A Catholic " HI "

[ceeboo]

Originally Posted by Misshalfway

Hey Ceeboo,

Welcome to the family! I only just saw this thread or I would have brought the welcome wagon sooner.
Loved the banter on the questions thread. I agree with Siouxz -- you are one funny man and a great add to our play!! So glad to know you have "muppet" in your family tree. That explains so much about you already.

And now after reading this thread, I see that you are articulate and compassionate as well.
I have to say that I respect someone who would have the courage to come and learn about our faith directly from us in a unbiased and opened way. Thank you for extending that kind of respect.

Hope to see you around.

M

Hello Misshalfway,

Thanks for such a warm welcome and your kind words humble me.

The " questions only thread " was a real treat for me. I really enjoyed being a part of it and must say that I felt very welcome as well. ( Great game )

It is me who would like to offer you ( and many other members of this forum ) a sincere thank you for the respect and manner in which I ( a guest ) have been treated thus far.
The light that so many ( including you ) have chose to shine is truly an example to all of us broken people. ( I, for one, admire and respect that a ton )

Look forward to what's ahead

God bless,
Carl

[ceeboo]

Originally Posted by MorningStar

Hi Carl!

I'm glad you're here.

Good day MorningStar,

I am glad to be here too

God bless,
Carl

[pam]

Originally Posted by MarginOfError

Which mod was it? It must have been Heather...no one can be that genuinely good without ulterior motives!

PS: Heather, picture the biggest, goofiest grin you could imagine on my face.

Margin what a brown noser. hahahahaha

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by pam

Margin what a brown noser. hahahahaha

I think he is just sweet on Heather.

[MarginOfError]

Margin what a brown noser. hahahahaha

Me? brown nose? Never! *applying thick white sunscreen to my nose*

I think he is just sweet on Heather.

Oh to be single again! ;-)

[ceeboo]

Good morning all,

It's me ( The Catholic visitor guy )

In my journey on this forum ( to gain the perspective I was searching for ) I now have a few questions that I would appreciate the " LDS " answers to so I may be able to sort and digest the wealth of information that is available here.

If any of my new LDS friends would be so kind as to offer their thoughts I would appreciate the time.

My questions are: ( Please consider my " Catholic roots " when answering )

Does the LDS Church consider itself the only " restoration Church " ?

Does the LDS consider it to be a " protestent " Church ?

How does the Church determine when " prophits " are speaking as such or not ?

How does the Church replace it's prophit after the current prophit passes ? ( is there only one at any given time in it's history ?)

Do " members " consider any other possible account of " JS history " or is it faith ?

Do " members " consider the 40,000 plus other christian denominations " brethren " ?

Is the term " anti Mormon " applied to any who might find a different " truth " ?

I will stop there,

I hope my questions were not offensive

God bless,
Carl

[breeb]

Originally Posted by ceeboo

Do " members " consider the 40,000 plus other christian denominations " brethren " ?

Is the term " anti Mormon " applied to any who might find a different " truth " ?

I will stop there,

I hope my questions were not offensive

God bless,
Carl

I dont have a lot of time to answer so I am choosing to answer your last question. I feel this has been coming up a lot lately. To me Anti-Mormon is anyone who goes out of there way to bring us down for believeing as we do. I live in Utah. I have all my life. My first encounter with "anti-mormons" would be in 9th grade. My first year in seminary they were outside the seminary building handing out pamphlets. Another time would be when we went to my brother in-laws 7th Day Adventist church for my nieces blessing. They were handing out fliers for their Wed class on why the Mormons are wrong. A 3rd example is every conference. If youre not aware, we have those twice a year. In April and October. They stand outside protesting our beloved Prophet. They even protested Pres. Hinckley's funeral.
To me that is anti-mormon. As far as I know we dont have missionaries outside other churches telling them why they are wrong.

To me its not that they have a different truth. Its because they spend there time trying to bring our church down.

