What Does the Mormon Church Teach About Catholicism?

The Evangelization Station ^

[GonzoII]

What Does the Mormon Church Teach About Catholicism?

1. Starting with the First Vision, Mormonism teaches that all churches except the Mormon Church are an abomination in the sight of God. "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join" (Joseph Smith History, 1:18-20)

"I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw• near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.” He again forbade me to join with any of them;..."

2. The Doctine and Covenants also has Jesus Christ condemning ALL other churches, and especially the "great and abominable church". "And the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire, according as it is spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet, who spoke of these things, which have not come to pass but surely must, as I live, for abominations shall not reign" (D&C 29:21).

3. The Church has a history of identifying the Catholic Church as the great and abominable church.

"The present Christian world exists and continues by division. The MYSTERY of Babylon the great, is mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, and it needs no prophetic vision, to unravel such mysteries. The old church is the mother, and the protestants are the lewd daughters. Alas! alas! what doctrine, what principle, or what scheme, in all, what prayers, what devotion, or what faith, `since the fathers have fallen asleep,' has opened the heavens; has brought men into the presence of God; and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to an innumerable company of angels? The answer is, not any: `There is none in all christendom that doeth good; no, not one' (Apostle John Taylor, Times and Seasons, Vol.6, No.1, p.811).

"Babylon, literally understood, is the gay world; spiritual wickedness, the golden city, and the glory of the world, The priests of Egypt, who received a portion gratis from Pharaoh; the priests of Baal, and the Pharisees, and Sadducees, with their "long robes," among the Jews, are equally included in their mother's family, with the Roman Catholics, Protestants, and all that have not had the keys of the kingdom and power thereof, according to the ordinances of God." - Prophet John Taylor, Times and Seasons, Vol.6, No.1, p.939

"Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the "whore of Babylon" whom the Lord denounces... as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. And any person who shall be so wicked as to receive a holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act. If any penitent believer desires to obtain forgiveness of sins through baptism, let him beware of having any thing to do with the churches of apostate Christendom, lest he perish in the awful plagues and judgments, denounced against them. The only persons among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people who have authority from Jesus Christ to administer any gospel ordinance are those called and authorized among the Latter-day Saints. Before the restoration of the church of Christ to the earth in the year 1830, there have been no people on the earth for many generations possessing authority from God to minister gospel ordinances. We again repeat. Beware of the hypocritical false teachers and imposters of Babylon! (Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, Vol.2, No.4, p.255)

"A great portion of the oriental country has been preserved from the grossest idolatry, wickedness, confusion, bloodshed, murders, cruelty, and errors in religion that have overspread the rest of the world, under the name of Christianity, or mystery of iniquity. An open defiance of God is no mystery; open drunkenness, and revelling debauchery, and all manner of wickedness and immorality professed by sinners who profess to be nothing else, are no mystery; they do not deceive anybody; but when all manner of wickedness, idolatry, drunkenness, and corruption is cloaked under a sacred name, under an outward sanctity and holiness, and under as high and dignified an appellation as Christian, it is a mystery of iniquity; and that has overspread a great portion of the world, and has borne rule until the present day, sometimes under the name of Roman universality, sometimes under the name of the Greek Church, and at other times under various classes and names."

"Many that were honest have been deceived by this mystery of iniquity, who have esteemed things to be sacred, which were abominably corrupt; and corrupt superstitions have been revered because of the great names and sanctified professions that were attached to them. If such institutions actually professed wickedness, they would go for what they were worth; but when a thing professes to be holy, and takes the name of Christ as its founder, and the holy Prophets and Apostles, to carry out all manner of oppression, all manner of idolatry and idol worship, all manner of priestcraft and kingcraft, and more or less instigating division among nations and governments, all to carry out bloodshed, cruelty, the rack, the inquisition, and holding of men in bondage, ruling them with a red of iron, it is a mystery of iniquity calculated to deceive millions."

"But returning to the general corruption that has prevailed nationally, politically, and religiously, under the name of Christianity, leaving out Christ and his Apostles, I do think there has been no idolatry in the world, under any form or system, that could surpass it. It is the mystery of iniquity, the great whore of all the earth. It has brought the whole earth under a lasting curse, having departed from the laws of God, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant, in consequence of which the earth is destined to be burned, and few men left" (Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.41)

"How long has this order of things existed, this dreadful apostacy, this class of people that pronounced themselves Zion, or Christians, without any of the characteristics of Zion? It has existed for some sixteen or seventeen centuries. It has spread itself and grown and gone into the four quarters of the earth. It is the great ecclesiastical power that is spoken of by the revelator John, and called by him the most corrupt and most wicked of all the powers of the earth, under the name of spiritual Babylon, or in other words Babel, which signifies confusion. This great and corrupt power is also represented by John as presenting a golden cup to the nations, full of all manner of filthiness and abominations."

