Studying The Book Of Mormon, A Sin?

[mostolto]

would it be a sin for me to study the Book of Mormon and Mormon religion, and to attend their meetings, with a scope to learning more about their religion?

 

[Ladygem]

It wouldn’t be a sin if your interest is purely academic. It could be risky though, I’ve heard they really pressure you to convert.

 

[DaveBj]

The early Church Fathers wrote detailed refutations of Gnosticism, Marcionism, and other heresies. In order to know why the heresies were wrong, they had to study them in detail.

 

[albertus_magnus]

would it be a sin for me to study the Book of Mormon and Mormon religion, and to attend their meetings, with a scope to learning more about their religion?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but if it causes you to believe hersey that’s a problem.

 

[mostolto]

i think my motivation, stems from a more Ecumenical desire, rather than a desire to proseletyse within another religion, that would no doubt be quite risky. as mentioned, it is highly likely that at some stage, there would be pressure to accept baptism into the Mormon faith, that would be unacceptable from a doctrinal point of view, so i would assume then, that i would need to make my intentions quite clear to the Elders of that religion, right from the outset?

 

[theyoungmonk]

Do not risk it. It is not worth the risk to your understanding of the faith, you could accidently fall into error too easily. If you need to learn about Mormonism for whatever good reason then find a catholic book that looks at it in a safe manner.

 

[albertus_magnus]

Do not risk it. It is not worth the risk to your understanding of the faith, you could accidently fall into error too easily. If you need to learn about Mormonism for whatever good reason then find a catholic book that looks at it in a safe manner.

^^

You should only study it if you are very firm in your faith, otherwise you’re taking a huge risk.

 

[mostolto]

thank you for these warnings. i certainly wish i had thought of having this discussion,
before converting to the Jehovahs Witness religion, in the 80’s, it would have saved me a lot of heartache. i would have to be convinced, that there could not be any possibility of a repetition. am not sure, at this stage, that the Mormons will be able to reassure me that my faith, and that of my relatives, will be respected, whilst i visit their church. it may not be a very good idea. thank you

 

[TypesAndShadows]

thank you for these warnings. i certainly wish i had thought of having this discussion,
before converting to the Jehovahs Witness religion, in the 80’s, it would have saved me a lot of heartache. i would have to be convinced, that there could not be any possibility of a repetition. am not sure, at this stage, that the Mormons will be able to reassure me that my faith, and that of my relatives, will be respected, whilst i visit their church. it may not be a very good idea. thank you

Yes, if you already had this problem with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, then if it were me I would simply conclude that this sort of thing wasn’t a safe practice. Social pressure can be very hard to resist.

 

[robwar]

would it be a sin for me to study the Book of Mormon and Mormon religion, and to attend their meetings, with a scope to learning more about their religion?

It would be better to use Catholic apologetic books that discuss Mormonism than read their material or attend their meeting. Jimmy Akin has a very good book “Why Mormonism Is Not Christian, The Essential Facts Every Catholic Must Know”. For the most part, in learning about any other faith, use our own apologetic material and explains and compares. As someone else pointed out, going to their meetings can result in pressure to join. Not a good idea.

 

[mostolto]

yes, however i would like to adhere to a more Ecumenical stance, focussing more on what both religions have in common, and how they can better communicate, and co-operate with one another, rather than on their differences. reading a Catholic Ecumenical book, on this subject, may be the only way to achieve this, in the long run. thank you

 

[interestedman]

There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but if it causes you to believe hersey that’s a problem.

If you read the book of Mormon and start believing it, you probably have some pretty serious problems to begin with.

 

[Joe_5859]

i think my motivation, stems from a more Ecumenical desire, rather than a desire to proseletyse within another religion, that would no doubt be quite risky. as mentioned, it is highly likely that at some stage, there would be pressure to accept baptism into the Mormon faith, that would be unacceptable from a doctrinal point of view, so i would assume then, that i would need to make my intentions quite clear to the Elders of that religion, right from the outset?

I see no reason why one would need to attend their services week after week in the interest of ecumenism. You don’t see the **Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity **or the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue participating in the worship services of other faiths. That’s not the path to authentic ecumenism. You’re merely conveying the false impression that you’re open to converting when you are not. Or else your placing yourself in the dangerous position of actually converting.

If you have a passion for ecumenism, I would strongly encourage you to look at the documents from the above mentioned Pontifical Councils. Read the Vatican II’s documents on Ecumenism and Inter-religious Dialogue. Become very familiar with the Church’s positions on these efforts first and make sure – every step of the way – that you are operating within these boundaries.

