The
Mormon President Brigham Young said, "Take up the Bible, compare the
religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the
test" (JD 16:46). This web site will compare the teachings of
the LDS Church to the Bible using the teachings of the Catholic Church to
interpret the Bible. This web site has received the Fidelity Green Light Award
for its Excellence in Catholic Fidelity from CatholicCulture.org.
This web site will mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the
doctrine which we have learned (Rom.16:17).
This is a personal web site and all rights are reserved (Copyright
2002-2012 by http://comparing-views.com ).
All the faithful share in understanding and handing on
revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who
instructs them and guides them into all truth (CCC91)
Those
who have been properly baptized have a right to be called Christians (CCC1271)
Those who have been properly baptized have a right to be called Christians (CCC1271). The Catholic Church has ruled that a Mormon baptism is not valid. The Catholic Church has stated, "The words Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have for the Mormons a meaning totally different from the Christian meaning. The differences are so great that one cannot even consider that this doctrine is a heresy which emerged out of a false understanding of the Christian doctrine. The teaching of the Mormons has a completely different matrix. ... Mormons hold that there is no real Trinity, no original sin ..." (EWTN). The Catholic Church has also stated "Mormons ... are to be considered unbaptized ... the marriage of Mormons ... with a validly baptized person is not sacramental marriage" (EWTN).
The Eternal Word Television Network has stated that "Although Mormons certainly consider themselves to be Christians, the Catholic Church does not consider them to be Christians, either sacramentally or theologically. The Church has ruled that Mormon baptism is not valid, which means that Mormons are not Christians by baptism. Since Mormons believe in a plurality of gods and do not believe in Christ's divinity (as it is understood by orthodox Christians), they are not theological Christians either." (ETWN). The Eternal Word Television Network has also stated that “Mormons are not Christians is the official Catholic position; specifically, the Church does not accept the validity of Mormon baptism, though she does accept the validity of non-Catholic Christian baptism (ETWN) and “Mormons are not Christians because they do not believe that Christ is God. This belief defines a Christian” (ETWN) and “Mormons are not Christians ... Those who deny the doctrine of the Holy Trinity deny that Christ is God. Now if one denies that Christ is God, he is denying an essential aspect of Christianity" (ETWN)
A convert from Mormonism to Catholicism writes, "I could no longer accept the Mormon view of a plurality of gods." He also writes "The more I researched, the more flaws I found with the Mormon doctrines I had been taught. ... The overwhelming historical evidence available supports the Catholic teaching on Apostolic succession. ... Another truth I discovered is that there is only one God ..." (ETWN). Another convert from Mormonism to Catholicism writes "I was born and raised in a Latter-Day Saints family ... As I read and studied ... Mormon teachings were often in direct conflict with the Bible ... it is my testimony that the Catholic Church is Christ's Church on earth. ... It is the Church Christ himself established, and its fundamental doctrines and creeds have not changed in two thousand years. They have remained constant, in harmony with the earliest Fathers of the Church ...." (Catholic Answers).
The Bible reveals:
Christians
must make every effort to proclaim the good news. There is a famine on earth,
"not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the LORD" [Am 8:11] (CCC2835).
The missionary task implies a respectful dialogue; purify them from error
for the glory of God (CCC856).
Through a respectful dialogue we can purify Mormon’s from error for the glory of God (CCC856). It is the love of Christ that urges us to bring them the truth (CCC851). Jesus prayed for the unity of his disciples: That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us (CCC820). The Holy Spirit calls us to bring unity to the Church (CCC820). This holy objective transcends human powers and gifts. That is why we place all our hope in the prayer of Christ for the Church, in the love of the Father for us, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. (CCC822). Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God. Humility is the foundation of prayer (CCC2559). Consider how Jesus Christ teaches us to be humble, by making us see that our virtue does not depend on our work alone but on grace from on high. (CCC2825). Pope St. Felix III said "An error which is not resisted is approved; a truth which is not defended is suppressed....".
Through prayer we allow the Spirit to lead us (CCC2744). By prayer
we can discern what is the will of God and obtain the endurance to do it
(CCC2826). Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus
did (CCC2634). The prayer of intercession consists in
asking on behalf of another (CCC2647). We can ask certain saints to intercede
for us (CCC2683):
The Bible reveals:
The
Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains
present and active in the Church: God, who spoke in the past, continues to
converse with the Church (CCC79)
The Christian faith cannot accept revelations that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment, as is the case in certain nonChristian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such revelations (CCC67). The Magisterium of the Church is a prophetic office (CCC2036). It is the Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals (CCC890). Aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium), receives the faith, once for all delivered to the saints [Jude 3] (CCC93).
The Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith (CCC86). Divine assistance is given to the successors of the apostles when they propose a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals (CCC892). The Church's Magisterium defines dogmas when it proposes truths contained in divine Revelation (CCC88). The doctrine of the Trinity is a dogma (CCC251). We believe all that which is contained in the word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed (CCC182).
The Church does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence (CCC82). Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit. And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching (CCC81). Through Tradition, the Church perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she believes. The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition (CCC78).
NOTE: This web site will
quote from the following early church leaders:
·
Clement was the bishop of Rome who was ordained by the apostle
Peter
·
Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch who appointed by the apostle
Peter
·
Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna who was a disciple of the apostle
John
· Irenaeus was the bishop of Lugdunum who was a disciple of Polycarp, Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John
The Bible reveals:
We are to have a sincere respect for different religions
which frequently reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men. We are to
treat with love, prudence and patience those who are in error or ignorance
(CCC2104)
God desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth: that is, of Christ Jesus
(CCC74). The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know the truth
will make you free. To follow Jesus is to live in the Spirit of truth, whom the
Father sends in his name and who leads into all the truth (CCC2466).
Mormonism teaches Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers who
were born of a heavenly parent (GP Chap 3). The Mormon President Gordon B.
Hinckley said, "we do not believe in the traditional Christ of
Christianity ... our knowledge comes of the witness of a prophet … " (LDS
General Conference Apr 2002). Mormon scripture
reveals that the Father has a body of flesh and bones (D&C 130, GP Chap 1). Mormons believe in Christ, but they believe some very
different things about Him than most Christians do. Mormonism teaches
"another Jesus" (2Cor.11:4) [see table below]:
The Jesus of Mormonism The Jesus of
the Bible
a) was a spirit born of heavenly
parents was the
eternal “Word” (CCC479) *
b) is one of “three Gods” is God
(divinity) (CCC253)
c) is an angel like Satan created the angel Satan
(CCC331)
d) has a brother who is
Satan is
the only Son of the Father (CCC467)
e) has a Father who has a body
of flesh has a Father
who is pure spirit (CCC370)
f) has a Father who became
God has a
Father who is eternally God (CCC212)
g) has a heavenly mother and
earthly mother has an earthly
mother (CCC456)
* The
term "Word" (Greek logos) combines God's dynamic, creative word (Genesis),
and personified preexistent Wisdom as the instrument of God's creative activity
(Proverbs) (NAB footnotes for John 1:1).
