As for the apostasy in Christianity today (or 180 years ago) I just don’t see it. If there were apostasy, then we would not see the Holy Spirit. We would see Christians living as the world lives. There would be no line between what is of the world and what is of God’s (or, more candidly, it would be all of the world and no God). I just fail to see that. Because I fail to see that, I again find more fault with your truth. Your truth wants the world to believe that God sent his message but that message failed. The truth is, that message did not fail before Christ and has not failed after Christ. The Holy Spirit is here now as it has been. So a distortion of that message is a distorting of the truth, which is a lie.
Hi, again, Xavierlives,
(Note to others–you can carry on with your other conversations–sorry to “interrupt.”)
Good people are doing good things–that is absolutely true, and many of those good things have been “improved upon” by the application of the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, taught by Him and by the apostles. Many truths were also taught by Moses, and they are lived with good results by many, many people.
The Old Testament taught repentance, change for the better, forgiveness, loving God, loving others, the atonement of Christ that was to come, resurrection, marriage given by God to humankind as a blessing, honesty, honoring parents, Sabbath observance as a day of rest, chastity, being content with one’s own blessings from God, the importance of parents teaching their children, the importance of prophets, the importance of righteous leaders, and so forth.
The New Testament expanded on those teachings, and focused on the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It also showed that there were important keys for authority given to man to act in the name of God, and also important understanding to gaining knowledge through the Holy Spirit. It also warned (as did the Old Testament) that there was drifting from true doctrine going on all the time, among the people and among the teachers/leaders.
The teachers/leaders seek by their own nature (human nature) to protect their “status quo”.
But the promise of the Holy Spirit and of the gifts of Christ were never tied to a religion–they were tied to having faith and living the commandments. So of course many, many people can have the Holy Spirit guiding them, and can have the gifts of Christ and the fruits of living the gospel.
Still and all, God provided for a clear message about a “covenant people” in the Old Testament, and a return of that covenant people to His covenant during the end times, and also a clear message about a covenant people in the New Testament. These are different qualities: a covenant people lives by a “higher standard” than just living by the basics of the gospel, and they will effectively be led to build Zion–a real condition where the whole society is blessed in every conceivable way by God, because they have covenanted to follow Him and love Him with all their hearts. They can receive guidance of the Holy Spirit in everyday living–in how to serve others effectively without negating freedom of choice among those they serve (a difficult thing to do sometimes), in giving priesthood blessings to people (healing blessings), in teaching their children and receiving discernment about their children’s needs, and many other daily choices in life.
But yet, those who live the basics of the gospel will indeed be blessed in their lives, because the promises are tied to living by the principles. It is a choice everyone makes every day, if they have received those principles–“shall I live by the principles and thus receive the blessings?” (A question everyone basically needs to answer to themselves every day.) If they do, they’ll be blessed. If they don’t, they’ll miss out on some blessings they could have had, or could have brought to others.
So if you will understand that God has given someone such as yourself every blessing from the gospel that you choose to receive, then I don’t get why you would think that just because I am aware of “covenant blessings” that are available, that the fact that you choose not to care about such things does not mean you are not entitled to every blessing you seek and live for. Again, as I’ve written before, you get exactly what you have wanted, desired, and lived to receive, and they are blessings from God who gives in abundance.
