https://www.quora.com/What-do-Protestants-and-Catholics-think-of-Mormons/answer/James-Hough-1

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I was a strong advocate of Mormonism for decades. I also toed the line and didn’t look outside the sanitized versions of Mormonism and Mormon history. My first breach was when the letter to the CES director came out. It had a few problems with it but after reading it I ventured beyond the blurred lines and studied everything. I became good friends with a former bishop who was excommunicated for nothing other than asking questions and being rebuffed. He was perfectly faithful to the church and his marriage. It was nothing but honest seeking of truth. I went through a couple of years of wandering. Baptist, Methodist, non denominational and even atheism. I almost gave up. My dear wife was raised Catholic and we decided to investigate. I can only say that from the moment I first stepped inside a Catholic church, I knew I was where I belonged. It was life changing.

I won’t go into great detail. All that matters is that for 57 years I was in Satan’s service but God still loved me enough to rescue me.

My favorite parable is the workers in the vineyards. I am 61 years old. Relatively speaking, I joined in the labor in the middle of the afternoon, yet I am qualified to receive the same pay as everyone else. God is good.

The heavens have opened and I have never been more blessed in my life than since I converted to Christianity and became a Catholic.
 
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lokisuperfan said:
Just because I’m 14 doesn’t mean I’m stupid. You keep implying that over and over again. Please stop, I don’t enjoy being looked down upon because of my age.
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I’ve never accused you of being stupid. I have even complimented you for your zeal in studying. You just have a long way to go, as do I. I left where you are headed. I was there for 57 years. For 57 years I served Satan. You just haven’t been around long enough to know what you’re determined to get into. I pray you’ll figure it out.
 
TOmNossor said:
Catholics and Fundementalism by Karl Keating pg. 33

Now it may well be that a man leaving one religion for another can write fairly, without bitterness, about the one he left behind. But it stands to reason that most people who suddenly think they have an urge to write about their change of beliefs just want to vent their frustrations or justify their actions. Their books should be read and used with discretion, and they should not be used at all as explanations of the beliefs of their old religion if the books betray the least hint of rancor.
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You left a sentence out or this paragraph without indicating that you did. It does not change the sense of what is being said but it bothered me that you left it out.

Now it may well be that a man leaving one religion for another can write fairly, without bitterness, about the one he left behind.After all, John Henry Newman did jut that in his autobiography, Apologia Pro Vita Sua But it stands to reason that most people who suddenly think they have an urge to write about their change of beliefs just want to vent their frustrations or justify their actions. Their books should be read and used with discretion, and they should not be used at all as explanations of the beliefs of their old religion if the books betray the least hint of rancor…
 
AngelaMarie said:
Holding your son in prayer. You are fortunate that he didnt become agnostic or atheistic.
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Actually he did. For about a year he considered himself atheist. For a couple of years he was agnostic. He only recently softened up and became Baptist.

A lot of exMos as I’m sure you know, become atheist when they realize that the only God they’ve ever known turned out to be as real as Santa Claus. It’s very humbling to learn you were part of a big hoax.
 
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lokisuperfan said:
where as atheists have no beliefs and think that it doesn’t matter what you do in this life because there won’t be another one after this.
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That is painting all atheists in one brush. IE black and white thinking.

I know plenty of atheists who do think it matters for the sake of morality itself, of one’s behavior. They are secular humanists for the most part. Good people.

It’s nice to see that you understand the difference between the two. There are some exmormons who are just not atheists, but militant atheists at that.

It’s been my observations with those that I know who are atheists, that there is a difference in attitude between an atheist, who have a more “live and let live” attitude towards others with their belief systems, and militant atheists, who try to convert, in a sense, theist to their non-belief. Or try to push theism out of the public square.

The 1st Amendment isn’t a protection of “freedom FROM religion” as militant atheists would like to push all religion out, but rather “freedom OF religion”, meaning no state sponsorship of one faith over another, unlike Britain whose state church of course is Anglican. It was in response to that idea.
lokisuperfan said:
Agnostics tend to be a lot more fluid and flexible with their beliefs as well, and in most cases, they still believe that people should make an effort to do good in their lives,
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Again, this is black and white thinking. Painting all agnostics with one brush.
I would not claim that just become someone is a declared agnostic that that means they are “more fluid and flexible”. But rather their default is “I don’t know”. That can leave them “open”, but it can also mean they are wishy-washy. Have no spiritual back bone, one way or the other., IMO
 
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Lemuel said:
For 57 years I served Satan. You just haven’t been around long enough to know what you’re determined to get into.
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Serving Satan? The LDS might believe differently on some matters compared to other faiths, but I wouldn’t consider them to be satanic in any way. They do lots of community service and are kind and respectful to others. Satanists seek to harm others, while the LDS wish to help them.
Lemuel said:
I seriously don’t get how anyone who understands the basics of Mormonism can convert. She obviously knows nothing about their history.
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Lemuel said:
You know virtually nothing about Mormon history.
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Lemuel said:
I didn’t think Loki knew what she was talking about but I was just curious. She’s young and innocent.
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Lemuel said:
I’ve never accused you of being stupid.
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Not directly, but you imply in the cases above that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
 
Welcome home, Lemuel, welcome home.