The Bible reveals:
We do
not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons (CCC253)
The Mormon magazine Ensign reveals that Joseph Smith teaching of "three Gods" is a plain and precious truth (Ensign, Mar 2008, pp 68-73). The inspired words of our living prophets become scripture to us. Their words come to us through Ensign magazine (GP Chap 10). Mormon scripture reveals many Gods, it says "the Gods, organized and formed the heavens ... they (the Gods) said: Let there be light" (Abr 4:1-3). Catholics do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons; each of divine persons is God (divinity) (CCC253). The three persons are really distinct from one another (CCC254). The three divine persons act together as one (CCC648). The one Godhead subsists in three persons (Holy See). The Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one (CCC266). The Christian faith confesses that God is one in nature, substance and essence (CCC200). God is one but not solitary (CCC254). There is only one true God … the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple (CCC202). There exists but one God... he is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the giver of order. He made all things by himself, that is, by his Word and by his Wisdom, by the Son and the Spirit (CCC292).
Jesus Christ is himself God, the Word made flesh (CCC151). The apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (CCC2241). He who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father (CCC663). The only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature (CCC479). Jesus is consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity (CCC467). Jesus performed acts, such as pardoning sins, that manifested him to be the Saviour God himself (CCC594). The deeds, miracles and words of Christ all reveal that in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (CCC515). Jesus himself affirms that God is the one Lord. At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is the Lord (CCC202). The title Lord indicates divine sovereignty (CCC455). Jesus title of My Lord and my God! shows adoration (CCC448). Jesus words to Mary Magdalene: I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory of the risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father's right hand (CCC660).
Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity of his divine person; for this reason he is the one and only mediator between God and men (CCC480). Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine and the other human, not confused, but united in the one person of God's Son (CCC481). Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will, which he has in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit (CCC482). “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God ... the Son of God, is God and Man. ... God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His mother, born into the world. ... Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.” (The Athanasian Creed). "… consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood …" (The Chalcedonian Creed).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
A heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth that must be believed with divine and catholic faith (CCC2089)
Mormon Scripture reveals that Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, claimed that Lord told him that the churches "….were all wrong ...all their creeds were an abomination in his sight …” (JS-H 18-19). A heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith (CCC2089). The Holy Trinity is central to the Christian faith (CCC261). It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith (CCC234). The Trinity has been from the beginning of the Church's faith principally by means of Baptism (CCC249). The Trinity is one God in three persons (CCC253). The Trinity is a mystery of faith, a mystery is revealed by God (CCC237). During the first centuries the Church sought to clarify her Trinitarian faith; this clarification was the work of the early councils (CCC250).
A creed is a summary of what the Church believes (CCC187). It is a summary of the principal truths of the faith (CCC188). From the beginning, the apostolic Church expressed and handed on her faith in brief formulae normative for all. This summary of faith gathers the essential elements of her faith; it is gathered from the Old and the New Testaments (CCC186). Creeds help us to attain and deepen our faith (CCC193).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic leaders taught:
For it
is by grace that we are saved and again it is by grace that our works can bear
fruit for eternal life (CCC1697)
Mormon Scripture reveals, "we are saved, after all we can do” (Book of Mormon - 2Nephi 25:23). Mormons believe they "may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel" (LDS A/F 3). Mormons "reject the doctrine of salvation by grace alone" (LDS Ensign, Mar 1988, 7). Mormonism teaches "One of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God." (Book of Mormon Student Manual for 2Nephi 25:23). Mormons believe "We cannot be saved by grace alone, for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” (LDS Ensign - Nov 2001, 18). The inspired words of our living prophets become scripture to us. Their words come to us through Ensign magazine (GP Chap 10). For it is by grace that we are saved and again it is by grace that our works can bear fruit for eternal life (CCC1697). Grace is the free and undeserved help that God gives us (CCC1996). God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes (CCC308). The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high (CCC1989). When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight (CCC1993)
The Joint Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation stated,
"By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works ... God forgives sin by grace ... The good works of the justified should be done in order to confirm their call, that is, lest they fall from their call by sinning again ... In the final judgement, the justified will be judged also on their works ... believers should do good works which the Holy Spirit works in them."
We work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, without God we can do nothing (CCC2001). We must have the grace of God to move and assist us before faith can be exercised (CCC153). Faith consists not only in saying "Lord, Lord," but by disposing the heart to do the will of the Father (CCC2611). Living faith works through charity (CCC1814). By charity we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God (CCC1822). We obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands (CCC1828). All Christians are called to the perfection of charity. In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ's gift (CCC2013).
Faith is a gift of God (CCC153). We can lose this free gift of faith (CCC162). He who does not believe will be condemned (CCC183). With the grace of God we hope to obtain the joy of heaven, God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ (CCC1821). By the power of the Holy Spirit we can bear much fruit. God has grafted us onto the true vine (CCC736). The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us, such as charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity (CCC1832).
The Bible reveals:
The early Apostolic Church
leaders taught:
There
can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God
who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the
human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth
(CCC159).
Mormonism teaches "Today many nonmembers of the Church learn by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true (see Moroni 10:4-5)." (GP Chap 21). The introduction to Book of Mormon says, “We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:3-5).” Mormon’s believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly” (Articles of Faith 1:8). Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth (CCC159). God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth (CCC136). Aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium), receives the faith, once for all delivered to the saints (CCC93). The inspired books teach the truth (CCC107).
The following sections in the Book
of Mormon contradict the truth contained in the Bible (refer to the appropriate
listed section for more detail):
The Bible reveals:
In his plan of salvation,
God ordained that his Son should die for our sins (CCC624).
From the beginning of time made at once out of
nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, that is, the
angelic and the earthly, and then the human creature (CCC327)
He made
all things by himself, that is, by his Word and by his Wisdom, by the Son and
the Spirit (CCC292)
Mormon scripture reveals, "the Gods, organized and formed the heavens ... they (the Gods) said: Let there be light" (Abr 4:1-3). In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God the Father almighty is Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen (CCC279). God alone created the universe, freely, directly and without any help (CCC317). God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order (CCC337). The Old Testament suggests and the New Covenant reveals the creative action of the Son and the Spirit inseparably one with that of the Father. There exists but one God... he is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the giver of order. He made all things by himself, that is, by his Word and by his Wisdom, by the Son and the Spirit who, so to speak, are his hands (CCC292). God is unique; there are no other gods besides him. He made heaven and earth (CCC212).
