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The actual “bride”, the actual “body”, the actual “kingdom”, the actual “posessor” of the keysto the kingdom of heaven. These are some of the meanings of “the True Church.” And a careful comparison of theology in New Testament times with those of the LDS and other faiths go a long ways to certify the LDS Church as the one and only with the same one faith, Lord and baptism and therefor the only viable candidate for being actual and therefor “True” bride, body, kingdom, posessor (i.e., “Church”). In the New Testament era, The Church is likened to two things: the body of Christ and the bride of Christ – as it sometimes is today when the New Testament is studied. Furthermore, there was to be one faith, one Lord, one baptism. With each church denomination in the early reformation years having a different “common denominator” – a different set of beliefs (i.e., “faith”, and sometimes baptism), the question arose as to which faith (and baptism) was in accord with the original apostolic teachings. They assumed or understood that such a church would be the true bride of Christ and or alternately the true body of Christ. All others faiths, denominations, churches would not be the same as the one that had been established in New Testament times. Therefor all others would be something other than the true “bride” and “body.” After all, the true bride and body (Church) has only one faith, Lord and baptism and therefor cannot encompass all the various forms of faiths, baptisms, etc., that the general body of “christianity” encompassed. I suspect that the matter of the “Church” being “true” is strange to most people responding to this post for several reasons. 1. We don’t think of the Church in symbolic terms (i.e., as the bride or body) and therefore don’t think of any churches as imposter brides or bodies of Christ. 2. Unlike in the past, few other churches today believe in a “one true Church” and so without their claiming to be that one true Church/bride/body, we don’t perceive them as imposter churches, brides or bodies of Christ. 3. Like the general population, we tend not to associate so much with others who witness of their faiths and so we are unlikely to even know that others generally believe that today’s true Church of Jesus Christ is the whole body of Christian believers. This belief is why some consider us not Christians. After all, our beliefs are not one with their beliefs on some very critical points – some of which points are mostly imagined or exaggerated in their minds but critical, and other points that are significant to us, such as our having the keys to the kingdom of heaven. It is “The True…”
