The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not have, nor has ever had, any connection or relationship with any other church or religious group. This position among the Christian denominations of the world is unique. The Mormons are neither Protestant nor Catholic.
I think that this is what irks the other Christian religions, i.e.,the Baptist, Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists, etc. more so than the issue of whether the Mormons are Christian or not. The other religions simply do not know how to attack the LDS church on the "restored" issue.....so they go after the "Mormons are not really Christians" issue. It is simply easier for the others to deal with.
And for good reason. When Christ organized his ministry in Palestine, did He not call twelve men to be Apostles? Were they not called to help Him in His ministry, and especially for the purpose of carrying on the work after He left? The New Testament gives much evidence of men called and ordained for this very purpose.
The Apostle Paul speaks of a "falling away" or apostasy of the members of the church, or "saints", as he called them.
Also, the church at the time of Jesus Christ was known as The Church of Jesus Christ, not the "Church of the Daybreak", or "Church of the Cross", ( I just now made these names up ;-) ), but it was known as His church. It was not called The Church of John, or Paul, or Peter, or Church of the Apostles. As it should be. I imagine that it is difficult for the other religions in the world to explain the name of their church, especially if it is named after a common man. (Notice that the restored church is not called The Church of Joseph Smith.) If a church is truly His church, then it should bear His name.
The church as established by Christ was taken from the earth because of the continued persecution and apostasy. The Roman Empire that ruled the civilized world at this time was a pagan government who worshiped pagan deities. The Christians were forced to meet in secret, and many were persecuted for their beliefs. Long story short, within the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic church became the all powerful church of Rome, primarily through Constantine and The Nicene Creed. (Google Nicene Creed as it makes for interesting reading.) Soon, favorites of the Emperor were installed as bishops of the church without the proper divine authority that had come down through the Apostles. The dark period of apostasy of the Church of Jesus Christ was beginning.
The dark ages rolled on for centuries until there rose a few men to challenge Rome's authority in the church. Men like Calvin, Knox, Luther, and others tried to reform the powerful and corrupt Roman church, but were not able to do so. Thus the great Protestant Reformation took form. Out of the protesting movements have come the hundreds of different churches of Christianity found today in the world. What is amazing is that each of these different churches believe that the new one has improved the old one.
So the big question is, which of these different religions and denominations are correct? They can't all be correct. God is not the author of confusion.
I guess that we can really rule out all of the various religions that broke away from the Catholic church during the great Protestant Reformation as the true church on earth as established by Jesus Christ. After all, these were started by men who literally, in many cases, had the church named after them! They claimed no divine intervention - they simply didn't agree with the Catholic church - so they started there own.
I guess that we can also rule out the Catholic church, since it was started by Constantine and his hand-picked bishops during the Nicene Creed.
So which church is right? Which church should I go to and believe in it's teachings? Which church do I give my complete support to?
The answer to that age old question will be forth coming in the next posting of this blog. IMHO
