Answering Jw's And Mormons

[SaintOfVirtue]

The other day a few Jehovah Witnesses came to my door wanting to "share the Gospel of the Lord with their neighbors" They were quickly informed by my mom that we are Roman Catholic and not interested in their version of the Gospel, and in no uncertain terms where politely told to move along. I wanted to debate with them but did not arrive at the front door soon enough.

So basically this thread is for general knowledge on answering typical Jehovah Witness and Mormon questions/attacks.

My general question is: Where do their teachings differ from the Catholic Church's teachings? and is there a good book or other source for preparing for future confrontations of this manner?

[Hilde]

Well the trinity is pretty important-

[SaintOfVirtue]

[quote name='Hilde' timestamp='1283112096' post='2165045']
Well the trinity is pretty important-
[/quote]

They don't believe in the Trinity?

[Hilde]

1.Trinity
2.Incarnation and the two natures of Christ

Things they don't believe in. Also the scripture thing. They aren't really Christians.

ETA: Proving apostolic succession might be a useful tool.

Edited August 29, 2010 by Hilde

[thessalonian]

[quote name='SaintOfVirtue' timestamp='1283112165' post='2165046']
They don't believe in the Trinity?
[/quote]

Lived in Utah for 8 years. Pretty familiar with the mormons. Have talked with many JWs.

First of all let me state that the moremons that I worked with in Utah were very nice people. Familiy oriented, dedicated to Church. I think we should also give credit to Mormon missionaries (and JWs for that matter) for their willingness to go door to door and preach what they sincerely believe to be true. We are greatly blessed to be given the truths of the Catholic faith, not out of anything superior in us but by God's good pleasure. Therefore charity is first and foremost in dealing with them. The mormon missionaries I have talked to are always very clean cut, well mannered and excellent examples of their religion. God's laws are written on their hearts (see Rom 2:14-16 ) and they manifest themselves in the lives of these people despite the great errors in their religions.

If you ask a mormon about the Trinity they may well say they believe in the Trinity, Father, Son, HOly Spirit, but it is not the tinity of Christianity. Their father,son, holy spirit are men who grew to be god. Their saying is "as man is god once was, as god is man will become". Some day they expect to be gods, having their own salvation plans for people. There are of coruse many flaws in these theories. One is that they insist that men must be married to get to the highest kiingdom (they believe in three levels of heaven, and one hell). The highest is the one in which men become gods. Funny thing is Jesus was never married. They acknowledge this as well they acknowledge that the Holy Spirit, while god, is spirit.

I am only going to be able to give you brief differences from hear on out or this will get to long. www.catholic.com has good books on the morons, particulary "When the Mormons call".
Mormons believe marriage is eternal, contrary to Christ's words that in heaven we are never married or given in marriage. Their temple marriages are said to be for time and eterinty.
They believe that the Christian religion fell away from the truth and was restored by Joseph Smith, the true prophet in the 1800's.
.They believe in the Bible as the Word of God (in as much as it is translated correctly they say) but the also hold the Book of Mormon ( a book of tales about indians and wars that is generally pretty boring except for the 60,000 words coming pretty much straight out of the book of Isaiha, conveniently in King James English, a bit odd if it was translated from plates and ancient languages). They also hold a couple of books of Brigham young as scripture, Pearl of Great Price and I think the other is called Doctrines and Covenants.
They believe that Satan was Jesus literal brother and that they both presented a plan of salvatoin to God and God rejected Satans.
They believe in baptism of the dead. They basis this on a quote from Paul in I think its 1 Cor 14 where Paul speaks of evidently what was a practice in one segment of the Church. Basically they go about getting proxy baptized for their dead non-mormon friends and relatives so they can go to heaven
They still believe in plural marriage, which was widely practiced in the 1800s (actually there is alot of it still going on today as there are 50,000 polygamist families in the western US. They however say that plural marriage has been taken away for a time.
Lots more but those are things that stuck out. Much of their customs, beliefs, and practicies are either very 19th century protestant, as Joseph Smith was a Methodist growing up and then a large share of what they do can be traced to Masonry as Joseph Smith was a 42nd degree marriage.

