131 - 135 of 135 Comments

1. Victoria Sethunya

   1 year ago

   Fr Dwight Longenecker, I am an ex-Mormon. I agree with you on several aspects of your post but I disagree with you in that in the latter category of Modernist Mormonism, the issue of religion "does not matter".
   
   All of the Mormon categories your post discusses leave out the temple oath which Governor Romney and I know about. Regardless of the category in which one belongs to, this oath decides whether a Mormon of the categories described will put faith or state first.
   
   One of the tenets of Mormonism is to abide by the laws of the land. In the temple, that tenet is pre-empted by a higher law. That to me is the most serious concern given the damages done by religious groups under the banner of "higher law".

2. David Winters

   1 year ago

   Thanks for an interesting read. I would only point out two issues with this op-ed. The first is your definition of maniac Mormons. We in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would not even call the Warren Jeffs of the world Mormon at all. I can see how others might lump everyone together, but Jeff's is certainly not a member of my church. Secondly, with Mitt Romney having served as a bishop and stake president, I am sure he is more than a casual observer of the faith. People may or may not like that fact, but he is a believer -- as am I.

3. michael

   1 year ago

   The good father makes some good points...just one more point to add. As Bl. Pius IX taught, along with many others, only Catholics are, technically speaking, Christian. Catholicism and Christianity are co-extensive terms. Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Evangelical Protestantism, etc., are not Christianity but rather twisted perversions of the Revelation of Christ. Many popes have stated that to be Christian one has to be Roman. For decades now we have been told that we have a lot in common with our "separated brethren." But then, if you look at it closely, there are just a few articles of the Faith that we actually share. Protestants deny the ministerial priesthood, most of the Sacramental system, the nature of sanctifying grace, Purgatory, praying to the saints, the Real Presence, Marian devotion, Papal Infallibility, relics, indulgences, Mary's Perpetual physical virginity, necessity and infallibility of the Church, etc.. and I could go on and on. In short, then, Mitt's Mormonism is unChristian, but so is the so-called "Christianity" of Obama.

4. Mormons Are Christian

   1 year ago

   Because the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is a Restoration Church, you would expect it to restore the sacred ritual common parior to the Nicene Creed:
   
   Hippolytus (ca. A.D. 200) made a statement “But if there is any other matter which ought to be told, let the bishop impart it secretly to those who are communicated. He shall not tell this to any but the faithful and only after they have first been communicated. This is the white stone of which John said that there is a new name written upon it which no man knows except him who receives. ”
   
   Clement of Alexandria claimed to possess a secret tradition of knowledge (Greek gnosis) handed down from the Savior to the Apostles and on to Clement himself by way of certain of his teachers. “Clement represents this secret discipline to which he gives the title of gnosis, or gift of knowledge, as having been conferred by our Lord, after his resurrection, on James the Just, John, and Peter, by whom it was communicated to the other Apostles; and that by these the treasure was committed to the seventy disciples, of whom Barnabas was one. . . the secret discipline thus instituted by Christ was familiar to those who had been his masters and preceptors,”
   
   “The multitude professing Christianity were therefore divided by them into the “profane,” or those who were not yet admitted to the mysteries, and the “initiated,” or faithful and perfect. . . and as none were permitted to be present at these “mysteries,” as they were termed, save those whose admission into the fellowship of the church was perfect and complete, so likewise was it expected that, as a matter of duty, the most sacred silence should be observed in regard to everything connected with the celebration of them, and nothing whatever relating thereto to be committed to the ears of the profane.”
   
   

5. DENISE M. SHARAR

   1 year ago

   WHAT ABOUT FREEDOM OF RELIGION? WHY ARE CATHOLICS SCREAMING FREEDOM OF RELIGION WHILE THEY ARE CRITICIZING OTHER RELIGIONS. I AM A CATHOLIC WHO BELIEVES WE CATHOLICS WILL EVENTUALLY REAP WHAT WE SOW WHEN WE JUDGE OTHER PEOPLES RELIGION. I KNOW THE MORMONS BELIEVE IN GOD AND JESUS. I AM VOTING FOR MITT ROMNEY BECAUSE I AM TIRED OF EVERYONE DISRESPECTING THE MORMONS. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO SALT LAKE CITY? I HOPE MITT ROMNEY PICKS PAUL RYAN FOR VICE PRESIDENT. IT IS TIME TO LOOK AT THE SIMILARITIES AND NOT THE DIFFERENCES!

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