Mormon church's statement regarding new Pope

[Robert_in_SD]

I wanted to echo the message from my church. I’ve been re-reading some interfaith stories between Catholics and Mormons, some going back over 150 years. I’m glad our two faiths have been able to work together on various important projects.

Best wishes to Pope Francis, and may the world benefit from his efforts.

Thanks for the kind words.

Peace,
Robert

 

[lynnettejane]

I wanted to echo the message from my church. I’ve been re-reading some interfaith stories between Catholics and Mormons, some going back over 150 years. I’m glad our two faiths have been able to work together on various important projects.

Best wishes to Pope Francis, and may the world benefit from his efforts.

Thankyou for the sentiment.
However would be interested to hear the interfaith stories going back 150 years, as that was when the Mormon church had written the catholic church off as the whore of all the earth

 

[NeuroTypical]

First, thanks to everyone who accepted my post in the spirit it was intended.

Second, I need to acknowledge the validity of many of the hard feelings. Yes indeed, Bruce McConkie published his unfortunate Mormon Doctrine book in 1958, which popularized the notion that mormons are supposed to think of the Catholic church as the “great and abominable church” mentioned in our scripture. Church leadership reviewed the book, and reported back over a thousand errors in it, told McConkie to not publish it again, and issued a statement that the book was not an official publication of the church, and should not be considered authoritative or binding. McConkie didn’t follow the counsel of his church leaders, fixed some of the errors (including the reference to the Catholic church), and republished the book anyway. Mormons carry some of the taint of those early errors to this day. Some of us still believe some of them. Sunday school lessons occasionally become a bit contentious as we argue about “the Book of Bruce”.

Anyway, I’m sorry for what McConkie did in the '50’s, and I’m sorry so many Mormons believed it for so long, and I’m sorry some of us still do believe it. I try to repent of this transgression by doing things like coming to Catholic forums, my hat in my hand, offering messages of good will. Call that hypocritical self-promotion if you must, but I don’t know how else to handle it.

Third: I wanted to respond to lynnettejane’s comment:

However would be interested to hear the interfaith stories going back 150 years,

Here are a collection of stories illustrating what I was talking about. Sorry for the length. They’re coming from an article written by James B. Allen, Mormons, Catholics, and the Pope:

Roman Catholics came to Utah in 1862 as members of the California Volunteers. In 1866 when the Reverend Edward Kelly was looking for a place to celebrate mass, he was allowed to use the old tabernacle, and Brigham Young helped him obtain a clear title to land for a church in Salt Lake City. Though the Catholics and the Latter-day Saints had little in common theologically, they maintained general good will. The Reverend Lawrence Scanlan arrived in Utah in 1873, eventually became a bishop, and remained until his death in 1915. He established parishes wherever possible and on one occasion in 1873 was invited by Mormon leaders in St. George to use their tabernacle for worship. Fearful that part of the service would have to be omitted because it called for a choir singing in Latin, he learned to his surprise that the leader of the St. George Tabernacle choir had asked for the appropriate music and in two weeks the choir would sing it in Latin. On May 18 a Catholic high mass was sung by a Mormon choir in the St. George Tabernacle, symbolizing the good will that existed between Father Scanlan and the Saints. (James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints [2nd edition, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992], 349)

I loved the story of what happened in 1985, after a devastating famine struck Ethiopia, killing a million people and leaving millions more on the brink of starvation. Church leaders called for a church-wide fast and, as a result, collected $6 million for Ethiopian relief. Elder M. Russell Ballard headed the LDS group that went to Ethiopia and there he met and eventually developed a long-time friendship with Frank Carlon, head of Catholic Relief Services. They made the decision that much of the money would be handled by Catholic Relief Services. And, as Elder Ballard remarked later, “Ever since then, we’ve been building that relationship stronger and stronger.”(As quoted in Deseret News, November 27, 2010)

In 1990 members of the Church contributed generously to the renovation of one of Salt Lake City’s architectural gems, the Catholic Cathedral of the Madeline. In August of the year 2009 the hundredth anniversary of the Cathedral of the Madeline was celebrated. At the service commemorating the anniversary, President Thomas S. Monson was one of the speakers.

In an interview with Catholic News Service and other reporters before the start of the ecumenical prayer service at St. Joseph’s Church in New York April 18, Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said that during a coffee break at a recent meeting a representative of the Latter-day Saints asked him if there was any possibility of their participation in the papal visit.
“My reaction was, ‘Why not?’ We have shared values and there is a possibility of collaboration on a number of social issues while respecting our theological differences,” he said.
Father Massa said, “We’re not making any theological statements today,” adding, “This is a very big statement they (the Latter-day Saints) are making.”
He said the Latter-day Saints are “a bit bruised” by reaction to the presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney…
Representing the Latter-day Saints at the April 18 meeting in New York were two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elders M. Russell Ballard and Quentin L. Cook.
Father Massa described the request as coming out of a growing respect between Catholics and Mormons, which began under the leadership of the late Gordon B. Hinckley, longtime president of the Latter-day Saints.
During Hinckley’s 13-year tenure as president, he met with the current and former bishops of Salt Lake City. And Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent condolences when Hinckley died in January.
“I think these developments have prepared us to begin a new phase in our relationship,” Father Massa said.
(Story accessed online at catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0802159.htm)

 

[TexanKnight]

First, thanks to everyone who accepted my post in the spirit it was intended.

Second, I need to acknowledge the validity of many of the hard feelings. Yes indeed, Bruce McConkie published his unfortunate Mormon Doctrine book in 1958, which popularized the notion that mormons are supposed to think of the Catholic church as the “great and abominable church” mentioned in our scripture. Church leadership reviewed the book, and reported back over a thousand errors in it, told McConkie to not publish it again, and issued a statement that the book was not an official publication of the church, and should not be considered authoritative or binding. McConkie didn’t follow the counsel of his church leaders, fixed some of the errors (including the reference to the Catholic church), and republished the book anyway. Mormons carry some of the taint of those early errors to this day. Some of us still believe some of them. Sunday school lessons occasionally become a bit contentious as we argue about “the Book of Bruce”.

Anyway, I’m sorry for what McConkie did in the '50’s, and I’m sorry so many Mormons believed it for so long, and I’m sorry some of us still do believe it. I try to repent of this transgression by doing things like coming to Catholic forums, my hat in my hand, offering messages of good will. Call that hypocritical self-promotion if you must, but I don’t know how else to handle it.

Third: I wanted to respond to lynnettejane’s comment:

Here are a collection of stories illustrating what I was talking about. Sorry for the length. They’re coming from an article written by James B. Allen, Mormons, Catholics, and the Pope:

I was going to stay out of this thread till this post.

The attempt to strictly blame McKonkie is sad. There were quotes from other lds leaders bashing the Catholic Church. including BY. Additionally, until 1990, the agent of satan was a man dressed as a Catholic Priest.

I truly dislike the attempts to deceive.

 

[RebeccaJ]

I was going to stay out of this thread till this post.

The attempt to strictly blame McKonkie is sad. There were quotes from other lds leaders bashing the Catholic Church. including BY. Additionally, until 1990, the agent of satan was a man dressed as a Catholic Priest.

I truly dislike the attempts to deceive.

Yes, it’s a little off. Deseret Book published McKonkie’s book. They are owned by the LDS Church and wouldn’t publish anything in defiance of “the brethren”. They published it until 2010, when they finally put it out of print.

 

[PaulDupre]

I was going to stay out of this thread till this post.

The attempt to strictly blame McKonkie is sad. There were quotes from other lds leaders bashing the Catholic Church. including BY. Additionally, until 1990, the agent of satan was a man dressed as a Catholic Priest.

I truly dislike the attempts to deceive.

Not only that, but when I was a LDS missionary (1977 - 1979) the first discussion (memorized lesson) taught to investigators was about Joseph Smith’s first vision, wherein the Mormon god tells Joseph that all Christian creeds are an abomination and all who profess those creeds are corrupt. I trust that LDS missionaries still tell people that their creed is an abomination, etc.

Abomination: Something filthy or disgusting; worthy of hatred or loathing.

Corrupt: Rotten, depraved, putrid, perverted; willing to act dishonestly for gain

This is still in the LDS scripture “The Pearl of Great Price” and is still taught and believed by Mormons.

Tell me, Mormons, what about the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed is abominable? Why am I corrupt for professing those creeds?

Until the LDS leadership expunges the “abomination…corrupt” passage from their scriptures, there is little hope for real relations between Mormonism and any Christian faith.

And that’s not to mention the BoM…

I want to add that I accept the OP’s pure intent in posting his good wishes for Pope Francis. It is the LDS leadership that I distrust and suspect of duplicity.

Paul (formerly LDS, now happily Catholic)

 

[CokerCourt]

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I am pleased there is a new pope.

I hope the Catholic church and mine will continue their efforts to help the poor and other areas of interest.

 

[TexanKnight]

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I am pleased there is a new pope.

I hope the Catholic church and mine will continue their efforts to help the poor and other areas of interest.

I, too, find it good when the Catholic Church, following the True God, and the LDS Church, following a god who used to be a sinful man, can sometimes have similar goals.

 

[FireFromHeaven]

AMEN I say to thee!
But, as the Bible says, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand does. The message of the LDS leadership is not trickling down - or it is lip service. Local Mormon “stakes” (our version of parish) here, until last weekend, still spout anti-catholic rhetoric! It is just their dogma. I know. i am related to one.
They believe that only LDS go to heaven and catholics are the least capable. They are a very low self-esteem theology. But thats ok. I don’t put any faith down or usually even THINK about them. I’m extremely comfortable!
Might I remind everyone that all of the controversies that have been started between LDS and the Church were by the LDS in the media. They also believe Christ lives on the planet Kolob in the Andromeda galaxy! Don’t believe it? Google it. I’ll save you the time, it’s true. But no matter. The Churches record with reconciliation with other faiths is stellar. Within the past few years, bonds between Rome and Jewish, Catholic Orthodox, Jainists, and other other faiths has been strengthened or forged. I am very proud and hope it continues.

Who Started your Church?

For over 1000 years, There was one Christian Church. Though many heresies grew time after time - the Universal (catholic) Christian Church met and squashed them time after time. It was not until 1054 that the first large split happened in the Christian Church. East & West.

1054 AD - Greek Orthodox Church broke from the Catholic Church. Note - Our core beliefs are nearly identical in both Biblical and Traditional theology.

1570 AD - If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex- monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.

1534 AD - If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.

1560 AD - If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560.

1582 AD - If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.

1600’s AD - If you are a Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.

1605 AD - If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1605.

1628 AD - If you are of the Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder, because he originated your religion in New York in 1628.

1744 AD - If you are a Methodist, your religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.

1774 AD - If you are a Unitarian, Theophilus Lindley founded your church in London in 1774.

1829 AD - If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y., in 1829.

1865 AD - If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865.

1879 AD - If you are a Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

1900 - Present - If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as 'Church of the Nazarene," “Pentecostal Gospel.” “Holiness Church,” “Pilgrim Holiness Church,” “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past century.

---

33 AD - If you are Catholic, you know that your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God, and it is still the same Church.

Guys he just wished us blessings with our new pope. Calm down!

 

[KathleenGee]

Thanks Neuro for your clarification and your sincere intentions.

As stated by Paul Dupre…the Pearl of Great Price is indeed what I had encountered in a LDS bookstore in 2005 or 6.

I worked with some wonderful Mormons and wanted to learn more about their faith as my office had changed. I felt the dentist I work with give me the impression he had a different take of ‘The Pearl of Great Price’, which is Christ Himself. So I came into the store wide open. I saw the title of the book on the shelf. Opened it, and it was written in dated language going back to the 1800’s…I was so shaken and in shock.

I then walked over to get a look at the little blue books on Smith’s Doctrines and Covenants and saw the same vein of thinking.

I entered the thread and stated that I liked the Mormons, saying they were very nice people, but I carried this burden and hurt in me. I finally opened up about this experience…and it turned into a crazy thread, Dec 12, 2010…Apostasy and Restoration…can’t remember…but there was a sample of the ‘Pearl of Great Price’ a Mormon woman showed me…but I couldn’t help but keep thinking that was the actual book I saw.

So Paul here has verified that this text has had such writings in it. The author then was Pratt.

I try to spend more time praying for Mormons, although I always seem to end up mostly on Mormon threads.

I will include you personally in my prayers…and that the truth will some day make us one.

I must add that Pope Benedict is a tremendous pope and he was removing up to 3 bishops a month during his papacy and is our greatest theologian. John Paul II could be the greatest pope ever in the Church…

 

[lynnettejane]

First, thanks to everyone who accepted my post in the spirit it was intended.

Second, I need to acknowledge the validity of many of the hard feelings. Yes indeed, Bruce McConkie published his unfortunate Mormon Doctrine book in 1958, which popularized the notion that mormons are supposed to think of the Catholic church as the “great and abominable church” mentioned in our scripture. Church leadership reviewed the book, and reported back over a thousand errors in it, told McConkie to not publish it again, and issued a statement that the book was not an official publication of the church, and should not be considered authoritative or binding. McConkie didn’t follow the counsel of his church leaders, fixed some of the errors (including the reference to the Catholic church), and republished the book anyway. Mormons carry some of the taint of those early errors to this day. Some of us still believe some of them. Sunday school lessons occasionally become a bit contentious as we argue about “the Book of Bruce”.

Anyway, I’m sorry for what McConkie did in the '50’s, and I’m sorry so many Mormons believed it for so long, and I’m sorry some of us still do believe it. I try to repent of this transgression by doing things like coming to Catholic forums, my hat in my hand, offering messages of good will. Call that hypocritical self-promotion if you must, but I don’t know how else to handle it.

Third: I wanted to respond to lynnettejane’s comment:

Here are a collection of stories illustrating what I was talking about. Sorry for the length. They’re coming from an article written by James B. Allen, Mormons, Catholics, and the Pope:

Thank you NT for the information and your sincere wishes

 

[lax16]

First, thanks to everyone who accepted my post in the spirit it was intended.

Second, I need to acknowledge the validity of many of the hard feelings. Yes indeed, Bruce McConkie published his unfortunate Mormon Doctrine book in 1958, which popularized the notion that mormons are supposed to think of the Catholic church as the “great and abominable church” mentioned in our scripture. Church leadership reviewed the book, and reported back over a thousand errors in it, told McConkie to not publish it again, and issued a statement that the book was not an official publication of the church, and should not be considered authoritative or binding. McConkie didn’t follow the counsel of his church leaders, fixed some of the errors (including the reference to the Catholic church), and republished the book anyway. Mormons carry some of the taint of those early errors to this day. Some of us still believe some of them. Sunday school lessons occasionally become a bit contentious as we argue about “the Book of Bruce”.

Anyway, I’m sorry for what McConkie did in the '50’s, and I’m sorry so many Mormons believed it for so long, and I’m sorry some of us still do believe it. I try to repent of this transgression by doing things like coming to Catholic forums, my hat in my hand, offering messages of good will. Call that hypocritical self-promotion if you must, but I don’t know how else to handle it.

Hi Neuro Typical - Thank you for you the warm wishes on Pope Francis. I received a phone call today from a Mormon that I have not talked to in a year or so and she wished me congratulations on the Pope as well.

The anti-Catholic feelings towards the Catholic Church has their roots in the very beginnings of Mormonism. I feel it is unfair to pin it all on McConkie in the 1950’s.

Out of curiosity, what do Mormons think of the Pope in general? Not Francis, per se, but the Chair of Peter?

thanks!

 

[Marie5890]

Very nice…
…but did you note they are hoping P Francis will begin to feel peace…as he won’t have it in his own church…to get to the point he will have burning in the …

Catholicism is not about feelings. Feelings and emotions lie.

I had to say it.

(emphasis mine)

That is not quite what the statement said. The word “begin” is not there.

"we extend our warmest wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis and pray he will feel the peace of the Lord as he serves as pontiff of the Catholic Church. "

In all fairness, I think you are projection something onto their statement that they haven’t said.

 

[Ezekiel_Stone]

Thanks NeuroTypical, but I can’t help thinking that the LDS Church turns everything to promoting itself.

That description of the quote is neither charitable nor accurate. There are others who use similar word-parsing to attack every statement by your church and leaders. Do you really want to be in their company?

The church is simply saying that they consider the Catholic Church a good and honorable institution that shares its values.

Consider also that you’re not the only audience. The LDS church is reminding its own members that the LDS church treats the Catholic church like an ally, because they don’t want their own members getting brainwashed by Protestant and secular antiCatholicism, lest those members end up sounding as ungracious as our haters, or as yours.

 

[Ezekiel_Stone]

(emphasis mine)

That is not quite what the statement said. The word “begin” is not there.

"we extend our warmest wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis and pray he will feel the peace of the Lord as he serves as pontiff of the Catholic Church. "

In all fairness, I think you are projection something onto their statement that they haven’t said.

Thank you Marie.

it’s nice to see a reasonable face in the crowd. There’s something about forums of fellow believers that attracts some of the worst people on the web, and then brings out the worst in them. This is true of the pure LDS sites sites too – the groupthink there appalls me.

 

[Ezekiel_Stone]

Hi Neuro Typical - Thank you for you the warm wishes on Pope Francis. I received a phone call today from a Mormon that I have not talked to in a year or so and she wished me congratulations on the Pope as well.

The anti-Catholic feelings towards the Catholic Church has their roots in the very beginnings of Mormonism. I feel it is unfair to pin it all on McConkie in the 1950’s.

I’m unaware of anything that Joseph Smith ever said negative about Catholicism. I don’t think that there was even a Catholic church in his home town, of which he described the local sects as abominations (probably because of the doctrine of Calvinist predestination and its denial of free will, which was common back then). If you have any evidence of anticatholic writings in the 19th century, please enlighten me. I thought that Talmage and McConkie started it all.

And the LDS church forced McConkie to take out his anticatholic statements out of post-1st edition versions of his book.

From the tenor of some remarks here, some people here would feel more comfortable if Mormons were antiCatholic, but they aren’t. And most Catholics that I know (and most people I have ever met were Catholic!) recognize that the LDS people are Christians, and don’t have a problem with us. I’m sure you can find some weird LDS blogs with bigots, but like I said, the web brings out the weirdoes.

 

[TexanKnight]

I’m unaware of anything that Joseph Smith ever said negative about Catholicism. I don’t think that there was even a Catholic church in his home town, of which he described the local sects as abominations (probably because of the doctrine of Calvinist predestination and its denial of free will, which was common back then). If you have any evidence of anticatholic writings in the 19th century, please enlighten me. I thought that Talmage and McConkie started it all.

And the LDS church forced McConkie to take out his anticatholic statements out of post-1st edition versions of his book.

From the tenor of some remarks here, some people here would feel more comfortable if Mormons were antiCatholic, but they aren’t. And most Catholics that I know (and most people I have ever met were Catholic!) recognize that the LDS people are Christians, and don’t have a problem with us. I’m sure you can find some weird LDS blogs with bigots, but like I said, the web brings out the weirdoes.

“The Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant church, is the great corrupt, ecclesiastical power, represented by great Babylon…” (Orson Pratt, Orson Pratt, Writings of an Apostle, “Divine Authenticity,” no.6, p.84).

“…all the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.” (The Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p.60)

“And any person who shall be so wicked as to receive a holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act.” (Orson Pratt, OP-WA, “The Kingdom of God,” no.2, p.6)

“…all other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who recieves baptism or the Lord’s supper from their hands will highly offend God, for he looks upon them as the most corrupt people.” (Orson Pratt, The Seer, pg. 255)

“…the great apostate church as the anti-christ…This great antichrist…is the church of the devil.” (Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p.40)

“Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the “whore of Babylon” whom the lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness.” (Pratt, The Seer, p.255)

“Brother Taylor has just said that the religions of the day were hatched in hell. The eggs were laid in hell, hatched on its borders, and then kicked on to the earth.” (Brigham Young, JD 6:176)

Brigham Young regarding the Christian view of Jesus Christ:

“You may hear the divines of the day extol the character of the Saviour, undertake to exhibit his true character before the people, and give an account of his origin…I have frequently thought of mules, which you know are half horse and half ***, when reflecting upon the representations made by those divines. I have heard sectarian priests undertake to tell the character of the Son of God, and they make him half of one species and half of another, and I could not avoid thinking at once of the mule, which is the most hateful creature that ever was made, I believe. You will excuse me, but I have thus thought many a time” (Journal of Discourses 4:217).

 

[TexanKnight]

“Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the Church of the Lamb of God and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore whoso belongeth not to the church of the lamb of God belongeth to that great church; which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth.” (The Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 14:10)

“Nothing less than a complete apostasy from the Christian religion would warrant the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” (Documentary History of the Church, Introduction, xl)

“I was answered that I must join none of them (Christian Churches), for they were all wrong…that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight” (Joseph Smith History 1:19).

“…orthodox Christian views of God are Pagan rather than Christian.” (Mormon Doctrine of Deity by B.H. Roberts, p.116)

“…the God whom the ‘Christians’ worship is a being of their own creation…” (Apostle Charles W. Penrose, JD 23:243)

“The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of the salvation of God.” (Brigham Young, JD 8:171)

“We may very properly say that the sectarian world do not know anything correctly, so far as pertains to salvation. Ask them where heaven is?- where they are going to when they die?-where Paradise is! -and there is not a priest in the world that can answer your questions. Ask them what kind of a being our Heavenly Father is, and they cannot tell you so much as Balaam’s *** told him. They are more ignorant than children.” (Brigham Young, JD 5:229).

 

[TexanKnight]

“The Christian world, I discovered, was like the captain and crew of a vessel on the ocean without a compass, and tossed to and fro whithersoever the wind listed to blow them. When the light came to me, I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness.” (Brigham Young, JD 5:73).

“What! Are Christians ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute best.” (John Taylor, JD 13:225)

“What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing…Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.” (John Taylor, JI) 13:225)

"Believers in the doctrines of modern Christendom will reap damnation to their souls (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.177)

 

[TexanKnight]

I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true." (Joseph Smith, DHC 1:6)

“I spoke of the impropriety of turning away from the truth, and going after a people so destitute of righteousness as the Methodists.” (Joseph Smith, DHC 2:319)

“…brother Joseph B. Nobles once told a Methodist priest, after hearing him describe his god, that the god they worshiped was the “Mormon’s” Devil-a being without a body, whereas our God has a body, parts and passions.” (Brigham Young, JD 5:331)

“…brother Heber C. Kimball was beset by a number of Baptist priests who had been attending a conference. He read them all down out of the New Testament…With regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.” (Brigham Young, JD 8:199).

“The Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant church, is the great corrupt, ecclesiastical power, represented by great Babylon…” (Orson Pratt, Orson Pratt, Writings of an Apostle, “Divine Authenticity,” no.6, p.84).

“…all the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.” (The Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p.60)