Mormons

[exiled]

sorry prehaps funeral mass is the wrong name for it and I dont wish to get things wrong, what I meant was when a person dies and the priest says a mass with the family and then they go to the grave yard to bury the person.

That would, indeed, be a funeral Mass. Which still leaves us with my question. Why would *you *pay for a Mass at an apostate church? Or were you the executor of an will, in which case you did not pay, you just followed the legal proceedings laid forth for you. If any loved one of mine desired a funeral at a Mormon, JW etc church I would simply refuse. Living or deceased, I would not participate is something that is so far from Truth.
And part 2 still remains as well. If you did pay for the Masses, why? Why not just have the dead baptized into the LDS church?

 

[exiled]

**

well it is good to have Christ in your life there is no doubting that, I was raised a catholic and I have always known of the existance of God, but then again so have you so im nothing special in that.

Well, saying you are nothing special is the first sensible thing I’ve heard from you. Your lack of humility thus far has been quite offensive. Perhaps you could take a lesson from one great, Catholic apologist, Rosalind Moss. Speaking of how shocked we can all be at those who do not see the Truth, (paraphrase) The miracle is not that they do not see, the miracle is that we do. * If *you did know Truth, you should also then know that it is by the grace of God alone, because you are a fallen creature, just like the rest of us. So get off your high horse and show some mercy.

to me it was a dead place with dead priests and a dead doctrine made by men whom knew no better.
How much you miss.
you say the church built on Apostles. where are your apostles know? are they no longer needed? .

Indeed I had it from birth as do all people whom are born what I had is the light of Christ in me which lead me to his real Church like that of old bulit upon Apostles and Prophets where the Spirit lives where God himself lives, a growing living church with a living growing doctrine as we learn step by step.
Okay, so you ask us “where are your apostles now” upon which our church is built, and following that you claim the same for your own faith. How is it you are not holding LDS to the same standard you are trying to hold the CC to? We claim the office of the Apostles, because Apostles were witnesses to Christ, all of whom have passed away.
I believe you’ve also claimed (and I cannot go back to quote, so I"ll admit it may have been someone else) that today’s CC bears no resemblance to the early church. Yet here you claim the LDS church has a living, growing doctrine with continued learning and understanding. Again, that would mean LDS bears no resemblance to the early church either. Why is this not acceptable for the growth of Catholic understanding? Because we are apostate, so you say?

Trow it all away YOU SAY… no my friend far from it I have found it, its a jewel in a world full of glass , a light on top of a mountain, a place of rest in a storm
you wonder why… if you felt what i feel the wonder would be taken away and you would come to know the marvellous work and wonder that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.**
Montague, someday you will not feel all of those warm fuzzies. Someday you have to endure a trial that shakes you to your core and your feelings will not sustain you. It will then be faith only, and a willingness to submit to that which you do not understand. I’m sure we would agree Our Lord Himself didn’t feel anything warm and cozy in the Garden or on the Cross. Obedience and faith are virtues, not spine-tingling excitement at someday being a god on your own planet with an infinite number of wives.

 

[montague]

montague;2150105:

sorry prehaps funeral mass is the wrong name for it and I dont wish to get things wrong, what I meant was when a person dies and the priest says a mass with the family and then they go to the grave yard to bury the person.

That would, indeed, be a funeral Mass. Which still leaves us with my question. Why would *you *

pay for a Mass at an apostate church? Or were you the executor of an will, in which case you did not pay, you just followed the legal proceedings laid forth for you. If any loved one of mine desired a funeral at a Mormon, JW etc church I would simply refuse. Living or deceased, I would not participate is something that is so far from Truth.
And part 2 still remains as well. If you did pay for the Masses, why? Why not just have the dead baptized into the LDS church?

if you care to email me I will tell you as it is a private matter one that need not go on a forum

 

[montague]

---

Montague, someday you will not feel all of those warm fuzzies. Someday you have to endure a trial that shakes you to your core and your feelings will not sustain you. It will then be faith only, and a willingness to submit to that which you do not understand. I’m sure we would agree Our Lord Himself didn’t feel anything warm and cozy in the Garden or on the Cross. Obedience and faith are virtues, not spine-tingling excitement at someday being a god on your own planet with an infinite number of wives.

