Mormonism and Catholicism

I'm doing a comparitive charting of mormonism and Catholicism in this blog. And no, for those of you who are probably wondering, I'm NOT doing this for Selah, who is on a personal journey that has been a source of both wonder and amazement in my life, and to whom I wish the very best and trust that God is always working in her, but I AM doing this for myself and for many of my friends who I keep having conversations with who ask me over and over again the same two questions:
"If you really believe that Catholicism is biblical, then why don't you believe that Mormonism biblical?" and "Since they are so similar, maybe they are both basically the same thing?"

I realize, of course, that writing this blog sets up two systems of believe to diametrically oppose each other, so my purpose, just to be clear, is not to denigrate mormons but to clarify the main doctrinal differences.

First, I would like to establish the need for the question: "What is the true church?" Of course, you have all heard the scriptures about unity, and I dont need to reiterate them here. Protestants are not "looking" for the true church because they know that the church is everyone who believes that Jesus Christ is Lord. The reason that a protestant person might have to "look" for a "true church" established by Jesus Christ is to say this: If before the Bible existed as a unified document, there were believers, then where were they getting their information from? The question of the "True" Church brings us back to authority.

AUTHORITY
In protestantism, if one does not "agree" with the authority over them, they are free to leave and begin a new group or association with whatever doctrinal beliefs and practices they choose, set up a new system of "authority," and go on their merry way. But for 1500 years after Jesus Christ walked the earth, that's not what happened. Christians who wanted to "go a new direction with God" were tried and tested by the authorities over them and either shut down as heretics who would ultimately lead souls to damnation, OR eventually set free to explore this new avenue of spirituality WITHIN the structure of authority already placed above them.
I think, for example, of St Francis, whom God called to reform the church. He came before the pope the first time and was rejected in his request to create his group of friars. Heartbroken, he left wondering what to do. He again turned to God. God told him to persist, and he succeeded, the second time around, in maintaining his "stature" as a member of the only Christian church on earth ALL THE WHILE Living out his faith in a new way.. .and THAT is true submission to authority. It's a key concept that very few "branches" of Christianity/ Christ based faith groups get. I would venture to say that only Catholics, Mormons, and possibly Jehova's Witnesses get that. And because of the latter two, it makes protestants VERY uncomfortable. In Christian bookstores, as I mentioned, you will find books about Catholics in the section on "Cults." But the problem is, if you understand the concept of biblical authority, it would be VERY hard to NOT wonder "Where is the true church?"

COMPARISON OF BELEIFS

The most important things which differ between mormonism and catholicism are not the rites/rituals/sacraments/avenues of grace, but the fundamental doctrine. I should add here that I'm not an expert, so I will probably be corrected.

While the LDS Church teaches that the "godhead" is not a "trinity," for instance, the Catholic understanding of God is entirely based on the doctrine of the trinity.
The LDS church teaches the pre-existence, the Catholic church does not.
the LDS Church teaches that "original sin" in the Catholic understanding of it does not exist--- sort of. Original sin stained us by CAUSING us to eventually sin, but not by making us BORN SINNERS. (this is my understanding of the doctrinal teaching on the matter) Catholicism teaches that our grievous sins and offenses to the Lord begin at birth because of our fallen nature.
The baptism of a believer in Catholicism is a sacrament that washes away our original sin. We maintain purity from sin through absolution, in the sacrament of confession and through true repentance and contrition. the Baptism of a latter day saint ensures that their "after death" experience will be one of mercy... entrance into one of three kingdoms depending on their works.
Baptism, thus, occurs for the dead who are unbaptized in the LDS Church as well.
After death, baptized latter day saints will go to one of three kingdoms and experience varying "Degrees" of heaven and closeness with God the Father.
After death, Baptized Catholics will undergo whatever purification they did not undergo while on earth necessary to place them in the presence of God.
While in life, Mormons work hard to please God by living a "good" life, honoring God, and honoring the sacraments which they receive and the covenants which they make in the temple.
While in life, Catholics work hard to please God by living a "good" life, honoring God, and honoring the sacraments which they receive which are avenues of God's grace in their life.
There are many other differences, but these are the main ones.

