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RebeccaJ
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I thought whyme was a guy (?). He claims he is Catholic, goes to Mass every Sunday. You, me, and everyone here see how mormon he is. Yet, he claims to be Catholic. Obviously, he has some things to work out.
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majick275
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majick275
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you are correct he is and I apologize for that error. he posts on numerous LDS boards and apparently has had a crisis of faith in God. so yes he does have things to work out. may God bless him and his family.
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lukewarm
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Tszuki is the same way pretends to be Catholic then rants against the Catholic Church on MADB.
I guess I can compare it to I was on CARM and not really active in the Catholic Church I still am not and borderline deist at best at this point. But I found myself defending the Catholic Church against attacks I knew to be unfair. Maybe that’s what WhyMe is doing? He still has a history in the LDS Church.
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ASimpleSinner
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Back that up please.
Please demonstrate why Catholics need to confess speaking out about the threats to the Catholic Church?
Have you been to Mexico to see the inroads Mormonism has made there? Have you met many agnostic ex-Catholic-turned-ex-Mormons?
What will Catholics need to confess for this? What sin of detraction or calumny was committed in asserting that (1) the Catholic Faith is true (2) the teachings of the Mormon church up to and including a “new revelation” is false and (3) we should be prepared to defend what is true and speak against what is false?
I did not get the email. I will be going to confession before Mass today. If I had gotten the email, it would not change what I am confessing.
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michaeldaniels
Guest
I personally found the text of that email to be very truthful, concise, and to the point…sorry, I am not a PC kind of person and I believe in telling it like it is…in all honesty, they stated it with more charity than they had to. It is an Oxymoron to say Mormon and Christianity in the same sentence.
This is email is being spread by catholics. I have to feel sorry for these catholics who have lost their way from Chirst:
Confronting the New Mormon Threat
Why the rise of Mormonism could harm our fellow Catholics if we don’t act now.
Click here to donate
Think the Mormons are just a group of nice folks who uphold family values, clean living, and American patriotism? Think again.
Think the Mormons are just a strange offshoot of Protestant Christianity? Think again.
Think Mormons are actually Christian? Think again!
The truth is, Mormonism is far different from what most people think it is.
If asked, most Catholics would not be able to explain what Mormons believe. Nor do they have a clue what’s wrong with Mormonism.
And therein lies the danger–especially today, as Mormonism is enjoying a resurgence in popularity and interest, in part because of election news coverage.
But the news media aren’t providing useful information about Mormonism.
This worries me–because the majority of converts to Mormonism are ill-informed Catholics who are highly vulnerable to Mormon proselytizing.
That’s why Catholic Answers is now sprinting into action to head off a potential disaster among our fellow Catholics.
And we’re going to need your help to make this new project successful.
Here’s what it’s all about…
It seems that Catholic Answers is responsible. If true, I have to wonder about this organization:
Facts about the Mormon Threat
FACT: In 1984, sociologist Rodney Stark predicted that the Mormon church would grow at a rate of 30%-50% per decade for the next several decades, reaching from 70 million to possibly as high as 280 million members by the year 2080. He said it would be “the first new major world religion since Islam.”
Indeed, from 1984 to 2000, the church actually grew at an average rate of 52% per decade, outpacing the upper bound on Stark’s prediction.
FACT: When Mormon missionaries make their first contact with a person in the home of a Mormon friend or relative, a conversion will result 50% of the time.
FACT: Each year, the Mormon church baptizes 300,000 converts. (That’s 800 a day–or another million every three years.) Half or more of them are Catholics.
The time to act is now–or we risk losing many Catholics to the Mormon faith in the decade ahead.
Simply put, we must not allow false teachers to mislead Catholics. Yet that’s exactly what Mormon theology is doing, even as you read this letter.
Won’t you please make a special sacrifice and send your gift of $35 … $75 … or perhaps $150 or more today for this important project and all the good works of Catholic Answers.
I hope that it is a sick joke!
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why_me
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I am not really into the trinity and who is right and who is wrong. I really don’t care one way or the other. And so, I can say the creed at mass. It makes no difference. I do think that christians do get tied down on this topic though.
I am sure that god is rather amused by us humans spending so much time on this issue. In the long run, it really does not matter. I just try to be a good person, remember jesus and his sacrafice and follow the ‘gospel’ of Mother Teresa and her five finger gospel: You did it to Me.
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why_me
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I think that most people have things to work out these days and certainly many on this thread do too.
