How to Explain the Apostasy and Restoration- Anthony Sweat
How Can I Explain the Apostasy and Restoration to Others?
Can you say “Re-establish” and “Puzzles”?
Suppose you were asked to summarize the main claim of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to the world; what would you say? If you aren’t quite sure, that’s alright. You’re not alone. A recent study asked 1000 non-Mormons to answer the question “To the best of your understanding, what is the main claim of Mormonism?” Only 14% of respondents identified closely what Mormonism’s message to the world is. So what is the message of Mormonism? Here it is in three sentences:
1- During Jesus’ life, he organized his Church
2- It became corrupted by men
3- Jesus has re-established his Church in our day
Here is a handout you can use. Print these onto sticker paper (or full sheet label paper) and have the kids stick them in their journals
You can either print the JPEG above, or here is a PDF: 3 sentences to explain the Apostasy and Restoration
One mistake we often make when explaining the message of Mormonism—the Apostasy and Restoration—to others is we use words like “apostasy” and “restoration”! These words are common vernacular to Latter-day Saints, but they sound like uncommon Greek to many others. “Restoration” is what people do to old cars; it’s a button people push on a computer that has crashed; it’s a hardware store to get overpriced cabinet thingy-ma-bobs. To many, “restoration” means to fix up an already existing entity. So when we say the Lord’s Church was “restored” by Joseph Smith some people can get the wrong idea and think Joseph must have done a little doctrinal fixing up to the house that Peter or Luther built.
However, when Mormons say that Jesus’ Church has been restored, we don’t mean that Jesus’ Church just got a new coat of theological paint to an already existing organization. We believe the authorized Church of Jesus Christ ceased to officially exist. Its prophets and apostles were rejected and killed. The authority to act in God’s name was not passed on. The tree of Jesus’ original Church was no longer alive. And it would remain dead until a new seed was re-planted, prophets were re-established, authority was re-instated, the Church’s divine organization was re-built, or in other words that Jesus’ Church was RE-STORED. I have found that when explaining the concept of apostasy and restoration, it’s best to introduce it using the word “re-established.”
The youth curriculum suggests having the youth “think of object lessons that might help them explain aspects of the Apostasy and the Restoration to others.” A GREAT learning activity/object lesson to do to help others understand the apostasy and restoration is the following “Apostasy Puzzle.” Here’s how it works:
Prepare the following puzzle (you can print this one out. Just use the images below, save it to your computer and print it as an image. Make it like 5 inches by 5 inches or so)
Cut it up into pieces like so and put it into an envelope:
Break the class up into four to five groups (enough so that each person in the group can have at least one piece of the puzzle). Give each group the five piece puzzle in the envelope and tell them that they have 2 minutes to put the puzzle together. Don’t tell the students what shape the puzzle is supposed to make, let them try to figure it out. Trust me. This simple five piece puzzle s HARD for all ages to do. At the end of the two minutes, most groups will not have been able to put the puzzle together properly, will have made their own overall shape out of the pieces, and even disregarded, ripped, or hidden some of the pieces to make the overall shape they wanted. After comparing each groups finished shape and noting how different they all are, show them what shape the puzzle was supposed to make. Once they see how it is supposed to look, have them make it.
Application: Ask the students how this puzzle is like what happened during the great apostasy. Tell the students that each piece of the puzzle can represent one of the major areas of the true church (priesthood ordinances, revelation, commandments, prophets and apostles, and Jesus Christ as the cornerstone). Ask them why so many churches formed, with so many variations on the same themes. Have them compare their different shapes to the different churches today. What was needed to get the right shape? (Revelation). Why was it necessary to have a restoration? Why are all the pieces needed in order to form the true church? This activity leads into a great discussion about how the effects of the apostasy and the need for a restoration. Have fun!
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Study referenced above: Gary C. Lawrence, How Americans View Mormonism (Orange, CA: The Parameter Foundation),2008, 42.
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Tony clearly explains the apostasy and restoration, with awesome stats, visuals, facts, and quotes, in his bestselling book MORMONS: AN OPEN BOOK
I am so thankful for the helps you have given to teach these Sunday School lessons to the youth! I used your handout you shared last week and I am going to use this one this week. You are amazing!! Thank-You and keep the great ideas coming! 🙂
I am using the puzzle to show that if you don’t have all the pieces of the (I am leaving one piece out) restored church (Book of Mormon) then it isn’t fully restored and doesn’t make a lot of sense. We need all things restored including the Book of Mormon. While the Bible has a lot of truths in it has lost the full truth and the Book of Mormon has the fullness of the restored gospel. That is why we are asked to read the Book of Mormon. Then giving them the missing piece and showing the shape it is supposed to make. Having them make it and discussing the differences in their experiences.
Thank you for all the work you put into these lessons. They REALLY help spark ideas that tickle our brains and cant put word to until we see your ideas!
I like that idea! Thanks for sharing!
Love this idea, am planning to try it out in class this week 🙂
While the five pieces correctly form the square shown above, it is possible to create a square using only four pieces if you leave out the small square piece. One group in our class did just that!
This created an interesting discussion. It was pointed out that the Prophet Joseph was told in the Sacred Grove that the sects of his day had “…a form of godliness…” but not the power–or the authority (See Joseph Smith 1:19).
The missing small square piece could represent Jesus Christ as the “chief cornerstone” (See Matthew 15:8) who had the authority to re-establish His Church again on the earth, including prophets and apostles.
Many churches today have a form of godliness and might the church in Christ’s day. But a critical piece is missing: the power and authority to restore it in its fullness.
The class was challenged not to leave the Savior out of their lives (a tie-in to the previous week’s lesson on likening the events of the apostasy and restoration to our own life). To help make Christ a central part of all they do and say. I gave them each their own “FLIPBOOK Names of Christ” as a gift to take home. They loved it!
Quick question… Are the separate puzzle pieces above EXACTLY the same as the pieces in the completed puzzle above? I ask because the kids in my class could only complete the puzzle if they flipped the bottom piece (the one that looks like a mountain range) over. I tried it with my husband and we weren’t able to make the square without flipping that same piece over – ? Thanks.
Thank you so much! I’m using this idea in my lesson on Sunday. I really appreciate how you share your teaching ideas, they inspire me!
Thank you so much for your willingness to share. Because of what you share, you have made my lessons that much better. 🙂