SIMILARITIES IN RITES
I once read a post from a BYU document comparing catholic ordinances to mormon ones. Though the link is now broken, much of the information is still fresh in my mind. Because i'm short of time this morning, I will cover only ONE of the ordinances in this blog--- the initiation.

I'm going to quote from this blog, actually, which will make it even easier to explain:

At the rite of initiation, this prayer is said as the priest makes the sign of the cross on the different areas of the person's body:

THE SIGNING OF THE SENSES
The presider addresses the candidates saying…….

“I mark your forehead with the sign of the cross [all signs of the cross being done with the palm and not the thumb]. It is the sign of Christians. Let it remind you always of Christ and how much he loves you.”

At each of these prayers, the sponsors make the sign of the cross of the areas of the bodies mentioned.

“We stand with you, we pray for you, O holy child of God

I mark your ears with the sign of the cross: hear the words of Christ.

I mark your eyes with the sign of the cross: see the works of Christ.

I mark your lips with the sign of the cross: speak as Christ would speak.

I mark the sign of the cross over your heart: make your heart the home of Christ

I mark your shoulders with the sign of the cross; be strong with the strength of Christ.

I mark your hands with the sign of the cross: touch others with the gentleness of Christ.

I mark your feet with the sign of the cross: walk in the way of Christ”

The presider alone traces the sign of the cross over the whole person of each candidate saying…

“I place you entirely under the sign of Christ’s cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: to live with Jesus now and forever.”

The person was then given a wodden cross, symbolizing their union with Christ at the cross.

The blogger goes on to say how this reminds her of her own experience at the temple:

INITIATORY ORDINANCES
(PRELIMINARY TO THE ENDOWMENT)

After showing his [or her] Temple Recommend to a worker stationed near the entrance inside the building, the patron repairs to the men’s [or women's] dressing area, where he is assigned a private locker (dividers and a door ensure privacy). After disrobing he covers himself with a “Shield”—a white poncho-like linen covering with a hole in the top for his head and open sides (held shut while walking). Covered in the Shield [a person is completely naked underneath the shield], he carries one pair of Temple Garments (one-piece style [basically like a one-piece t-shirt boxer short combination with a zipper up the front]) to the Washing and Anointing area, and waits on a bench until directed by a temple worker to enter one of the Washing and Anointing booths through a veiled partition. The booths are simply small cubicles made up of suspended lined veils.

When called for, the initiate enters the booth and hands his Garments to a worker who places them on a towel rod. As the initiate stands upright in his Shield the temple worker wets his fingers under a small faucet of running water in the booth, and lightly touches each area of the initiate’s body through the open sides of the Shield. [NOTE: While this sounds naughty, in my experience nothing unseemly or inappropriate happened during the ceremony. Also, the temple ceremony has changed this policy this past year, but when I went through the temple in 1997, this is how it was done.]

WASHING

Brother _______, having authority, I wash you preparatory to you receiving your anointings [for and in behalf of _______ (patron and then temple worker read name of deceased), who is dead], that you may become clean from the blood and sins of this generation. I wash your head, that your brain and your intellect may be clear and active; your ears, that you may hear the word of the Lord; your eyes, that you may see clearly and discern between truth and error; your nose, that you may smell; your lips, that you may never speak guile; your neck, that it may bear up your head properly; your shoulders, that they may bear the burdens that shall be placed thereon; your back, that there may be marrow in the bones and in the spine; your breast, that it may be the receptacle of pure and virtuous principles; your vitals and bowels, that they may be healthy and strong and perform their proper functions; your arms and hands, that they may be strong and wield the sword of justice in defense of truth and virtue; your loins, that you may be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, that you might have joy and rejoicing in your posterity; your legs and feet, that you might run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.

