Catholic praying to Mormon Heavenly Father permitted?

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So I was talking to Mormon Missionaries for about 5 weeks now and it was a very interesting experience, I read the book of Mormon, went to their services and they even offered me a lift to see Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency who recently visited Belfast, which was a big deal from what I seen.

This week it came to the point were they asked me to pray the Mormon prayer to the Heavenly Father to know after all this whether or not the Book of Mormon was true or not. This wasn’t the first time I was asked to do this but this time we debated about the whole praying to saints thing and that it wasn’t directly to God, but I explained it would just be like asking a friend to pray for you except they are in Heaven (they couldn’t answer me why that was wrong).

So it then occurred to me in this discussion that they don’t pray to Jesus but rather in his name and that “Christ isn’t equal to the Heavenly Father”, their words not mine, so I thought to myself that by saying their prayer that I would be making Christ not equal to the Father which in my head was blasphemous. After that I said that I just couldn’t because it would be sinful, they understood my reservations and that they wouldn’t pressure me to, but if I couldn’t do that then there was nothing more to be done so we said our thanks and parted ways mutually.

Was I right to have thought the way I did, is it sinful to pray to their Heavenly Father prayer because it doesn’t make Christ equal to the Father?
 
Catholic_Nation said:
So I was talking to Mormon Missionaries for about 5 weeks now and it was a very interesting experience, I read the book of Mormon, went to their services and they even offered me a lift to see Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency who recently visited Belfast, which was a big deal from what I seen.

This week it came to the point were they asked me to pray the Mormon prayer to the Heavenly Father to know after all this whether or not the Book of Mormon was true or not. This wasn’t the first time I was asked to do this but this time we debated about the whole praying to saints thing and that it wasn’t directly to God, but I explained it would just be like asking a friend to pray for you except they are in Heaven (they couldn’t answer me why that was wrong).

So it then occurred to me in this discussion that they don’t pray to Jesus but rather in his name and that “Christ isn’t equal to the Heavenly Father”, their words not mine, so I thought to myself that by saying their prayer that I would be making Christ not equal to the Father which in my head was blasphemous. After that I said that I just couldn’t because it would be sinful, they understood my reservations and that they wouldn’t pressure me to, but if I couldn’t do that then there was nothing more to be done so we said our thanks and parted ways mutually.

Was I right to have thought the way I did, is it sinful to pray to their Heavenly Father prayer because it doesn’t make Christ equal to the Father?
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I’m Lutheran, so take perhaps my response doesn’t fit. But there’s a really simple way to know whether one should be praying to the God/god in question. Do the people you’re praying with believe the man in the picture below to be the same God who has no beginning and no end and is the sole creator of all things visible and invisible?
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
If so, great. If not, then you’re probably not praying to the one, true God.

Hint: Mormons don’t believe Jesus to be God. If you are Christian, you should not pray to the Mormon god.
 
Catholic_Nation said:
So I was talking to Mormon Missionaries for about 5 weeks now and it was a very interesting experience, I read the book of Mormon, went to their services and they even offered me a lift to see Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency who recently visited Belfast, which was a big deal from what I seen.
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You got to see Uchtdorf? Awesome!!! He’s my favorite (and about half the LDS folk worldwide would probably say the same thing).
Catholic_Nation said:
I explained it would just be like asking a friend to pray for you except they are in Heaven (they couldn’t answer me why that was wrong).
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Great job- many many of us non-Catholics are prone to misconceptions, and it’s good to get the correct information.
Catholic_Nation said:
So it then occurred to me in this discussion that they don’t pray to Jesus but rather in his name
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Correct, because Christ instructed us to pray to the Father (Matthew 6:9–13 )
Catholic_Nation said:
“Christ isn’t equal to the Heavenly Father”,
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This non-equality is not a matter of power, Goodness, Perfection, justice, or mercy (they are both infinite in those regards).

Rather it is acknowledging that the Son bends His knee the the Father and calls Him “my God” (John 20:17).
 
jane_doe said:
Yes.

Actually we do.
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Mormons do not believe God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God. Mormons do not profess the Trinity. The Mormon concept of God is so removed from Trinitarian Christianity that the Catholic Church has made a determination that Mormon baptism is not Christian baptism.
 
1ke said:
Mormons do not believe God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God.
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Actually we do. We believe it is a unity of purpose, goals, perfection, goodness, etc. We do not believe in a shared ousia.
 
jane_doe said:
You got to see Uchtdorf? Awesome!!! He’s my favorite (and about half the LDS folk worldwide would probably say the same thing).
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One of the missionaries that I went up to see him with is also a big fan of him as well. He and his wife were excellent speakers.
jane_doe said:
Great job- many many of us non-Catholics are prone to misconceptions, and it’s good to get the correct information.
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It seem to me that they thought we actually pray to Mary and the Saints but we don’t, we ask them to intercede or pray for us.
jane_doe said:
Correct, because Christ instructed us to pray to the Father (Matthew 6:9–13 )
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True.
jane_doe said:
This non-equality is not a matter of power, Goodness, Perfection, justice, or mercy (they are both infinite in those regards).

