Religio71,
Your statement here and the one that follows, by Rick, contain an easily-found historical inaccuracy. Bruce R McConkie was ordained an apostle in 1972. The book Rick quoted from was published in 1958.
Paul wrote to the Romans that he was “called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.” (Romans 1:1) He wrote to the Corinthians including himself as an apostle with the words: “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles…” (1 Corinthians 4:9)
Mention has been made of casting out evil spirits. LDS apostles do that (not just apostles–others in the LDS church have the authority and do that also.) LDS apostles have spoken and been understood through the gift of tongues. They heal the sick often (others in the LDS church with authority to administer to the sick heal the sick also).
Paul’s writings show that he believed himself to be one who had the authority to proclaim the gospel and to keep the doctrines purely taught and correctly taught. He said he was “called to be an apostle”. He considered himself an apostle, with apostolic responsibilities.
As the bishop of Rome made his case for becoming the head of the church after the deaths of the apostles, he of course would say there were only to have been twelve apostles, and that he was the rightful leader by whatever logic he could muster. But the writings of Paul describe a church that has “apostles; prophets; evangelists; pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints…” (Ephesians 4:11-12) Apostles were part of the organizational structure that made the church perfect as Christ had established it.
If cardinals, when choosing a new pope, had the same authority and the same guidance of the Holy Spirit which the apostles had during their mortal ministry, then those cardinals would not need more than one vote to select the new pope, because they would know by inspiration or by “casting lots” the leader whom God was calling to the papacy. This ought to be clear to anyone who has read the book of Acts. The new church structure built by men was a church run by men, doing what men do.
You are right, Bruce McConkie was not an Apostle yet at the time that the first edition of Mormon Doctrine was released. However, interestingly, Apostle Marion Romney wrote a letter to President McKay, citing the various errors found in the book. This list did not include anything related to McConkie’s statements on blacks.
McConkie also wrote another book, The Millenial Messiah, in 1982, while he was an Apostle. Here is an interesting statement of his on the Jews:
Let the spiritually illiterate suppose what they may, it was the Jewish denial and rejection of the Holy One of Israel, whom their fathers worshiped in the beauty of holiness, that has made them a hiss and a byword in all nations and that has taken millions of their fair sons and daughters to untimely graves.
And just to be completely open, other LDS officials have made horrible statements on blacks and the priesthood, trying to rationalize the pre-1978 doctrine, the most “interesting” of course being Brigham Young, President, Prophet, Seer and Revelator. Apostle Mark Peterson taught that blacks would go to the Celestial Kingdom as servants. Apostle, then President Joseph F. Smith taught that it was according to the
doctrine of the LDS Church that blacks were unfaithful or not valiant in the pre-existence, causing the denial of priesthood blessings. Apostle Peterson also taught that all blacks want is to intermarry with whites. These are just a sampling of statements made by Apostles and Presidents of the LDS Church on doctrinal issues.
I think you are missing the point that we have already stated. St. Paul
was an apostle. However he was not one of the Twelve. There were apostles that were not part of the Twelve. The Bible states the criteria to be one of the Twelve, and St. Paul did not meet that criteria, and neither do the current LDS Apostles, who claim to be members of the same Quorum as the original Twelve Apostles.
Could you cite some of these modern day healings and casting out of demons? Catholics are readily able to read about the various healings and exorcisms (and all the other miracles) that occur in the Church. In fact, I just finished reading a book called “The Rite”, which documented the journey of an American priest to Rome, studying to become an exorcist.
It is interesting that LDS claim that they restore the Church organization of Apostolic times, yet there is no First Presidency apparent in the Bible or historical writings. Peter did have primacy, as Bishop of Rome, and this is acknowledged by Catholics, Orthodox (though we debate over the extent of that primacy, they still acknowledge that there is/was a primacy), and others. However James and John did not have a special role in the Church. Also, even if Peter, James, and John were the First Presidency, they were part of the Twelve. The LDS First Presidency is in addition to the Twelve, creating 15 Apostles.
It is also interesting that LDS claim that their apostles are also prophets, yet there is no evidence that the Biblical apostles were also seen as prophets.
