catholicism and mormonism....differences.

[PattyPryor]

It is a page out of “The Mormon Encyclopedia”. A publication that your church endorses and references quite often in its own magazines (Ensign and New Era). lds.org used to have a direct link to it. For whatever reason, they have removed the link. But you can still find the online encyclopedia at BYU.

yes the page linked is DIRECTLY from the Mormon encycolpidia for all you who were wondering. Vol. 1 under Catholicism and mormonism:thumbsup:

 

[RC_Matt]

why me says that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three separate gods. zerinus says that there’s only the Father, and that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not divine at all.

I’ve always thought that Mormonism taught that there are three gods; totally separate beings, heavenly father and the son are corporeal and the holy spirit is incorporeal. The three gods are united in purpose and therefore form the godhead. I tried to find support for Zerinus dude’s statement that only heavenly father is considered a god, which would make more sense given the three individuals involved and the LDS claim to monotheism, and couldn’t readily find anything specific. I did however, find the following:

“I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods.” (quote from Joseph Smith on the LDS website)

“The trinity is three separate Gods: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That these three are separate individuals, physically distinct from each other, is demonstrated by the accepted records of divine dealings with man." (Mormon Apostle James Talmage, Articles of Faith)

“There are three Gods–the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

“Three separate personages–Father, Son, and Holy Ghost comprise the Godhead. As each of these persons is a god, it is evident, from this standpoint alone, that a plurality of gods exists. To us, speaking in the proper finite sense, these three are the only gods we worship." (both from Mormon Apostle Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine)

So, in the absence of anything to the contrary, I have to believe that that WhyMe is correct.

Then there’s the question of whether or not there are other gods of other planets, and whether or not regular men can become gods themelves.

The existence of multiple gods, aside from the three discussed above, and the doctrine of eternal progression (men can become gods) are Mormon beliefs and you can read about them on the LDS website.

Will the real LDS doctrines make themselves known, please?

The only thing I can suggest is only refer to Mormon sources. The Standard Works; i.e, the Kings James Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, are the Mormon canonical books. There are also ancillary Mormon sources, such Mormon historical accounts and writings of prophets and apostiles. Many Mormons don’t know much about their own faith (or won’t tell you the truth), including missionaries, so it’s best to just go directly to Mormon sources and get your answers from the horse’s mouth. If you dig a little, much of this can be found on the LDS website.

 

[LaMar]

Many Mormons don’t know much about their own faith (or won’t tell you the truth), including missionaries, so it’s best to just go directly to Mormon sources and get your answers from the horse’s mouth. If you dig a little, much of this can be found on the LDS website.

Good advice, and true about the “lying for the Lord” stuff.

I always encourage people to compare sources like the standard works and Journal of Discourses with transcripts of general conference. The only problem with reading sources alone is the fact that Mormonism changes rapidly. The doctrines in Kirtland are very different from those in Nauvoo, and those in Brigham Young’s Utah, and many of the variations are markedly different than those today.

To answer the point that was raised earlier, Mormons of my generation were taught that we worship only one God (Elohim - roughly equivalent to God the Father in the Catholic pantheon), who is an exalted human being. Jesus was created by Elohim at around the same time we all were, but is more advanced than we, so from our perspective he is divine too, and we pray through him but not to him (very similar to the way many Catholics pray to Mary to intercede).

The Holy Spirit is a nebulous creature who is God’s watchman. God can’t be in more than one place at the same time, as he has a physical body, so he has this Holy Ghost which is everywhere at once, permeating the universe, unbounded by space and time, to keep track of our good and bad deeds.

This was the source of endless amusement for me as a kid. I’d ask my teachers esoteric questions like: “so did the Holy Ghost not get a body yet, or did he give his body up to take this job?”. (Mormons will laugh at the significance of that trick question). In any event, if none of this nonsense makes sense to you Catholics, it didn’t make sense to me either as a 14-year old Mormon boy in Teacher’s Quorum, and I could see through it as a child. As you can see, both Zenius and Why Me might be right, depending upon the perspective and the version of doctrine you’re applying.