I am basically a simple person who lives a simple life that can be complicated at times. But basically, I just try to be a just person and attempt not to speak ill of people both alive and dead and that includes Joseph Smith. But I am not perfect…
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why_me
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If we all told it like it is there would be no peace in this world. And in fact there is very little peace in this world. When we think that we are telling it like it is, we are usually wrong and a wrong does not make a right.
The email was a scare tactic and misdirected. It was also bigoted against mormonism. In the words of John Lennon: Give peace a chance, the war is over.
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why_me
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You didn’t write it and so you don’t need to confess it. But those that did, do need to confess their sin of being confrontational and sowing the seeds of disharmony.
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why_me
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I like JS. I see nothing wrong with liking this man who gave his life for what he believed in and saved lives in the process. I told my lds conversion story because I believe Soc asked me to. I also told him that I am not that involved with the lds church…and that is true.
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majick275
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what lives did JS save? I believe he was an evil con man whose activities destroyed lives. I believe his successor BY was even worse and got people killed.
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ibkc
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??? He believed only in having sex with as many women as possible and the acquisition of power, and more lives would have been saved had he stuck to Methodism.
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Andytnm
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One thing that really does not make sense to me is how so called God fearing, “Christian” people can make such rude and ignorant attacks on someones beliefs and religion.
Yes I am a mormon, I served a mission for my church, and have a strong belief in it. I have heard all anti-mormon literature, and have had debates with many preachers of different religions.
There are many things I could discuss about the Catholic church which would make many of you angry, but I believe that your church has good people in it. I think most churches are good for the most part, and will help people lead good lives. I think it is a “sick joke” that my religion is treated with so much hatred and disgust. There is so many lies and misguided conclusions about mormons. If any of you think you know all about my church, you are wrong. Go talk to mormon missionaries, or an ACTIVE member of the church. Do not go with content or an intent to find fault in every word they say, but go with understanding. If you will talk with them in a spirit of Christ you will both go away with greater respect for each other.
Yes I am a mormon, I served a mission for my church, and have a strong belief in it. I have heard all anti-mormon literature, and have had debates with many preachers of different religions.
There are many things I could discuss about the Catholic church which would make many of you angry, but I believe that your church has good people in it. I think most churches are good for the most part, and will help people lead good lives. I think it is a “sick joke” that my religion is treated with so much hatred and disgust. There is so many lies and misguided conclusions about mormons. If any of you think you know all about my church, you are wrong. Go talk to mormon missionaries, or an ACTIVE member of the church. Do not go with content or an intent to find fault in every word they say, but go with understanding. If you will talk with them in a spirit of Christ you will both go away with greater respect for each other.
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RC_Matt
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As a cradle Catholic who grew-up with a pack of Mormons, I shake my head every time I hear a Mormon say something like that. As a child, and as an adult, with few exceptions, I have been treated with nothing but contempt by Mormons. Furthermore, I am unaware of any Catholic doctrine or statement that has branded Mormonsim as an abomination or a whore. Talk about “abominable,” I find it absolutely appalling that this sort of garbage is taught to children. What’s up with your 11th Article of Faith?
I’m sorry if you have that impression, but I don’t think anybody in here treats Mormons with hatred or disgust; we’re not about that. We believe that through implicit knowledge of Christ, as long as one lives in accordance with Christ’s teachings, all of which come from love your neighbor as yourself, Mormons are “saved.” The same applies to Buddhists, Jews, Muslims and everybody else; and there’s no such thing as second and third class heavens. Mormon posters tend to scream “anti-Mormon” when people don’t agree with their premises, even when the support for the opposing position comes directly from Mormon sources and/or statements by Mormon Prophets/Apostles.
What people DO take exception to, are Mormons coming in here to proselytize; trying to bear their testimonies and sell Mormonism as the one true Christian faith. I don’t mean to be rude, and I know you don’t want to hear this, but Mormonism is Mormonism, it is not a Christian faith for the same reason that Islam is not a Christian faith. Christianity, taken even in a very liberal context, and Mormonism are totally incongruent and mutually exclusive. That’s not to criticize Mormonism, but Christians worship a different God and we find salvation exclusively through Jesus Christ; Joseph Smith is not part of the picture. There are numerous other points and I don’t think we need to enumerate them. Arrogance and “milk before meat” will not work here, you will be called on it every time.