God created everything by the eternal Word, his beloved Son (CCC291). Though the work of creation is attributed to the Father in particular, it is equally true that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are the one, indivisible principle of creation (CCC316). Creation is the common work of the three divine persons; each divine person performs the common work according to his unique personal property. We confess that one God and Father, from whom all things are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and one Holy Spirit in whom all things are. (CCC258).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
Scripture
bears witness to faith in creation "out of nothing" as a truth
(CCC297)
Mormonism teaches, “He organized this world and gave it form” (GP Chap 1). Joseph Smith taught, “the word create came from the word baurau, which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship” (Joseph Smitth's King Follett Sermon). Scripture bears witness to faith in creation "out of nothing". Look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being [2 Macc 7:22-21, 28] (CCC297). From the beginning of time, made out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal (CCC293). Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator. The world began when God's word drew it out of nothingness; all existent beings, all of nature, and all human history are rooted in this primordial event, the very genesis by which the world was constituted and time begun (CCC338). In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth: three things are affirmed in these first words of Scripture: the eternal God gave a beginning to all that exists outside of himself; he alone is Creator (the verb "create" - Hebrew bara - always has God for its subject). The totality of what exists (expressed by the formula "the heavens and the earth") depends on the One who gives it being (CCC290). The world was made for the glory of God (CCC293).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
God created everything by the eternal Word, his beloved Son
(CCC291)
Mormonism teaches, Jesus was “born of heavenly parents” (GP Chap 2). The Son is before all things (CCC291). The Son is eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born (CCC246). The apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (CCC2241). The only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, became incarnate (CCC479). Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son of God made man. He came from God, descended from heaven, and came in the flesh (CCC423). He who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father (CCC663). He was begotten from the Father before all ages as to his divinity and in these last days, was born as to his humanity of the virgin Mary (CCC467). God brings the firstborn into the world (CCC333). The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten, but proceeding” (The Athanasian Creed).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
Christ
created the angelic world (CCC331). Satan was at first a good angel, made by
God: The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God,
but they became evil by their own doing (CCC391).
Mormonism teaches, Satan was “born
of heavenly parents” (GP Chap 2).
God from the beginning of time made at once out of nothing both orders
of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, that is, the angelic and the
earthly, and then the human creature, who as it were shares in both orders,
being composed of spirit and body (CCC327).
Angels are spiritual creatures (CCC350). The
spiritual, non-corporeal beings are called angels (CCC328). As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence
and will: they are immortal creatures (CCC330). Angel is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you
seek the name of their nature, it is spirit; if you seek the name of their
office, it is angel: from what they are, spirit, from what they do, angel (CCC329).
The angels were created through
and for Christ (CCC331). Son of God is a title given to the angels, it
signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular
intimacy between God and his creature (CCC441). Angels and men, as intelligent
and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their
free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray (CCC311). Satan
and the other demons were created naturally good by God, but they became evil
by their own doing (CCC391). Satan or the devil and the other demons are fallen
angels who have freely refused to serve God and his plan. Their choice against
God is definitive. They try to associate man in their revolt against God
(CCC414). The devil has sinned from the beginning; he is a liar and the father
of lies, the fallen angels radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign
(CCC392). The angels' sin is unforgivable.
There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no
repentance for men after death (CCC393).
The Bible reveals:
Every
spiritual soul is created immediately by God (CCC366)
Mormonism teaches, man was “born of heavenly parents” (GP Chap 2). God creates every spiritual soul immediately, it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection (CCC366). The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God (CCC362). We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son (CCC654).
We are sinful creatures, in Jesus we have become children of adoption (CCC2825). God is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son who (CCC240). By calling God Father, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority. God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God (CCC239). In Israel, God is called Father inasmuch as he is Creator of the world Even more, God is Father because of the covenant and the gift of the law to Israel, his first-born son (CCC238). He is the Father in a special way only of Christ, but he is the common Father of us all, because while he has begotten only Christ, he has created us (CCC2783).
God freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life (CCC1). God wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son (CCC52). The eternal Father created the whole universe and chose to raise up men to share in his own divine life, to which he calls all men in his Son. This family of God is gradually formed and takes shape during the stages of human history, in keeping with the Father's plan. (CCC759).
The Bible reveals:
God
needs no pre-existent thing or any help in order to create. God creates freely
out of nothing (CCC296)
Mormonism scripture reveals, the
prophets prepared themselves to become leaders on earth while they were still
spirits in heaven (see Alma 13:1–3) (GP Chap 2). We believe that God needs no pre-existent
thing to create; God creates freely out of nothing (CCC296). To God, all moments of time are present in
their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of
predestination, he includes in it each person's free response to his grace
(CCC600). Those whom he fore knew he also predestined. Those whom he
predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and
those whom he justified he also glorified (CCC2012). God creates every spiritual soul immediately, it is
immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it
will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection (CCC366).
From all eternity God chose for
the mother of his Son, the predestined mother (CCC488). To become the mother of
the Saviour, Mary was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.
The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as full of
grace (CCC490). God’s Spirit prepared
Mary (CCC721). Mary is enriched from
the first instant of her conception.
The Father blessed Mary with spiritual blessing and chose her in Christ
before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love
(CCC492). By his providence God
protects and governs all things that he has made. For all are open and laid
bare to his eyes, even those things which are yet to come into existence
through the free action of creatures (CCC302).
The Bible reveals:
God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him
(CCC314)
Scripture
portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve
immediately lost the grace of original holiness and they become afraid of God
(CCC399).
Mormonism teaches, “Some people believe Adam and Eve committed a serious sin when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, latter-day scriptures help us understand that their Fall was a necessary step in the plan of life and a great blessing to all of us. Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden. ” (GP Chap 6). Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lost the grace of original holiness and they become afraid of God (CCC399). By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings (CCC416). Man, enticed by the Evil One, abused his freedom at the very beginning of history. He succumbed to temptation and did what was evil. He still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of original sin. He is now inclined to evil and subject to error (CCC1707). The beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth was burdened by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work (CCC1607).
The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject to its bondage to decay. Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will return to the ground, for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history (CCC400). Death is transformed by Christ. The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing (CCC1009). By his death Jesus has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men (CCC1019). The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins: the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world, and he was revealed to take away sins. Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Saviour; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state? (CCC457).
The Bible reveals:
God
created male and female, He blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply
(CCC2331)
Mormonism teaches, “Some people believe Adam and Eve committed a serious sin when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, latter-day scriptures help us understand that their Fall was a necessary step in the plan of life” (GP Chap 6). Mormon Scripture reveals that after the Fall, Eve said, After the Fall, Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed [children]” (Moses 5:11). God created male and female, He blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply (CCC2331). In marriage, by forming one flesh Adam and Eve can transmit human life (CCC372). If we love God we keep his commandments, then we shall multiply (CCC2057). The Lord asked Eve after the sin in the garden: What is this that you have done?. Eve knew what she should of done (CCC1736).
Sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another (CCC387). Man's first sin consisted of letting his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command when he tempted by the devil (CCC397). Sin is an offense against God. Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become like gods, knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of God." (CCC1850). Man's freedom is limited and fallible. By refusing God's plan of love, he deceived himself and became a slave to sin (CCC1739). In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good (CCC398).
Why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away. And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (CCC412). God guides his creation toward this perfection: By his providence God protects and governs all things that he has made. For all are open and laid bare to his eyes, even those things which are yet to come into existence through the free action of creatures (CCC302). The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. His action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him (CCC395).
Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it: For almighty God, because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself (CCC311).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
Man
would have been immune to bodily death if had not sinned (CCC1008).
Mormonism teaches, “Because of the Fall, we are blessed with the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden. ” (GP Chap 6). Man would have been immune to bodily death if had not sinned (CCC1008). If you love the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply (CCC2057). Death is contrary to the plans of God the Creator. Even though man's nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death entered the world on account of man's sin (CCC1008). By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day (CCC1016).
The Bible reveals:
In
Paradise, happiness
flowed from Adam and Eve’s friendship with God (CCC384)
Mormon Scripture reveals, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:22–25). Mormonism teaches that before the fall Adam and Eve had “no joy” (GP Chap 6). In Paradise, happiness flowed from Adam and Eve’s friendship with God (CCC384). With infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world in a state of journeying towards its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection (CCC310). Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully divinized by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to be like God, but without God, before God, and not in accordance with God (CCC398). To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of subduing the earth and having dominion over it. God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors (CCC307). The world was made for the glory of God (CCC293).
The beginning of sin and of man's fall was due to a lie of the tempter who induced doubt of God's word, kindness and faithfulness (CCC215). Seduced by the devil, he wanted to be like God, but without God, before God, and not in accordance with God (CCC398). Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy (CCC391). God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel, so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him. Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts (CCC1730). God does not want to impose the good, but wants free beings. There is a certain usefulness to temptation. Temptation teaches us to know ourselves, and in this way we discover our evil inclinations and are obliged to give thanks for the goods that temptation has revealed to us (CCC2847).
As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its
ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good
and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning
(CCC1732). For God grants his creatures
not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being
causes and principles for each other, and thus of co-operating in the
accomplishment of his plan (CCC306).
Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act,
to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own
responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a
force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection
when directed toward God, our beatitude (CCC1731). God's free initiative demands man's
free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along
with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely
into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the
heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only
he can satisfy. The promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all
hope, to this desire (CCC2002).
The Bible reveals:
Jesus
restores fallen man to his original vocation (CCC518)
Mormonism teaches, “Because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies” (GP Chap 6). Death is a consequence of sin. Death entered the world on account of man's sin. Even though man's nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin. Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned is thus the last enemy of man left to be conquered (CCC1008). By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives for ever, so all of us will rise at the last day (CCC1016). Christ's whole life is a mystery of recapitulation. All Jesus did, said and suffered had for its aim restoring fallen man to his original vocation: When Christ became incarnate and was made man, he recapitulated in himself the long history of mankind and procured for us a short cut to salvation, so that what we had lost in Adam, that is, being in the image and likeness of God, we might recover in Christ Jesus. For this reason Christ experienced all the stages of life, thereby giving communion with God to all men (CCC518). The victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken from us: where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (CCC420). We must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin (CCC388). Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (CCC655).
God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him,
and so to come to paradise. God is master of the world and of its history. But
the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our
partial knowledge ceases, when we see God face to face, will we fully know the
ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his
creation to that definitive sabbath rest for which he created heaven and earth
(CCC314). God
permits physical and even moral evil. Jesus Christ died and rose to vanquish
evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did
not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know
only in eternal life (CCC324). The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the
works of the devil. In its consequences the gravest of these works was the
mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God (CCC394).
The Bible reveals:
· It was not Adam's transgression that brought great blessings like Mormonism teaches, it was Jesus' obedience that brought great blessing to all of us, Jesus turned the fault into happiness (Rom 5:19; 412). All will be resurrected to stand in judgment before God (Acts 24:15).
· Having a physical body is not necessary for our progression as Mormonism teaches, the Holy Ghost does not have a physical body yet the Holy Ghost is God (Acts 5:3,4).
All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still
imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after
death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to
enter the joy of heaven (CCC1030)
All the
just from the time will be gathered together in the universal Church in the
Father's presence (CCC769)
The Mormon Church teaches "... members
of the Church will inherit different kingdoms because they will not be
equally faithful and valiant in their obedience to Christ.... Celestial
... will live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ forever ... Terrestrial ...
They will be visited by Jesus Christ but not by our Heavenly Father ... Telestial
... They will be visited by the Holy Ghost but not by the Father or the
Son. ... Outer Darkness ... They will live in eternal darkness, torment,
and misery with Satan and his angels forever." (GP Chap 46). All those he has redeemed and made
holy and blameless before him in love, will be gathered together as the one
People of God, the Bride of the Lamb, the holy city Jerusalem coming down out
of heaven from God, having the glory of God (CCC865). In this new universe, the
heavenly Jerusalem, God will have his dwelling among men. He will wipe away
every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away
(CCC1044). Since
Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same
destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the
possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal
mystery. Every man who is ignorant of
the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will
of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be
supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had
known its necessity (CCC1260). Those
who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without
knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God
sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, are saved even if they have not been
baptized (CCC1281).
All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still
imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to
achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (CCC1030). The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the
elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. For
certain lesser faults, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire.
Whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in
this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain
offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come
(CCC1031). Each man receives his eternal retribution
in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment
that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven
- through a purification or immediately, - or immediate and everlasting
damnation. At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love
(CCC1022).
The Bible reveals:
Each man
receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his
death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance
into the blessedness of heaven - through a purification or immediately, - or
immediate and everlasting damnation. At the evening of life, we shall be judged
on our love (CCC1022).
Mormonism teaches, at the Final
Judgment we will inherit a place in the kingdom for which we are prepared. The
scriptures teach of three kingdoms of glory—the celestial kingdom, the
terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom (see D&C 88:20–32). ” (GP
Chap 46). At the present time there are three
states of the Church: his disciples on earth, the dead who are being purified,
and the blessed in heaven (CCC962). At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its
fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign forever with
Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be renewed: The
Church will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven, then will come
the time of the renewal of all things (CCC1042).
All the dead will rise, those who
have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of judgment (CCC998). The resurrection of all the dead, of
both the just and the unjust, will precede the Last Judgment. This will be the
hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come
forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who
have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Then Christ will come in his
glory, and all the angels with him. Before him will be gathered all the
nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the
goats at the left. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life (CCC1038). By his death Jesus has conquered death, and so
opened the possibility of salvation to all men (CCC1019).
