I won’t be able to post for a few days…but after my contacts with the Mormons a few years ago, and they were very positive, I was reading up on Mormonism, having survived the particular ‘Pearl’ book.
There are things some Catholics have done out of context and so if this Pearl of Great Price was a deviancy, then so be it…but what is the Pearl of Great Price to the Mormons???
the Pearl of Great Price, we believe, is scripture, just like the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. However, it is NOT the book you remember reading!
I was extremely curious about your charges, and did a search on the book (it is online…) to see if any of the words you use, or the concepts they represent, are in it. They aren’t. The Pearl of Great Price doesn’t deal with Catholics, Protestants–the subject doesn’t ever come up!
I will admit that I am very curious now; what on EARTH did you get your hands on? Because whatever it was, it sure wasn’t the PoGP.
…and y’know…I have never heard that ANY LDS leader has EVER referred to Protestants as being the 'whoredaughters" of Catholicism. Trust me on this one, if any had, I would know about it–because something like that would have been unearthed and gleefully waved around in our faces by every anti-Mormon on the planet. CRI would be using it as an opening banner on their websight. the Lighthouse Ministry would have it starring on every other page. the “Maze of Mormonism” would have an entire chapter devoted to such a thing…
But…not a peep.
So while every nasty thing under the sun that can be said probably HAS been said by someone, at least that particular nasty thing hasn’t been said by leaders of the CoJCoLDS.
So far as I am aware, anyway. (come to think of it, if any leader would open his mouth and say something like that, it would have been Brigham Young; he had a problem with keeping his opinions stated in mild terms…but he didn’t say anything like that either.)
I got REALLY curious about this, and did some research on the terms. I found men like Dave Hunt, Bruce Renehan and something called “A Voice in the Wilderness - Canada” who use precisely those terms in describing Catholicism and her Protestant 'daughters," but nowhere in about 20 pages of searching did I find a reference to any MORMON using those terms, or those concepts.
So when you come back, I’d like you to do yourself a favor. Go
here and look at the contents page of the Pearl of Great Price. Trust me, the table of contents isn’t going to bite you. See if it looks familiar. Then, if you feel brave enough, look at the ‘first few pages.’
What you will find there, in the Book of Moses, is the story of the creation of all things…and it is a story that will be pretty familiar to you. What you will NOT find is any reference to the 'Roman church" or the Catholic church, or any church at all.
Then see if you can remember the book you actually looked at. Did it look like this…at all?
The other thing that confuses me is this: where did you FIND this book in that store? And why, when you went back, do you claim that the store owners didn’t know what it was? Because as you know now, that book, being one of the “Standard Works” of the church, would be on the shelf with the Bibles, the Book of Mormons and the Doctrine and Covenants’…and would probably be bundled either with the Doctrine and Covenants or the Book of Mormon AND the Doctrine and Covenants. While you CAN find it as a ‘stand alone’ volume, most people don’t buy it that way; it’s a rather small book.
…and believe me, every single clerk in the store would know precisely what it was and where to find it!
You DO have my curiousity bump itching.
As far as the rest of you post, your knowledge of what our beliefs actually are seem to be on the same level as your knowledge of the PoGP.