Evangelical Christian has nice things to say about us


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On 10/15/2019 at 11:02 AM, Colirio said:

26 And he, supposing that I spake of the brethren of the church, and that I was truly that Laban whom I had slain, wherefore he did follow me. 

If you think about it, that statement doesn't really clarify anything.  There was no word as "church" in the Hebrew lexicon of the time.  So, whatever Nephi actually wrote, it didn't necessarily mean the same thing as what we think of as "church" today.

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3 hours ago, Mores said:

If you think about it, that statement doesn't really clarify anything.  There was no word as "church" in the Hebrew lexicon of the time.  So, whatever Nephi actually wrote, it didn't necessarily mean the same thing as what we think of as "church" today.

 

When you state that there was no "formal organization" at the time Nephi wrote those words, to what are you referring?

 

Clearly, Joseph Smith translated the word as "church." He also translates the word as "church" from Nephi's writings speaking of the church if the Lamb in chapter 14: 

1 Nephi 14:12 And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw.

 

It seems to me the record states that this meaning of church is referring to the saints of God. 

 

Throughout the Book of Mormon record, translated by Joseph Smith, we read of the "church" being organized by prophets. (Mosiah 25 and Alma 6 especially) 

 

Unless I am misunderstanding what you meant by no "formal organization" at the time, I disagree with your assertion completely. It might not have the same organizational appearance that it does now, but the saints were clearly organized in prior dispensations. 

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37 minutes ago, Colirio said:

When you state that there was no "formal organization" at the time Nephi wrote those words, to what are you referring?

I think it's a question of degree.  As Latter-day Saints, we think of the Church as a centrally-led and organized structure that has worldwide reach.  That idea of a "Church" did not exist back then.

In Nephi's time the structure of Judaism in general was more like our evangelical churches today.  Small units with a spiritual leader that gave nice sermons.  I don't consider this an "organization" anywhere close to say, our Church or Catholocism.  Prophets weren't leading any doctrinal study groups because they were being stoned and cast into prison.  So, no prophets leading any centrally organized, top-down church as we have in TCOJCOLDS today.  In fact, there were multiple independent prophets that were all called of God to preach repentance.  How does that compare to our Church organization today?  It simply doesn't.

Alma was authorized to "organize a church" in his era.  So, what did all the Nephites do on the Sabbath?  How did they watch over each other prior to that church organization?  The only think I can speculate was these small individual units that were part of a loose community but there was no central leadership at the time.

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