Apostasy

Today I read 2 Thessalonians 2 where Paul again tells the Saints about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This certainly was a popular topic for the Saints there. However, Paul's focus this time is to let them know that before Jesus comes again, there has to first be a falling away, or an apostasy. Can you imagine how frustrated the original Apostles must have felt? To know that despite it all, all their hard work, there was going to be an Apostasy and that all the Saints will dwindle and fall away? I know I would have felt very defeated and hopeless and wonder why I was being asked to do it in the first place if we knew for a fact that everything was going to fall away.

Perhaps the Lord comforted them by letting them know that their writings would survive and would be a great comfort to future inhabitants and future believers of Jesus Christ. Or perhaps they didn't mind and were just obedient followers of Jesus and did what He asked them without question, I really don't know. I know how I would have reacted and I would have been fairly frustrated with it all. It also makes me wonder why an apostasy was necessary? I know why it happened. I know that as the Apostles were killed and not replaced that the doctrine became obscured and eventually was misunderstood all together, but why did it have to happen? Surely if the Lord had desired it, they could have kept up the Quorum of the Twelve.

I have often wondered about this, and certain other things that God has done over the millenia. Some make perfect sense to me, such as why those who have black skin were not able to hold the priesthood for so long, I can understand that, assuming my thoughts on the subject are accurate that is. But why did there need to be an Apostasy and why did there need to be a Restoration and the Dark Ages? The answer of course is we just don't know. Perhaps it was the lack of good communication and so it was hard to keep in touch with all the churches? History has shown that when congregations are left to their own devices, incorrect doctrine crop up as does symbology and other incorrect doctrine. So perhaps it's as simple as there was not an effective way for all the churches to communicate with each other and so it would have been an impossible task to keep all the churches pure as far as doctrine is concerned. That certainly makes logical sense to me. Who knows if it is the correct one though.

The only thing we know for sure is that there was an Apostasy and that the Apostles knew it was coming. The prophets of old knew it would happen too from what we can read in Amos 8. It was no secret except to perhaps the church in later generations. But I am not here to prove anyone wrong or to point fingers and especially not to mock. I am here to read the scriptures and give my thoughts and impressions on them. And my thoughts today are that there was indeed an apostasy and by necessity, a Restoration of all things much, much later, done by the prophet Joseph Smith. This is my testimony and the truth. Until tomorrow.