(Females undergo a similar ritual, attended to by females, which includes the following, “Sister _______, having authority, I wash you preparatory to your receiving your anointings [for and in behalf of _______, who is dead], and whereas you have obeyed the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a true and honest heart, and have been faithful in keeping your covenants, your sins are forgiven and you are clean every whit. I wash your head that your brain and your intellect may be clear and active in discerning between truth and error, and that you may be filled with the spirit of the Lord…” etc.)

After the cleansing with water, a similar prayer is said, but with the annointing of oil, and then the temple patron is presented with the garments and their “new name”. (I remember getting terribly excited because I was “clean every whit” - I had essentially gone through an ordinance that cleared all of my sins, just like baptism!) The church doesn’t speak of these things outside of the Temple walls, so the whole thing was a surprise to me.
(by the way, also from her blog, the reason why she felt it was ok for her vow to NOT reveal the ordinance could be broken is from the Catholic Catechism: "Can. 1194 A vow ceases by lapse of the time specified for the fulfillment of the obligation, or by a substantial change in the matter promised, or by cessation of a condition upon which the vow depended or of the purpose of the vow, or by dispensation, or by commutation.")


As we can see, there are many, many similarities between the two churches "living out" of their faith, even if the foundational doctrines are dissimilar.

Now, the hard part. I wrote yesterday of a tract approved by the Holy See which informed Catholics in their dealings with mormons. It explained the theological differences, and then recommended that Catholics persist in interfaith dialogue and asked that Catholics remember to always demonstrate kindness, gentleness, hospitality, etc to mormons, from whom they could also learn much about kindness, generosity, etc etc. This warmed my heart.

I will cover now mormon teachings on the Roman Catholic Church.

MORMON VIEW OF CATHOLICISM

I'll start with a few choice quotes I found:

The mormon scripture Doctrine and Covenants essentially condemns all other churches, particularly the "great and abominable church."

D&C 1:30-31
"And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually— For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;"

D&C 38:10-11:
"Verily I say unto you, ye are clean, but not all; and there is none else with whom I am well pleased; For all flesh is corrupted before me; and the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth, among the children of men, in the presence of all the hosts of heaven—"

D&C 29:21:
"And the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire, according as it is spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet, who spoke of these things, which have not come to pass but surely must, as I live, for abominations shall not reign."

D&C 88:94:
"And another angel shall sound his trump, saying: That great church, the mother of abominations, that made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, that persecuteth the saints of God, that shed their blood—she who sitteth upon many waters, and upon the islands of the sea—behold, she is the tares of the earth; she is bound in bundles; her bands are made strong, no man can loose them; therefore, she is ready to be burned. And he shall sound his trump both long and loud, and all nations shall hear it."

Now, one would not conclude from this that the reference is to the RCC, until we see some of the quotes from Mormon theologians and prophets with regarsd to the RCC.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


(I've got more if that isn't clear enough)

The only "official" Catholic document that refers to Mormonism in particular is a document drawn up to explain a change in strategies with regards to baptism for Catholics. While Most "professing Christians" may enter the Catholic church without rebaptizing, Ex Mormons are now asked to be rebaptized into the faith. The reason?"

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith decided the Mormon view on the nature of God was too different from its own, according to Tuesday's editions of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaper.

The doctrine agency said the church could not accept Mormon belief that "God the father had a wife, the Celestial Mother, with whom he procreated Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit." The body therefore decided that Mormon baptism "is not the baptism that Christ instituted."

Two major U.S. Protestant denominations, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and United Methodist Church, have taken similar stands on Mormon theology in recent years.

Catholicism and most other Christian denominations believe God is a divine entity consisting of three persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - of one spiritual substance.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate entities, and that God and Jesus have bodies of flesh and bone while the Holy Ghost is spirit only. Church founder Joseph Smith taught that "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man..."

(ASP, July 19 2001)

I am still looking for catholic commentary about Mormonism that is as "harsh" as mormon commentary on Catholicism. Not that that proves anything, but just because it's interesting.

Anyways, that's all I've got time for today.... but it's something to chew on! I sincerely hope I have offended no one, but helped those who are on a quest for truth to examine certain aspects of two entities who claim to have "all authority."