I'm having difficulties deciding between the Catholic and Mormon Churches?

Question

I'm officially LDS (Mormon), but have been attending Catholic Mass and classes to become Catholic for a while now. I live in Utah and love Mormons (and their rules) and the relatively small group of Catholics we have here. My confidence in being Catholic and not Mormon has been shaken lately though. My sister, a high school senior who lives with my parents in Iowa, lost her best friend to a drunk driver (also a high school senior) over the weekend. Iowa is heavily Catholic, and I just can't help but wonder, if the Catholic faith had some of the same rules against alcohol as the LDS faith does, maybe this tragedy could've been avoided. This has really made me think about whether I should leave the Mormon faith for the Catholic faith. There are things I love about both churches. I love the ritualism and tradition of the Catholic faith, but I also can't say for certian that I believe Joseph Smith did not have a vision! Any words of helpful advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

If i were you i would pray about the decision.

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure both denominations would be against heavy drinking.

But for exactly one you should pick, that would be what you feel is most comfortable and not forced into.

Although, if you're looking for a theological debate you should look at, what some people think, is wrong with the Mormon beliefs:

http://www.angelfire.com/ms/seanie/mormon.html

As for Catholics, the main faults people will point at is that

1.) The Virgin Mary is viewed on equal level with God. This is far from true. Catholics just think of her on the saint level. Anyone who believes Mary is a part of God or something similar is really bizarre.

2.) The same goes for the Pope. A lot of people dislike the idea of a single person being set above others. But as long as you don't view him as imperfect I think you'll be okay.

I hope your decision goes well. A lot of praying will help. But all-in-all, this isn't that big of a deal. When you get to heaven, you're not going to be label by what denomination you were.

Answer 3

A basis of the LDS claim to authority is that the early Church apostatised, if that’s the case what is to stop the LDS likewise from falling into apostasy and what of Jesus words to Peter that not even death would be able to overcome the Church he would build on him (Mt 16:18). Catholicism and Mormonism are not compatible. You must establish that the apostasy did in fact happen.
By the way, getting drunk (let alone driving drunk) is no more compatible with an authentic Christian life then that of a Mormon one. There are many Catholics who don’t live up to the faith they profess, the majority who claim to be Catholic don’t even go to participate in the Mass every Sunday – that is hardly Catholic. Some people need a kick up the backside. My condolences on your sister losing her friend (may she rest in peace).

A couple of useful links on Mormonism vs Catholicism.
(Jesus Christ is the truth - John 14:6)

Answer 4

No, i did not understand that -- on account it rather is merely not genuine. The Catholic Church existed from the time of the recent testomony. The Mormon Church became into created in the nineteenth century advert. The Catholic Church is contiguous in management and doctrine with the early church. The Mormon Church claims all doctrines of Christianity are fake. The Catholic Church's scriptures have been written by men customary in my view by those that won them. The Mormon Church's scriptures have been written on golden plates extra by an angel, author unknown to Joseph Smith. The Catholic Church believes that Adam became into created by God. The Mormon Church believes that Adam *became God. (confident, it does. Ask your bishop approximately "Adam is our Father and our God, the only God with whom we could desire to consistently do.") The Catholic Church believes that Jesus Christ became into born God incarnate. The Mormon Church believes that Jesus became divine. As you will see that, they have little or no in undemanding. the factor: Neither some factors of contract nor some factors of war of words coach how alike or unalike they're. Oh, they're truly distinctive, and for many greater motives than those. they're alike in many techniques, besides. yet what one believes approximately God does count number -- and that's the place they're very, very distinctive. Forgive me. /Orthodox

Answer 5

Price definitely has a small group of Catholics! But really your making a religious issue out of a spiritual issue. Feel free to attend both churches simultaneously. You know whats right and wrong, whichever church you "officially" belong to does not change your personal morals. And all churches have skeletons in their closet i.e. LDS: polygamy + Joseph's vision. Catholics: church wide cover up of priest pedophilia + alliance with Hitler & opposition of women's suffrage.

