Tag: primitive church

Part II – Lesson 6: The Church of the First Century

Timothy R. BermanLeave a comment

Every surviving document from the earliest Christians points to one unmistakable reality: the Church of Jesus Christ was never meant to drift, improvise, or evolve by popular opinion. It was governed—actively, visibly, and globally—by living apostles who traveled, taught, corrected, and unified the Saints across thousands of miles. The idea of a fragmented, locally‑run Christianity would have been unrecognizable to the men and women who lived under apostolic direction.

Archaeologists mapping Roman travel networks now show how apostles could realistically maintain jurisdiction across vast distances. Historians studying Acts 15 identify the Jerusalem Council as the first Christian governing council—binding on every congregation. And New Testament scholars across traditions agree that Peter’s leadership was real, but never monarchical. The earliest Church functioned through a council of apostles, not a solitary bishop and not independent local leaders.

This emerging academic consensus paints a picture that looks far more like the Latter‑day Saint model of apostolic governance than the later structures of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or Protestantism.

When Latter‑day Saints speak of a living quorum of apostles with worldwide jurisdiction, we are not inventing a new ecclesiology—we are recovering the original one. The historical record, the New Testament, and the best modern scholarship converge on the same point: the Church Christ established was led by a unified body of apostles who held authority for the entire household of faith.

This is the pattern that disappeared after their deaths. This is the pattern the Restoration restores.

What to Look for in this Lesson: 

  1. Most of the religions of the first century of the Christian era stressed the acquisition of salvation through mystical initiatory rites or elaborate ceremonies. Christianity ignored these aspects of religion and stressed a high standard of moral conduct. 
  2. Christianity was a rapidly expanding movement in the first century. Arrangements were made for supervision so that it would not become disunited. 
  3. Enrichment material. In Apostasy from the Divine Church, pp. 39-77 can be found some unique quotations and comments concerning the doctrines and worship of the early Christian church. 

How This Lesson Functions in LDS Apologetics

Apostolic jurisdiction is not an abstract ecclesiological idea—it is the structural backbone of the New Testament Church. Showing that the earliest Christians were governed by a mobile, authoritative quorum of apostles accomplishes three apologetic goals:

  • It demonstrates that the original Church was hierarchical, organized, and led by living apostles, not by Scripture alone or by independent congregations.
  • It shows that later Christian structures—papal monarchy, conciliar episcopacy, or Protestant congregationalism—do not match the first‑century pattern.
  • It clarifies that the Restoration restores a model that actually existed, rather than inventing a new one.

This lesson therefore becomes a bridge between historical reconstruction and Restoration theology.

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Deconstructing the Narrative of Theft: A Historical Refutation of Lilith Helstrom’s Claims on Christianity and Genocide

Timothy R. BermanLeave a comment

Is a person who identifies as a Christian possess stolen faith? If you have read Lilith Helstrom’s recent feature article, Jesus Caused The Palestinian Genocide, in Deconstructing Christianity, you’ve likely felt the sting of her central accusation: That Christianity is nothing more than a “religion of thievery” — a theological kleptomania that stole its holidays from pagans, its God from the Jews, and now, she claims, fuels the fires of genocide in Gaza.

Christians will say that the major theme of their religion is forgiveness and second chance.

I disagree. The most prominent theme in all of Christianity is thievery.

So many gods died and rose again before Christianity existed, including Osiris, Adonis, Attis, and Dionysus. The Sumerian goddess, Inna, was even dead three days and three nights before she was resurrected.

So how did Christians get their forgiveness story of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again? Through theological thievery.

Our culture is in a moment where people seem to be deconstructing from everything — gender, institutions, government, and now even the foundations of history itself. Helstrom’s argument strikes quite a nerve. It is a polemic weave of a terrifying narrative that connects the resurrection of Jesus to the so‑called “Jewish Problem” and the horrors of modern antisemitism.

Is the viral “history” actually historical? Or is it a dangerous distortion that conflates ancient myth with eyewitness reality?

Helstrom’s article is not a mere atheistic critique; it is a sweeping cultural indictment. She argues that because Christianity supposedly “stole” its resurrection story from myths like Osiris and Dionysus, it created a subconscious crisis — a Jewish Problem — that forces Christians either to assimilate Jews (under the guise of Christian Nationalism) or annihilate them (Nazism) to cover up the theft. In her telling, the Christian God becomes the architect of genocide, with a straight line drawn from the empty tomb to the current violence in Palestine.

These are heavy charges, and they demand more than a defensive shrug. They require forensic examination of history. If Christianity is merely a copycat religion, then its moral authority is indeed bankrupt. But if the similarities between pagan myths and the gospel are not evidence of theft, but of a “Divine Pattern” — echoes of truth scattered throughout time to prepare the world for a reality that actually happened — then her entire house of cards collapses.

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