The gates of hell shall not prevail

The purpose of my sharing thoughts is never to put down down any other religious belief system, but I will on occasion step out into making a case for why I believe what I believe and defend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I heard a fellow the other day explaining his transition from Protestantism to feeling that Catholicism or Orthodoxy must be correct. He recognized that the idea of Sola Scriptura was not only unbiblical, but that the early saints of the first and second century didn't buy into that at all. In fact it would appear that the concept was invented by reformers as a way to take authority upon themselves and offer legitimacy to their teachings by suggesting that scripture is all that's needed. Ultimately, he shared several passages that caused him to reconsider things over time as he couldn't explain them away, especially when stacked up against teachings of early Christians.

He did recognize that reformation wasn't the only possibility and used the scripture Matthew 16:18 to refute the possibility of a need for restoration. This reads:

¹⁵He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? ¹⁶And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. ¹⁸And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ²⁰Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. ²¹From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

He was focused on the idea of the gates of Hell not prevailing against "it" - It's unclear to me if this refers for sure to the church, or the rock upon which the church is built, let's assume it's the church. The church could not fall to apostasy and need to be restored because the promise is that it would not be prevailed against. It's reasonable logic. I've had similar thoughts on occasion. However, it's one little section with a lot weight being placed on one interpretation of it, while also ignoring other aspects of what the passage at large is also teaching. Peter is being taught that he knows Jesus is the Christ by revelation, and not because he was told so. Would it not make sense to leave room for revelation in the process for knowing which church is teaching the Lord's word in it's purity?

It also assumes that prevailing means to have no losses ever. If a boxer is in the ring and gets pummeled during some rounds of a match, but keeps going until ultimately he knocks out his opponent, we would say he prevailed even though he lost some rounds. Now, perhaps using this logic it could be said, he was beaten but still standing - no great apostasy. That's also fair. What if the fighter lost the fight, and then returned stronger at a later date to win and be dominant thereafter? All this aside, I think there is an important pattern taught in the scriptures that would make sense to follow Christ's church as well. In similitude to the Lord himself being killed and coming back a perfected being, ancient Israel was scattered and will be regathered. The Hebrews were taken into exile and returned again and rebuilt Jerusalem in the Old Testament and further scattered and regathered over the ages with the miraculous re-establishment of the state of Israel in Palestine. It would actually be in keeping that the church would follow the same pattern of death and resurrection, never again to taste of death.

If you don't have a testimony of the restored gospel, I invite you to read the Book of Mormon and pray with sincerity of heart to know if it's true. I myself was transformed by the witness from god I received letting me know the truthfulness of the book and the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith and the Lord's church restored through him to prepare the way for his return to rule and reign upon the earth.

Be strong!