 

[RebeccaJ]

To answer the point that was raised earlier, Mormons of my generation were taught that we worship only one God (Elohim - roughly equivalent to God the Father in the Catholic pantheon), who is an exalted human being. Jesus was created by Elohim at around the same time we all were, but is more advanced than we, so from our perspective he is divine too, and we pray through him but not to him (very similar to the way many Catholics pray to Mary to intercede).

No, it is not similar at all. Think of praying with her, not through her.

This was the source of endless amusement for me as a kid.

When I was a kid, and in primary, I was watching Disney’s version of Pinocchio and I had this thought that the Holy Ghost was the same thing as Jiminy Cricket.

 

[justinthemartyr]

wouldn’t the differences be polar opposites? like oil and water? only the two are still liquids and that is the only resemblance?

the two are religions, but have almost nothing in common except that they appear similar on the outside.

 

[RC_Matt]

wouldn’t the differences be polar opposites? like oil and water? only the two are still liquids and that is the only resemblance?

the two are religions, but have almost nothing in common except that they appear similar on the outside.

Catholicism is a Christian faith and Mormonism is not; that is the difference. Similar to Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc., Mormonism is its own animal.

 

[xmormon]

Here are some interesting quotes…

Joseph Smith said that “First God Himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a man like unto one of yourselves, that is the great secret. . .I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. . . God himself; the Father of us all dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did, . . .You have go to learn how to be gods yourselves; . . .No man can learn you more than what I have told you.”

        (2) Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt stated, "The Gods who dwell in Heaven. . .have been redeemed from the grave in a world which existed before the foundations of this earth were laid. They and the Heavenly body which they now inhabit were once in a fallen state . . . . they were exalted also, from Fallen men to Celestial Gods to inhabit their heaven forever and ever."

        (3) Pratt further stated that, "We (men on earth) were begotten by our father in heaven: the person of our Father in Heaven we begotten on a previous heavenly world by his father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient father; and so on."

        (4) Brigham Young stated the purpose of the LDS god, "The Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming God like himself; We are created . . . to become Gods like unto our Father in heaven."

        (5) Being true to his church's teaching, Milton Hunter concluded that, " . . .we must accept the fact that there was a time when Deity was much less powerful than He is today."

        (6) The LDS Scriptures teach that God is a man of flesh and bones: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us."

    From these statements made by the founders and leaders of Mormonism we can see that they believe in a plurality of gods in the Universe. Their god is only one of an unnumerial number of gods in the Universe and is an exalted man who became a god of flesh and bone who was given charge of this world. However, they do not worship a plurality of gods, only worshiping or being responsible to the god of earth who is literally their "Heavenly Father" meaning they are his sexually produced off-spring. In fact all angels, Jesus, Lucifer and all men are the sexually produced children of their god in heaven.

   The god of Mormonism is a man who began his existence as something they call an "intelligence." This being they refer to as an "intelligence" did not have a body but existed as simply pure intelligence. However, on another planet out in the universe a god (not the god of earth) and one of his wives had a spirit child and this intelligence was given a spirit body. Next he lived as a spirit child in the heaven of his father and mother god in a heavenly family until he was allowed to come to his father god's planet and get a human body when a human couple had a child. This now human child grew up on that planet. He was a sinner, but was redeemed by being faithful to the gospel of his father god and lived a good life doing good works. He afterwards died and was resurrected to what the Mormons call the Celestial heaven. In the Celestial heaven of Mormonism this once man was declared to be "worthy" of becoming a god himself. He was appointed to the be god of earth by a counsel of gods that live near the center of the universe near a star called Kolob. This man who is still a man, but now becomes a god of "flesh and bones" and comes to the earth and begins to produce children with his many wives and thereby populates the earth. The LDS god then is a god of flesh and bones, who grew up on another planet in the universe and who now lives in the heaven of this earth having children with his many wives. All people on earth were once the spirit children of the man-become-god and if they are faithful to the Mormon gospel they too can one day become a god or goddess.

Quite the fantasy, quite similar to satans original fantasy that is. God said:’‘besides me there is no other God" "there was no God formed before me, neither shall there be any other Gods’ formed after me" numerous Bible quotes.

Tiber diving team of 2004 (we go deeper to penetrate the darkness with the light)