Why was a Restoration of the Gospel needed? Haven’t we always had the Bible?
A general falling away from the truth occurred after the death of Christ’s Apostles. This is called the Apostasy (Amos 8:11-12; Acts 20:29-30; 2 Timothy 4:3).
When Jesus Christ lived on the earth, He established His Church. After His Ascension into heaven, His Apostles carried on His work under His direction, through revelation and with His priesthood authority.
After the Apostles and many righteous Church members were killed and other members departed from the truth, the Lord took the priesthood authority and His Church from the earth. Without God’s priesthood authority, the Church no longer functioned as Christ had established it. The ordinances were changed and many plain and simple truths were lost. While many good people and some truth remained, the original Church was lost.
The Apostles prophesied of the falling away or Apostasy. One example is Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).
The Apostle Peter prophesied of the “restitution of all things” before Christ’s Second Coming (Acts 3:19-21). Having been lost because of the Apostasy, Christ’s Church and His authority were to be restored to the earth. This Restoration would make available the opportunity for all to receive once again all of the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joseph Smith’s First Vision marked the beginning of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. In subsequent years, Christ restored His priesthood and reorganized His Church. He has continued to reveal truths to His prophets and to restore the blessings that were taken from the earth for a time.
The Holy Bible is a fantastic and extraordinarily important book that can benefit the whole world. However, true religion requires living prophets. The Holy Bible is a record of people who had living prophets, but cannot substitute for having living prophets today. Living prophets are necessary because they lead God's church and speak his words to us. What's important is knowing with certainty that anyone who professes to be a prophet really is one. The Holy Bible has some important teachings that can help someone make this determination. Examples are James 1:5 where we are instructed to ask God about anything we need to know the truth of, John 14:26 which tells us that the Holy Ghost can teach us or help us to know what is true, and Matthew 7:16 which teaches that by a person's fruits, or what they say and do (and the results of what they say and do), you can know whether they are true or false. God will not let us down, and will always provide a way for us to know with certainty who speaks for him, and who does not. There are false prophets, and we must be careful with who we believe, not assuming that someone is right or wrong without knowing for sure through the power of the Holy Ghost.
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Well, the Bible hasn't always existed, at least not in it's present form. The Old Testament is a collection of writing from ancient prophets and the New Testament is a collection of Christ's followers and apostles. Think about this, for thousands of years, God revealed truth about the purpose of life and direction of how we should live. Why, then did it stop?
After the Ascension of Christ into heaven, his Apostles carried on: teaching, building the church, acting under the authority of Christ. Not long into the growth of this newly founded church, others felt they knew better than these men (both in and out of the new Christian faith). Many leaders rejected the teaching of Paul and the other apostles (or at least distorted their meaning and intent) and taught things they found to be pleasing to their followers. This rejection/dstortion is called the Great Apostasy. It led to the death of the apostles and the withdrawal of God's authority on the earth. As a result, the Christian world claimed the Canon was closed and that we had all that needed to said from God.
The Restoration literally was the return of God's authority on the earth. We believe that God speaks to man and that the Canon is not closed, nor will it ever be. Revelation is the key to our salvation, because it is the only way we can truly come to know of the redeeming power of our Savior. That is why we needed the Restoration.
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The Restoration is needed because of the Apostasy. The apostasy is a time foretold of by the prophet in the Bible Amos. In Amos 8:11-12
" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."
Amos tells us that there will be a time when the gospel, or "the word of the Lord" will be lost. That time came when Jesus Christ and the Apostles were killed. Even though we still had the bible, there were no prophets or apostles to keep the gospel pure and true. Man was left with their own interpretation of the Bible. As we all know, there are thousands of christian churches all based on the bible, BUT all teach different doctrines. When Christ was on the earth He did not set up thousands of different churches so that there was something different for everyone. He had one church. His church. The prophet Peter tells us that there will be a restitution or a restoration of the gospel, in Acts 3:21
" Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."
In short, the gospel was lost during the Apostasy and the Restoration brought it back. So, now we have the same gospel that Christ set up when he was on the earth. :)
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When Jesus was on the earth he established his church. To guide it, 12 apostles were called by God and had priesthood authority to act in his name. When an apostle died, he was to be replaced so that there would always be 12 “special witnesses” of Christ (this is shown by the calling of Mathias as a member of the 12 in Acts:1)
The early years were troublesome times for Christians. The greatest antagonist to the church was the Roman Empire. During this era of persecution, apostles were killed and priesthood authority was lost. Centuries after Christ was crucified Rome pulled a 180 and adopted its own form of “Christianity” as the mandated state religion. To conform to previously held pagan traditions, ordinances like baptism were changed and creeds of faith, not found in the bible, were established.