The Year of Faith is starting soon. Make this year a time to really build on your own Catholic faith. Read the Catechism. Be strengthened. Prepare yourself for the task of the New Evangelization.

 

[Battleaxe]

yes, however i would like to adhere to a more Ecumenical stance, focussing more on what both religions have in common, and how they can better communicate, and co-operate with one another, rather than on their differences. reading a Catholic Ecumenical book, on this subject, may be the only way to achieve this, in the long run. thank you

We have virtually nothing in common. The LDS concept of God is worse than bizarre. Everything else flows from that.

Trying to pin down an LDS member regarding his beliefs is like wrestling with an eel or a shape-shifter. Hell also use words and terms which we use; but their meanings will be vastly different. So to start with, youll hear stuff which sounds comfortably familiar…but isn`t.

It`s deadly!

Try The Lord of The Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. They`re easier reading.

 

[mostolto]

thank you to everyone for the advice. on consideration, i am not sure that i am sufficiently motivated or qualified, to become a representative for the Vatican, on the subject of Ecumenism. actually my main interest has always been more in following the Churches viewpoint on social and scientific subjects, rather than on topics of theology, but its not the first time that i have been interested in other religions. i was in fact constrained, to convert to the Jehovahs Witness religion, in the 80’s, in South Africa, to evade, a 6yr prison sentence, during the apartheid era, for refusing to do military service. i spent 15yrs in that religion, the first 3yrs, including my baptism, were not spent completely voluntarily, as the SA Defence Force had constrained me to join, as a consequence of my refusal.

but i had real difficulties adjusting to the JW religion, it was extremely demanding, and their religion is kept very much isolated from the rest of the world. you are not permitted to socialise with people who are not JW’s, and if you convert to another religion, they will stop speaking with you, which is essentially what happened to me…

although Mormons do not shun, or isolate themselves from the world, to the same extent, they have a simular, although not identical, heirarchial arrangement, and i am not sure that i would be able to adapt to this, purely from a practical perspective. there are many books that were rejected from inclusion, in the Bible Canon, by mainstream Christian denominations. the Book of Mormon is just one of those, but there are also others that the Catholic church, has included in the Bible canon, that have been rejected by most other Christian denominations (eg apocrypha). The Orthodox Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah, and also reject the entire New Testament as Gods word and Muslims reject the greater part of the entire Bible. its all very confusing to me. maybe i will just limit my studies to the Bible canon and the Christian interpretation of it. the Catholic Encyclopedia is a good online reference source for this. i am not sure whether there are any other Catholic digital reference libraries, on DVD, that someone could recommend. this too would be appreciated.thank you

 

[TypesAndShadows]

there are many books that were rejected from inclusion, in the Bible Canon, by mainstream Christian denominations. the Book of Mormon is just one of those, but there are also others that the Catholic church, has included in the Bible canon, that have been rejected by most other Christian denominations (eg apocrypha).

You sound very confused. Of course the Book of Mormon isn’t part of the Biblical canon: it’s a 19th century book. Not even the Mormons include it in the Biblical canon.

You should probably look up the Deuterocanon and read in more detail. Of course most Protestant denominations don’t include them: every time a new group of Protestants split off from a Protestant group that didn’t include them, you now had an extra group that didn’t include them, without increasing numbers or suggesting any scrutinity of the books. And yet, all of the Catholic deuterocanon is accepted by all of the Orthodox Churches, so oer half of Christians accept them globally (if you want to play a numbers game).

 

[mostolto]

thank you.my goal will be to initially establish exactly how many books there were, and then to try and establish what happened to those books, and determine whether any religions adopted them in their teachings. should anyone have a list of these extra-Canononical books,it would be appreciated.thank you.

please note:i will be offline until 1 Nov due to data time constraints

 

[Jerusha]

Another resource would be to do a search in the forums. This subject has been discussed many times. A person who is not familiar with the history of the United States, and its relationship with its indigenous peoples, as well as its primitivist religions, is likely to find Mormonism to be both confusing and alluring. The JW’s are just another one of those peculiarly American religions.

I need to get back to work on my research project.

 

[Linusthe2nd]

would it be a sin for me to study the Book of Mormon and Mormon religion, and to attend their meetings, with a scope to learning more about their religion?

I would think it very dangerous. Might be regarded as an act against your faith, which would be very serious. Much better to get more acquainted with your Catholic religion. Are you a practicing Catholic? Better get straightened up there.