CatholicGuy,
you stated there was a problem with the LDS view and said something like man and God ARE NOT of the same species.
I am asking for reference to the Catholic scripture, or doctrine that articultes how the post mortal soul is different than God, or any clarity on the subject. If you don’t have it, then stop slamming the Mormon view of something that at it’s core is unknowable to humans.
Your continued insistence in bringing up “post mortal soul” shows that you simply do not understand what we’re talking about. It has nothing to do with the post-mortal state, so why do you insist on bringing that up? The soul exists now, doesn’t it? That’s what we’re talking about, the nature of man.
The
Council of Chalcedon (another Ecumenical Council, which we hold to be inspired and doctrinally binding) specifically addresses this issue by discussing whether Jesus Christ had/has one or two natures. The Council defined that Jesus had/has two natures: one divine, and one human. This clearly demonstrates the Catholic view that God is of one nature (the divine one), and we humans are of another (human nature). When God the Son incarnated (came to this earth), He added a human nature to His person. This is known as the
hypostatic union.
From the Catechism:
*
479 At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.*
*
470 Because “human nature was assumed, not absorbed”,97 in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of centuries to confess the full reality of Christ’s human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body. In parallel fashion, she had to recall on each occasion that Christ’s human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from “one of the Trinity”. The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity:98*
scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a3p1.htm#468
As we can see, the Catholic view of God the Son’s Incarnation demonstrates our view on the distinction between human nature and God’s nature. When the Son Incarnated, He assumed a human nature, and He therefore had
two natures, which is what we consider the “hypostatic union”.
In contrast, as I have already demonstrated, Mormons believe that God and man are of the same nature/species, therefore a “hypostatic union” doctrine would not make sense in Mormonism. As already quoted from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:
“Gods and humans represent a single divine lineage, the same species of being, although they and he are at different stages of progress.”
eom.byu.edu/index.php/God_the_Father
You say that this is something that is “unknowable”, however it is clear that, the Mormon religion teaches that man and God are of the same species, only differing in their progress. If you are not aware of this teaching, then perhaps you need to research your religion more. If its unknowable, then why is your church teaching this? Did they just make it up if it’s unknowable? Obviously they don’t agree with your assessment. It seems as if you are sidestepping the issue.
