This discussion is not an expression of surprise that Joseph Smith, by accident, stumbled upon a coherent set of answers to the knotty religious problems of the Fathers of the Reformation. Or that he, in the brilliance of a 'religious Mozart,' made up a better set of answers than the Fathers of the Reformation were able to thru their own extensive debates.
In fact, the challenges of divisive Christianity were the well-spring of the Restoration (a term used by Latter-day Saints, also known to much of society as Mormons, do denote the re-establishment of the original organization, authority, and complete doctrine of Christianity).
Joseph Smith recounted in detail the atmosphere of competitive contention of Protestantism in his community in upstate New York in ~1819, where ministers and pastors, under the guise of 'revival' vied with each other for converts by preaching their versions of Christian doctrine and decrying the interpretation of the other sects, though they all referred to the same Bible for support.
Two of my own great grandfathers, William Kyle Shupe and James Richey, recounted the challenges they had, at somewhat later dates, as they struggled to understand the confusing religious landscape of incomplete and multifaceted Protestant Christianity that they experienced in their youth. Both earnestly studied the religions of their communities and tried to discern which was true, by comparing those religions to the Bible. (Kyle Shupe, as a boy, obtained a Bible as a prize for faithfully perfect attendance at a Sunday School 10 miles distant, walking there each Sunday for a year on his own initiative, and reading the volume thru when he had obtained it.) Both Kyle and James were dissatisfied with the doctrines and practices of these religions BECAUSE these religions did not fully conform to the Bible, and they were frustrated in their desires to embrace the complete religion of the Savior. Only when they encountered Mormon missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did they feel that they had found the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Over the centuries since the Protestant Reformation, many of the faithful, who sought to worship God in truth, have been dissatisfied with established religion and have tried to better it by breaking away and continuing to refine it. Some of my ancestors, a William Stradling and his son Matthew, are at the top of the petition to form early "Nonconformist" congregations in England, splinter groups who felt that the Church of England was an inadequate representation of the Church of Jesus Christ.
When Joseph Smith was confused by the contention and conflicting claims of the various Christian sects, he found inspiration in the Bible, where James (James 1:5) instructed him that God would clarify confusion, that a man might appeal to God for clarity and that God would not rebuke the seeker.
Joseph Smith did appeal to God for an answer and his answer came with great clarity and power. God the Father and Jesus Christ visited him in person and declared that those Churches were incomplete and adulterated with human philosophy and instructed him to not join any of them; that God would provide a path forward for him in which the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored to the Earth.
So it is satisfying that in the Restoration of the Gospel, that all of the core questions which were left in contention by the Reformation were answered by the revelations and doctrines given to Joseph Smith by God.
I believe that is worth while recounting the original Reformation questions, providing an overview of the status of these questions as provided by current Christian Sects (hopefully by reference to published positions of those churches that you can find on-line) and the complete and correct doctrinal as elucidated in the revelations God has given thru His re-establishment of His Church in the latter days.
In fact, the challenges of divisive Christianity were the well-spring of the Restoration (a term used by Latter-day Saints, also known to much of society as Mormons, do denote the re-establishment of the original organization, authority, and complete doctrine of Christianity).
Joseph Smith recounted in detail the atmosphere of competitive contention of Protestantism in his community in upstate New York in ~1819, where ministers and pastors, under the guise of 'revival' vied with each other for converts by preaching their versions of Christian doctrine and decrying the interpretation of the other sects, though they all referred to the same Bible for support.
Two of my own great grandfathers, William Kyle Shupe and James Richey, recounted the challenges they had, at somewhat later dates, as they struggled to understand the confusing religious landscape of incomplete and multifaceted Protestant Christianity that they experienced in their youth. Both earnestly studied the religions of their communities and tried to discern which was true, by comparing those religions to the Bible. (Kyle Shupe, as a boy, obtained a Bible as a prize for faithfully perfect attendance at a Sunday School 10 miles distant, walking there each Sunday for a year on his own initiative, and reading the volume thru when he had obtained it.) Both Kyle and James were dissatisfied with the doctrines and practices of these religions BECAUSE these religions did not fully conform to the Bible, and they were frustrated in their desires to embrace the complete religion of the Savior. Only when they encountered Mormon missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did they feel that they had found the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Over the centuries since the Protestant Reformation, many of the faithful, who sought to worship God in truth, have been dissatisfied with established religion and have tried to better it by breaking away and continuing to refine it. Some of my ancestors, a William Stradling and his son Matthew, are at the top of the petition to form early "Nonconformist" congregations in England, splinter groups who felt that the Church of England was an inadequate representation of the Church of Jesus Christ.
When Joseph Smith was confused by the contention and conflicting claims of the various Christian sects, he found inspiration in the Bible, where James (James 1:5) instructed him that God would clarify confusion, that a man might appeal to God for clarity and that God would not rebuke the seeker.
Joseph Smith did appeal to God for an answer and his answer came with great clarity and power. God the Father and Jesus Christ visited him in person and declared that those Churches were incomplete and adulterated with human philosophy and instructed him to not join any of them; that God would provide a path forward for him in which the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored to the Earth.
So it is satisfying that in the Restoration of the Gospel, that all of the core questions which were left in contention by the Reformation were answered by the revelations and doctrines given to Joseph Smith by God.
It seems disingenuous for Protestants, particularly fundamentalist evangelicals, who cannot agree among themselves on the doctrines of Christ, to deny the Christianity of the Latter-day Saints, who have sought for and received the fullness of the doctrines of Jesus Christ, by appealing to Him directly and receiving revelation from Him.
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