[Misshalfway]

Ok, Mr. Catholic visitor guy, lets take a look at these questions.......

Does the LDS Church consider itself the only " restoration Church " ?

The short answer is yes. We consider it a restorative effort meaning that authority and truth was lost or changed after the time of Christ and needed to be brought back to the earth thru divine intervention.

Does the LDS consider it to be a " protestent " Church ?

No

How does the Church determine when " prophits " are speaking as such or not ?

Usually when they are speaking in any official capacity. Our General Conference is a good example. They speak to the church worldwide twice a year. But if you were chatting with them on the back porch, their words wouldn't necessarily be official.

How does the Church replace it's prophit after the current prophit passes ? ( is there only one at any given time in it's history ?)

The process by which the next President of the church is chosen is a mix of an ordered pattern and the will of God. Each person in the 12 is ranked according to the date at which they were called to join the twelve. When the Pres. of the church dies, his counselors return to their numerical place in the 12 and the most senior apostle becomes the next President. God controls who is alive at that point to take on the role. Yes. There is only one President or Senior Apostle on the earth at a time who holds all of the "keys" (authority) and has the permission to use them.

Do " members " consider any other possible account of " JS history " or is it faith ?

Not sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about varying historical accounts of JS's history? Or do you mean there could be another explanation for his experience?

I will say that we believe that God calls prophets and has done since Adam. These prophets are given spiritual knowledge in the form of dreams, visions, etc. and are commanded to preach and perform the will of God for the people and their time. We also believe that each individual person has the responsibility to pray and discover the truth of such reports for themselves so that each follower has an individual testimony given directly from God to know the truth of these things. It is said that it is impossible to be saved in ignorance. We consider JSmith's experience and calling to be the equivalent of Moses, Abraham, Enoch, etc. And that God spoke to him much the same way and about the same truths as in dispensations before.

Do " members " consider the 40,000 plus other christian denominations " brethren " ?

We believe that all human beings are the literally spirit children of God the Father. In that sense, we are all literally brothers and sisters. We also believe that there is much truth in the world and that God works thru other religions. In that sense, we also feel a connection to all of mankind.

Is the term " anti Mormon " applied to any who might find a different " truth " ?

No. The term "anti-mormon" refers to anyone who is so antagonistic to the church that they literally fight against it. Most of the time, I hear the term in reference to material that is printed or efforts employed to discredit or defame the church and/or its leaders.

We believe that all should have the freedom to worship wherever and whatever they may according to the dictates of conscience and respect any decision not to believe as we do. This belief is stated very clearly in our Articles of Faith. (13 short statements that explain the core of our beliefs.)


I am sure others will add to the conversation as well. Hope that is at least a little helpful.

[ceeboo]

Originally Posted by Misshalfway

Ok, Mr. Catholic visitor guy, lets take a look at these questions.......


The short answer is yes. We consider it a restorative effort meaning that authority and truth was lost or changed after the time of Christ and needed to be brought back to the earth thru divine intervention.



No



Usually when they are speaking in any official capacity. Our General Conference is a good example. They speak to the church worldwide twice a year. But if you were chatting with them on the back porch, their words wouldn't necessarily be official.



The process by which the next President of the church is chosen is a mix of an ordered pattern and the will of God. Each person in the 12 is ranked according to the date at which they were called to join the twelve. When the Pres. of the church dies, his counselors return to their numerical place in the 12 and the most senior apostle becomes the next President. God controls who is alive at that point to take on the role. Yes. There is only one President or Senior Apostle on the earth at a time who holds all of the "keys" (authority) and has the permission to use them.



Not sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about varying historical accounts of JS's history? Or do you mean there could be another explanation for his experience?

