Dr Paul Allen

What is necessary to have a church? Might a group of people who claim to be Christians become so unlike what a church should be that they should no longer be called a church? In the early centuries of the Christian church , there was little controversy about what was a true church. There was only one world-wide church, the “visible” church throughout the world, and that was, of course, the true church. This church had bishops and local clergymen and church buildings which everyone could see. Any heretics who were found to be in serious doctrinal error were simply excluded from the church. But at the Reformation a crucial question came up: how can we recognize a true church? Is the Roman Catholic Church a true church or not? In order to answer that question people had to decide what were the “marks” of a true church, the distinguishing characteristics that lead us to recognize it as a true church. Scripture certainly speaks of false churches. Paul says of the pagan temples in Corint...

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont . When he was a child his family moved to Palmyra in western New York where there was a lot of revivalism and religious fervor due to the Second Great Awakening . The wild enthusiasm and the many denominations present confused Smith and he was uncertain of what to believe and how to worship. As he writes in  The Pearl of Great Price : “In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.” In 1820, in this time of confusion, Smith read James 1:5 which instructs those who lack wisdom to request it from God. He immediately withdrew to a wooded area near his home to pray for wisdom and it was at...