Each will be rewarded immediately
after death in accordance with his works and faith (CCC1021). The glorious Christ will reveal the secret
disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and
according to his acceptance or refusal of grace (CCC682). Our attitude to our
neighbor will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love. On the
Last Day Jesus will say: Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least
of these my brethren, you did it to me (CCC678). Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated
into Christ (CCC1026). Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into
the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in
the hope of one day being with him for ever (CCC666). Our Father is in heaven,
his dwelling place; the Father's house is our homeland. Sin has exiled us from
the land of the covenant, but conversion of heart enables us to return to the
Father, to heaven (CCC2795).
How great will be our glory and happiness be when we allowed to see God, to be honored with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God, to delight in the joy of immortality in the Kingdom of heaven with the righteous and God's friends (CCC1028). When we rise on the last day we also will appear with him in glory (CCC1003). Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully divinized by God in glory (CCC398). Beatitude makes us partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life (CCC1721). We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere to the end and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ (CCC1821). For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (CCC458). 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 (CCC1023).
To go to hell; a willful turning
away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end
(CCC1037). Our Lord warns us that we
shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor
and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without
repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him
for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from
communion with God and the blessed is called hell (CCC1033). The Church affirms the existence of hell and
its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of
mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell,
"eternal fire." The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation
from God (CCC1035). Jesus often speaks of Gehenna of the unquenchable fire
reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be
converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that
he will send his angels, and they will gather... all evil doers, and throw them
into the furnace of fire, and that he will pronounce the condemnation: Depart
from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire! (CCC1034). When the single course of our earthly life
is completed, we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be
numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be
ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where men will
weep and gnash their teeth (CCC1036).
The Bible reveals:
The
marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage
concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved
(CCC1640).
Eternal Marriage Is Essential for Exaltation. An eternal marriage must be performed by one who holds the sealing power. If we are married by any authority other than by the priesthood in a temple, the marriage is for this life only. After death, the marriage partners have no claim on each other or on their children. An eternal marriage gives us the opportunity to continue as families after this life. An eternal marriage should be the goal of every Latter-day Saint.” (GP Chap 38). Those who are united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, the holy city of God, the Bride, the wife of the Lamb (CCC1045). The Apostle speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride "betrothed" to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb. Christ has joined the Church with himself in an everlasting covenant. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the Church. The Lord himself says in the Gospel: So they are no longer two, but one flesh". They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union, as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself bride (CCC796). Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been in the beginning: So they are no longer two, but one flesh (CCC1605).
The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. Between the baptized, a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death (CCC2382). How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the Church, sealed by a blessing, and ratified by the Father? (CCC1642). The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself. From their covenant arises an institution, confirmed by the divine law, even in the eyes of society. The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with man: Authentic married love is caught up into divine love (CCC1639). Christian spouses have their own special gifts in the People of God. This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children (CCC1641). The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (CCC1661). Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its mystery, its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church (CCC1602).
God is
from everlasting to everlasting (CCC212).
Joseph Smith taught, God came to be
God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will
refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see ... you have got to
learn how to be gods yourselves" (Joseph
Smith's King Follett Sermon (Ensign, Apr 1971)). Joseph
Smith taught, It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty
the Character of God. He was once a man like us. God himself, the Father of us
all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did (GP Chap 47).
Mormonism teaches "a plan for our progression ... He is a creator. We can
become like our Heavenly Father" (GP Chap 47). In God there is no
variation or shadow due to change. God is from everlasting to everlasting
(CCC212). God is the fullness of Being
and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive
all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is
of himself everything that he is (CCC213).
No creature has the infinite power necessary
to create in the proper sense of the word, that is, to produce and give being
to that which had in no way possessed it (to call into existence out of
nothing) (CCC318). Created in a state
of holiness, man was destined to be fully divinized by God (CCC398). The power of Satan is not infinite.
He is only a creature. His action is permitted by divine providence. God
permits diabolical activity. (CCC395). The Father has through generation given to the
only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father,
the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born,
that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son (CCC246). Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life? To the
young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the
necessity to recognize God as the One there is who is good, as the supreme Good
and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: If you would enter life, keep
the commandments. And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern
love of neighbor: You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall
not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.
Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: You shall love your
neighbor as yourself (CCC2052).
The Word became flesh to make us
partakers of the divine nature: For this is why the Word became man, and the
Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with
the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. For the
Son of God became man so that we might become God. "The only-begotten Son
of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that
he, made man, might make men gods (CCC460). Filial adoption, in making us
partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a
result of God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right
of love, making us co-heirs with Christ and worthy of obtaining the promised
inheritance of eternal life (CCC2009). We are sinful creatures who in
Jesus have become children of adoption. We ask our Father to unite our will to
his Son's, in order to fulfill his will, his plan of salvation for the life of
the world. We are radically incapable of this, but united with Jesus and with
the power of his Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to him and decide to
choose what his Son has always chosen: to do what is pleasing to the
Father. In committing ourselves to
[Christ], we can become one spirit with him, and thereby accomplish his will,
in such wise that it will be perfect on earth as it is in heaven
(CCC2825). Seduced
by the devil, he wanted to be like God, but without God, before God, and not in
accordance with God (CCC398).
The Bible reveals:
· God is "eternal", God is God from "from everlasting to everlasting" (1Tim.1:17; Psalm.90:2).
· The Son of God did not become God through progression, He was God from the beginning (John 1:1).
· The Son of God has the "fullness" of the divine nature (Col.2:9).
· The Holy Ghost is God without a perfected, resurrected body (Acts 5:4).
·
Men cannot obtain a "fullness" of the divine
nature like Christ because men can only have a part since they can only
"partake" of the divine nature according to God's divine power
(2Pet.1:3,4).
Before Christ's second coming, religious deception at the
price of apostasy from the truth (CCC675)
The Church,
the pillar and bulwark of the truth, faithfully guards the faith which was once
for all delivered to the saints (CCC171).
Mormonism teaches, the organization that Jesus Christ had established no longer existed, and confusion resulted. More and more error crept into Church doctrine, and soon the dissolution of the Church was complete. The period of time when the true Church no longer existed on earth is called the Great Apostasy (GP Chap 16). The Church, the pillar and bulwark of the truth, faithfully guards the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. From generation to generation the Church hands on the apostles' confession of faith (CCC171). In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority. Apostolic preaching was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time (CCC77).
From its very beginnings there
arose certain rifts in the Church of God, which the Apostle strongly censures
as damnable. In subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and
large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic
Church. These dissensions wound the unity of Christ's Body (CCC817). According to the Lord, the present time is a time marked by
distress and the trial of evil which does not spare the Church. It is a time of
waiting and watching (CCC672). Before Christ's second coming, religious
deception at the price of apostasy from the truth (CCC675). Apostasy is the total repudiation of the
Christian faith (CCC2089).
The Bible reveals:
Both
Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God come from the Lord himself
(CCC1620).