"She is termed, in other places, by the same prophet, "The whore of all the earth," making the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Some three centuries ago there came out sortie excellent men, named Martin Lather, John Calvin and many others that might be mentioned, who protested against the wickedness and abominations of the Church wherein they had been educated, and of which they had been members. Because of their protestations against the mother Church they were called Protestants. They pronounced her the whore of all the earth; they declared that she had no authority, that she had none of the blessings and gifts which characterized the ancient Christians. They came out and established other Churches... But among all these Churches where are the characteristics of Zion? We hunt for them in vain" (Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 14, p.346).

"Thrones shall be cast down, and the Ancient of Days shall sit, and the body of the fourth beast (or Babylon) shall be given to the devouring flame, and then shall the remnant of the heathen know that the Lord is God, for they shall see and hear of his judgments, which he shall execute upon the corrupt powers of the earth under the name of modern Christianity, scripturally called "Babylon the Great"—"The whore of all the earth," with whom the nations for centuries have committed fornication, and have drank out of her filthy cup. O Babylon! thou hast decked thyself with costly ornaments! Thou has clothed thyself with the most gaudy apparel! Thy seminaries of learning, and thy theological institutions have been multiplied far and wide. Thy priests are polished with all the refinements of a profound and extensive education. Thy costly and magnificent churches have been erected in great numbers throughout all thy borders. The merchants of the earth have made themselves rich through the abundance of thy luxuries. The learned—the great—the mighty—the kings of the earth, have glorified themselves in thy grand and superb palaces. Thou hast indeed enrobed thyself in the royal splendors of a queen. Thine external appearance has excited the admiration of all nations. But internally thou art rotten with the filth of thy whoredoms" (Apostle Orson Pratt, The Essential Orson Pratt, p.109).

"The Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant church is the great corrupt ecclesiastic power, represented by great Babylon which has made all nations drunk with her wickedness, and she must fall, after she has been warned with the sound of the everlasting gospel. Her overthrow will be by a series of the most terrible judgments which will quickly succeed each other, and sweep over the nations where she has her dominion, and at last she will be utterly burned by fire, for thus hath the Lord spoken. Great, and fearful, and most terrible judgments are decreed upon these corrupt powers, the nations of modern Christendom; for strong is the Lord God who shall execute His fierce wrath upon them, and He will not cease until He has made a full end, and until their names be blotted out from under heaven" ((Apostle Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, p.84 - p.85).

The Evangelization Station P.O. Box 267 Angels Camp, California, 95222, USA Telephone: 209-728-5598 E-mail: evangelization@earthlink.net www.evangelizationstation.com Pamphlet 360

[Elsie]

Why not? You did!

Oh?

Where?

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(References are our friends)

[daniel1212]

So the veracity of well respected researchers, the Pew Research Center, The Barna Group, Ltd. Gallup, Ellison research and others, must be disallowed because they show Catholicism in negative light! We can only imagine where such would be if Rome still possessed and exercised her unScriptural temporal power to subdue her enemies.

[MarkBsnr]

The Pew Research Center is not well respected amongst those who pay attention to data and the methodology of acquiring them. The Pew Center is the darling of the liberal establishment. Gallup is in the pay of the liberals.

What you are missing is that this group is not specifically the Church’s enemy. It is every Christian’s enemy because it acquires false data, massages it to form false conclusions, and then portrays them as correct.

[Natural Law]

"Does this mean if they bite the heads off of bats, too, they will get a pass?"

It means exactly what Jesus said it means.

[greyfoxx39]

Seriously, religious conceit is the greatest danger to any nation and people.

That's hilarious coming from a mormon. Religious conceit is what "The Great Restoration" is all about, and there are numerous examples of statements of huge conceit made by mormon leaders.

[daniel1212]

Sorry, i do not agree. While there is always a small degree of error, every survey i have read from both conservative and supposedly liberal researchers on this issue over many years consistently shows the same. And liberals certainly do not favor evangelicals. You have nothing of substance that refutes it, and I think it is your assertions that are dubious, due to your devotion to Catholicism.

[Leoni]

The serpent was one creature, one devil’s advice. Just like your opinion is one opinion. If you read what St. Vincent of Lerins wrote [and it’s been repeated by the whole Universal Church (the Catholic Church), and all the ancient schismatic Christians, Eastern Orthodox, Nesotirans, Coptics etc], he is saying that we follow what was believed
“everywhere, always, and by ALL. For this is then truly and properly Catholic. ... This general rule will be correctly applied if we pursue universality, antiquity, and agreement. And we ... in no way depart from those interpretations which, it is clear our holy predecessors and fathers solemnized; and likewise agreement, “

Vincent of Lerins details what I only snipped here. Bottom line though is that the Serpent was one, and your opinion is one, we don’t follow one opinion. We follow ALL agreement unchanged from antiquity, ALL is millions upon millions in agreement. and always from the begining till present. The term cathgolic means universal, everywhere in space (all over the world, same teaching) and in time (same teachings, doctrines from Christ’s time till today, no changes )

Better to read Vincent of Lerin directly than my poor explanation.