Again the book at Catholic Answers is very good and charitable. They also have a book about Jehovah's Witnesses. The JWs do not believe in the trinity at all. They are Arian in their belief about Jesus, meaning that he was only human and not divine. They actually believe he is Michael the Archangel. Again theiy have the true prophet in their leader who started their religion, can't recall his name.

Another recommended resource for theses sects is by James Burham, I think his name is, called "the Beggining Apologetics Series". It has workbooks on both the Mormons and JW's.

I will maybe post more later. Lots more I could say.

[MithLuin]

Jehovah Witnesses have their own translations of the Bible which contains some...interesting...lines.

For instance, John 1:1.

In the beginning, there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Pretty clear statement of the divinity of Jesus, right?

But if you look up this passage in a Jehovah Witness's bible, it will say:

In the beginning, there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.

Likewise with the Trinitarian formula for baptism given in Matthew. It's been butchered.

Makes it difficult to have a conversation when their Bible isn't right in the first place. I guess you have to have your own on hand to show them the differences.

Mormons use the real Bible, but have the Book of Mormon in addition to that.

[Sarah147]

Very interesting thread. I could never take the apologist stance if one came to my door. Yikes.

[TeresaBenedicta]

I've always had very pleasant conversations with JW's and Mormons. They have always been very sincere and cordial in our conversations.

The folks that I've never managed to have dialogue with are the "Are you saved?" people. They want to go through their schpeel through the Bible and won't allow you a single word... or if they do, they're not listening. At least, that's been my experience with them.

[desertwoman]

I wanted to know if Mormons still believe that when we die we will rule one of the many planets in the universe as a god. With that line of thinking, wouldn't that mean that there is not just one God, but many? And the god that rules our planet was some human who died and now rules over us?

[MithLuin]

Yes, that's part of their belief system. There is a reason that LDS is not accepted as a Christian church by other Christians. The mainstream ones today tend to not empasize those aspects of their faith. I agree that the ones I've met have always been lovely people. I have very little personal experience with the JW, though unfortunately, the little I [i]do[/i] have is quite negative.

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='desertwoman' timestamp='1283123228' post='2165121']
I wanted to know if Mormons still believe that when we die we will rule one of the many planets in the universe as a god. With that line of thinking, wouldn't that mean that there is not just one God, but many? And the god that rules our planet was some human who died and now rules over us?
[/quote]

That belief as I understand is that a man will rule over a planet as a god, and have many wives at his beck and call. I'm not sure they would be see gods.

Edited August 30, 2010 by KnightofChrist

[SaintOfVirtue]

[quote name='desertwoman' timestamp='1283123228' post='2165121']
I wanted to know if Mormons still believe that when we die we will rule one of the many planets in the universe as a god. With that line of thinking, wouldn't that mean that there is not just one God, but many? And the god that rules our planet was some human who died and now rules over us?
[/quote]

That sounds more like a form of paganism than Christianity.

[Maximilianus]

[quote name='SaintOfVirtue' timestamp='1283111430' post='2165041']
and is there a good book or other source for preparing for future confrontations of this manner?
[/quote]
[i]Answering Jehova's Witnesses[/i] by Jason Evert.

[thessalonian]

[quote name='desertwoman' timestamp='1283123228' post='2165121']
I wanted to know if Mormons still believe that when we die we will rule one of the many planets in the universe as a god. With that line of thinking, wouldn't that mean that there is not just one God, but many? And the god that rules our planet was some human who died and now rules over us?
[/quote]

As I stated above yes they do. When I lived in Utah they always said "as man is God once was. As God is man will become." They said that the Father is the only God we have to do with but would not deny that there are or will be other gods and in the end they are polytheists.

[Ziggamafu]

Just use an anti-sola-scriptura argument. They fling verses at you as if the verses should have authority. By what authority were the verses discerned to be Scripture, and when, and how?