Thank you for sharing. 🙂

I get the wandering for a bit after Mormonism. I did that, too. Was agnostic, leaning atheistic. But God wasn’t done with me. I attribute it to all the prayers and Rosaries my grandmother said for me.

I came from a Catholic background. My parents were non-practicing, but my grandparents were. Looking back at the time frame (70’s) and how poor catechesis was at that time, it’s not surprising.

But my grandmother’s prayers, I have no doubt, bore fruit in me, even years after her death.
I am in her grateful debt for her faithfulness. I received the rest of my sacraments over a decade past her death, and several years after my grandfather’s passing.

I remember them thru the entire year in various ways, of course, but during the month of November, especially so.

Again, thanks for sharing
 
lokisuperfan said:
Serving Satan? The LDS might believe differently on some matters compared to other faiths, but I wouldn’t consider them to be satanic in any way.
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In all fairness, he may be referencing part of the temple endowment ceremony.
I am assuming he had been thru the temple.
 
lokisuperfan said:
Serving Satan? The LDS might believe differently on some matters compared to other faiths, but I wouldn’t consider them to be satanic in any way.
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Well, if you throw people like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Ervil Lebaron and Warren Jeffs into the mix, I’d say you’re pretty close.
 
Isn’t the result the same? People cannot get answers to questions so they leave or get excommunicated. Why is that?
gazelam said:
I’ve asked several LDS on the forum some tough questions and they rarely get answered. If there is a response its more along the lines of how awful the Catholic Chruch is. Why is that?
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Then do so, speak, answer the questions.
gazelam said:
I do not recall ever saying that you lied. Please point me to my accusation about you if I am in error. This is a debate forum and debate participants call out incorrect statements of other debate participants. That I do often, hopefully in a charitable manner.
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You have stated I am 100% incorrect more times than I can count. You have said I make false statements more times than I can count. In essence, making the claim I am not truthful, thus a liar.

From post #76
Horton said:
You may argue all you want but the LDS is not now, nor has it ever been a Christian organization.
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Horton said:
Look at my statement and tell me what I wrote was wrong. Is Jesus God? Is Jesus the second person of the Trinity? Is Jesus fully human AND fully divine? If you cannot claim these statements as truth, you are not a Christian.
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You did not answer this question. What it is to be called Christian. I very specifically asked for your own answer, to speak for yourself. I don’t want Fair Mormon’s answer, nor the lds org answer. I want to know what you, as a Mormon, has to say.
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lokisuperfan said:
Not directly, but you imply in the cases above that I don’t know what I’m talking about
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Imply? No, I didn’t imply. I was pretty straightforward. In a lot of things you’ve said about Mormonism it’s very obvious that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
 
And someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about is often referred to as stupid. It’s implied that you’re calling me stupid.
 
lokisuperfan said:
And someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about is often referred to as stupid. It’s implied that you’re calling me stupid.
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Not really. But just for the record, I do not think you are stupid. When it comes to Mormonism you are woefully ignorant.
 
No one called you stupid. But you have been ignorantly informed. This is the ploy of the LDS, to only tell you the good and positives of their organization. It is only much later that you will learn of the not so good parts.

The reality is you are only 14, you don’t know it all. Lemuel has 47 years of knowledge you don’t have yet. Not because you’re stupid, but because you are only 14.

There are several things you have posted on this thread as truth of the LDS. I know it is because this is what you have been led to believe, but many of them have been debunked by people who just have more knowledge than you have at this time. This is not reflection on you so much as it is on the fact you haven’t had the years to know yet.
 
Satan is portrayed in the temple endowment. In it he has interaction with Adam and Eve and at one point, instructs them to do something, and by extension, those people who are in the ordinance room participating.

So, Satan tells Adam and Eve to do thus and such. They are following Satan instructions. The audience follows suit and does thus and such.
 
Horton said:
Isn’t the result the same? People cannot get answers to questions so they leave or get excommunicated. Why is that?
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The end result is the same unless the person who left did not have their name removed. It’s probably better for the church. They boast of a 16 million membership when the real number is probably less than 5 million and the rate of growth is steadily declining.
 
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