My comments weren’t pointed toward the Catholic church teachings as a body of teachings, but rather toward what some posts had specifically said about Latter-day Saint beliefs about pre-mortal existence. I think the address given by the Pope the first of this year wherein he said that Catholics should have respect toward other religions and their beliefs, conveys a different message than words that in so many words say “thou fool for believing such a thing”.
Matthew 23: [16]
Woe to you blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor. [17]
Ye foolish and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? [18] And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor. [19]
Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? [20] He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it:
[21] And whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it: [22] And he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. [23]
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone. [24]
Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel. [25]
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
[26]
Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean. [27]
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres,
which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness. [28]
So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. [29]
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; that build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just, [30] And say: If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
[31] Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets. [32] Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. [33]
You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?
Would you say that Jesus was being “respectful” of the errors that the Pharisees taught? Or, did He believe it was better to tell them the harsh truth of their errors, and try to open their eyes to the real truth that He taught? Should He have just smiled at them, and told them He ‘respected’ whatever they wanted to believe, and left it at that? Are you saying that Christians should never tell others, when they believe they’re in serious error, as Jesus did?
Do you also believe that no child should be corrected by their teacher when they give a wrong answer to a question on a test, because it might lower their self esteem? What if they get all the questions wrong? Should they still get a gold star for doing a good job? What lesson would they learn from that?
A person can say “I believe this and this” and be respectful of another person’s beliefs which are different, and not have to say “if you believe that and that you are not only wrong, but you are being held hostage” (or words to that effect or some other effect that clearly has the intent to not only discourage that person from holding their belief, but has the intent to change that person’s belief by devaluing it or through whatever means of convincing they have personally deemed necessary).
The purpose of pointing out someone’s error is to make them think, and seriously consider whether they might be wrong, after all. The intent of most Catholics who post in this forum, is to show people the real danger in following false doctrine, because it can lead to losing their souls. We take the loss of souls seriously, so we tend to be blunt when talking about false doctrines. You could call it our version of “tough love”, because that’s exactly what it is.
Latter-day Saints believe the Bible literally, and also the other scriptures (the “standard works”) that they hold sacred as well as a person who studies our beliefs knows. Those scriptures are held up as a standard. The Proclamation on the Family is also an example of a prophetic statement that was voted upon by the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles that is held up as a standard. So I disagree with what your comment said about “reluctance on my church’s part” for presenting teachings to its members and saying that those teachings are true.
If you really take the whole Bible literally, as well as all of your other writings, how do you reconcile the fact that they conflict with each other in many places? Which parts do you choose to ignore when they conflict with each other?
How is the “Proclamation on the Family” considered to be a prophetic statement? Does it foretell a future event? I didn’t think any LDS prophets had received any prophecies in recent years. At least, that’s what someone stated in a thread a while ago.
