If Jesus appeared to you, would you have founded the Mormon Church?

Question

So, Joseph Smith claims that he was visited(in person or by vision, I am not sure which) by God the Father, and by Jesus Christ, and told not to join any church... and eventually he was instructed to form a church. If you believed that God and Jesus, or GodJesus for those of you who think they are one, or Allah, or Jehova, or whoever your supreem being is, directed you to found a church instead of Joseph Smith, would you have done it? and Would you do it now , knowing that Joseph Smith was killed for it? (assuming of course that you Joseph Smith was killed for being the Prophet of the Mormon Church and not for some other reason, like treason say.)
The question is not if you believe Joseph Smith, or that the Mormon Church is "the only true and living church in which I am well pleased".

Ok, the psychitric thing is cute but the question is if you believed that you were so instructed, not if you believed you were having a hallucination. Silly :P

Answer 1

The question that your asking is:

Would you do anything that God asked you to do, even if it seemed radical, crazy, or dangerous. Such activities might include:

Asking the most powerful man in the world to give you 1 Million+ of his slaves so you could lead them into the desert for 40 years.

Building a large boat in the middle of nowhere and putting lots of animals on it.

Putting your son on and altar and sacrifice him.

March around a city for several days and then blow trumpets.

Go against an armored, war-hardened giant with just a sling when you're a teenager.

Declare to the world that God has once again chosen a prophet to speak his will to the world, bring to light ancient scripture, restore God's priesthood to the earth, and restore Christ's church to the earth.

It's been righteous, god-fearing men who did all of those things. The question is, are we righteous, obedient, humble, and god-fearing?

Answer 2

The Post Revolutionary War produced dozens of "revivalist visionaries, many who influenced J Smith,and also claimed to see Jesus or angels.

Charles Grandison Finney,: As instructed in a vision October 10, 1821, he rejected traditional Calvinist theology and Unitarianism and became a founder of New School Presbyterianism.

John Humphrey Noyes formed a utopian community in Oneida in 1848 after being driven out of Putney Vermont by neighbors hostile to his perfectionist philosophy and rejection of the traditional institutions of marriage and private property.

William Miller predicted the Second Coming was going to be 1843.

Ellen G. White founded the Seventh-day Adventist church. One of her followers would be Dr John Harvey Kellogg in Battle Creek, Michigan, the inventor of corn flakes.

Jemima Wilkinson, in 1776, testified that she had died, gone to Heaven where she visited with angels. The Spirit of God possessed her and she thus returned to earth to make God's will known to all people.

Although not a New Englander, Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) at 56 experienced dreams and visions where he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits.

Smith was nothing new, but more successful with his missionary efforts.

Answer 3

The real Jesus started His church on the day of Pentecost & His church is one not many. In the bible Gods Church is always called by Gods Name. Example: It's called the church of God at Corinth or the church of God at Ephesus & so on or together their called the churches of God. The people may meet in different places but if they really have Gods Spirit then they are one & they all teach the same thing! God is one & is not divided! Therefore Gods true church is never called by anyother name but Church of God. If a church has the name church of god but doesn't teach what God Word the bible actually teaches then it's a fake & not Gods Church!

Answer 4

If Jesus appeared to me, first I'd ask him if I'm really who he meant to talk to and if not I could go grab the right person real quick. If, for some reason, he did come to me intentionally I would do whatever he wanted me to do, if that was start a church, sure. I probably wouldn't start the Mormon church since it's already been started.

Answer 5

i don't be attentive to that i'm able to upload plenty to what you have already gained yet listed decrease than are my 2 cents quite worth besides. a million. April 6, 1830 interior the Whitmer domicile in Manchester, vast apple. 2. Joseph Smith with 5 different men for the best/criminal signing of the church in accordance to state regulation at that component. 3. To deliver all men and females to Christ, to help the daddy and the Son to deliver to bypass the immortality and eternal existence of guy. we've not got something to do with the immortality area of the equation as a results of fact Christ took care of that Himself along with his very own resurrection. besides the shown fact that, we are able to help with the eternal existence area via deliver all men unto Christ. 4. The Bible tells of God's dealings along with his covenant human beings interior the area of Palestine and the e book of Mormon tells of God's dealings along with his covenant human beings interior the Americas. 5. i assume you mean practised and which may be during the international. There are in a techniques extra suitable than 13 million contributors of the Church worldwide. decrease than a million/2 are probable "energetic" contributors yet definite, this is a worldwide church. The headquarters are nevertheless in Salt Lake city, UT.

Answer 6

I would like to think that I would do waht the Lord wants me to do.

Two things, tho:

Joseph Smith WAS killed for the church, he was thrown in jail for no reason, he was tarred and feathered at least once, etc. And he NEVER stopped believing that he was doing teh LORD'S work. Why do you suppose he would do that?

And to tan man, I hear a lot of what YOU would want YOUR church to be, and nothing about what GOD wants HIS church to be. If God Himself came and told you that you SHOULD practice plural marriage, write a second scripture, wear special garments, etc., are you really saying "Nope, God, ain't gonna do it! We're gonna do this MY way!"??

Answer 7

Jesus personally founded only one church, the Catholic Church, and he guaranteed that it would prevail against the forces of evil, until the end of time.

It sounds to me like Joe Smith (a lot like Mohammed before him) ran into someone or something who was able to successfully masquerade as God, or one of his angels, but really wasn't.

Either that, or Jesus is a powerless liar ... in which case, we're all in big, big trouble!

Answer 8

To be honest if Jesus appeared to me in this day and age no I would not form any church, I would probably think I had been hallucinating or something.

Answer 9

I would have asked the Lord if I could start a church where it was OK to be normal instead of uptight and Pharisee-ical like the Mormons. No silly books, no wierd titles like Melchizedek Priesthood, or Aaronic Priesthood. Just normal people who believe in Christ and want to be with Him. Its hard enough just living life in this world. We dont need a church loading us down with a lot of silly nonsense. I would ask the Lord to personally oversee the church meetings so I dont get shot at for being a nut. And BTW , for Petes sake, ONLY ONE WIFE !!!!! Everybody is welcome who wants to believe in the Lord, NO DISCRIMINATION !!! NO MAGIC UNDERWEAR !!!! We dont need the undie cops running around checking people out. NO TEMPLES. If you are in Christ, you are the temple. It would be OK to have a cup of coffee especially when its snowing outside, and soda is fine too.

Answer 10

A lot of people believe God has appeared to them. And a lot of people have followed these people.

Until Jesus comes again, I think I will stick to the church HE started and not some mortal human thanks.