Recognizing the discrepancies between this church and New Testament Christianity, righteous people protested and many of their followers formed new churches. This era of protestant reformation was critical in advancing religious liberty. But simply recognizing the errors of a church, does not give one God's priesthood authority (see Hebrews 5:4) Even those with the best intentions of following Christ’s teachings need proper priesthood authority to be baptized. The world needed a Restoration of Christ’s original church, not a reformation of an apostate version of it. And as soon as a nation was established with the religious freedom to allow it, the Lord did restore his church!
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Even as a member of the church I often asked this question to myself. It wasn't until I came on my mission that I figured out the answer. We know of many prophets throughout the Old Testament. Adam, Abraham, Moses just to name a few, but what happened after each of these prophets? An apostasy, or, a period when there isn't a prophet of God on the earth.
We read of periods of time when the people, because of agency (or the freedom to choose), would reject the prophets and not listen to their council. After a while the people would become confused and not know what do to. Out of love, our Heavenly Father would call another prophet to guide His children on the earth. While reading the Bible we discover a pattern: Adam, apostasy, Enoch, apostasy, Noah, apostasy, Abraham, apostasy, Moses, apostasy, Jesus Christ, apostasy.
In 1 Nephi 10:18 we learn that God and Jesus Christ are the same yesterday, today, and forever. If this is true, which it is, then wouldn't it make sense that there would be another prophet following Jesus Christ? Hence the need for a restoration.
Out of love for us, our Heavenly Father called a prophet, Joseph Smith, to restore the church of Jesus Christ that He established while in His earthly ministry. I know that this is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that he saw God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I encourage all to read it to know of it's truthfulness. In Jesus' name, amen.
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The restoration was not just about bringing forth the Book of Mormon. The restoration was needed to bring God's power and authority back to the Earth. After Christ and his apostles were all martyred, the priesthood was no longer on the Earth. With Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon was not only translated, but the priesthood was restored as well. We did not just need the Book of Mormon, we needed the power and authority to live Christ's word.
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After Christ had been resurrected and ascended into Heaven, the apostles were trusted with the care of the church. Unfortunately, the people of the time rejected them and eventually killed them all. The authority that Christ had given them was not passed down. The teachings of Christ and the apostles were preserved in the Bible, and we honor and cherish the Bible as the word of God. A Restoration of the Gospel was needed because it had indeed been lost. The Bible has been through many translations, and some things have unfortunately been lost. Having the Restored Gospel gives us the information we need to make up for the things that are missing or hard to understand.
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A Restoration of the Gospel was needed because God loves ALL of his children. times now are different then they were then. People are different, lifestyles have changed, but God is still the same. After the death of Jesus Christ, his teachings were often twisted or confused, because the authority or permission he had to perform miracles was no longer on the earth. It was gone for centuries, and finally when the people were ready and prepared to receive another prophet, Joseph Smith was called. I don't believe he would stop giving us revelation through a prophet permanently. We are too precious to him, and he would not leave us alone for the rest of our time on Earth. We needed a Restoration so that we would know FOR SURE how to return and live with him again someday.
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Thank God we have the Bible. Through all the trials and tribulations of the early Christian church (ie the Romans killing Christians in the Coliseums, the Apostles all murdered by misguided individuals, etc), it truly is a miracle that we have God's Word today. So why is a restoration necessary? The Bible tells stories of individuals called of God to lead his church - early prophets and apostles. These men were called, set apart, and anointed by those who held the authority to administer in God's church. When the early Apostles were all killed shortly after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, there were no longer any people authorized to administer in God's church (ie Baptism, communion, etc). Throughout the following years, many people picked up on the truths that were destroyed by this falling away and developed many different churches and religious movements, but they lacked the organization, the authority, and the fullness of the Gospel. These were good men trying to do the best they could with the tools they had, and they have helped thousands of seekers find their way back to God's love. But there is more. God, in his infinite love and wisdom want's all of his children to learn about His plan of happiness. To do this, God needed to restore the church that Christ had once set up, but had since fallen away. Since He called the first modern day prophet, the heavens have opened and many truths which were lost have been brought back, including the original organization, the authority, and the fullness of the Gospel. We challenge people of all faiths to bring the truths that God has given them and see if we cannot add to them. We want everyone to know of the love and happiness that comes with understanding God's plan for us.
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In the Bible it teaches the importance of having prophets to guide according to specific needs of that day. From Adam to Christ there was always a prophet with the proper Preisthood authority whenever the people were willing to listen. They always taught the Gospel according to the revelation they recieved. Part of that Gospel involves things called ordinances, or sacred ceremonies that must be performed by someone with the preisthood. The most common is probably baptism. After Christ's death no one on the earth had the preisthood power because the 12 apostles all were killed. Without that power, even though the Bible still exsisted, baptisms could not validly be performed. So, God prepared the world for the Restoration of the Gospel, with prophets and the correct Preisthood authority.
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