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Sunday, December 30, 2018

Why would Jesus make a second church?

Zack from YouTube asked:
"Why should Jesus come visit the Americas after His resurrection so that he could start a new church when he had already established one? I don't believe Jesus would come down to earth to start two religions."

Well, quite simply, it wasn't two religions or a different church. It was the same church in two locations.  The same Jesus giving the same teachings in a different place.

To put in a modern context familiar to many people today, lets say that in your city there is a City Community Church-East Campus and a City Community Church -West Campus. Are these two different religions? no. Are they two different churches? also no. It is the same church in two locations.  Why would City Community Church establish a second location, wasn't the East Campus good enough? Well, not everyone could come to the East Campus, but Pastor John wanted to reach as many people as possible, so he established the West Campus to serve the people on the west side of town.  It might look a little different, have different people, etc but it's the same church with the same beliefs and the same message.

Not everyone could make it to the Sermon on the Mount due to the 8,000 mile commute over ocean and desert and all, and Jesus had no way to televise it or even mail a copy, so he gave a repeat to His "other sheep" (practicing Jews, I might add) on the other side of the world as soon as he could make it over there. Jesus established his "East Campus", left Assistant Pastor Paul and his twelve-man leadership team in charge, and then went to his "West Campus", where he gave a repeat of his sermons.

As a Latter-day Saint, I do not put limits on God. God does not limit his message to one people, one location, or one time. He wants to reach as many people as possible. Why should I limit Jesus to only Jerusalem in 35 AD? If He had other people who were also looking forward to His prophesied coming, should He not also visit them? And would He not also give them the same message which He had previously given? There is one fold, and one Shepherd of us all - Christ Jesus.


Jesus preaching at his East Campus. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 5-7 (painting by Harry Anderson)
Jesus preaching at his West Campus. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" 3 Nephi 12-14 (painting by Glen Hopkinson)

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