Mormonism teaches, many of the ordinances
were changed because the priesthood and revelation were no longer on the earth
(GP Chap 16). Mormonism teaches, being
married for eternity is an ordinance that the Lord commands us all to receive
(GP Chap 47). Both Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God come
from the Lord himself (CCC1620). From the very beginning of the Church there
have been men and women who have renounced the great good of marriage to follow
the Lamb wherever he goes, to be intent on the things of the Lord, to seek to
please him, and to go out to meet the Bridegroom who is coming. Christ himself
has invited certain persons to follow him in this way of life, of which he
remains the model: "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and
there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who
have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is
able to receive this, let him receive it" [Mt 19:12] (CCC1618).
Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy that enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single. We do not praise any one of them to the exclusion of the others. (CCC2349). All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" [Mt 19:12]. Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to "the affairs of the Lord," [1 Cor 7:32] they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church's minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God (CCC1579). Virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is a powerful sign of the supremacy of the bond with Christ and of the ardent expectation of his return, a sign which also recalls that marriage is a reality of this present age which is passing away [Mk 12:25; 1 Cor 7:31] (CCC1619).
In the Old Testament the polygamy of patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly rejected (CCC1610). Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union are grave offenses against the dignity of marriage (CCC2400). The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection. Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive (CCC1645). Polygamy is not in accord with the moral law. [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God which was revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive (CCC2387).
The Bible reveals:
In no
way is God in man's image; He is neither man nor woman, God is pure spirit
(CCC370).
Mormonism teaches, Because we are made in His image, we know that our bodies are like His body. (GP Chap 1). Mormon Scripture reveals that God the Father’s “eternal spirit is housed in a tangible body of flesh and bones (see D&C 130:22). ” (GP Chap 1). Mormon Scripture reveals Joseph Smith “saw two Personages” (JS-H 17). In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes (CCC370). God transcends all creatures. We are not to confuse our image of God with our human representations (CCC42). Because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up his mystery to man's immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it CCC1028). Moses and Elijah seen God's glory on the mountain (CCC555)
Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the Father's right hand' we understand the glory and honour of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified" (CCC663). Christ's body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection. Jesus' final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory (CCC659). Christ is raised with his own body; see my hands and my feet CCC999). After his Resurrection, Jesus' divine sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity (CCC445). The entry of Christ's humanity into the glory of God (CCC656).
We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess. We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body, a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:42-44) (CCC1017). In Jesus, all of us will rise again with our own bodies which they now bear, but Christ will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, into a spiritual body. This perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality (CCC999). In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus' Resurrection (CCC997). On the Day of Judgment all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ's tribunal to render an account of their own deeds (CCC1059). After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul (CCC1042).
The Bible reveals:
The early Apostolic Church
leaders taught:
The practice of infant
Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church (CCC1252)
Mormon scripture reveals, "Infant baptism is an evil abomination" (Book of Mormon - Moroni 8). Mormonism teaches that non-Mormons do NOT have the "proper priesthood authority to baptize" (LDS GP Chap 20) and do NOT receive "the gift of the Holy Ghost" (LDS GP Chap 21). The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole "households" received baptism, infants may also have been baptized (CCC1252). Since the earliest times, Baptism has been administered to children, for it is a grace and a gift of God that does not presuppose any human merit; children are baptized in the faith of the Church. Entry into Christian life gives access to true freedom (CCC1282). Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam's sin and the fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the death of the soul. Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin (CCC403).
As regards children who have died without Baptism, the
Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral
rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should
be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: Let
the children come to me, do not hinder them, allow us to hope that there is a
way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more
urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ
through the gift of holy Baptism (CCC1261). For all the baptized, children or
adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates
each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation
for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of
that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth
(CCC1254). Where infant Baptism has become the form
in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act
encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged
way. By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate.
Not only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the
necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth (CCC1231). A candidate for Confirmation who has
attained the age of reason must profess the faith, be in the state of grace,
have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to assume the
role of disciple and witness to Christ, both within the ecclesial community and
in temporal affairs (CCC1319).
Our Lord voluntarily submitted
himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for sinners, in order to
"fulfill all righteousness" [Mt 3:15]. Jesus' gesture is a
manifestation of his self-emptying [Phil 2:7]. The Spirit who had hovered over
the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of
the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beloved Son"
[Mt 3:16-17] (CCC1224).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
The essential
rite of Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water
on his head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (CCC1278).
Mormonism teaches "Baptism by
immersion by a person having the proper authority is the only acceptable
way of being baptized" (LDS GP Chap
20). The essential rite of Baptism consists in
immersing the candidate in water or pouring water on his head, while
pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit (CCC1278). Baptism, the original and full sign of which is
immersion, efficaciously signifies the descent into the tomb by the Christian
who dies to sin with Christ in order to live a new life. We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (CCC628). This sacrament is called Baptism, after the
central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to
plunge or immerse; the plunge into the water symbolizes the catechumen's burial
into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as a new
creature (CCC1214). Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple
immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been
able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate's head
(CCC1239). According to the Apostle
Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death,
is buried with him, and rises with him: Do you not know that all of us who have
been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. The baptized have put on Christ. Through the
Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies
(CCC1227).
In case of necessity, any person,
even someone not baptized, can baptize, if he has the required intention. The
intention required is to will to do what the Church does when she baptizes, and
to apply the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The Church finds the reason for
this possibility in the universal saving will of God and the necessity of
Baptism for salvation (CCC1256). By his power he is present in the sacraments
so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes
(CCC1088). The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts
in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission
entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and
through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in
his name and in his person [Jn 20:21-23; Lk 24:47; Mt 28:18-20]. The ordained
minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the
apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ,
the source and foundation of the sacraments (CCC1120).
The Lord himself affirms that
Baptism is necessary for salvation [Jn 3:5]. He also commands his disciples to
proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them [Mt 28:19-20]. Baptism
is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and
who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament [Mk 16:16]. The
Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into
eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she
has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are "reborn
of water and the Spirit." God has bound salvation to the sacrament of
Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments (CCC1257).
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
Mormons believe baptism for the dead has been performed since the early days of the Church (LDS GP Chap 40). Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery. Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity (CCC1260). Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, are saved even if they have not been baptized (CCC1281).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Church taught:
All men
are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ’s justice
(CCC404)
Mormons believe " ... original
sin ... false doctrine ... men will be punished for their own sins, and not for
Adam’s transgression.” (A of F 1:2)"
(LDS
Ensign, Apr 1977). How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all
his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one
man". By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated
in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the
transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But
we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice
not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter,
Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature
that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be
transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a
human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why
original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin
"contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act
(CCC404).
The Bible reveals:
The renewal of all things comes after the universal judgment
[Acts 3:21) (CCC1042).
At
Christ’s coming in glory comes the time for establishing all that God spoke by
the mouth of his holy prophets from of old [Acts 3:19-21], then God will
be all in all (CCC674).
