Mormon and Catholic resources?

[RebeccaJ]

In Mormonism, what makes God is not His substance, but rather His perfection. This alters thinking dramatically.

Didn’t mean to overkill the above response… I just got carried away.

God is Love.
Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
The greatest commandment is to love God and neighbor.

So we understand, the perfection being spoken of is perfect love.

Some Catholic theologians say the substance of God is Love.

 

[Marie5890]

Someone should let Jeffrey Holland know that dissecting and attacking the beliefs of Christians is not what LDS do.

lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/the-only-true-god-and-jesus-christ-whom-he-hath-sent?lang=eng

That is interesting.

Taking Jane_Doe’s thoughts about “Steve” and “Mike” and apply it here.

If Jane_Doe finds it silly that “Mike” is discussing with others what “Steve” believes, rather than letting “Steve” speak for himself, then Holland should have never given this talk. He isn’t a “Steve” and not even a former “Steve” and never worship in the same pews as “Steve”

His remarks would be secondary source , rather than primary.
Apparenlty, by Jane’s reasoning, it’s silly for Mormons to listen to Holland speak of the beliefs of Trinitarian Christians… again…

 

[zaffiroborant]

I did not mean that in anyway and sorry if my analogy was poor and gave that impression. I just meant to say that Mormonism stresses the Father-child relationship of God.

As does every Christian religion.

 

[LivingWaters7]

Feel free anytime, Little Halo…

What may also be of help as you seek to educate yourself is the function that exists to go back and read the posts people have made or threads they have started.

Those of us who are former Mormons that you can do a search on to see what we have shared are the following… (Click on our names and that will bring you to our profile page, from there you can click on links like “posts this member has made” or “threads this member has started”)

Marie5890 (me)

LivingWaters7
TexanKnight
RebeccaJ
Iepuras

(those are the ones that come to my mind right off the top of my head. I believe LW7 served a mission, I know TexanKnight did. Rebecca lives in UT, I forget details of Iepuras at the moment, but I know she is one as well. LW7 is very very articulate and can explain Mormonism vs Catholicism very well. TexanKnight tends to far more blunt and bold as he sugar coats nothing. Keep up with educating yourself, thru books, what others share etc etc. Please dont be afraid to ask. )

God’s blessings

Just to clarify, I did not serve a mission. I did serve as Elders Quorum President of my ward, and left fairly recently (as mentioned, one can actually go through my posts here and see the progression).

 

[zaffiroborant]

Someone should let Jeffrey Holland know that dissecting and attacking the beliefs of Christians is not what LDS do.

lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/the-only-true-god-and-jesus-christ-whom-he-hath-sent?lang=eng

And Talmage should not be recommended reading either, not to mention that missionaries have to lead with what is wrong with the Christianity that their prospects follow. There are too many examples memes among both current and former members of the LDS faith regarding other religions, notably Catholicism and Evangelicalism, for me to believe that LDS do not talk about other religions in a corporate manner.

 

[LivingWaters7]

Perhaps I can ask questions,

I read that Mormons believe that the ultimate level of heaven, you get to make future souls with a spouse? So is this the soul or is the person in flesh? Isn’t this contradictory to God being the only God ? He makes things, not us who were made by him? We do not possess the ability to make things equally complex as ourselves, right?

For Catholics, our spirit goes to heaven, but I heard it can be isolated, not family-like? What is the nature of the spirit in heaven?

Mormons believe in “exaltation”, which is essentially becoming a God, living like God. Now, orthodox Christianity (especially Catholicism and Orthodoxy) has always had a belief in deification or theosis, however the foundational beliefs of Mormonism vs. Catholicism/Orthodoxy make the implications of those beliefs very different.

LDS believe that to be exalted, one has to, among other things, receive various ordinances performed by the LDS priesthood (whether in this life or the next), including baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek priesthood ordination (for men), the Endowment, and eternal marriage (or “sealing”). They believe that to be exalted, you have to be eternally married to your spouse (and the related belief is that God the Father is married to a Heavenly Mother (some LDS prophets have taught that Heavenly Father has multiple wives).

Following from the beliefs in eternal marriage, exaltation, and the Father being married to a Mother, there is the belief that in the next life, those that are exalted, while still accepting God as their God, will have the opportunity to have their own worlds, and have “eternal increase”, or the ability to create spirit children, just like our “Heavenly Parents” did. It has been taught that these spirit children will have the same relationship to us as we have to our Heavenly Parents. Implicit (and sometimes explicit, depending on which LDS prophet one is reading) is the belief in multiple gods, and some believe that God the Father had a Father, an eternal regression of gods.

Heaven is not an isolated experience in Catholicism. Heaven is viewed as a family experience. We may very well be with our earthly, nuclear and extended families, however we will also be with all those that receive eternal life, and they will be our family too. For Catholics, deification and Heaven involves becoming like God, and this involves living and loving like God does. God loves all of us, and we are all one Family to Him, and therefore that is how we will experience Heaven. There is no concept that we will be isolated from others, or that we will forget our families. We will be with them, through God’s mercy and grace.

 

[Marie5890]

Mormons believe in “exaltation”, which is essentially becoming a God, living like God. Now, orthodox Christianity (especially Catholicism and Orthodoxy) has always had a belief in deification or theosis, however the foundational beliefs of Mormonism vs. Catholicism/Orthodoxy make the implications of those beliefs very different.

LDS believe that to be exalted, one has to, among other things, receive various ordinances performed by the LDS priesthood (whether in this life or the next), including baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek priesthood ordination (for men), the Endowment, and eternal marriage (or “sealing”). They believe that to be exalted, you have to be eternally married to your spouse (and the related belief is that God the Father is married to a Heavenly Mother (some LDS prophets have taught that Heavenly Father has multiple wives).

Following from the beliefs in eternal marriage, exaltation, and the Father being married to a Mother, there is the belief that in the next life, those that are exalted, while still accepting God as their God, will have the opportunity to have their own worlds, and have “eternal increase”, or the ability to create spirit children, just like our “Heavenly Parents” did. It has been taught that these spirit children will have the same relationship to us as we have to our Heavenly Parents. Implicit (and sometimes explicit, depending on which LDS prophet one is reading) is the belief in multiple gods, and some believe that God the Father had a Father, an eternal regression of gods.

Heaven is not an isolated experience in Catholicism. Heaven is viewed as a family experience. We may very well be with our earthly, nuclear and extended families, however we will also be with all those that receive eternal life, and they will be our family too. For Catholics, deification and Heaven involves becoming like God, and this involves living and loving like God does. God loves all of us, and we are all one Family to Him, and therefore that is how we will experience Heaven. There is no concept that we will be isolated from others, or that we will forget our families. We will be with them, through God’s mercy and grace.

I have always appreciated your ability to articulate what the different beliefs are, LW, and do so in a non-critical and non-attack mode. You have been graced with quite a gift, and I thank you for sharing it with us.