As these mistakes do not negate some of the good works these religions have done, these facts are important in understanding the difference between religion-which is made by man, and spirituality-which is made by God.

Church isn't about instructing you, but rather through discussion it should help enlighten and uplift your mind. You might want to try attending some other churches in town. Attending services of different religions would give you a excellent opportunity to hear the thoughts of others that might give insight into your life.

I know in Price there is at least one Greek Orthodox and one Presbyterian church. It doesn't hurt to check them out.

Answer 6

I don’t know much about Mormonism, except that it’s based on the supposed vision of Joseph Smith, where he received another “new testament” from an angel (do I have this right?). If that’s the case, then I reject Smith because after Jesus there are NO NEW REVELATIONS. Jesus was the final and full Revelation of God. Nothing else was to come after Him. This is why I reject anyone else who claims a “new revelation”. I came from the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a youth, and they pull the same trick. Their deal is that their headquarters, the Watchtower Society, is God’s only true organization on earth, and that all “light” and understanding comes through them and ONLY through them. It nicely sets them of as some kind of exclusive “prophet”.

Alcohol of itself is not sinful. This is why the Catholic Church does not condemn it.
It is the misuse and abuse of it that causes problems. Even if the driver that killed your sisters best friend was Catholic, that only means it’s the driver’s fault and not the teaching of the Church.

I do want to wish you a hearty welcome home. I converted to the Church two years ago and it was without a doubt the best decision of my life. Changed everything.

God bless, and welcome home.

Answer 7

from a semi atheist point of view I say you are trying to choose from completely opposite churches. The mormon church is much more stricter. The catholic church just has to be the easiest church in the world. Party monday through saturday and repent on sunday morning. Pretty much anything in the catholic church goes because their strategy was to accomodate as many people as possible. The name of the game was get them to convert so a lot of religioins converted to catholisism because they where able to some extend keep parts of their faith. You can see this in the african derived religions that the slaves practiced. An example is santeria or santerismo. Is kind of like a boodoo type thing. They replaced their original Gods for the catholic saints.

I've been to the mormon church albeit not for service. I didn't like it. It was too clean. You put a catholic next to a mormom and they look like opposites. The mormon guy would be too clean cut while the catholic would look like the average man. Maybe too average.

One disadvantage of the catholic church is that once you die you will go to pulgatory and pretty much stay there indefinetly. Other religioins bypass this area and go strait to heaven or where ever it is they believe you are going.

Disadvantage of mormonism is that you can't even drink soda or watch anything above pg. Or that is what I have been told. Plus a lot of other religions don't consider mormons real christians for whatever reason. Then again some religions don't consider catholics christians either.

One way that might help you choose then is ow much constrictions you want in your doctrine. You want it easy then go Catholic. You want it hard then go Mormon.

Answer 8

"My sister, a high school senior who lives with my parents in Iowa, lost her best friend to a drunk driver (also a high school senior) over the weekend. Iowa is heavily Catholic, and I just can't help but wonder, if the Catholic faith had some of the same rules against alcohol as the LDS faith does, maybe this tragedy could've been avoided."

This should have absolutely NO bearing on your religious decision. You chose a religion based upon the doctrine, not the practice of its parishioners. Also, you have no proof that the drunk driver is Catholic, rather you generalize the whole religion simply because it is a majority. Is it fair to blame every bad occurrence in Utah on Mormons?

Now to the situation at hand:

I really know what you are going through because I had to deal with the same decision (except that I was a Catholic considering conversion to the LDS church). What really caught my eye in your question were the details of what attracts you to Catholicism.

Tradition is what I really struggled with. The liturgy of the Catholic Mass is absolutely beautiful and is packed with scripture. What was hard to accept about the LDS church was that it has no liturgical worship on Sundays. Here the LDS church claims to be the "missing link" so to speak between Judaism & Catholicism (it's the "primitive" Christianity isn't it?) yet both Judaism & Catholicism worship liturgically. Honestly though, Sacrament meeting (minus references to the Book of Mormon and the lack of a cross) feels just like Protestant worship: laxed, careless, and even at times irreverent.

None-the-less, I couldn't stifle that voice inside of me. I couldn't just forget the numerous profound dreams I had been having since my contact with the missionaries. I couldn't deny what I felt the Lord was working inside of me so I went along with it and was baptized into the LDS church leaving my trust in him to answer my questions when and how he feels they should be answered. Years later when I was given the privilege of taking out my endowments the whole "Where's the Liturgy?" stumper was resolved.

As an LDS you understand that I can't just delve into the details of the LDS Endowment, but I can testify that it is VERY liturgical. I remember after entering the Celestial room having flashbacks of my confirmation (Catholic confirmation) when I was a teenager.

If you get the opportunity to witness a Catholic Confirmation, GO! If you are an endowed member of the church, the similarities will jump right out at you. More importantly you will come to realize that with the loss of the Temple in 70AD, the early Christians just tossed much of the ceremony INTO the sacraments of the Catholic Church probably as a means of preserving them. The Catholic Mass and Catholic Initiation testify of the truthfulness of the Temple because the Catholic Mass CAME FROM the Temple.

So, when you go to see the Confirmation make note of a few things:
1. What are the communicants wearing?
2. What does the Catholic Bishop do to the confirmed and more importantly what is he using (if you can’t see it, I’ll just tell you: it’s oil).
3. Pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to every word the Bishop says because it will send chills down your spine. The words are almost verbatim to certain ordinances.
4.Notice that though the confirmed approached the Bishop with nothing, they are GIVEN something very tangible to serve as a REMINDER of what they have pledged to do. Notice that it is VERY symbolic of the pledge itself (Think of how it pertains to the covenants made in the temple).

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PS: Though I really hope you stick with the LDS church, I must be honest and point out that Mr Gees has some very erroneous beliefs about the Catholic faith. Two namely stuck out:

1. Santeria & other African Tribal / Catholic mixes are NOT acceptable to the Catholic faith. He is correct that Santeria is essentially the attribution of Catholic Saints & Martyrs to African Tribal Gods but it wasn't the Catholic church that did this in order to "appeal to other people". The Black slaves from Africa which were brought to Latin America by the Spanish, Portuguese, & French did this in order to hide their true religious devotion from the conquistadores. The Catholic Church has actually stated that Santeria is a form of idolatry and unacceptable. Santeria is very common in the Carribean, especially in Haiti & Cuba. I know this from experience because my Grandmother was denied communion for being a practitioner of Santeria.

2. You don't spend your eternity in Purgatory. Only those who die in sin go to Purgatory and it isn't for eternity. Purgatory is the "refiner's fire" that purifies one in order to be "spotless in the sight of the creator". This belief of having to be absolutely pure before God in order to be in his presence isn't anything unique to Catholicism, Mormonism preaches it also.

Answer 9

It has nothing to do with rules. As humans, we naturally disobey all rules. In order to be saved, we must repent of our sins, be babtized in the name of Jesus, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the greatest gift you can ever receive on this side of heaven, and will give you joy unspeakable. Once you have it, you will no longer want to drink, smoke, or sin in general. You will also receive various spiritual gifts.

Don't take my word for it, just read the book of Acts, and find a church that does what it and the rest of the New Testament commands.

Answer 10

Isn't this a matter between you and God? Shouldn't you pray to receive guidance? Do you actually think someone on Yahoo can settle this for you? The mormons tell you to pray for confirmation regarding conversion to their church. Sounds reasonable. Try it, and if you don't get your confirmation, seek out the church with the most entertainment value for your spiritual investment....lol.

Answer 11

If you have been attending Catholic Masses for a while and you are still uncertain,then you do not want to become a Catholic,so don't change.