NOTE: This article was published in the March/April 2025 Mormonism Researched newsletter, a free publication. To subscribe, please visit the registration site.

Over the years, Latter-day Saint leaders have been very bold when it comes to some non-negotiable imperatives regarding the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The argument goes, and I tend to agree, that if it can be demonstrated that these imperatives are built on proverbial sand, the claim of being a restored church with a restored gospel falls apart. Three of those imperatives are

1. There must have been a complete Apostasy of the Christian Church

2. Joseph Smith spoke to the Father and the Son

3. The Book of Mormon is an ancient record written on gold plates

Let us examine the claims for the above three absolutes.

There must have been a complete apostasy of the Christian Church.

Brigham H. Roberts, chosen in 1887 to be president of the First Council of the Seventy, wrote,

“Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” (B.H. Roberts, History of the Church 1:XL).

In his book The Great Apostasy, Apostle James E. Talmadge concurred with Roberts’ position when he wrote:

“The restored Church affirms that a general apostasy developed during and after the apostolic period, and that the primitive Church lost its power, authority, and graces as a divine institution, and degenerated into an earthly organization only. The significance and importance of the great apostasy, as a condition precedent to the re-establishment of the Church in modern times, is obvious. If the alleged apostasy of the primitive Church was not a reality, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not the divine institution its name proclaims” (iii).

This idea is still taught today. In the official church manual Preach My Gospel, used as a guide by LDS missionaries, page 36 makes it clear that

“investigators must be told that a universal apostasy occurred following the death of Jesus and His Apostles. If there had been no apostasy, there would have been no need of a Restoration.”

Joseph Smith spoke to the Father and the Son

Speaking in general conference in October 1961, 15th President Gordon B. Hinckley declared,

“Either this is the kingdom of God, or it is a sham and a delusion. Either Joseph talked with the Father and the Son, or he did not. If he did not, we are engaged in blasphemy” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Reports, October 1961, 116).

His use of the word “blasphemy” should not be casually overlooked. This popular leader seemed to understand something that many modern Christians fail to see, and that is the conclusion the church draws from Smith’s vision.

It not only defies the warning in Exodus 33:20 that no man can see God and live, but it also undermines the historic teaching that the Father and Son are one in essence and not two of three separate and distinct personages and/or Gods. 

Hinckley doubled down on this assertion in another talk:

Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision. It either occurred or it did not occur. If it did not, then this work is a fraud… upon that unique and wonderful experience stands the validity of this church. (Ensign, November 2002, 80. Ellipsis mine).

The Book of Mormon is an ancient record written on gold plates

Joseph Smith claimed that he was visited by an angel in 1823 who told him of a record written on “gold plates” that spoke of the ancient inhabitants of this American continent. The stories it contains are not to be taken as allegory but actual history. Apostle Jeffrey Holland certainly saw this as of utmost importance, for in his book Christ and the New Covenant he stated,

“To consider that everything of saving significance in the Church stands or falls on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and, by implication, the Prophet Joseph Smith’s account of how it came forth is as sobering as it is true. It is a ‘sudden death’ proposition. Either the Book of Mormon is what the Prophet Joseph said it is, or this Church and its founder are false, a deception from the first instance onward” (345)

Seventy Milton R. Hunter, in a general conference message given in April 1970, insisted that the Book of Mormon “is a true history of the ancient Americans” (Conference Reports, April 1970, 138).

Conclusion

When it comes to discussing the above points with members, I like to ask if they agree with their leaders’  conclusions, and, if so, have them address some of the problems I have encountered in my study of the Great Apostasy, First Vision, and Book of Mormon. My ultimate goal, however, is to eventually present a more biblically accurate view of the Gospel.