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Okay, some background. There's a fairly famous story in the LDS church, about how Wilford Woodruff, one of the early presidents of the church, grew dissatisfied with the religions he found available to him, went to the Bible, and compiled a list of the attributes and qualifications of the true "Church of Christ". The story goes that he and one of his brothers went about, looking for some church that met all of these qualifications, and that when the Mormons first came to his area he was one of the first to join.
There is another story, somewhat less famous, and also somewhat more recent. There was a small group of college students, one of whom made another such list, consisting of seventeen items. This group then began going to various churches, starting with each one to which one of them belonged, and asking the ministers about these items. After a while, they lost contact with each other, but then two of them happened to meet on one's first day attending an LDS meeting. They began reestablishing contact with the rest of the group, and found that in the intervening time each of them had individually joined the same church - the LDS church - based on its adherence to the list.
Apparently my Institute instructor knows someone who was in that group, and I now have a copy of the list, with a biblical reference for each item. It is astonishing and wonderful to recognize that every whit of doctrine and organization established by Christ during his earthly ministry is present in the modern Church. I feel impressed to share the list with you below a cut.
( Christ's true church will... )
I submit that all of these are important because, as Paul told the Hebrews: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to day, and for ever."
(It is interesting to note that, if my institute teacher's account was correct, the Catholic priest who was asked could only say yes to one or two of these items.)
There is another story, somewhat less famous, and also somewhat more recent. There was a small group of college students, one of whom made another such list, consisting of seventeen items. This group then began going to various churches, starting with each one to which one of them belonged, and asking the ministers about these items. After a while, they lost contact with each other, but then two of them happened to meet on one's first day attending an LDS meeting. They began reestablishing contact with the rest of the group, and found that in the intervening time each of them had individually joined the same church - the LDS church - based on its adherence to the list.
Apparently my Institute instructor knows someone who was in that group, and I now have a copy of the list, with a biblical reference for each item. It is astonishing and wonderful to recognize that every whit of doctrine and organization established by Christ during his earthly ministry is present in the modern Church. I feel impressed to share the list with you below a cut.
( Christ's true church will... )
I submit that all of these are important because, as Paul told the Hebrews: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to day, and for ever."
(It is interesting to note that, if my institute teacher's account was correct, the Catholic priest who was asked could only say yes to one or two of these items.)