[MarkBsnr]

Then we will have to agree to disagree. Liberals will almost always favour the more nebulous evangelical group when attacking the Church. You may attribute my motives to my Catholicism, so be it.

[Leoni]

re: while those who hold to the supremacy of Scripture that historically have been unified in upholding core truth we both agree on,

1) A core truth to a Catholic, is an infallible definition. That is a definition that can never be changed, once it is defined as a core truth. What is a core truth for Protestantism? and what Protestant is unified in anything but disagreement? Protestantism can't even agree on whether Christ was 100% equal to God the Father. They change teachings with every change of a generation or opinion.

2) How do you know that you are right and those that disagree with you are wrong?

[Elsie]

It means exactly what Jesus said it means.

So what, EXACTLY, did Jesus say?

[Elsie]

Just like your opinion is one opinion.

What was my OPINION?

[Elsie]

Vincent of Lerins details what I only snipped here. Bottom line though is that the Serpent was one, and your opinion is one, we don’t follow one opinion.

VoL is merely ONE person; right?

What makes HIS 'opinion' so special?

[Natural Law]

"So what, EXACTLY, did Jesus say?"

That by obeying the Two Greatest Commandments we were not far from the kingdom of heaven and that by living the Beatitudes we would be blessed and that the kingdom of heaven would be our reward. It is all right there in Matthew 5, Matthew 12, and Luke 6.

[daniel1212]

Actually, i see the liberal media overall manifesting far more disdain for fund. type evangelicals than for Catholics, like in the reaction to the death of Falwell versus JP2. It is well established that states in which Catholicism predominates are more liberal than states where evangelicals reign, though factors such as income have the most profound effect on faith. http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Statistical_Correlations.html

[Elsie]

It is all right there in Matthew 5, Matthew 12, and Luke 6.

John 6

28. Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29. Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

 

The REST of the story...

 

 

 

Acts 15:10-32
 10.  Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
 11.  No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
 12.  The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
 13.  When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me.
 14.  Simon  has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself.
 15.  The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
 16.  "`After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
 17.  that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things'
 18.  that have been known for ages.
 19.  "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
 20.  Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
 21.  For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
 22.  Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.
 23.  With them they sent the following letter:

 

 

 The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

 

 Greetings. 

  We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 
  So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- men who have risked their lives

  for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 
  It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 

You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.

You will do well to avoid these things.

 

Farewell.

 

 30.  The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter.
 31.  The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message.

 

 

[Natural Law]

The Beatitudes were Calvin's stumbling block too. It is pretty hard to place a choke point and toll booth on the highway to heaven when Jesus gave everybody the short cut.

I reject the premise of Sola Scriptura and that Paul was given the mission to edit, revise, redact or issue a new gospel. Paul's only mission was to spread and clarify the message found in the Synoptic Gospels.

Therefore, if your interpretation of Paul is to support the the words of Christ it is a valid interpretation. If it is to change or add to them it is wrong.

[Tennessee Nana]

It is pretty hard to place a choke point and toll booth on the highway to heaven when Jesus gave everybody the short cut.
_________________________________________

Oh I dunno...

The mormons had no trouble in placing Joey Smith as a toll booth into the mormon heaven...

Getting past the weak sister mormon jesus is child’s play...

Its Joey Smith, the mormon savior and judge ya gotta please...

[Natural Law]

"The mormons had no trouble in placing Joey Smith as a toll booth into the mormon heaven..."

You ought to take that up with the Mormons. This Catholic cannot speak for them.

[Tennessee Nana]

Youre over here in the mormon thread...

You take it up with them...

Weve spoken to them about it till were blue in the face...

What color is yours ???

:)

[Natural Law]

"Youre over here in the mormon thread..."

Excuse me, but the title of the thread is; "What Does the Mormon Church Teach About Catholicism?". That seems like a pretty compelling reason to have actual Catholics participate on this thread. It certainly is more reason than for non-Catholics and non-LDS to be lurking.

For the record, regardless of their goofy doctrines and dogma, I have met a higher percentage of Mormons who, by their deeds and life style, live the Beatitudes more closely than most of the Protestants I know. In the end, that will mean more than which pew you sat in or how diligently you criticized the Catholic Church.