It’s a good and valid question, Rickie. The answer to it is part of what distinguishes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from other Christian religions. We believe that after the Savior’s death, the apostles who had the authority to lead the Church were eventually killed. The authority left with them. We believe there was a period of several centuries where that authority was not present on the earth, and so it needed to be restored by those who were given the authority anciently (John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John).

Perhaps we have some different definitions about what the word ‘church’ means, but I hope the following links/search terms might help you understand what it means to us.

You can read more about our beliefs about the apostasy and restoration here: http://mormon.org/beliefs/restoration

Or search on lds.org on apostasy, restoration of the priesthood, or restoration. You can read about the organization of the Church (search on April 6, 1830), or about other related topics. And although we are not an official site, we also have a lot of articles about the restoration on our site.: http://mormonwoman.org/category/what-we-believe-lds/joseph-smith-and-the-restoration/

Hope that helps.

(p.s. I’m moved by what I sense as a real love of the Old Testament.)

You said above in response to Katie’s question that the church would be restored through Joseph Smith. Why did the church need to be restored? Christ’s church is here today…it didn’t need to be restored.

If you read through the OT, you’ll see over and over again, that God always saves a remnant of His people. He never let the church be completely destroyed.

Your statement doesn’t make sense to me.

Rickie