Mormonism teaches, today the Church
of Jesus Christ has been restored and is called The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (GP Chap 16). Mormonism teaches "Cornelius did not
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was baptized" (LDS GP
Chap 21). Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the
inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom that shall not be destroyed (CCC664).
Christ the Lord reigns through the Church, but all the things of this world are
not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ's kingdom will not come about
without one last assault by the powers of evil (CCC680). Though already
present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be
fulfilled with power and great glory by the King's return to earth. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers. Until everything is subject to
him, until there be realized new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells (CCC671).
Before his Ascension Christ
affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment
of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel which,
according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of
justice, love and peace (CCC672). Since the Ascension the renewal of
the world is irrevocably under way (CCC670). After the universal judgment, the universe
itself will be renewed, the renewal of all things (CCC1042). In this new universe, the heavenly
Jerusalem, the former things have passed away (CCC1044). At Christ’s coming in glory comes the time for
establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old [Acts
3:19-21], then God will be all in all (CCC674).
The Bible reveals:
Bishops
have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the
Church (CCC862).
Mormonism teaches, “Jesus had set a
pattern for twelve Apostles to govern the Church. It seemed clear that the organization
was to continue as He had established it.” (GP Chap 16). Mormonism teaches,
"One by one, the Apostles were killed. Because of the persecution,
surviving Apostles could not meet to choose and ordain men to replace those who
were dead. … the priesthood and revelation were no longer on the earth. ...
There were no Apostles or other priesthood leaders with power from God, and
there were no spiritual gifts" (GP Chap 16). In order that the
mission entrusted to them might be continued after their death, the apostles
consigned, by will and testament, as it were, to their immediate collaborators
the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun, urging them
to tend to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit had appointed them to
shepherd the Church of God. They accordingly designated such men and then made
the ruling that likewise on their death other proven men should take over their
ministry (CCC861). The apostles took care to appoint successors (CCC860). The apostles
left bishops as their successors (CCC77). The bishops, established by the Holy
Spirit, succeed the apostles (CCC938). The bishop of the Church of Rome,
successor to St. Peter, is head of the college of bishops (CCC936). Jesus
chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the
same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry
(CCC1577). Peter
and the Twelve are the primary witnesses to his Resurrection; they are the
foundation stones of his Church (CCC642). To be a witness to Christ is to be a
witness to his Resurrection, to have eaten and drunk with him after he rose
from the dead (CCC995).
Christ himself chose the apostles and gave them a share in
his authority. Christ continues to act through the bishops (CCC1575). Apostolic succession comes through the sacrament of Holy
Orders (CCC815). Holy Orders is the
sacrament of the apostolic ministry, it is for the bishops as the successors of
the apostles to hand on the "gift of the Spirit," the "apostolic
line." Validly ordained bishops validly confer the three degrees of the
sacrament of Holy Orders (CCC1576). The
one priesthood of Christ is made present through the ministerial priesthood.
Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers (CCC1545).
Those in the ordained ministry are called to it by God (CCC1578). The
ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the
faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful
(CCC1592). The whole Church is a
priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of
Christ. This participation is called the common priesthood of the faithful
(CCC1591). The baptized have become living stones to be built into a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood (CCC1268).
The Lord made Peter the "rock" of his
Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the
whole flock. The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was
also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head. This pastoral
office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation
and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope (CCC881). Our Lord then declared to Simon: You are
Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church. Christ, the living Stone, thus
assures his Church, built on Peter, will remain the unshakeable rock of the
Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse (CCC552).
The Bible reveals:
·
Apostles ordained their
successors
o
Before the apostles died they ordained bishops, these
bishops could then ordain others like they were appointed.
o
While the apostles were alive bishops were local
leaders, when the apostles died the bishops continue to be overseers, made
overseers by the holy Ghost to protect and feed the flock.
o
Bishops are not apostles, bishops are the apostle's
successors. Bishops are proved, they receive the gift that is given with the
laying on of hands, they are the stewards of God, they take care of the church
of God, and they hold fast to the faithful word that the apostles taught.
o
Bishops as the successors of the apostles hand
apostolic line through ordination, the physical laying on of hands by someone
of authority.
o
Before the apostles died
they ordained bishops who could ordain others like they were appointed
(Tit.1:4-9).
o
While the apostles were
alive, bishops were local leaders (Phil.1:1).
o
The apostle successors are
ordained bishops, they are made overseers by the holy Ghost to protect the
flock (Acts.20:17,28), they are the stewards of God (Tit.1:7), they take care
of the church of God (1Tim.3:5), they hold fast to the faithful word that the
apostles taught (Tit.1:9), they must first be proved (1Tim.3:10), they have the
gift that is given with the laying on of hands (1Tim 4:14).
o
There is one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1Tim.2:5).
o
The people of God are a
royal priesthood (1Pet.2:2-10).
o
Christ built his church on
the rock, Peter was given the given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the
power to bind and loose (Matt 16:18-19).
o
A kingdom which shall never
be destroyed, it shall stand for ever, it is given to the saints (Dan.2:44;
Dan.7:13-14).
o
After the resurrection, the
Lord established his house on Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem (Heb.12:22).
o
The church is the "the pillar and ground of the
truth" (1Tim 3:15).
·
Apostles
o
The office of twelve
apostle can not continue after Jesus died because no person can meet the office's
requirements of being a witness Jesus’ life and resurrection
(Acts.1:8-26).
o
The twelve apostles were
witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in
Jerusalem, they ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead (Acts.10:39-41).
o
They were eye witnesses
(2Pet 1:15; Acts 2:32).
o
There are false apostles
who are deceitful workers, who transform themselves into the apostles of Christ
(2Cor 11:13; Rev 2:1-2).
·
Jesus was called an
apostle
o
Jesus was called an apostle
(Heb 3:1).
o
In the church there are
some have the vocation of apostle to edify the church (Eph 4:1-12).
o
There are apostles like
Barnabas and Paul (Acts 14:14). Barnabas was a prophet and a teacher
(Acts.13:1). Barnabas was sent out (Acts 11:22). Paul and Barnabas were sent
out to teach and preach the word of the Lord (Acts 15:22-35). The apostles like
Paul and Barnabas were not among the twelve apostles at Jerusalem, when Paul
and Barnabas were not able to settle a dispute they went apostles at Jerusalem
who then called a council to settle the dispute (Acts 15:2-23).
The Early Apostolic Church leaders:
In order
that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the
apostles left bishops as their successors (CCC77).
Mormonism teaches, Joseph Smith
was to be the one to help restore the true gospel of Jesus Christ (GP Chap 17). The Church, the pillar and bulwark of the
truth, faithfully guards the faith which was once for all delivered to the
saints. From generation to generation the Church hands on the apostles'
confession of faith (CCC171). In order that the full and living Gospel might
always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their
successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority. Apostolic
preaching was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end
of time (CCC77). Aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People
of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium), receives the
faith, once for all delivered to the saints (CCC93). Sacred Scripture teach
without error God’s saving truth (CCC136).
