Question
Gramps,
What makes the LDS Church the one true church among all the other denominations in the world?
Marcus
Answer
Marcus,
Picture a world alive with faith: steeples rising above cities, churches great and small dotting countrysides from Africa to Asia, and from the United States to Europe. Fervent prayers whispered in countless tongues. In this world, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands among millions, yet it proclaims something extraordinary: it is the restoration of the church Christ Himself established—a restoration complete with prophetic authority, priesthood power, and all the ordinances necessary for returning to God’s presence.
To an outside observer, such a claim prompts questions: Is this exclusivity justified? What about the goodness, sincerity, and faith found in other religions? Are such claims divisive or arrogant?
Joseph Smith’s First Vision and the Restoration
The roots of the Church’s claim date back to the early 19th century in upstate New York, a time of spiritual revival and religious confusion. Joseph Smith, a fourteen-year-old boy yearning to know which church was true, pondered the scriptural admonition: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5). Acting on this counsel, Joseph retired to a grove of trees and prayed.
In his own words, Joseph recounts being visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ. When he asked which church he should join, he was told to join none, as “they were all wrong…their creeds were an abomination in [God’s] sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.’”
Joseph was subsequently called by God to restore—rather than reform—the Church of Jesus Christ as it existed in ancient times, complete with divine authority, organization, and doctrine. In 1830, the Church was organized under specific revelation and direction, believed to be the beginning of the “dispensation of the fulness of times” spoken of in scripture (Ephesians 1:10).
Authority and Priesthood Keys
Central to the Church’s claim is not merely its doctrine or good works, but its assertion of restored divine authority—or “priesthood”—to act in God’s name. This authority, members believe, was lost from the earth following a long-prophesied apostasy after the deaths of early apostles. Joseph Smith reported receiving priesthood authority directly from resurrected beings: first John the Baptist (restoring the Aaronic Priesthood), and later Peter, James, and John (restoring the Melchizedek Priesthood).
This priesthood confers the right to perform essential ordinances such as baptism and confers discernment through revelation—a claim not made lightly, but with the weight of sacred experience behind it.
The Need for Restoration, Not Just Reformation
While the Protestant Reformation strove to correct abuses and return closer to biblical Christianity, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that only a full restoration—by divine intervention—could fully reestablish Christ’s original church, doctrine, and authority. This distinguishes its perspective from that of most other faiths, including Catholicism and Protestantism, and supports its claim to a singular truth.
Is it even possible for multiple, contradictory interpretations to all be equally true? The Church argues, with reason, that core doctrines, such as the necessity of baptism or the requirements for salvation, cannot logically be both essential and non-essential at the same time.
If two churches preach two different doctrines that are at variance with one another, it would seem that at most only one of them could be true. For instance, either baptism is essential to salvation or it is not… Two conflicting doctrines cannot both be true. Thus, it seems logical to conclude that there can be only one true church. Either only one church is true or none are.”
The standard here is not to denigrate other faiths, but to reckon with the reality that truth, by nature, is not endlessly flexible.
The New Testament itself contains prophecies of a “falling away” or apostasy before the Second Coming of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Members of the Church see the Restoration not as an indictment of all goodness in the world, but as the fulfillment of scriptural expectation: that in the “dispensation of the fullness of times,” God would send again prophets and restore all things (Acts 3:19–24).
Belief in the necessity of “one true church” does not mean other religions are devoid of truth or virtue. The Church’s doctrine expressly recognizes the goodness, righteousness, and sincerity of millions who worship elsewhere. Many great works have been accomplished by members of other faiths as well as other Church organizations. We must recognize the good in other Churches, especially their members.”
The key distinction, according to Church teachings, is that while other faiths may possess truth and accomplish good, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alone claims the restored priesthood authority and all necessary ordinances for salvation.
Responding to the concern that such a claim is arrogant, leaders and members point to a subtler truth: “What I have found in the LDS Church is a fulness, not a monopoly.” Rather than viewing itself as holding all that is good, the Church teaches that God’s light “enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9), and that individuals and faiths everywhere possess parts of God’s truth.
This is reflected in the Church’s extensive humanitarian and interfaith work, from disaster relief to shared moral causes. President Gordon B. Hinckley famously counseled members to “look for the good in everyone and in all religions.”
The Church does not simply ask for blind acceptance, but invites all individuals, as did Joseph Smith, to seek God directly for confirmation. This invitation—rooted in scriptural promises such as Moroni 10:4-5 is at the heart of Mormon missionary work and individual conversion:
When one complies with the principles of salvation, the Holy Ghost will witness to the person that the Church is indeed true. Thus, the knowledge that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kingdom of God on earth is given as a personal revelation to all those who live its principles and appeal to Deity for that sacred knowledge.
No human argument, the Church teaches, can substitute for the quiet (or sometimes powerful) witness of the Holy Spirit.
Gramps
