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Apostles and Apostasy - why did the Disciples not call others?


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Apostles teach eternal truths revealed to them via revalation. 

Eternal truths existed before we were all born and will exist after all of us die. 

So - do Apostles teach then which eternal truths are most important at the time they speak or re-teach truth (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy GHost, endure to the end)?

I was preparing a lesson for Sunday on the Apostasy and the fact that Apostles teach eternal truth via revalation is a sub-topic. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/new-testament-seminary-teacher-manual-2023/2-thessalonians-2?lang=eng

Just curious here - why didn't the Savior's Apostles call and set apart faithful members to replace them? APostleship is a calling that doesn't expire, true, but when 1, 2 or 6 of your Quorum are no longer living - ya know - wouldn't you bring it up in correlation meeting? 

Did the Nephite Twelve call others to repalce them? They must ahve due to 4 Nephi 1 and the 200 years of peace, no?

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10 minutes ago, nuclearfuels said:

why didn't the Savior's Apostles call and set apart faithful members to replace them

They did at the beginning (Matthias replaced Judas for example). Who were actual apostles and who were just called that is debated, but James the Brother of Jesus seems to have been one of the Twelve, imo.  Later as I understand it is because they couldn’t gather enough to do so…or so I was taught.

https://biblehub.com/acts/1-26.htm

Edited by Calm
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17 minutes ago, nuclearfuels said:

why didn't the Savior's Apostles call and set apart faithful members to replace them?

Calm mentioned Matthias.  But in Acts chapter 12, James the brother of John is killed (verse 2), and in the very next chapter, Acts 13, we see both Paul and Barnabas set apart and called as those who were "sent" out (verses 1-3).  I'm not sure that depicts them being set apart as apostles, but they are certainly called apostles in the next chapter:

Acts 14:14  "Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out..."

Edited by InCognitus
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1 hour ago, nuclearfuels said:

Apostles teach eternal truths revealed to them via revalation. 

Eternal truths existed before we were all born and will exist after all of us die. 

So - do Apostles teach then which eternal truths are most important at the time they speak or re-teach truth (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy GHost, endure to the end)?

I was preparing a lesson for Sunday on the Apostasy and the fact that Apostles teach eternal truth via revalation is a sub-topic. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/new-testament-seminary-teacher-manual-2023/2-thessalonians-2?lang=eng

Just curious here - why didn't the Savior's Apostles call and set apart faithful members to replace them? APostleship is a calling that doesn't expire, true, but when 1, 2 or 6 of your Quorum are no longer living - ya know - wouldn't you bring it up in correlation meeting? 

Did the Nephite Twelve call others to repalce them? They must ahve due to 4 Nephi 1 and the 200 years of peace, no?

Perhaps their dispensation was to testify of the Risen Lord and His doctrine rather than to ensure the perpetuation the early organization, as evidenced by their proclamation that an apostasy-at-large must come before the Second Coming. So successful were they that the testimony of Christ, however imperfectly conveyed, continued despite the loss of priesthood keys, permitting the eventual Restoration at the proper time. An unbroken apostolic succession would not have prevented apostasy, but organized churches perpetuated the basic faith.  John 12: 23 -25 may allude to the apostasy and restoration as well as to Jesus' death and resurrection.

You can tell you class you read this on the Internet!

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1 hour ago, nuclearfuels said:

Apostles teach eternal truths revealed to them via revalation. 

Eternal truths existed before we were all born and will exist after all of us die. 

So - do Apostles teach then which eternal truths are most important at the time they speak or re-teach truth (faith, repentance, baptism, Holy GHost, endure to the end)?

I was preparing a lesson for Sunday on the Apostasy and the fact that Apostles teach eternal truth via revalation is a sub-topic. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/new-testament-seminary-teacher-manual-2023/2-thessalonians-2?lang=eng

Just curious here - why didn't the Savior's Apostles call and set apart faithful members to replace them? APostleship is a calling that doesn't expire, true, but when 1, 2 or 6 of your Quorum are no longer living - ya know - wouldn't you bring it up in correlation meeting? 

Did the Nephite Twelve call others to repalce them? They must ahve due to 4 Nephi 1 and the 200 years of peace, no?

Some thoughts in question form:

The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve are able to meet weekly in our time.  How often were the apostles after Christ able to meet together?

How much persecution and threats upon their lives did they face?  How did this affect their ability to meet and counsel together?

How much time did the various apostles spend in prison?  How would this affect their ability to call new apostles?

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4 hours ago, ksfisher said:

Some thoughts in question form:

The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve are able to meet weekly in our time.  How often were the apostles after Christ able to meet together?

How much persecution and threats upon their lives did they face?  How did this affect their ability to meet and counsel together?

How much time did the various apostles spend in prison?  How would this affect their ability to call new apostles?

This is why I think their commission (dispensation) was to testify of the atonement and resurrection of the Lord -- evidently very effectively -- rather than to establish an unbroken succession of apostles. Plus, we have D&C 124: 49-50 ("...it behooveth me to require that work no more..."

The Great Commision was relatively limited in scope compared to all the keys of all the dispensations:

Mark 16: 14-20, "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."

Also Matthew 28: 19-20, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

My observation is that the same erosion occurred in the New World as well as the Old, though perhaps at half the pace.

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