guide the churhc of Christ. He preached the gospel and kept the true doctrines of Chirst pure.
One of these doctrine was that we needed to be baptized in the church of chirst and we need to recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.
There is even an example in the scriptures that explain how important for us to be baptized in the right way in Acts 19:2-61 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them;
They were disicples of Christ and they were following His gospel but they needed to be baptized in the way that Christ had shown them, and so they were baptized again in the name of Jesus Christ by one who had the proper authority of God and then they received the Hold Ghost by the laying on of hands by this same authority or priesthood of God.
The apostles and the prophet went around keeping the docrtrine pure, most of the new testament includes Paul writting epistles or letters to the different members of the church to correct false docrtine. They taught what Christ taught what we need to do to follow in His footstpes.
"Regardless of the valiant efforts of Christ’s apostles and their faithful followers, the original church that Christ restored began to fade away. Members faced severe persecution and all but one of the apostles were martyred. This is a period called the Great Apostasy, when there was a “falling away”(2 Thessalonians 2:1-3) from the gospel Christ organized. The apostolic authority to receive revelation for the Church[from God] was lost along with many precious teachings. Errors about His teachings crept into the church resulting in conflicting opinions and lost truths. The church that Christ established was no longer on the earth.
Without priesthood authority or the full gospel, people had to rely on human wisdom to interpret the scriptures, principles and ordinances." (Mormon.org)
My testimony to you today is that although that church was lost, it has been put back and the same church that Christ set up when He was on the earth is on the earth today. Christ is the corner stone and He runs His church through a prophet and through twelve apostles. We have the same priesthood power and authority that Christ gave to His original apostles and it is only through that power of Jesus Chirst that we can be saved in the Kingdom of God! We need that power to be baptized we need that power to be given the gift of the Holy Ghost. And we need to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ that has once more been put on the earth for our benefit and our blessing.