Your suggestion that people go the missionaries for information is, well, uh, bogus. The CORE dogma is contained in the “meat,” not the “milk.” The practice of not disclosing the more unique dogma until AFTER a baptism is “scored” is deceptive at best. I don’t blame the missionaries for this, they’re just kids doing what they’ve been told to do; in fact I know the mission can be a trying experience and I go out of my way to be kind to them, but it sure doesn’t reflect well on the organization. I’ve been around Mormonism all my life and I find that I often know more about Mormon doctrine than they do. On the other hand, we require our “investigators” to attend class; they must understand everything the Church teaches prior to becoming Catholic and the process can take up to a year. Nobody is ever put under any pressure. Additionally, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is freely available on the web; and that’s everything, soup to nuts.
If you come here with a true spirit of ecumenism, to help people understand contemporary Mormonsim and learn something about Catholicism yourself, you’ll have some fun and everybody learns in the process. If you come here with misinformation and half-truths to convert us, well, it’ll be open season on Andy and it’ll suck being you!
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Nan_S
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That is a very dangerous position to take. You marginalize the very distinct differences between the two religions, then suggest we should all just stop worrying about it and get along nicely.
That way leads to confusion and error. When two positions are contradictory opposites, they can’t both be right. Marginalizing the differences leads to the conclusion that God’s nature itself is irrelevant. The thinking questioner follows that line of reasoning to say: Why not make equal allowances for Buddhism, Hinduism, Confuscanism, Animism, Wicca? I can believe whatever I want, and you can too. So let’s just all be nice to each other and proclaim that we are all going to heaven.
In making such statements, you ultimately disrespect both Mormonism and Catholicism. And your statement that God finds our arguments a source of amusement is disturbing. Both religions state that God has personally revealed the Truth of His nature, because He wanted us to know Truth and not confusion, and state God was insistent that we spread that Truth. The problem is that these “truths” are inherently contradictory between the two religions.
Catholics and Mormons have some very fundamental differences regarding the true nature of God. Unless those are resolved, we can not even suggest that we are worshipping the same God. Nor can we unite in prayer, for we are each beseeching different deities. However, you would have us agree that the issue is irrelevant and can therefore be safely ignored. I’m sorry, but just saying that something is unimportant doesn’t make it so.
At least now we understand why you started a thread suggesting that Catholics and Mormons unite in opposition to Protestant bias.
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Nan_S
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I second this. I ask the same questions of different pairs of missionaries and get different answers each time. I’ve come to the conclusion that the missionaries themselves are just past the “milk” stage and only taking their first taste of the “meat.”
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PaulDupre
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Andy,
Several of us on this forum are former Mormons, myself included. Most of the LDS who post here know virtually nothing of their church’s history and doctrines.
Paul
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Andytnm
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Interesting replies. And some good points. I have a catholic friend who gets all fired up because she felt picked on as a catholic in a mormon community. Yes it is said, but true that there are many “self righteous” mormons. Especially in the Salt Lake City area. But you find that in any religion, or in any community where there is a minority. I have also talked with many former LDS members who have claimed to found out the truth about the church’s history. I have read many of the claims about the what is “contained” in the churchs history. I have gone back and read where those accusations were supposedly found and have found them to be false.
If we want to look at a church’s history, the catholic church has had much immorality and hypocrisy in its past which have been well documented unlike the claims against the mormon church. How much immorality in the papacy especially in the early stages of the catholic church. You can’t come to conclusions about the mormon church based on what you’ve read about their history, just like I shouldn’t judge the catholic church today based on what I have read about their past.
And I reiterate what I had already said. If you want accurate information about what we believe, talk to our missionaries or an active member.
If we want to look at a church’s history, the catholic church has had much immorality and hypocrisy in its past which have been well documented unlike the claims against the mormon church. How much immorality in the papacy especially in the early stages of the catholic church. You can’t come to conclusions about the mormon church based on what you’ve read about their history, just like I shouldn’t judge the catholic church today based on what I have read about their past.
And I reiterate what I had already said. If you want accurate information about what we believe, talk to our missionaries or an active member.
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PaulDupre
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Andy,
We’re not talking about people who did not live up to the moral ideals of their religion. That happens in every church.
We’re talking about Mormon leaders who taught adultery, racial bigotry and other violations of the Ten Commandments as true doctrine revealed by God (see D&C 132 for a start), and encouraged their followers to commit these sins, even telling them that they must commit them in order to merit exaltation.
Don’t you see the difference?
Paul
We’re not talking about people who did not live up to the moral ideals of their religion. That happens in every church.
We’re talking about Mormon leaders who taught adultery, racial bigotry and other violations of the Ten Commandments as true doctrine revealed by God (see D&C 132 for a start), and encouraged their followers to commit these sins, even telling them that they must commit them in order to merit exaltation.
Don’t you see the difference?
Paul
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