Apostasy Source

I am not looking to create a gospel thread--I am just looking for a source. I will delete this thread quickly if it devolves beyond that.



With that out of the way, I've heard recently in a couple of contexts LDS members mentioning that in the early centuries of the Christian Church there were a few centuries where the Christian Church went dark or disappeared before reemerging later and that that period of darkness was where the truth was lost.



I have not been able to run down a source for this, and I was curious if anyone else knew where this new-to-me theory is coming from, or if this is more Mormon-folklore.

When it comes to a good description of what the Apostasy was all about, here is a great book located at the BYU Maxwell Institute site that describes it very well Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy and the chapter that does best is Introduction: What Went Wrong for the Early Christians?.



It's a great read. It talks about three of the greatest myth about the Apostasy taught and believe in the Church and they are:

Myth #1: The apostasy happened because of outside persecution.

Myth 2: The apostasy was caused by the hellenization of Christianity or the incorporation of Greek philosophy and culture into the teachings of the early church.

Myth 3: The Roman Catholic Church specifically is the great and abominable church spoken of in Nephi's vision.

Thank you Urroner for appealing to experts and respected sources. I can't wait to read this book.

hawkwing wrote:
Thank you Urroner for appealing to experts and respected sources. I can't wait to read this book.

Hawk, it's a great read. I wish I had read it before my mission, but writing hadn't been invented yet, though reading had.

While older, Talmage's The Great Apostasy is unparalleled.

BoiseBYU wrote:
While older, Talmage's The Great Apostasy is unparalleled.

Agreed. Great book.

By the way, ever time I enter the Lounge I see the topic title, and read it as 'Apostacy Sauce.'



Now that sounds delicious!

BoiseBYU wrote:
While older, Talmage's The Great Apostasy is unparalleled.

They talk about Talmage in that book.

Urroner, that was great. I was just kicking back this morning. I very much dislike the 1:00 pm start of Church services. On mornings when I don't have a PEC to go to, I just sit around and veg and try do do all sorts of good stuff in order to keep the Sabbath holy. So I found myself aimlessly perusing "The Lounge" in CougarCorner and came across this thread.



I have read Maxwell's "Great Apostacy" a number of times. I found myself reading that entire chapter you linked to, Urroner, and then printed it off. I believe I will use it as a text for instructing my Priest Qm over the next few weeks. This is stuff they should understand before their mission - especially what was written in the final paragraph.



Thank you once more!

1967cougar wrote:
Urroner, that was great. I was just kicking back this morning. I very much dislike the 1:00 pm start of Church services. On mornings when I don't have a PEC to go to, I just sit around and veg and try do do all sorts of good stuff in order to keep the Sabbath holy. So I found myself aimlessly perusing "The Lounge" in CougarCorner and came across this thread.



I have read Maxwell's "Great Apostacy" a number of times. I found myself reading that entire chapter you linked to, Urroner, and then printed it off. I believe I will use it as a text for instructing my Priest Qm over the next few weeks. This is stuff they should understand before their mission - especially what was written in the final paragraph.



Thank you once more!

It was an eye opener for me.

snoscythe wrote:
I've heard recently in a couple of contexts LDS members mentioning that in the early centuries of the Christian Church there were a few centuries where the Christian Church went dark or disappeared before reemerging later and that that period of darkness was where the truth was lost.

I am anxious to read Urroner's sources, when I get the time. I have actually been fascinated with this sort of thing for a long time. I know you wanted sources, but I hope we can actually talk about it, without this getting out of hand, cause I love this stuff. Reason it shouldn't get out of hand is, because it doesn't involve deep doctrine, where some people could take that offensively.



Constantine the Great(Roman Emperor) was a converted Christian. The Catholics lived in his jurisdiction... Rome. The head of the Church, which was known as The Council of Nicaea. Consisted of 300 or so people.



Constantine had an agenda to govern his country and the Catholics had an agenda within their own Church. So they got together to figure out how to do, just that.



The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc... Were just a couple of many many apocryphas(books) at that time. Between both parties, they decided which apocryphas should be put into one book. Here's where the Bible comes into play.



The Catholics have their own beliefs on things. Things that don't go inline with Christ's Gospel. So they left out some of the "plain and precious" truths. Truths we actually get in our own Book of Mormon and revelations through our Prophet(s).



After they chose which books to compile. They burned and destroyed all the other books, like: The Gospel of Peter, Mary, Judas, and the Book of the Giants, etc... Not all of them were burned or destroyed, cause we know those as the Dead Sea Scrolls(found in Qumran) and the Nag Hammadi library(found in upper Egypt).



AND that... I believe began the process of the dark ages. Which lasted way longer than just a few lifetimes.



Anyone feel like correcting me OR adding to it???

BigCougsFan wrote:
The Catholics have their own beliefs on things. Things that don't go inline with Christ's Gospel. So they left out some of the "plain and precious" truths. Truths we actually get in our own Book of Mormon and revelations through our Prophet(s).

It really wasn't a matter of the Catholic Church when it comes to the "plain and precious truths." A lot of "plain and precious truths" were lost in the days of King Josiah in the OT. A massive rewrite of the scriptures was done starting at his time and by the time of the return of Israel from their Exile to Babylon, the theology of the Jews had went through a massive change.



Several Biblical scholars, including Mormons, have started writing and studying this event. Here are some links to some articles that talk about this.



By Kevin Christensen - Mormon

The Deuteronomist De-Christianizing of the Old Testament

Temple Traditions after the Deuteronomist Reform



A Blog talking about Kevin's "The Deuteronomist De-Christianizing of the Old Testament"

The Deuteronomist De-Christianizing of the Old Testament



By Margaret Barker - Methodist Minister from England, but a great friend of BYU

What Did King Josiah Reform?

TEXT AND CONTEXT - This is an awesome paper and should be required reading before being baptized. ;)

Thanks, Urroner. Very good reading. I too enjoy these topics.