Rather it is acknowledging that the Son bends His knee the the Father and calls Him “my God” (John 20:17).
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But you dont recognize Jesus being equal to the Father?
 
Catholic_Nation said:
It seem to me that they thought we actually pray to Mary and the Saints but we don’t, we ask them to intercede or pray for us.
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They probably did- it’s VERY common misconception among all non-Catholics- I myself once held it!
Catholic_Nation said:
But you dont recognize Jesus being equal to the Father?
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Equal in power, goodness, mercy, justice? Totally.
Subordinate in regards that the Son chooses to bend His knee the Father and call the Father His God? Yep, John 20:17.
 
jane_doe said:
They probably did- it’s VERY common misconception among all non-Catholics- I myself once held it!
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Hasn’t been the first time, probably wont be the last but its fun to talk about.
jane_doe said:
Equal in power, goodness, mercy, justice? Totally.
Subordinate in regards that the Son chooses to bend His knee the Father and call the Father His God? Yep, John 20:17.
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I understand now, their the same but Christ is willing to submit to the Father. Yes?
 
jane_doe said:
They probably did- it’s VERY common misconception among all non-Catholics- I myself once held it!

Equal in power, goodness, mercy, justice? Totally.
Subordinate in regards that the Son chooses to bend His knee the Father and call the Father His God? Yep, John 20:17.
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There needs to be a little bit of context of the few words Jane uses to justify the subordination of the LDS Jesus to the Father. Many times in the NT Jesus speaks of God as his father, he prays to God. This is all part of his humanity while on earth.

John 20:11-18 The Appearance to Mary of Magdala.
11 But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. 13 And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. 17 Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me,* for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.*
 
Catholic Nation, I think you did the right thing. Most Mormon missionaries probably don’t really understand the theological differences between Mormonism’s Heavenly Father and God. When I left Mormonism, I was no longer able to pray the way Mormons do even though I was no longer sure who God is at that point.

I have prayed with my Mormon family, but I refuse to use the Mormon formula for prayer. Actually, they never allow me to give the prayer anymore anyways so I just do the sign of the cross and bow my head when they pray at family gatherings (at least to the extent I even know about such gatherings anymore).
 
iepuras said:
Catholic Nation, I think you did the right thing. Most Mormon missionaries probably don’t really understand the theological differences between Mormonism’s Heavenly Father and God. When I left Mormonism, I was no longer able to pray the way Mormons do even though I was no longer sure who God is at that point.

I have prayed with my Mormon family, but I refuse to use the Mormon formula for prayer. Actually, they never allow me to give the prayer anymore anyways so I just do the sign of the cross and bow my head when they pray at family gatherings (at least to the extent I even know about such gatherings anymore).
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I think your quite right, they nor I had any knowledge of the different understandings until we went a bit deeper into our two different beliefs. The thing is when when we say In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit every time we pray, that is God we are praying to as opposed to just the Father or just the Son. Mormonism and Catholicism while saying the same thing about God just have different understandings about it I suppose.
 
Catholic_Nation said:
I think your quite right, they nor I had any knowledge of the different understandings until we went a bit deeper into our two different beliefs. The thing is when when we say In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit every time we pray, that is God we are praying to as opposed to just the Father or just the Son. Mormonism and Catholicism while saying the same thing about God just have different understandings about it I suppose.
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That’s pretty much it. Same words, VERY different meanings. Ordinary Mormons don’t really get that. However, the Mormons who engage here do.
 
Catholic_Nation said:
So I was talking to Mormon Missionaries for about 5 weeks now and it was a very interesting experience, I read the book of Mormon, went to their services and they even offered me a lift to see Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency who recently visited Belfast, which was a big deal from what I seen.

This week it came to the point were they asked me to pray the Mormon prayer to the Heavenly Father to know after all this whether or not the Book of Mormon was true or not. This wasn’t the first time I was asked to do this but this time we debated about the whole praying to saints thing and that it wasn’t directly to God, but I explained it would just be like asking a friend to pray for you except they are in Heaven (they couldn’t answer me why that was wrong).

So it then occurred to me in this discussion that they don’t pray to Jesus but rather in his name and that “Christ isn’t equal to the Heavenly Father”, their words not mine, so I thought to myself that by saying their prayer that I would be making Christ not equal to the Father which in my head was blasphemous. After that I said that I just couldn’t because it would be sinful, they understood my reservations and that they wouldn’t pressure me to, but if I couldn’t do that then there was nothing more to be done so we said our thanks and parted ways mutually.

Was I right to have thought the way I did, is it sinful to pray to their Heavenly Father prayer because it doesn’t make Christ equal to the Father?
Click to expand...
When I’m with my Mormon family and they pray, I’m respectful but not praying with them. I don’t believe we are praying to the same God, and do feel it would be at the least, disrespectful to God to pray with others to another God. I just can’t do it.
 
RebeccaJ said:
When I’m with my Mormon family and they pray, I’m respectful but not praying with them. I don’t believe we are praying to the same God, and do feel it would be at the least, disrespectful to God to pray with others to another God. I just can’t do it.
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That was my opinion as well when they asked me to pray to Heavenly Father, that isn’t God in our sense so we cant pray their prayers.
 
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