New Testament Reveals: A Church Indefectible; or a Great Apostasy

Merry Christmas everyone! Due to the limit on space, I will only cover my opponent's case in this rebuttal. I will go over his attacks and my debate in later rounds. Apostasy and Fallacy: As I covered my opponent's argument and read through my own, I saw one major difference that drastically affects my opponents debate. The differences (and similar to the debate topic): Apostasy. If you study both the affirmative and negative arguments you will see a difference between our definitions of apostasy. Let me explain the difference: Apostasy (according to LDS.org):When individuals or groups of people turn away from the principles of the gospel, they are in a state of apostasy. Apostasy (according to dictionary.com): a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc. Apostasy (according to WalkingTarget): When Jesus leaves his Church to be orphans. As you can see, the LDS definition of apostasy (and also backed up with similar definitions by thousands of sites) is the complete opposite of my opponents. All of the definitions that I found agree that apostasy is when someone leaves and completely ignores their religion, belief, or God. But for some reason, WalkingTarget decided to create his own definition of apostasy. His definition (a complete opposite definition of apostasy) declares that apostasy is when Jesus Christ sees that His Church has failed, so He just leaves them like a bad girlfriend. Well, seeing that the LDS definition of apostasy is the correct definition (as backed up by multiple dictionary/religious sites), then WalkingTarget's definition is completely false. This fractures his entire argument, seeing that his entire argument is built upon his definition of apostasy. WalkingTarget's definition of apostasy also led him to commit fallacy. It is to my knowledge that my opponent has committed two fallacies: 1. The Scarecrow fallacy: My opponent committed the Scarecrow fallacy with his definition of apostasy. This fallacy occurs towards the end of my opponents argument in Premise 3. In this premise, my opponent gives a sympathetic illustration of an adoption agency and an eight year old orphan. WalkingTarget explains that the orphan was disobedient, leading the adoption agency to disown the orphan. He relates this to apostasy and my case by showing that Christ leaving the Church would be like the agency leaving this orphan (it is wrong). The Scarecrow fallacy was committed through this illustration because it has nothing to do with my case or the true definition of apostasy. My opponent threw out this flaming scarecrow in a attempt to demoralize my arguments. This is wrong, I will ask the voters to not let my opponent slip away from this crime. 2. The Loaded Question fallacy: WalkingTarget has also committed the Loaded Question fallacy with his definition of apostasy. This fallacy is present throughout most of my opponents debate. There is a question posed when my opponent explains the concrete dome of the Savior's promise. Christ is perfect, therefore He can not lie. When WalkingTarget talks about the Lord's promise, he explains that apostasy destroys that promise (making Christ imperfect). So my opponents question (that created fallacy) is as follows: "Did the Great Apostasy destroy Christ's promise?" My opponent has already implied and assumed that even if I answer "yes" or "no", I still believe that "Jesus [was] nothing more than a thoughtless Rabbi and a fool at best and at worst a sinner of the highest caliber for intentionally undermining his own Church with false hope." You see, my opponent has already loaded this question with a false judgment to create lies about my intentions (creating a Loaded Question fallacy). Of course I don't believe the Jesus was a fool, I love Jesus Christ. But through this loaded question, it is implied that I believe that Jesus was the high school equivalent of a dork. This is unjust, and this fallacy should be considered during the voting period. Now, to attack my opponent's general argument. Premise 1: Death will not overcome Christ’s Church. My opponent is correct:Death will not overcome Christ’s Church. I mean, in the LDS Church, if an apostle dies, he will be later replaced by another divinely appointed brother. So if death doesn't overcome the Church today, why did it overcome the church during its early years? Even more examples: why would it stop the Church way back in the Old Testament, like when Adam died; leaving his descendants to indulge themselves in apostasy (until Noah and the flood came along). In all of the accounts of apostasy that I can think of (multiple in the Old Testament), the situation usually involves the death of the Church leader. But in other accounts when a Church leader dies (like Lehi to Nephi in the Book of Mormon, or Moses to Joshua in the Old Testament), Church leaders are replaced and the Church goes on. So through these examples, we can see that it really isn't death that overcomes the Church, yet it is just simply apostasy. When a Church leader dies in a righteous time in the Church, the Church divinely replaces the leader and moves on. But when a Church leader dies in a apostasy stricken Church, apostasy continues to dissolve the Church. So in the early Christian Church, when the apostles died (in a apostasy stricken Church), the Church fell into apostasy. The now apostate Church didn't divinely replace the apostle, self appointed bishops decided to replace the apostles. So Jesus was right, death will never overcome his Church, but due to agency, apostasy overcame the Church. Matt. 28: 19-20: I believe that Jesus wasn't only saying this to the apostles, but to every missionary teaching his gospel. It is directed to the authorities in his Church. John 14:16 & John 16:13-14: The spirit is a constant companion for everyone who invites the spirit into their lives. We drive away the spirit when we sin or turn away from the principles of the gospel (apostasy). So when the early Christian Church first started to fall into apostasy, sinful acts were rampant (in sheep's clothing, or unnoticed) and faithful people started to turn away from the principles of the gospel. Therefore, they started to drive away the spirit in their lives. Many people have even denied the spirit (like Judas). Therefore, the Holy Ghost will be a constant companion in our lives only if we are living righteously and we are inviting the spirit into our lives. Premise 2: Promises. Yes, Jesus Christ promised to build and be with his church, but that doesn't eliminate apostasy. Apostasy has no affect on Christ's promises, it only affects the people of Christ's Church. The people can reject that promise and ignore it, but that promise is still there. Christ won't force his promises on any of his children due to agency. Premise 3:Christ will not break his promises. Yet again, we have to go over this. I'm just going to repeat what I said in the last premise:Yes, Jesus Christ promised to build and be with his church, but that doesn't eliminate apostasy. Apostasy has no affect on Christ's promises, it only affects the people of Christ's Church. The people can reject that promise and ignore it, but that promise is still there. Christ won't force his promises on any of his children due to agency. Jesus Christ will never break his promises, but we can break our promises to Christ if we fall into apostasy. Since my opponent made his illustration (with the adoption agency and the orphan) with a false definition of apostasy, I will rewrite it using the correct definition of apostasy. Imagine an adoption agent who promises an eight year old child that he or she will receive a guardian who will watch over them and teach them. The orphan is adopted, but becomes extremely rebellious. The orphan chooses to go against the teachings of his/her guardian by doing drugs, committing sexual sin, etc. Because of the orphan's rebellion, the orphan seems to have less and less interpersonal communication with his/her guardian. Although the orphan is disrespecting the guardian, the guardian still pushes to bring back their son/daughter. The guardian soon reaches out to the orphan, and the guardian helps correct the orphans foolish ways and they become a family again. Jesus Christ (the guardian) will never leave his Church (the orphan), even if it is in a state of apostasy. As we have seen through history, because God and Jesus Christ love us so very much, they will continue to send prophets and apostles to help correct the effects of apostasy and to restore the gospel. Jesus Christ will always be there for his Church, even if the church isn't there for Christ. When the early Christian Church fell into apostasy, they turned away from Christ. But Christ loved them, so He sent the prophet Joseph Smith to restore the Gospel. Conclusion: Apostasy is when the members of the Church turn away from Jesus Christ, not when Jesus Christ turns away from his Church. Thank you. Sources: http://www.dictionary.com... www.lds.org https://www.lds.org...