Posted on 01/16/2014 5:20:42 AM PST by Colofornian
...A frequently cited passage in LDS scripture identifies The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth”(...Doctrine and Covenants 1:30).
“What does this mean?” asked Elder Tad R. Callister of the church’s Presidency of the Seventy during a devotional for college-age church members Sunday evening.
“It does not mean that other churches do not have some truth, for certainly they do,” he said. “It does not mean that other churches do not render good, for they render much good. What it does mean is that this is the only church that has all the truth that has been revealed thus far in this dispensation — the only church that has the ordinances necessary for exaltation, and the only church that has the priesthood of God to perform those ordinances with divine validity.”...
“...he might find some churches that had some similarities — a teaching or two that overlapped, an ordinance that is the same, some offices that bear common names, but he will only find one church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that matches the blueprint in every material respect.”
He said the current Church of Jesus Christ should have the same organization that existed in Christ’s original church, subject to revelatory changes. “Therefore, each of these offices is present in our church today.”
Christ’s blueprint...is very specific regarding ordinances that are to be performed...particularly baptism.
“Once someone crosses the doctrinal bridge and acknowledges that baptism is essential for salvation (which it is), then logically he is led to believe in baptism for the dead — there is no escaping it,” Elder Callister said.
“Otherwise, how does one answer the difficult question: What about those who died without the opportunity to be baptized?”...
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
She doesn’t mind, but since I have discovered it is a pejorative it must not be used.
As you wish. I realize mods come and go and you didn’t know our history.
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