The Gospel was handed on in two ways: orally and in
writing (CCC76). What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by
their preaching and writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to all
generations (CCC96). The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles
and hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they
learned from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet
have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the
process of living Tradition. Tradition is to be distinguished from the various
theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the
local churches over time (CCC83).
The Bible reveals:
God built his church on the rock of Peter (Matt.16:18).
The Early Apostolic Church leaders taught:
The
Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains
present and active in the Church: God, who spoke in the past, continues to
converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son (CCC79)
Mormonism teaches, “Because of apostasy, there was no direct revelation from God. The true Church was no longer on the earth.” (GP Chap 17). Catholics believe all that which is contained in the word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed (CCC182). The Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son (CCC79). Divine assistance is given to the successors of the apostles when they propose a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of faith and morals (CCC892). The Church's Magisterium defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes truths contained in divine Revelation (CCC88). The dogma of the Trinity (CCC251). Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind's origins (CCC387). The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ (CCC85).
The Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine for belief as being divinely revealed (CCC891). The Magisterium of the Church exercises an essential part of its prophetic office of proclaiming to men what they truly are and reminding them of what they should be before God (CCC2036). It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church's shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals (CCC890). This Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith (CCC86). The holy People of God shares also in Christ's prophetic office (CCC785). All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them and guides them into all truth (CCC91). Lay people also fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization, that is, the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life (CCC905).
In John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking
through the prophets (CCC719). Before
his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of another Advocate, the Holy Spirit.
At work since creation, having previously spoken through the prophets, the
Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them into
all the truth. The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with
Jesus and the Father (CCC243). Public
Revelation is complete but it has not been made completely explicit; it remains
for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of
the centuries (CCC66). Throughout the
ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which
have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however,
to the deposit of faith (CCC67). The Christian faith cannot accept revelations
that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the
fulfilment, as is the case in certain nonChristian religions and also in
certain recent sects which base themselves on such revelations (CCC67).
The Bible reveals:
Inter-religious dialogue, which is part of the Church's
evangelizing mission, requires an attitude of understanding and a relationship
of mutual knowledge and reciprocal enrichment, in obedience to the truth and
with respect for freedom (Second Vatican Council).
For it
is through Christ's Catholic Church alone that the fullness of the means of
salvation can be obtained (CCC816)
The Mormon Church teaches that the LDS church is the only true church (GP Chap 17). Many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit. Christ's Spirit uses these Churches as means of salvation (CCC819). The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter. Those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church (CCC838). All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church (CCC818).
Jesus spoke of a more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: Abide in me, and I in you.... I am the vine, you are the branches. And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him (CCC787). The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (CCC1384). Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper, he both symbolized this offering and made it really present: This is my body which is given for you (CCC621).
Through the Eucharist Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body - the Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism. In Baptism we have been called to form but one body. The Eucharist fulfills this call: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (CCC1396).
Christ said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread. This change is called transubstantiation (CCC1376). In this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that cannot be apprehended by the senses, but only by faith. Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie (CCC1381). Only validly ordained priests can consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord (CCC1411).
The Bible reveals:
The Early Apostolic leaders taught:
Mormonism teaches that the LDS Church today teaches the same principles and performs the same ordinances as were performed in the days of Jesus (GP Chap 17).
Topics:
Introduction
All the faithful share in
understanding and handing on revealed truth (CCC91)
[1] Mormons are not Christians
[2] Purify Mormons from error
[3] God actively speaks to His Catholic Church
Chapter 1: Treat Mormon Missionaries with Love
We are
to have a sincere respect for different religions which frequently reflect a
ray of that truth which enlightens all men. We are to treat with love, prudence
and patience those who are in error or ignorance (CCC2104)
[1] Help Mormons come to know the Jesus of the Bible
[2] Joseph Smith taught three Gods
[3] Joseph Smith is a false prophet
[4] The Book of Mormon reveals a perverted gospel
[5] The Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible
Chapter 2: God’s Plan of Salvation
In his plan of salvation, God
ordained that his Son should die for our sins (CCC624).
A. God created the human creature out of nothing
From the beginning of time made at
once out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal,
that is, the angelic and the earthly, and then the human creature (CCC327)
[1] God, not Gods, made all things
[2] First God created out of nothing, then He organized
[3] Jesus was not born of heavenly parents, He is the eternal Word of God
[4] Satan was not born of heavenly parents, Satan was created by God
[5] Man’s spiritual soul is created immediately by God
[6] Those called are predestined, they did not have a premortal life
B. Adam’s Fall was not a great blessing to all of us, it was
tragedy to all of us
God put us in the world to know, to
love, and to serve him (CCC314)
[1] Adam’s Fall was not a great blessing to all of us, it was a tragedy to all of us
[2] Adam and Eve did not have to sin to have children, Adam and Eve were male and female
[3] Adam and Eve had eternal life before the fall. Death is contrary to the plans of God.
[4] Adam and Eve were happy in Paradise before the fall
[5] Jesus restores fallen man to his original vocation
C. All members of the Church will live with our Heavenly Father
not just some
All who die in God's grace and
friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal
salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the
holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (CCC1030).
[1] All member of the Church will live with our Heavenly Father not just some
[2] There is one kingdom after the Final Judgment, not three kingdoms
[3] For non-Mormons the relationship between a man and a wife continues after death
[4] God did not become God, God is from everlasting to everlasting
Chapter
3: Mormonism is an example of apostasy
Before Christ's second coming,
religious deception at the price of apostasy from the truth (CCC675)
[1] The Catholic Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth
[2] Jesus taught virginity and matrimony
[3] Early Apostolic Church taught God is pure spirit
[4] Infant Baptism is not an evil abomination, it is an apostolic tradition
[5] Early Christians performed baptism by pouring and immersion
[6] Early Christians did not perform baptism for the dead
[7] All men are implicated in Adam's sin
Chapter 4: Restoration does not occur during Joseph Smith’s time
The renewal of all things comes
after the universal judgment [Acts 3:21) (CCC1042).
[1] Restoration occurs after the Second Coming of Jesus
[2] Bishops have taken the place of the apostles
[3] The full and living Gospel has been preserved
[4] Revelation remains present and active in the Catholic Church
Chapter
5: Evangelizing Mormons
Inter-religious dialogue, which is
part of the Church's evangelizing mission, requires an attitude of understanding
and a relationship of mutual knowledge and reciprocal enrichment, in obedience
to the truth and with respect for freedom (Second Vatican Council).
[1] The fullness of the means of salvation is found in the Catholic Church
[2] Be prepared to give Mormon’s an answer about your Catholic faith
Links
Questions about Mormonism or Catholicism