I sense a rather unchristian and spiteful under currant tone to your mail.

you assume that I have not had trials. a rather bad assumption on your part. if it makes you feel better that my faith may crumble under more trials that I may have you are free to do so although I would contend it is not very christian of you wishing to see me fail.

I submit everyday to things I dont understand as im human and face the frailties of being a natural man even if I am in the process of casting that off.

My spine tingling excitement does not come from what God has promised me for my obedience to his word. It comes from known that Jesus died for me and that im in the path which is narrow.

 

[exiled]

I did consider that you had been through trials while I was writing. And it is not a lack of charity or Christian love with which I spoke, in fact, just the opposite. You cited what you feel which, being human,* will fail *you at some time.
Whether you are Mormon or Catholic I do not wish your faith to crumble under pressure. As I said, my post was based on your own citation, feelings. And we all need to be reminded that love and obedience is an act of the will, not a matter of how we feel.
I will PM you for an answer to the other questions.

 

[majick275]

well it is good to have Christ in your life there is no doubting that, I was raised a catholic and I have always known of the existance of God, but then again so have you so im nothing special in that.

ah but you are special becuase of that. don’t be so quick to take for granted your knowledge of God. you are truly blessed in that respect. not everyone grows up with that.

Its then when I got older and realised that the Jesus and God I worshipped where not the God’s of the catholic religion I started to question it

and i say that’s a good thing. questioning religion is a good way to establish what you believe and why. I would question what you see as being different between your god and the Catholic understanding of God. (I agree they are different)

even as a child I had an image in my mind what they looked like and it came a shock to me when I found out that the catholic God or the idea of the trinity is not even taught in the bible .

i will disagree with you here. I think the God of the bible (and even the BoM) is very Catholic in nature. It is the God of the D&C and the LDS Temple that is different.

So I guess it was then like nearly all catholics i moved away from the faith only went to mass on easter, and at christmas and I can honestly say I never felt the Spirit as a catholic to me it was a dead place with dead priests and a dead doctrine made by men whom knew no better.

I’m sorry you had this experience It seems to me though that LDS doctrine with vicarious work for the dead and being established by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Sidney Rigdon seems more “dead” and manmade.

you say the church built on Apostles. where are your apostles know? are they no longer needed? .

they are in heaven serving God still.

Indeed I had it from birth as do all people whom are born what I had is the light of Christ in me which lead me to his real Church like that of old bulit upon Apostles and Prophets where the Spirit lives where God himself lives, a growing living church with a living growing doctrine as we learn step by step.

i say the catholic church IS built on the FOUNDATION of apostles and prophets and is COMPLETED in Christ. He was perfect and there is no need for others to “fix” or “expand” what Jesus gave us.

Trow it all away YOU SAY… no my friend far from it I have found it, its a jewel in a world full of glass , a light on top of a mountain, a place of rest in a storm

I think you have “itching ears” and found folks to preach what you WANT to believe in. I think that different from the truth.

you wonder why… if you felt what i feel the wonder would be taken away and you would come to know the marvellous work and wonder that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I know the wonder of the true gospel. I find fulfillment at every mass. I didn’t see in it masonic rituals for dead people in LDS temples.

 

[Erich]

I don’t think that contradicts Catholic dogma. It is the teaching of theologians that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle (probably St John) and this may be Church doctrine, but it’s not a dogma AFAIK. In any event, it’s not part of the core of Christian faith.

Not part of the core of Christian faith? As the Second Vatican Council says, “no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mark Shea, in By What Authority, describes several “non-negotiables” that are weakly attested in the Bible, including:

• the Tradition of the Table of Contents
• the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death
• the universal Christian condemnation of polygamy
  (well, near universal … Martin Luther remained a Christian)
• the Trinity and the divinity of Christ
  (remember that Arians denied this – using the Bible to do so!)
• public revelation is closed

Chapter 6 of this book is excerpted here.

Are you referring to the three heavens (celestial etc.)?

From Distinctive Beliefs of the Mormon ChurchMormonism teaches that practically no one is forever damned to hell. Aside from Satan, his spirit followers, and perhaps a half-dozen notorious sinners, all people who have ever existed will share in heavenly “glory.” Not, mind you, all in the same heaven. There are, in fact, three heavens.

The lowest heaven is populated by adulterers, murderers, thieves, liars and other evil-doers. These share in a glory and delight impossible to imagine. Their sins have been forgiven, and they now enjoy the eternal presence of the Holy Ghost.

