LDS vs Catholicism

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meggy11386

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I just don’t get some things in the LDS church, and I was raised in it. Like the Three Kingdoms of Heaven, The “Gospel” being removed from the earth then later put back on the earth, Why wait until the age of 8 to be baptised. These things just rub me the wrong way. If anyone knows the answers I would be happy to be told them.

In the Catholic Religion… Why baptize the children so young? Why not have 12 apostles? Why not have a phophet? Why pray to Saints and not to God himself?

I am studying to learn more about the Catholic Religion, because my fiance is Catholic and I want to know which is the true church, and where we should raise our families. I know that All Catholics are going to say to raise them in the Catholic church and vice versa for the Mormons, but I’m not too sure. So if anyone has any answers for me I could sure use them.

Thanks
 
When I was dating a Mormon (I’m Catholic), there was so many issues and differences that I had to figure out a way to narrow it down. So I thought either the Church has existed since Christ, or the church went through Apostacy and Joseph Smith restored the church. So my suggestion would be to go look at history, and narrow it down to the 1st couple centuries. Do you see a Mormon or Catholic church ? There is A LOT of writings from that time period, I recommend a book called: “Four Witnesses:The early church in her own words” Now if the Apostacy happened, it doesn’t mean the Mormon church contains the truth, but they have a case for it. If the Apostacy didn’t happen, then the Church definitely has the best case for the truth. Good Luck and God Bless!
 
Meggy,

I’m just your age, and no theologian. However, as I was tauught…

Baptism removes the stain on our souls that we inherited from Adam and Eve, who fell from the state of perfection God created them in. It also initiates us into Christ’s own life, and His Church. Understanding the sacrament this way, the response would be to baptize as soon as possible.

Infant baptism is biblical: Acts 16:15, 16:33, 18:8, and 1 Corinthians 1:16 all speak of individuals who come to believe, and are baptized, along with their households. Children and infants would have been included under the general term.
See: catholic.com/library/Infant_Baptism.asp
 
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meggy11386:
I just don’t get some things in the LDS church, and I was raised in it. Like the Three Kingdoms of Heaven, The “Gospel” being removed from the earth then later put back on the earth, Why wait until the age of 8 to be baptised. These things just rub me the wrong way. If anyone knows the answers I would be happy to be told them.

In the Catholic Religion… Why baptize the children so young? Why not have 12 apostles? Why not have a phophet? Why pray to Saints and not to God himself?

I am studying to learn more about the Catholic Religion, because my fiance is Catholic and I want to know which is the true church, and where we should raise our families. I know that All Catholics are going to say to raise them in the Catholic church and vice versa for the Mormons, but I’m not too sure. So if anyone has any answers for me I could sure use them.

Thanks
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While I’m more than happy to help in any way, You might be better served by attending RCIA classes at your local Catholic church to learn the Catholic doctrine. Some suggested reading on both sides would include the catechism of the catholic church, the sunday missal, catholicism for dummies and the various articles here on catholic answers for the Catholic side. On the LDS side you should probably take a thorough look at the D&C, answers to gospel questions by Joseph Fielding Smith and the lesson manual Gospel Principles. If you’ve not been to the Temple then you need to do some research on what that involves so that you are aware of all the important stuff.

To try to answer some of your specifics, We have 12 apostles in the Catholic church, They are the ones that Jesus called and they are still serving the church from heaven. No prophet needed since Jesus, please read Hebrews 1:1. We do pray to God, quite frequently and to ALL of God. (why don’t LDS pray to Jesus or the Holy Spirit?) asking saints to pray for us is little different than asking your friends or family to pray for you. We still ask help from other people even when we pray to God. Some of those people are amongthe living and some have passed on. They still are people though and as saints they are doing great things in the service of the Lord.

On the LDS questions, Sidney Rigdon gave Jospeh the idea about the degrees of glory. (3 kingdoms but celestial has 3 degrees within it) The Apostasy is standard restorationists justification for creating a new church. (we had to cuz the world got so messed up God quit the church and started over again) 8 is an arbitrary age standardized to be the “age of reason”. Catholics know this age varies and thus don’t set specific age for confirmation. Catholics seperate the sacraments of baptism and confirmation…
 
Why not have 12 living apostles? Because the Lord never intended the office of apostle to continue indefinitely, and neither did the apostles. The bible is very clear about this.

