Popping back in here after many days and many pages of not reading what’s been going on…(sorry)
And that is your opinion. I doubt that there are very many here who have studied mormonism from unbiased writtings. …
Code:
Since I have been here, I have studied more about what you believe and have learned more than I did before. That is a good thing. It helps me understand more. **But your history is not so spottless. ****And the weaknesses of men who wanted power can be seen in that history.** I have steered clear of writtings of those who are anti. I have made a complete effort to read the things you have provided and also looked for those writtings that do not us drama and scare tactics to get their points across that is against Catholics. I feel that I have bennefited from this as well.
I’m glad you see the other side of the coin. In fact, I’ve often put forward to Mormons and Protestants that, logically, shouldn’t you FIRST take a deep look into the Catholic Church, seeking out unbiased sources, history, and the Church in its own words, BEFORE considering
any other Christian church? After all, the Catholic Church (and our Orthodox brethren) is the ONLY one credibly claiming to have been started personally by Jesus Christ while he was here on earth, and continuing to exist to this day?
Logically, shouldn’t you start with the Catholic Church and give it more of the “benefit of the doubt” than any other church because of the uniqueness of this claim?
Regarding the part that I bolded above, I often see apostasy theories resorting to claims of corruption and sins in the Church’s history as evidence. In fact, it usually seems to boil down to this (since there is nothing else that can be appealed to as evidence, no declarative, revelatory intervention to point to, nor no cutoff shift on doctrine).
Let’s leave aside the gigantic problem of hypocrisy inherent in such statements (ignoring the beam in one’s own eye to hold the Catholic Church to a higher/double standard–an interesting subconscious acknowledgement, IMO, that the Catholic Church IS Christ’s One Church and thus
is different than any other church, held to a higher standard).
Let’s focus instead on the problem of bad men, but look at it in the context of Salvation History. We have the example of King David. A murdering adulterer, and often acting like a priest (one might say arrogantly usurping that office) when he was neither priest nor prophet. And we have his son, Solomon, whose many wives, appeasements of pagans, and policies running in stark contrast to what he should have been doing as king ultimately bore the fruit of driving the 10 tribes of Northern Israel to secede into their own kingdom.
Were those 10 tribes right to abandon a wicked line of kings violating the commandments of God? Were they able to preserve the Covenant in doing so?
No, they were rightly condemned for leaving God’s anointed, no matter what His anointed had done. They abandoned unity for the sake of personal preference, of living and following God in their own way. And they fell away from God swiftly in doing so, and they were conquered and dispersed as a people, never to reform.
The Jews who remained faithful, did they lose their authority and true faith because of the wickedness of their leaders, even when their leaders became openly apostate?
NO. God preserved His people, as He had promised, even though He let them suffer many of the consequences of their sins. Jesus even said, in his own time, that the religious authorities of his day “Sit on Moses’ seat”–
they had authority DESPITE the wickedness of leaders in the past, DESPITE the wickedness of leaders in the present, DESPITE having hearts far from God, following the letter of the Law and not its spirit, and DESPITE even placing excessive burdens upon the people, “traditions of men” and such.
This example we have from Salvation History, of Hebrew/Jewish wickedness, even open and knowing apostasy, false teachings and traditions, and yet retaining authority and the Covenant, is in itself
definitive proof against a total loss of authority.
kpeople:
