Mormonism - A Catholic Perspective

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cathybramble said:
… this notion of letting kids “choose” a religion when they get older. that’s like letting them wander into a dark forest so they can “choose” their own path home. 😦
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I love that line! Can I steal, er, borrow it, Cathy? 😉 But, seriously, I really do love that line.

And now begins a ramble brought on by that image of wandering in a dark wood…

Someone said to me recently that I only think the way I do (ie, have the strange notion that this thing called “religion” is somehow relevant to life and that there is something even stranger called “truth”) because I was conditioned to think that way by my upbringing. So I’m supposed to be Catholic and think Catholicism is true because of how I was raised.

Oh, really? Was I in the Unity Church because of how I raised? Or Unitarian? (Ok, that actually didn’t last long. I also looked into Mormonism, read the Book of Mormon and some other things, and I have to admit, it was never a serious option for me.) Or into the Western metaphysical tradition? Or into Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship? Or Buddhism? Can everyone of those paths be dismissed as the alleged brainwashing of my early life at home? No one at home said anything about letting me choose a religion. They probably assumed I’d remain Methodist the way the rest of them had. And, frankly, it never even occurred to me to ask for permission to search or convert. I just knew I had to find the Truth. And I wasn’t about to let anyone keep me from it.

I wish I had been brought up Catholic. And that had I been, that I would’ve listened and appreciated it. All those years searching for something that was right under my nose. But the Lord had His reasons for the wandering, and my eyes and ears were not open and my heart was too hard and I could not see the Church founded by His own Son. You cannot imagine my shock when I realized that all my wanderings had finally led me home…

To the Catholic Church, the one place I had not thought to look.
 
🙂
Lee1440 said:
I love that line! Can I steal, er, borrow it, Cathy? 😉 But, seriously, I really do love that line.

And now begins a ramble brought on by that image of wandering in a dark wood…

Someone said to me recently that I only think the way I do (ie, have the strange notion that this thing called “religion” is somehow relevant to life and that there is something even stranger called “truth”) because I was conditioned to think that way by my upbringing. So I’m supposed to be Catholic and think Catholicism is true because of how I was raised.

Oh, really? Was I in the Unity Church because of how I raised? Or Unitarian? (Ok, that actually didn’t last long. I also looked into Mormonism, read the Book of Mormon and some other things, and I have to admit, it was never a serious option for me.) Or into the Western metaphysical tradition? Or into Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship? Or Buddhism? Can everyone of those paths be dismissed as the alleged brainwashing of my early life at home? No one at home said anything about letting me choose a religion. They probably assumed I’d remain Methodist the way the rest of them had. And, frankly, it never even occurred to me to ask for permission to search or convert. I just knew I had to find the Truth. And I wasn’t about to let anyone keep me from it.

I wish I had been brought up Catholic. And that had I been, that I would’ve listened and appreciated it. All those years searching for something that was right under my nose. But the Lord had His reasons for the wandering, and my eyes and ears were not open and my heart was too hard and I could not see the Church founded by His own Son. You cannot imagine my shock when I realized that all my wanderings had finally led me home…

To the Catholic Church, the one place I had not thought to look.
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🙂 DearLee,I see you have had a tough search I myself had done some searching,and alot of praying.And I find Catholics are one of the most graciuuos people,and seem to have that royalty in their service,and speak so differntly then any other church.My mother was a Roman Catholic,i’m still not sure the difference,but she was strict.There was alot I didn’t understand,but I did go to church more,she tried to arrange a marraige for me with a fellow who’s father worked at the church,nice people,but neither I nor Ray wanted this.We stayed church friends to the discust of my mother.I think know mabe she was right but we were not interested.Anyways ive been on this forum since Dec.and I love it and all the people on it.Even the Mormons,they are beautifull people,I dont believe in their book,nor any other book than the bible:thumbsup: and we should all defend the Lord Jesus untill the death,I know I will.Jesus is my everything,love of Christ Nancy:thumbsup:
 
Lee1440 said:
I love that line! Can I steal, er, borrow it, Cathy? 😉 But, seriously, I really do love that line.

And now begins a ramble brought on by that image of wandering in a dark wood…

Someone said to me recently that I only think the way I do (ie, have the strange notion that this thing called “religion” is somehow relevant to life and that there is something even stranger called “truth”) because I was conditioned to think that way by my upbringing. So I’m supposed to be Catholic and think Catholicism is true because of how I was raised.

Oh, really? Was I in the Unity Church because of how I raised? Or Unitarian? (Ok, that actually didn’t last long. I also looked into Mormonism, read the Book of Mormon and some other things, and I have to admit, it was never a serious option for me.) Or into the Western metaphysical tradition? Or into Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship? Or Buddhism? Can everyone of those paths be dismissed as the alleged brainwashing of my early life at home? No one at home said anything about letting me choose a religion. They probably assumed I’d remain Methodist the way the rest of them had. And, frankly, it never even occurred to me to ask for permission to search or convert. I just knew I had to find the Truth. And I wasn’t about to let anyone keep me from it.

I wish I had been brought up Catholic. And that had I been, that I would’ve listened and appreciated it. All those years searching for something that was right under my nose. But the Lord had His reasons for the wandering, and my eyes and ears were not open and my heart was too hard and I could not see the Church founded by His own Son. You cannot imagine my shock when I realized that all my wanderings had finally led me home…

To the Catholic Church, the one place I had not thought to look.
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Don’t worry Lee, you probably didn’t miss much not being a cradle Catholic. A lot of us had to wander around lost before we could appreciate the Catholic Church. A lot of converts are very strong in their faith too. 🙂
 
so true…even if the early Mormons had many wives…see the pleasure of dozens of pairs of nylon stockings drying in the bathroom…sorry out house…since plural wives was outlawed by the US Government…and I think …Young fathered some 54 children…now thats what I call being father of…never mind…we cant be critical of other religions on this site ,only take it when ours is attacked by the major media etc…really ole Brigham Young got many gifts on fathers day…all the best…Nino (with just one wife…she looked like Jane Russell when I married her and after seven kids still does…)
 
Hi, Lee1440,
Lee1440 said:
I wish I had been brought up Catholic. And that had I been, that I would’ve listened and appreciated it. All those years searching for something that was right under my nose. But the Lord had His reasons for the wandering, and my eyes and ears were not open and my heart was too hard and I could not see the Church founded by His own Son. You cannot imagine my shock when I realized that all my wanderings had finally led me home…
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Speaking as one of those ‘Cradle Catholics’… the road is different - but, just like yours - one chosen specifically by God in His Plan for our eternal salvation.

Make the best of all opportunities to learn as much about our Faith and the Love of Jesus as you can. This list is a true jewel - and, one that I truly appreciate. 🙂

God Bless,
 
Well, when one comes from a family long steeped in L.D.S. Mormonism, one has a peculiarly intimate view of this bizarre cult. My mother’s family from Utah were L.D.S. for generations. Dear Mother and her brother, my uncle, were tortured into becoming Baptists by my eventually polygamist maternal grandfather’s crazily bigotted third wife, who was not L.D.S. (That Mormon grandpa gave me 22 grandmothers by the time he died of his alcoholism!)

The R.L.D.S. sect (now called the Community of Christ), with which I have had some contact, too, never fell into the gross errors of L.D.S. Mormonism, and has a nice spirit about it and its people (and always did); it is rather a shame that this group is going the way of pan-Protestant liberalism.

Jerry Parker
 
Jerry_Parker said:
Well, when one comes from a family long steeped in L.D.S. Mormonism, one has a peculiarly intimate view of this bizarre cult. My mother’s family from Utah were L.D.S. for generations. Dear Mother and her brother, my uncle, were tortured into becoming Baptists by my eventually polygamist maternal grandfather’s crazily bigotted third wife, who was not L.D.S. (That Mormon grandpa gave me 22 grandmothers by the time he died of his alcoholism!)

The R.L.D.S. sect (now called the Community of Christ), with which I have had some contact, too, never fell into the gross errors of L.D.S. Mormonism, and has a nice spirit about it and its people (and always did); it is rather a shame that this group is going the way of pan-Protestant liberalism.

Jerry Parker
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jerry,
You may want to search further about this strange doctrine of Mormonism.
Please go to www.beyondmormonism.com
This was written by a former member. His name is James Spencer. Perhaps you have heard of him. jean8 Another is Ed Decker.
Be informed.

God bless,
j
 
seekdatruth said:
Don’t worry Lee, you probably didn’t miss much not being a cradle Catholic. A lot of us had to wander around lost before we could appreciate the Catholic Church. A lot of converts are very strong in their faith too. 🙂
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And I will say I am also a cradle Catholic. It is you guys who either came to the CHurch later in life or came back to the church that showed me I didn’t know everything about my faith like I thought I did. Oh I knew what the Church taught, but to defend it. Oh My. I can say it was in trying to defend it became so much more meaningful to me thats for sure.

When a person is a Cradle Catholic, we never question our faith, we don’t have to. Its like this is the truth, and thats that. But later in life when People would talk about my faith and say it was wrong. that the Pope was this or that. That is when I got back in the bible to show the CHurch was right. Then I got hooked back into reading the bible. And now I live to keep studying it.

At first it wasn’t much fun, the more I learned the more sins I was finding on myself. And the more I saw,I knew I should attend confession more often. But I also found a new way of living the old way I forgot. Church is so much more now. I don’t take for granted what I was given. As a cradle Catholic you have no idea what Jesus has given you from birth. Thanks guys. You got me back in the bible, where I should have never left.😃
 
Hi, Rinnie,

As another Cradle Catholic - I whole-heartedly agree… we just do not really appreciate what we have had since birth! 🙂 Our job is to develop our knowledge of Faith and move forward in the Grace of God.

By the way, don’t forget about the Early Church Fathers. Not everything is written in the Bible…😃

God bless,
 
Jean 8,

Thanks for the reference to Spencer’s WWW site.

**As you had written: ** *Jerry, You may want to search further about this strange doctrine of Mormonism. Please go to www.beyondmormonism.com. This was written by a former member. His name is James Spencer. Perhaps you have heard of him. Another is Ed Decker. Be informed. *

Jean 8, I have the book of the same name, Beyond Mormonism, which is a rather good one. Thanks for the link to the same-named WWW site! However I would warn you to be cautious in using Ed Decker’s books. He is a Pentecostalist, and, like so many of his fellow charismatic sectarian co-religionists, Decker goes for *flash-‘n’-bang *in a way that can be self-serving and actually can hinder or even defeat the purpose of helping Mormons, whom one hopes to win over for the truth of the Christian faith, not just to humiliate and to antagonise. The wisest and most seasoned living warrior against L.D.S. Mormonism, Sandra Tanner (a Protestant, but not one from the lunatic Pentecostal fringe), of Utah Lighthouse Ministry (www.utlm.org)), vigourously campaigns against Decker and his tactics, feeling that he is too fast and loose with the truth and that his approach is too uncaringly abrasive. I do make use of Decker’s books, but I always double-check what he writes and on his sources.

If one is well grounded in the Christian faith, it helps to understand Mormonism if one reads some of their own literature. The L.D.S. Mormons are, overall, well educated, many quite sophisticated, and this becomes more and more evident in their own literature that has appeared in the last two or three decades. A good tactic is to know what those two pleasant Mormon “elders” (usually L.D.S.boys in their late teens or early twenties) are likely to say. You can be one step ahead of them by reading something like Richard T. Martin’s Dynamic Door Approaches: Fifty Succesful Tracting and Telephone Dialogues for [L.D.S. Mormon] Missionaries (160 p.; Horizon Publishers, Bountiful, Utah, 1998). Yeah, be prepared! However, some of the Mormons’ own most superior material is so persuasively written for those who do not have enough background to recognise the sophistries in it that it probably is wise to start with the best sources that contest L.D.S. Mormonism, namely Tanner’s organisation (for which I have provided the link above) and another Protestant but sober organisation, Bill McKeever’s Mormonism Research Ministry (www.umr.org)), ***not *** to be confused with the more sensationalistic Mormonism Researched WWW site. There are others of worth, too, but start with these.

There seem to be fewer Roman Catholic ministries of similar expertise, but Catholic Answer’s own contribution is a good one, albeit limited in extent, and includes or has included some fine apologists among its ranks,* e.g.* Jimmy Akin, whose brochure, *Mormons (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), from a Catholic Perspective *(50 p.; Catholic Truth Society, London, England, [ca. 2006]) is brief, civilised yet trenchant, one of the best initial short introductions that one could obtain (from www.amazon.co.uk)).

Remember, the point is to lead Mormons to conversion to the Holy Christian Faith, not merely to win arguments. (Someone like Ed Decker is better at the latter than the former goal! Don’t emulate him.)

Happy, compassionate, and prudent witnessing to those lost L.D.S. Mormon souls!

Jerry Parker
 
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jean8:
🙂 Good for you Jean,great site love of Christ Nancy;)
 
tqualey said:
Hi, Rinnie,

As another Cradle Catholic - I whole-heartedly agree… we just do not really appreciate what we have had since birth! 🙂 Our job is to develop our knowledge of Faith and move forward in the Grace of God.

By the way, don’t forget about the Early Church Fathers. Not everything is written in the Bible…😃

God bless,
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Trust me love, If you think about it really, it was all Early Church Fathers. I like you read and study the bible but S Trad. Also. Can’t have one without the other. God Bless!😃
 
Greetings, all you cradle Catholics 🙂 I’ve been on fire for the faith ever since I started studying it, typical convert, maybe? 😛 But I’ve met many, many who never had to wander the way I did, who are just as on fire as I am and I owe them very much for helping me on my journey.

Back to Mormonism. I’ve read Isaiah Bennett’s book, Inside Mormonism. It seems to be a good one. Any Catholics or Mormons have anything to say about that one? (Sorry if this is already covered in the thread.)
 
Lee 1440,

I have wanted to read Isaiah Bennett’s Inside Mormonism since first I heard of it. However, it seems to cost quite dear on Amazon (one of the international sites, I think), which discouraged me from obtaining it. Do you know a source to obtain it at a normal price for a book in English?

I have quite a large personal collection about Mormonism (L.D.S. and R.L.D.S. alike), i.e. of literature of all sorts (books, pamphlets, recordings, etc.) about it by Christians and a similar variety of literature by Mormons themselves. However, I do not have Bennett’s book!

Jerry Parker
 
Lee 1440,

I had written: Lee 1440, I have wanted to read Isaiah Bennett’s Inside Mormonism since first I heard of it. However, it seems to cost quite dear on Amazon (one of the international sites, I think), which discouraged me from obtaining it. Do you know a source to obtain it at a normal price for a book in English?

Blush! I found that Bennett’s books on Mormonism are readily available and at reasonable prices, too! I had confused Bennett with another vintage Roman Catholic author whose books were from the early part of the last (20th) century. I was delighted on Amazon.ca to find that Bennett’s books are more recent than that and are currently on the market. Sorry about that blooper!

Jerry Parker
 
No problem. I’ve made my share, er, more than my share of bloopers too, Jerry. 😉

You can just call me Lee, btw. I just couldn’t come up with an imaginative handle when I was registering. 😛
 
Lee,

***You wrote: *** No problem. I’ve made my share, er, more than my share of bloopers too, Jerry.

Thanks for being understanding. I have been writing some comments mostly about L.D.S. Mormon missionaries, as reflected in Mormon publications, in users’ reviews for Amazon sites (Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.fr). I think that it is important for Christians to understand Mormons’ mentality and background, and the missionaries’ own training and indoctrination. If you are interested, see, for example, my Amazon reviews of Ed J. Pinegar’s The Ultimate Missonary Companion (which also mention’s his audiotape set,* Being a Missionary*, among other items), Richard T. Martin’s Dynamic Door Approaches, and Lynn Matthews Anderson’s simplified and somewhat abridged rework of Joseph Smith Junior’s Book of Mormon as Easy to Read Book of Mormon. I hope to write a separate review of a classic L.D.S. manual of apologetics (presented from the missionary standpoint), A. Melvin McDonald’s The Day of Defense. I already have discussed McDonald’s book in the context of reviews of other Mormon publications.

Jerry Parker
 
I live in wyoming, Lovell to be exact. A very large Mormon and of course the R.L.D.S. Several polygamist in our valley. Being a born and raised Catholic I look upon these people as lost souls. There Zealot tendicies are disturbing to me, always at my door the young missionarys. I tell them that i am Roman Catholic and it seems to end all conversation. lol. Im more than ever in my entire life ( 57 yo. ) proud to be Catholic the true religion for me. I hope this makes sense to others . I don’t mean to offend others.
John
 
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