My Mormon Friend

[Steven1620]

Hello! How do I best debate with an acquaintance of mine who says he ‘used to be Catholic’ and is now Mormon? I started off with, “well, you can’t be ‘used to be Catholic’ you know…”(which is one of my favorites!!) This individual insists that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. My rather limp response was, ’ you mean the word of Joseph Smith?’ Any suggestions on how to go from there? I did also offer up that all public revelation ended with Christ and that private revelation can only be certified by The Church. Any former Mormons out there who can give me a hand with this one? God Bless!!

 

[I_A]

Prayer does more than all the knowledge and facts, but in any case:

catholicmormon.libsyn.com/

 

[MountainMan]

Steven - I too struggle with several friends and acquaintances who are Mormon. My first suggestion is that you remind your friends that Jesus told Peter “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I shall build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Mormons believe that the church became apostate (which implies that hell had prevailed) by the end of the first century (or thereabouts). If Jesus’s words were true, this is impossible.

Otherwise, I suggest you visit the Catholic Answers web site, which has a great deal of information about Mormonism and questions for those who are Mormon.

Chuck

 

[valient_Lucy]

Hello! How do I best debate with an acquaintance of mine who says he ‘used to be Catholic’ and is now Mormon? I started off with, “well, you can’t be ‘used to be Catholic’ you know…”(which is one of my favorites!!) This individual insists that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. My rather limp response was, ’ you mean the word of Joseph Smith?’ Any suggestions on how to go from there? I did also offer up that all public revelation ended with Christ and that private revelation can only be certified by The Church. Any former Mormons out there who can give me a hand with this one? God Bless!!

I am currently dealing with a similar struggle with a friend of mine, and his fiancee, also a Mormon, is a friend of mine. Still, I agree with another poster that attempting to force a person into intellecutual sumbission is not a good plan. Pray for your friend, and attempt to explain what the Catholic Church actually teaches. More importantly, make sure you’re really living your Catholic faith. If your friend senses any hypocricy in your words and actions, it will not help your case.
However, if you want to encourage your friend to consider their faith against the Catholic faith, ask them to consider how they can reconcile the promises of Christ to guide the Church to truth, with his belief in a mass apostacy.