Great and abominable church

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In the Latter Day Saint movement, the great and abominable church (also called the great whore of all the earth) is an actual or metaphorical church described in the Book of Mormon and other revelations by Joseph Smith, Jr.. The church is usually identified with the whore of Babylon described in the Book of Revelation.

According to the Book of Mormon, the great and abominable church was formed soon after the life of Jesus and is responsible for killing the Apostles, and for the Great Apostasy (1 Ne. 13:5-6). The church was said to be instrumental in corrupting the Bible and removing from it "the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb" (1 Ne. 13:34).

Although some writers understand the great and abominable church to refer to the Catholic church or Protestantism, the references in the Book of Mormon could have been metaphorical, because, according to the book,

"there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth" (1 Ne. 14:10-11).

[edit] Elaborations

A book entitled Mormon Doctrine, originally published in 1958 by Bruce R. McConkie, contains references linking the Roman Catholic Church to the Whore of Babylon. McConkie become an apostle twelve years after its publication, and was a respected scholar and authority regarding the doctrines and beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is said that some leaders in the LDS Church at the time urged McConkie not to identify the Roman Catholic Church as such, but the initial publications went out unchanged as McConkie intended.^{[citation needed]} A later edition published in 1966 removed the reference.

[edit] Notes

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