Re: Truth in All Churches
If all churches have "some truth" in them, why does 1 Nephi 14:10 say, "Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil."?
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Comments
Nobody answered my
Nobody answered my question.
Sue
Simple... "church" in this
Simple... "church" in this context means those who believe in... worship... have faith in. If we are not worshiping God, we are worshiping the devil. I think this is a belief common to most Christians. Keep in mind that the words in 1 Nephi were written hundreds of years B.C. ...long before the LDS church in it's current form.
Just a note: Reading the Book of Morman without the mindset of faith and prayer will result the same as reading the Bible without the same... just words.
that is to say that after the
that is to say that after the apostles of christ were murdered the lord withdrew his hand and then only through the influence of the devil could new churches be founded so even though these churches do have partial truths they were founded by the devil while our church was the result of direct revelation from the godhead to Joseph Smith that he should restore the church of Jesus Christ to the earth.
The "church of the devil"
The "church of the devil" does not refer to a specific church but to any person, group, organization, or philosphy that works against the church of Jesus Christ and the salvation of the children of God. Truth and goodness can certainly be found outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the fulness of the gospel, which is only found in the restored Church, is essential for the salvation our Heavenly Father desires for His children. The Restoration of the gospel, that "great and... marvelous work"
(1 Nephi 14:7), as the angel told Nephi, would divide people, "either to the convincing of them unto peace and eternal life, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction"(v.7).
-page 25 of the Book of Mormon Student Study Guide
(aka Seminary Student Manual)
A seminary or institute manual can be very helpful in understanding the scriptures. You can order an institute manual at www.lds.org or ask your local seminary teacher for a seminary student manual.
Try to think of it this
Try to think of it this way... The Jews and their various sects all had "some truth". They believed in the scriptures. All of them believed in the Messiah but did that make thier organized religion the true church on the earth? The answer is no. Infact, Christ called their religious leaders "children of the devil". Imagine how offended they must have been! They had devoted their life to religion and a belief in God and the scriptures and they could not stand this much truth. Imagine the reaction of their congregations who had been taught many true concepts by these men of religion. It's so easy to see why they were fooled, it was because they had "some truth". Yet the full truth was that their religion had become corrupted. The statement by Christ was a harsh but true one. They had "some truth" and they called themselves the children of Abraham and his God.
Their behavior proved who their God was and Christ said they were actually children of those who killed the prophets. You should look at all the characteristics of the Pharisees and compare them with those who knew who Christ was. People are the same today as then and men can know which church claiming to be Christ's really is simply by considering each and then asking God himself. How did Peter know who Christ was? Not by flesh and blood, or in other words, the opinions of men, but by revelation of the Father. It is the same today. When Christ spoke of where a person should go to know the truth he made it clear that men could go directly to his Father who would not give his children "stones" (lies) when they ask for "bread" (truth). There are only two churches now as there have always been only two. If the church is not organized by God himself then it is a man's church... with that man's opinions on scripture as it's doctrine. So can you see how a partly true church = a false one. Those words offend those who do not really want truth. Did that help answer the question?