The middle heaven contains the souls and bodies of good non-Mormons and those Mormons who were in some way deficient in their obedience to church commandments. They will glory in the presence of Jesus Christ forever.

The top heaven is reserved for devout Mormons, who go on to become gods and rulers of their own universes. By having their wives and children “sealed” to them during an earthly, temple ceremony, these men-gods will procreate billions of spirits and place them into future, physical bodies. These future children will then worship their father-gods, obeying Mormon commandments, and eventually take their place in the eternal progression to their own godhood.

Many Catholics are unfortunately unaware of this but it is Catholic dogma that there will be different levels or degrees of glory in heaven. This was defined in the Council of Florence.

But, note that it is all one heaven, not three separate heavens. Like the difference between “orchestra level seats” and “upper balcony seats” (as opposed to the difference between “on the third base line” and “on the 50 yard line”).

If by “god” you mean a being with divine glory … The Mormon doctrine of exaltation is of course a little different. But I don’t think it’s that far off.

Actually it’s way off. In the King Follett Discourse, Joseph Smith said, “My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same. And when I get to my kingdom [godhood], I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself.”

(to be continued)

 

[Erich]

(continued)

Eternal progression does contradict the teaching of Catholic theologians regarding the possibility of merit ending at death. But that isn’t a dogma (infallible teaching).

From CCC 1023:

Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they “see him as he is,” face to face:

• By virtue of our apostolic authority, we define the following: According to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints . . . and other faithful who died after receiving Christ’s holy Baptism (provided they were not in need of purification when they died, . . . or, if they then did need or will need some purification, when they have been purified after death, . . .) already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment—and this since the Ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven—have been, are and will be in heaven, in the heavenly Kingdom and celestial paradise with Christ, joined to the company of the holy angels. Since the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.

I wasn’t aware of any Mormon teaching regarding Jesus not being conceived by the Holy Spirit.

From Gods of the Mormon Church:In time, Mormons believe, the Heavenly Father came to earth and had physical, sexual intercourse with the Virgin Mary. Rejecting both the testimony of Scripture (Luke 1:34-35) and the constant teaching of the Christian Church, Mormons believe Christ was conceived by the Father, and not by the Holy Spirit. (Journal of Discourses 2:268.)

Moreover, Mormons teach that Christ is a secondary, inferior god. He does not exist from all eternity. (Nor, for that matter, does his Father.) He was first made by a union of his heavenly parents. After having been reared and taught in the heavens, he achieved a certain divine stature. Through carnal relations with her Heavenly Father, the Virgin became pregnant with this lesser god.

I was under the impression that that they believed he did not have a body yet.

To be sure, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants aren’t even consistent with each other, much less with the Bible, so it’s hard to say what they believe. Check out Jesus is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and The Holy Spirit Became Flesh

 

[Allweather]

you say the church built on Apostles. where are your apostles know? are they no longer needed?

The Acts of the Apostles give the “qualifications” of Apostle, especially during the selection of Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot. So, no, there are no more Apostles, but their authority was passed down to bishops, and we’ve had an unbroken succession of bishops by the laying on of hands, one to another.

I had it from birth as do all people whom are born what I had is the light of Christ in me which lead me to his real Church like that of old bulit upon Apostles and Prophets where the Spirit lives where God himself lives, a growing living church with a living growing doctrine as we learn step by step.

But what about unity? Doesn’t Jesus expect unity in the Body? How can we have unity as the Body of Christ if so many are following teachers who lead AWAY from unity? All of this bickering between sects scandalizes Christianity before the world. The Catholic Church is the only one with a claim to fame in terms of continuity, both in doctrine and in leadership. The Mormon church came along very late, 1830. In those days, there was something of a religious hysteria in the United States, with the establishment of many sects and cults, and none of these agrees with each other, let alone with the historic Church that has unbroken continuity since Jesus walked the earth.

