David B. Haight describes why the Great Apostasy happened.
David B. Haight, “Joseph Smith the Prophet,” General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, October 1979
And then a young woman reporter asked, “What is the difference between your church and other churches?”
The crowd was large and pressing toward us, the traffic rather noisy. We were on a close time schedule. It was not an ideal setting, not one I would have chosen to explain the difference between the Lord’s church and others. However, taking advantage of this opportunity, we explained briefly the Apostasy and the Restoration: that there is vast evidence and history of an apostasy from the doctrine taught by Jesus and his Apostles, that the organization of the original Church became corrupted, and sacred ordinances were changed to suit the convenience of men, and that today good people all over the world are confused with contending religions with differing doctrine and methods of worship.