I wrote this in response to a comment on this article at pjmedia but it wouldn’t let me post. I thought I’d put it here because, well it just needed to be said and I’m the one who wanted to say it.
Golly, I hate to be the one to burst you little bubble of revisionist history but someone has to take on the dirty jobs.
1. The name of the church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I figure a church that worships the Savior should be named after Him, not someone or something else.
2. The First Article of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) is We believe in God the Eternal Father, in His Son JESUS CHRIST and in the Holy Ghost.
The Third Article of faith: We believe that through the Atonement of CHRIST, all mankind will be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
The Fourth Article of Faith: We believe that the first principles and ordinance of the Gospel are Faith in the Lord JESUS CHRIST; second Repentance; third Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, fourth Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. (baptism; just like was done to the Savior by John the Baptist, being buried under the water and then brought out again, symbolizing rebirth, Laying on of hands; as was done in the scriptures as well in multiple places).
The Nicean Creed
Formed in result of a break of the Christian Church from within after Constantine’s defeat of the Emperor Licinius in 323 AD. Debate between the bishop Alexander and the pastor Arius concerning the origins of the Eternal Father threatened to destroy the Atheist Constantine’s hard won unified world. Three hundred bishops gathered from around the world. (many are listed by the historian Eusebius a long with their country of origin)The majority of these bishops, many of whom had suffered for their faith, denounced Arian teaching as alien from the belief of the church.
They interrogated Arius and found that he had new interpretations to the scriptures that they tried to use to condemn him with and finally argued that his view had to be wrong because it was new. It seems that the heavens were well and truly closed to these bishops and the revelation (the rock on which Christ founded his church) was no longer available to bishops or priests, much less everyday man. They also wrote that “the catholic church believes” to show their judgements was in line with Apostolic times to bring it more in line with the writings of early Christians, not declaring any actual new word from God.
According to Eusebuis of Caesarea, Constantine (then a pagan who wouldn’t be baptized until on his death bed) played an important role at Nicea. It was he who performed the role of mediator. Of course he did, he had everything to gain from a united religion in a secular way of thinking. To me the most important question was where was the Bishop of Rome at this point? If he was there why did he not head this conference? Was he not God’s representative here on the earth? The answer of course was that revelation had no place in the new church. They did not look to God to tell them what to do. They looked to the past and decided that was good enough. New was the enemy of the church which is why the Reformation had to occur. There could be no restoration without reform.
So thank you very much but I think I’ll continue to believe that God hears and answers prayers directly. That He speaks to His children through personal revelation. That while we are to teach, learn and listen to the doctrines of ancient and Apostolic writers we also need to listen and learn from Apostles today,as well as pray and receive a personal witness of Gods plan for our lives. I’ll take that guy over the one who sticks his finger in the air to see what everybody else thinks before making a decision every time,no matter his religious affiliation. As long as he has a creed that believes in liberty, freedom and the right of men to choose their own destiny which trumps coercion, force and manipulation no matter how benevolent.
AMEN!