Trow it all away YOU SAY… no my friend far from it I have found it, its a jewel in a world full of glass , a light on top of a mountain, a place of rest in a storm

This is how I consider the Catholic Church. How could there be two churches? Didn’t Jesus establish only the one?

you wonder why… if you felt what i feel the wonder would be taken away and you would come to know the marvellous work and wonder that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I agree that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest wonder of life. I don’t think we’re talking necessarily “gospel” here in the sense that it means “good news” as in the salvation of mankind through the saving work of Jesus on the cross. But rather, the organizational aspects of church that Jesus established. We can see the gospel in many of the Christian sects, including Mormonism. But organizationally, the separated sects are missing a lot of what Jesus has in mind for his followers. Because they are separated from valid authority, their doctrines have become corrupted, and are often very wrong. Of course, this is a diverse field of variations among the sects. Some are closer to truth than others, but all have error in them, because of their separation.

 

[PaulDupre]

cor:

I wasn’t aware of any Mormon teaching regarding Jesus not being conceived by the Holy Spirit.

“When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.” (President Brigham Young on April 9, 1852. The Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, page 50)

Christ is not the Son of the Holy Ghost, but of the Father. (*Doctrines of Salvation *by Joseph Fielding Smith , vol. 1, p. 20.)

Mormonism teaches that The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are 3 gods, not 1 God in 3 persons. Therefore, to a Mormon, if Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, He was not the Son of the Father. So it is necessary for them to deny that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Mormon leaders (and many members) go even further, stating that God the Father, whom they believe to be a resurrected human, had sexual intercourse with his daughter Mary to conceive Jesus.

God bless,
Paul

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Mormonism teaches that The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are 3 gods, not 1 God in 3 persons. Therefore, to a Mormon, if Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost, He was not the Son of the Father. So it is necessary for them to deny that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Mormon leaders (and many members) go even further, stating that God the Father, whom they believe to be a resurrected human, had sexual intercourse with his daughter Mary to conceive Jesus.

God bless,
Paul

Yes, this is my understanding as well. Furthermore, LDS vehemently deny they are polytheists and claim they are monotheists because they worship only one God–the Father. However, that still does not make them monotheists which completely deny the existence of other gods. Therefore, technically, they are henotheists which are those who worship one god while not denying the existence of other gods. Henotheism is contradictory to Christianity and therefore LDS are not Christians by all the earliest definitions of the word. However, it seems most LDS don’t care about the earliest definitions of the word, and, as with so many things, they have simply redefined the word “Christian” to suit their belief system.

 

[Erich]

They believe their God is a loving God as we do. That alone makes their religion near to the Christian one.

I believe in an eternal God who made all things in heaven and on earth and under the earth. I believe that the books of the Law of Moses (Torah), the Prophets (Neviim), and the Writings (Ketuvim) are inspired Scripture. I believe that God knows our thoughts, sees our deeds, and will reward the good and punish the wicked.

All of this makes my religion near to the Jewish one… so does that make me Jewish? No, because I also believe in a trinitarian God, and I believe that the Messiah has already come (and will come again).

Just as Catholicism (for centuries the only Christianity) added to Judaism making it “no longer Jewish,” Mormonism added to Christianity making it “no longer Christian.”

 

[deb216]

I don’t think that contradicts Catholic dogma. It is the teaching of theologians that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle (probably St John) and this may be Church doctrine, but it’s not a dogma AFAIK. In any event, it’s not part of the core of Christian faith.

Are you referring to the three heavens (celestial etc.)? Many Catholics are unfortunately unaware of this but it is Catholic dogma that there will be different levels or degrees of glory in heaven. This was defined in the Council of Florence.

ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/FLORENCE.HTM

So there are different degrees of the beatific vision in heaven according to Catholic dogma per above.

If by “god” you mean a being with divine glory, Catholicism teaches that all those in the state of grace are infused with “divine life.” Also read this paragraph from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

scborromeo.org/ccc/para/460.htm

This glorification that awaits us is called in Eastern Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) theology “theosis” or “deification” or “divinization.” In the East they say we will share in God’s “energies” but not in his “essence” (I don’t know what divine energies is, maybe one of our Eastern brethren know)

The Mormon doctrine of exaltation is of course a little different. But I don’t think it’s that far off.

What is dramatically different though between Mormonism and Catholicism is that in Mormonism there is a hiearchy of gods where their god is not the ultimate god of the cosmos. But Mormons concern themselves only with the God that brought them forth as spirit-children. This kind of belief can be characterized as henotheism which is distinct from or at least a subspecies of polytheism.

In Catholicism of course the God we worship is held to be ontologically the ultimate reality, not some kind of local God that we happen to worship.