After Judas committed suicide, the remaining 11 apostles replaced him by electing Matthias. Why? Because they knew that there had to be 12 witnesses (symbolic of all 12 tribes of Israel) as witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection.

Matthias is elected in the 1st chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Look at the criterion for an apostle as outlined in Acts 1:21-22:
Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.
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No man on earth today fits that criterion. After Matthias, there is no record of any more apostles being ordained. Why? Because the apostles never intended the office of apostle to continue.

Who then did the apostles ordain to succeed them? Bishops! The bishops are the successors to the apostles, and they exercise the apostolic authority today.

God bless you,
Paul
 
To my way of thinking it does not matter when it comes to questions like the age of baptism, and whether or not there should be “apostles” or not.

To me if we cannot agree on who and what God is then the other questions you bring up are immeterial.

Catholic Christians, and Mormons have very different ideas aboout who God is.

Catholics and other Christians belive in one God, just one not more and that God has always been God and will always be God.

Mormons on the other hand believe in a “heavenly Father” who is just one out of at least three “gods”, who was formerly a human being who woked his way up to being A “god”, and that any “worthy” Mormon can also work his way up to being a “god”.

Christians beleive in God who is spirit, Mormons on the other hand beleive that “heavenly Father” has a body of “flesh and bone” and is limited to being at one place at a ime.
 
Like someone else mentioned, it all comes down to the Apostacy. If it happened, then the Mormons have a case. If it didn’t, then the Catholic church is truely founded by Jesus Christ himself.

We know that all Christians up until the 11th century were Catholic.

So, I searched for evidence of an apostacy. (I have four Mormon friends.) One tried to present me with evidence over and over, but it was always just taken on “faith”. Well, if an apostacy happened, it wouldn’t just be faith, it would of happened. You can’t try and rewrite history for the purpose of faith. Consulting every source possible, it just never happened. Even the LDS sources kind of danced around it.

Look for yourself, just don’t take my word for it. I love Christian history because it is all Catholic. 👍
 
Well… You see, I’m doing 2 things at once. I’m LDS and I’m learning of the LDS teachings, but I’m not satisfied, I’m also reading books on Catholicism, and going to church every week. And with doing them both at once, I’m confusing myself. I try to pray and ask for answers, but I feel as if I don’t get any back. How should I pray? What prayers should I say? Who should I pray to?

In the LDS church, we only pray to our Heavenly Father, and I am hoping that he is helping me and guiding me every day. I try to stay strong and good. But I just don’t feel it. One of my teachers, and very good friends, who is LDS, asked, “When do you feel the Holy Spirit with you?” And I have honestly tried to answer that question. But I don’t know. I know he has comforted me in the death of family members, and I know he here, but I don’t feel him. LDS say that “you will have a burning sensation in your bossom.” I don’t think I have felt him. How do I know when he’s here and when he’s not?
 
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meggy11386:
Well… You see, I’m doing 2 things at once. I’m LDS and I’m learning of the LDS teachings, but I’m not satisfied, I’m also reading books on Catholicism, and going to church every week. And with doing them both at once, I’m confusing myself.
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I could imagine, one the one hand Catholicism believes there was no great apostasy, Mormonism is thoroughly convinced there was a great apostasy. The two are very difficult to reconcile, they’re almost polar opposites. On the birhgt side, it’s good though. All you have to do is find out if there was a great apostasy or not, then there’s no more confusion. If there was a great apostasy, then it’s Mormonism (or the other religiosn tht grew out of the burnt over district, Joseph Smith wasn’t the only game in town when it came to a great apostasy claim), if there wasn’t a great apostasy then it’s Catholicism.

Get some adivice from the smart people here on good Early Church Fathers to read up on to counter the apostasy claim. To see if there was an apostasy you have to go back to the beginning. If Catholics can reconciel their beliefs with Christians from as early as the Apostles and 100 A.D., it may lend credence that there was no great apostasy.
 
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