The Great Apostasy-Part III: Apostasy and Dissension from within the Church

Apostasy and Dissension from within the Church

This is the third installment in my series of presentations on the Great Apostasy. In this segment we examine the catastrophic effect that internal heresy and strife had on the primitive church, and the Apostles' responses to and prophecies about this increasingly widespread apostasy.  If you have not already done so you should go back and view Part 1 and Part 2 first before you start Part 3.

**For ideal viewing, click the fullscreen button on the bottom left hand side of the player, or hit Ctrl+Shift+F to view the presentation at its full size.

The Great Apostasy - Part 2

What caused the Great Apostasy?/External Persecution?

Here is the second part in my series on the Great Apostasy.  If you have not yet viewed Part 1 you should follow this link so you can view it first before you start part 2.  In this segment we examine the persecution that was heaped upon the early saints, and attempt to determine how and if that persecution contributed to the eventual demise of the primitive church as it was established by Christ. As always, feedback is appreciated.  Also, when you are done you can move on to Part 3.

**For ideal viewing, click the fullscreen button on the bottom left hand side of the player, or hit Ctrl+Shift+F to view the presentation at its full size.

The Great Apostasy - Part 1

Introduction/Prophets and Apostles

This is the first in a planned series on the Great Apostasy. For ideal viewing, click the fullscreen button on the bottom left hand side of the player, or hit Ctrl+Shift+F to view the presentation at its full size. Let me know what you think of this format in general, and my presentation in particular.  Also, here are links to Part 2 and Part 3

Why should you care?

In Bible Study, we recently finished reading the epistle of James, and are now in the midst of Galatians. In preparing (and teaching) for these studies, I find myself challenged with establishing the immediate relevance of the issues and questions contained in The New Testament for a group of students made up largely of LDS people who are under 30. On the surface, it may seem like many of the letters written by the New Testament Apostles deal with concerns that are almost entirely specific and unique to the time in which they were written, and in some cases to the culture of the people to which the epistle was addressed. And this raises the question, why should a modern-day Christian (or anyone else for that matter) care about such questions as whether or not Gentiles needed to be circumcised, or what role (if any) the Mosaic Law will play in our lives under the Law of Christ (The Gospel)? In an effort to address this question, I plan to write a series of articles ( beginning with this one) about why you should care, using various episodes from the scriptures as basic examples of things that you should care about, even if you don’t.

Those of you with a short attention span may want to skip to the end where it says: "Here's why you should care."

Historical facts (and speculation) about The General Epistle of James

1. It is possible that James was not originally a letter, but rather that it contains a grouping of collected (and edited) discourses by James. Some scholars have claimed that the Greek in James is too fluent for James himself to have written it. It is possible that the epistle of James that we have was compiled and edited by someone much more fluent in Greek than James, but I feel that the words still belong to James.

2. James is one of the seven Biblical epistles that are referred to as “Catholic Epistles” (The KJV Bible refers to these letters as “General” Epistles). No, this doesn’t mean that they were only written for Catholics. The word Catholic is based on the Greek word “katholikos” which means “universal”, and refers to the fact that these letters were intended for the entire church (and anyone else who might read them).

Historical meditation on Paul's Epistle to the Galatians

1) Opinions vary as to the date, origin, and destination of this letter, but I will restrict my commentary to the scholarly opinion to which I subscribe. (For those of you who are keeping track, I subscribe to the south Galatian theory.) It is my opinion that Paul wrote this letter from Syrian Antioch to the saints in the central Asian province of Galatia (in what is now Turkey). The Epistle to the Galatians is one of a body of letters that Paul wrote to some of the churches that he had established during his first missionary journey. As for when he wrote this letter, I believe that he wrote it prior to the Jerusalem Conference, which took place in A.D. 49 and is recorded in Acts 15. Galatians is notable because it deals directly with the question of what role (if any) the Mosaic Law should play in the salvation of a gentile convert (or any convert for that matter), and yet Paul neglects to mention the Jerusalem Conference even once. This is telling, because Paul was personally involved in the events immediately leading to the Conference and helped to draft and distribute the ultimate decision of the Apostles and elders of the Church concerning what would be expected of gentile converts in a ritual sense. Here are the basics of the text of the Official Declaration published by the Apostles as a result of the conference (see Acts 15:24-29):