I will say that we believe that God calls prophets and has done since Adam. These prophets are given spiritual knowledge in the form of dreams, visions, etc. and are commanded to preach and perform the will of God for the people and their time. We also believe that each individual person has the responsibility to pray and discover the truth of such reports for themselves so that each follower has an individual testimony given directly from God to know the truth of these things. It is said that it is impossible to be saved in ignorance. We consider JSmith's experience and calling to be the equivalent of Moses, Abraham, Enoch, etc. And that God spoke to him much the same way and about the same truths as in dispensations before.



We believe that all human beings are the literally spirit children of God the Father. In that sense, we are all literally brothers and sisters. We also believe that there is much truth in the world and that God works thru other religions. In that sense, we also feel a connection to all of mankind.



No. The term "anti-mormon" refers to anyone who is so antagonistic to the church that they literally fight against it. Most of the time, I hear the term in reference to material that is printed or efforts employed to discredit or defame the church and/or its leaders.

We believe that all should have the freedom to worship wherever and whatever they may according to the dictates of conscience and respect any decision not to believe as we do. This belief is stated very clearly in our Articles of Faith. (13 short statements that explain the core of our beliefs.)


I am sure others will add to the conversation as well. Hope that is at least a little helpful.

Hello my new friend Misshalfway,

I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions ( very generous indeed )

I don't know if you will be surprised by this or not but your answers ( offered very warmly with an LDS perspective ) cleared up alot for me. ( thanks for your contributions )

I would like to add ( for clarification ) that my question of " history " was NOT to imply that Joseph Smith was or was not a prophet ( My personal declaration would be arogant to say the least as well as a mute point) But as you noted, the varying historical accounts of JS history.

Thanks again,
God bless,
Carl

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by ceeboo

Good morning all,

It's me ( The Catholic visitor guy )

In my journey on this forum ( to gain the perspective I was searching for ) I now have a few questions that I would appreciate the " LDS " answers to so I may be able to sort and digest the wealth of information that is available here.

If any of my new LDS friends would be so kind as to offer their thoughts I would appreciate the time.

My questions are: ( Please consider my " Catholic roots " when answering )

Does the LDS Church consider itself the only " restoration Church " ?

Does the LDS consider it to be a " protestent " Church ?

How does the Church determine when " prophits " are speaking as such or not ?

How does the Church replace it's prophit after the current prophit passes ? ( is there only one at any given time in it's history ?)

Do " members " consider any other possible account of " JS history " or is it faith ?

Do " members " consider the 40,000 plus other christian denominations " brethren " ?

Is the term " anti Mormon " applied to any who might find a different " truth " ?

I will stop there,

I hope my questions were not offensive

God bless,
Carl

Concerning Joseph and his History. Joseph Smith was an obscure somewhat uneducated farm boy that was called and prepared by G-d – similar to Jesus and the ancient apostles (and John the Baptist). Because he was such an unknown; any historical accounts are most difficult to validate. Joseph’s life was often sought by those that disagreed with him. It is quite difficult for me to accept any account as objective of someone from a person willing to take the live of that person. That is a little extreme I think.

Concerning other Christians. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a specific call to prepare for the coming of Christ on that great last day. We are charged (according to Prophesy) to gather the scattered of Israel according to the prophesies concerning the House of Ephraim. The call is to every nation, kindred, tongue and people – we believe Israel was scattered among all nations. We have amassed one of the worlds most effective and respected missionary forces by calling our worthy young men (age 19 – 27) to serve two years at their own expense. We welcome all to bring with them their faith to prepare their hearts to welcome Christ.

I personally identify anti-Mormons based on two criteria:

First – they are more concerned about preaching what they believe is wrong with Mormons than they are concerned about teaching what is right about Christ or what-ever their personal belief is.

Second – They pretend to understand the doctrine of the LDS or Mormons better that the members themselves – claiming we have our own doctrine wrong.

Beyond that – it is my personal belief that differences of opinion are healthy. For example Harry Read (a Democrat) and Mitt Romney (a Republican) are both LDS – Mormons in good standing with the church and it members.

The Traveler