Catholicism and Mormonism Comparison Term Paper

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Testaments to Truth

Roman Catholicism and Mormonism Compared

There are many varieties of Christianity, some of them very old, and some of them of quite recent origin. The Roman Catholic Church boasts an uninterrupted existence of two thousand years. Its hierarchy, and its beliefs, have adapted to changed conditions. Yet truth is not so easily discovered. Rome may have purified her Church during the Counter Reformation, but not all were satisfied. The Protestant Churches of Western Europe spawned an even greater number of sects in the New World. Some of these creeds held beliefs similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church, while others developed in remarkably different ways. In mid-Nineteenth Century New York, Joseph Smith was privileged to receive an entirely new Revelation. This Book of Mormon was at odds with the teachings of virtually all other Christian denominations. The followers of this brand new Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints were soon persecuted. Known as Mormons, Smith's adherents fled westward. In the distant wilderness, they established their own community; a community that was governed by specifically Mormon rules and beliefs. They set up a quasi-theocratic form of government that continues to exist even today ... In a somewhat modified form. Yet beyond the superficial similarities of a governing hierarchy, the beliefs of the Mormons and the Roman Catholics are, in fact, very different.

Roman Catholics, like most other Christians, believe that the New Testament represents the final and definitive revelation from God. Joseph Smith, on the other hand, claimed to have received a new set of instructions from the Almighty. The rules and regulations described in the Book of Mormon form the basis of the Church of Latter Day Saints. The Book of Mormon challenges many of the basic assumptions of Roman Catholic belief. The Garden of Eden, located somewhere in Asia in the Catholic Bible, is, surprisingly, to be found in America in the Book of Mormon. "It was from the banks of the Missouri and not the Euphrates that humanity fanned out to populate the Old Testament world.

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Still more disturbing, from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church, are certain Mormon beliefs regarding Jesus Christ and the relationship of humankind to the Divinity. These precepts often "shockingly" refute what Catholics take to be God-Given truths:

• Jesus slept with Mary Magdelene. He has other wives as well and they are bearing him children to this very day.

• One day Joseph Smith will be just as powerful as God. In fact, Joseph, Brigham Young, and other LDS giants will "progress" until they all attain the same stature as the God of the Old Testament.

• God lives on a planet circling a star called Kolob on which a single day takes a thousand earth years to unfold. He has a physical body and to this very instant is sexually active with our Heavenly Mother and other wives.

Notions such as these challenge closely-held Roman Catholic (and most other Christian Churches' as well) notions of right and wrong; sacred and profane. Sex is hardly commended in the Old and New Testaments, and it would be considered a grave sin to even ponder God being a sexually-active being. From almost the very beginning, the Roman Catholic Church took a dim view of the "pleasures of the flesh,"

The body, male or female, should be clothed, ideally at all times; for it is a shameful thing, a thing to be concealed, not flaunted in the manner of the Greeks and Romans. And bodily activities should be confined to those that are necessary. So one may eat, but only enough to keep healthy. One may engage in sexual intercourse, but only to preserve the human race. Since not every fertile adult need be sexually active to preserve the race from extinction, even lifelong virginity, male or female, can be thought a nobler state than marriage because it involves more restraint of bodily impulse.

In light of such teachings, it….....

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