See above. Eternal progression does contradict the teaching of Catholic theologians regarding the possibility of merit ending at death. But that isn’t a dogma (infallible teaching).

In Catholicism it is IIRC dogma that all actions of the Trinity “ad extra” (that means outside of the Trinity or inner Trinitarian life) are performed by all three divine persons. So the humanity of Jesus was according to Catholic teaching created by the action of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I wasn’t aware of any Mormon teaching regarding Jesus not being conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Do you have any reference for this? I was under the impression that that they believed he did not have a body yet.

As I said they worship a local God and they don’t have doctrines about this God like divine immutability. As for becoming God see what I quoted from the Catechism above.

They believe their God is a loving God as we do. That alone makes their religion near to the Christian one. Fr Raniero Cantalemessa, preacher to the papal household – at least he was under JPII, I believe he still is – once said in a homily that if all the copies of holy scripture had been destroyed and there was but one left and it too had been all but destroyed in a fire with just one sentence from the 1st epistle of John remaining “God is love” that the whole Gospels, the whole scripture, would still have remained intact (I am heavily paraphrasing what he said, but it was something to this effect)

Nice try but no.

God is eternal, not eternally progressing. He is God. He has always been God. He will always be God. There was never a time when He wasn’t God. There was never a time when He was anything less than He is now; the eternal, all seeing, all knowing Creator of the universe. If you believe that God was ever a man then your belief is contrary to the scriptures. No creature can EVER be equal to God. They can be blessed and holy but they cannot be eternal, omniscient, and omnipresent.

Holding beliefs that contradict scripture is not “near to the Christian one.” It isn’t even close.

God is love. I absolutely agree with that. That is why I treat all people as if they are loved by God. But I will not say that evil is good, that good is evil, that lies are truth, that non-Christians are Christian, and that all beliefs are equal. They aren’t.

 

[cor]

Nice try but no.

God is eternal, not eternally progressing. He is God. He has always been God. He will always be God. There was never a time when He wasn’t God. There was never a time when He was anything less than He is now; the eternal, all seeing, all knowing Creator of the universe. If you believe that God was ever a man then your belief is contrary to the scriptures.

My understanding is that Mormons believe their God was a God-in-embryo when he was a man and that all those destined to be exalted as Gods are Gods-in-embryo. Becoming exalted for them is like becoming a butterfly – this is my impression of their doctrines.

My understanding is also that they believe in a plurarity of creators. For example, when a Mormon becomes exalted as a god, he, like God, will be able to create worlds.

No creature can EVER be equal to God. They can be blessed and holy but they cannot be eternal, omniscient, and omnipresent.

I don’t see why God can’t make someone omnipresent. Omniscience is a different story.

God is love. I absolutely agree with that. That is why I treat all people as if they are loved by God. But I will not say that evil is good, that good is evil, that lies are truth, that non-Christians are Christian, and that all beliefs are equal. They aren’t.

If their religion centers around a loving God, then you shouldn’t call their religion evil right? Even if it is full of errors, their adherence to a loving God redeems the religion. And that to me is the heart of Christianity, adherence to a loving God.

 

[thomasf]

If their religion centers around a loving God, then you shouldn’t call their religion evil right? Even if it is full of errors, their adherence to a loving God redeems the religion. And that to me is the heart of Christianity, adherence to a loving God.

Wrong. If I created a religion that said God was a loving sunflower would that make it valid too? I don’t think so. Mormonism is a false religion created by a con artist and a liar, that leads people away from real christianity, and against real salvation. That. Is. Evil.

 

[deb216]

God is the eternal, perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe. One God, not one of many.

God was not a “god-in-embryo” who was exalted and given his own planet to rule over. That is nonsense.

There was no celestial level of heaven to be exalted from because heaven did not exist before He created it. (Gen 1:1)

Planets did not exist before He created them because stars did not exist before He made them and set them in the firmament. (Gen 1:16-17)

He could not have been a man because man did not exist until He created man on the sixth day (Gen 1: 26)

There was no god that He was obedient to because there are no other gods before Him. (Exodus 20: 3)

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the all mighty God who is and who was and who is to come. (Rev 1:8)

On a side note, go back and read Acts 16. Paul and Silas were travelling through Phillipi when they came upon a slave girl with the spirit of divination. For days she followed them and cried, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” This grieved Paul.

Why? Why would this grieve Paul?

