God's need to restore the true faith... Muslims, Mormons... and others who believe in a "restoration"

Question

To those of you who believe in a fallen church, how is it possible that God allowed his church to become so corrupted? Was it the devil's doing, part of God's plan to restore his church, or simply bad human beings?

I should also point that I think Muslims don't actually believe in a restoration, but.. maybe you can answer the question by explaining some of the reasons the Jews and Christians, who (at least by conventional history) predate Islamic practices, ended up not being the true followers of God after all.

Thanks for the answers so far...
sorry for any mistakes in my question, but answer however you like.

Yes I am, thanks Daisy :)

Answer 1

Prior to His Crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ had established His Church. It included apostles, prophets, seventies, teachers, and so forth. And the Master sent His disciples into the world to preach His gospel.

After a time the Church as established by the Lord fell into spiritual decay. His teachings were altered; His ordinances were changed. The Great Apostasy came as had been foretold by Paul, who knew that the Lord would not come again “except there come a falling away first.”

This Great Apostasy followed the pattern that had ended each previous dispensation. The very first was in the time of Adam. Then came dispensations of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others. Each prophet had a divine commission to teach of the divinity and the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. In each age these teachings were meant to help the people. But their disobedience resulted in apostasy. Thus, all previous dispensations were limited in time and location. They were limited in time because each ended in apostasy. They were limited in location to a relatively small segment of planet earth.

Thus a complete restoration was required.

corruption is allowed because people have the abillity to make choices, and God has often let these choices run their own course throughout generations. Satan can use his influence on our choices if we let him.

Answer 2

Mormons believe that homosexual behavior is forgiveable. The bishop does have a responsibility to see that false doctrine is not taught in the Church, including a Sunday School class, but the bishop does not have a responsibility to answer every question put to a Sunday School teacher. Perhaps he felt that the Sunday School teacher had answered the question well enough, without offending the asker of the question, or offending the relatively new Sunday School teacher. It is so hard to know what to do because people are so easily offended. We believe that you should go on from weak faith to strong faith to knowledge. It would be best for you to have more than "blind" faith. God does not despise any of his children. There is an unforgiveable sin, the sin against the Holy Ghost, but it is not unforgiveable because it offends God so much. It is not unforgiveable because God hates that person. God still loves the one who sins against the Holy Ghost. The reason it is unforgiveable is because that person has reached a point where nothing will make a difference in that person's life to help them return to God. They have gone beyond the point where God can help them return to Him. Once you truly understand God's teachings you recognize that God is always 100% right. There are "gay" people at BYU. You can be an openly "gay" person and be accepted to BYU. You risk being unable to complete your education at BYU if you as a BYU student have sex with a person who is not your spouse, whether you are "gay" or "straight." It is a violation of the honor code to fornicate, but it is forgiveable.

Answer 3

It was all part of Gods plan. If you read the book of Daniel with the restoration in mind. Gods plan is all laid out.
Daniel 2:44
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Also most modern churches believe that an apostasy will happen they just believe that it will be during the time of the tribulation when the Antichrist rules the world during his future 7 year reign.

Answer 4

If you look at the history of the "Christian Church" from shortly after Christ was resurrected and the Apostles met horrible deaths, you can't help but see a corrupt history. There's a reason there was a Dark Ages in Europe, and the term is called that. Then, its interesting to note in Europe how the renaisannce coincided and one of the big elements is the gutenberg press and bible which allowed the common man to read the bible, and start questioning the Church which caused the Reformation. The scriptures already above have already been foretold.

As far as whose doing? It may have been a combination of all three.

Answer 5

Another Latter-day Saint (Mormon) chiming in.

Basically, around 30 AD, Christ came and ordained the apostles with the priesthood authority of God. He also told them that his church would be led by revelation. However, because of the wickedness of the people and the overall rejection of the message, the priesthood authority of God and the gift of always having a prophet of God on the Earth were revoked.

Then came the Reformation.
People like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley and the like saw that the teachings of Christ and the words of the prophets had been corrupted and even perverted by earthly creeds. They did their best to bring these things back to where they were, but these leaders were not led by revelation as prophets of old were.

This resulted in the continued fracturing of Christ's church into smaller bodies with more and more varying interpretations of the Bible. It became like a gossip story: as passed along from person to person, it became more and more distorted the more it was read.

Today, according to the Christian World Almanac, there are over 39,000 Protestant churches, even though Ephesians 4:5 says "One Lord, one faith, one baptism". Such confusion, yet 1 Corinthians 14:33 states that "God is not the author of confusion"

So, in 1821, the seeds were sown for an actual restoration of the gospel, which we see as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, led today by revelation from Christ and by a prophet of God.

Answer 6

The Apostasy did not end God's influence on people. The essential truth of the Gospel remained. When few could read and fewer had copies of scripture, when there was no freedom to voice opposition, this light was very dim. When these conditions changed, Heavenly Father opened the Heavens once more.

Answer 7

I really can't beat any of the previous answers, but I can recommend a good book on the subject if you're really interested in learning about it.

James E. Talmage (an LDS apostle and scholar) wrote a book called "The Great Apostasy." Which is actually a fairly quick read, and explains the details of this doctrine very well.

I actually found a link to the text here: http://www.cumorah.com/etexts/greatapostasy.txt

Best wishes

Answer 8

Very well said, phrog. The only thing I would like to add is a scripture reference Amos 8

11 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:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall arun to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

Amos foretold a time where word of the Lord would not be found anywhere. According to this prophecy, there has to be a complete apostacy.

Answer 9

Yes. It was the result of bad human beings who were influenced by the devil, and it was according to God's plan to allow it to happen. It was prophesied in the New Testament.

2 Thes 2:3

"3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"

Answer 10

It was foretold in Revelation of John that churches would crumble, so to speak. It is Man who wrecks the things God gives, and only when God has had enough of Man's rambunctiousness, will He then do something, like send a forty day, forty night flood. (seen the weather in Texas -for one- lately?)
God's plan is not to restore but to let man correct man's mistakes so that man can learn.