Because the spirit that possessed her was evil. Evil spirits do not lead people to God. Evil spirits lead people away from God. The evil spirit, through the slave girl, was speaking enough truth to be believed. Evil uses truth to sweeten the lies they want people to swallow.

Had Paul not called out that spirit, he and Silas would have journeyed beyond Phillipi. That evil spirit, the slave girl who was with Paul and announced the good news, would have been in a position to teach believable lies to people who truly wanted to know God. In believing the lies, those same people would have been led astray.

That is Mormonism. Good, decent, loving people were given just enough truth to swallow the blasphemy whole.

To teach that God is not the creator of the universe is blasphemy.

To teach that God was a man, that man can become a god, that man can become equal to god or that man can become exalted and given a planet to rule over is blasphemy.

I would not be a good Christian if I allowed people that I love to invite damnation unto themselves without calling out a warning. I respect their right to believe the lies and worship as they choose, but I won’t tell them that one belief is as good as another.

 

[PaulDupre]

So an atheist baptism as long as you die is good enough for God and for you to be saved, but if you live it’s not good enough for the catholic church .
I guess its because the priest does not wish to have his baptism fee taken away from him that a re-baptism is needed.

If we’re going to distort, let’s distort evenly, shall we? Since you Mormons MUST pay at least 10% of your earnings to the LDS church in order to attend the temple, that means you are buying your way into the temple, right? At 10% of your yearly income, that’s one very expensive ordinance. And it is an ordinance without which you cannot be exalted. And as Brigham Young said, “salvation without exaltation is damnation.”

Of course, that’s silly. I’m sure you don’t consider yourself to be purchasing your exaltation. Well neither do Catholics consider a small donation to the Church to be purchasing sacraments either. We all contribute because we want to. You should be ashamed of yourself for bringing up such a juvenile objection to Catholicism.

God bless you anyway,
Paul

 

[Over40]

I am Mormon, and I believe in the Atonement and Reserrection of the Son of God. Therefore I do believe that would make me a Christian, regardless of what other people might like me to believe. I am here at this forum because I have a respect and desire to learn more about Catholicism. I find the Catholic Faith a beautiful religion, as I due Buddhism.

There is obscure “teachings” that there are many God’s based on a verse in the new testament. (which I am too lazy to look up at this time. Hebrews maybe…)

As for myself, hypothetically, whether there is one God, or a basketful, the one that I and any Christian needs to worry about is Jesus Christ.

But Mormons are Christain.

May I suggest that religious differences in the Christian community make a circle and start looking at common ground. We don’t have to leave our individual Faiths. What we do need to do though is figure out ways, as a united but variety of Christians to face and deal with the issues that face us today and in the near future.

O40

 

[montague]

You should be ashamed of yourself for bringing up such a juvenile objection to Catholicism.

yes i should be …

 

[Allweather]

There is obscure “teachings” that there are many God’s based on a verse in the new testament. (which I am too lazy to look up at this time. Hebrews maybe…)

Hi Over40, and welcome. I’d be interested in that verse about there being many gods, when you get time to look it up.

As for myself, hypothetically, whether there is one God, or a basketful, the one that I and any Christian needs to worry about is Jesus Christ.

It seems important, though. The Hebrews are emphatically monotheistic.

But Mormons are Christain.

It depends on how stringently you define the term, Christian.

May I suggest that religious differences in the Christian community make a circle and start looking at common ground. We don’t have to leave our individual Faiths. What we do need to do though is figure out ways, as a united but variety of Christians to face and deal with the issues that face us today and in the near future.O40

By biggest thing is unity. I don’t see how we as Christians can hope to address Jesus to the unsaved world if we’re all broken up into sects and cults. You take the divisions between Catholic west and Orthodox east. These divisions are relatively minor, theologically. In most ways of doctrine and practice Catholics and Orthodox are identical. But when you get over into the west and look at the collection of churches within the Protestant fold, the differences are astounding! And most of these churches are competing with each other. For instance, between the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, you are competing fiercely for converts door-to-door. And between the evangelicals and the mainline Protestants. Etc. Jesus said may we be one so that the world will know that He sent us. But we aren’t one. There are profound theological differences between us, in our concepts of God, our concepts of church authority, how we deal with doctrinal issues, like abortion and stem-cell research, stuff like that. How could be get around these differences by holding hands in a circle?