marcostolto

thanks to everyone for answering my questions. i will be spending some time at forums.catholic.com in the weeks to come. am praying for everyone, and also for peace, in our troubled world. thank you

I lost faith in God, after i left the Jehovahs Witnesses, but am just praying for guidance now, and also asking for advice, from fellow Catholics, so that i will be able to restore my faith, once again

applepansy :can you post an edited transcript? am on a Vodacom webbox, with limited internet access and no Flash..sorry maureen:i spent 15yrs as a Jehovahs Witness, but have listed myself on the forum, as Catholic, because it is our family religion. we used to attend church every Sunday, for many years, and i was raised, baptised, received communion, and confirmation, in the Catholic religion, so i have a fair understanding of what Catholics believe.

i do not agree. not always. some who have been raised as members of a religion, may have been drawn away by interests outside the church circle, or they may have just grown weary, and tired, or disinterested in religion in general. i know in my case, it was a gradual and steady decline, and loss of faith, in all religions, that ultimately led me to leave, and become an active opposer. i even started a campaign calling for the banning of the entire JW religion. it was a mistake, that i regret, but today i have learnt to focus my anger, in a more civil way, by voicing opinion, only on issues that are most important to me, eg the prohibition on eating foods that contain blood & the promotion of the practice of shunning

its a dilemma, that may take years to resolve, it may never even be resolved. all i can say is: i will never forget the Book of Mormon, because it represents many other books in the Bible, that were rejected, yet this has formed the basis for a living Christian religion. this to me, makes the LDS church somewhat special, but not necessarily one that i will embrace, wholeheartedly, however it has awakened my interest in the spiritual realm, and after 12yrs of unbelief, i feel that this in itself, is an achievement. am happy to be able to discuss these issues

i would like to ideally go to the meetings as a silent observer, and sit in a corner, minding my own business, but doubt that this will be possible, as in most religions, there are always friendly persons, eager to greet and welcome visitors, and of course also Elders, eager to put one on the road to baptism. this is not unusual, in any religion

i guess its also a question of viewpoint, as in most religions, i would have to be quite cautious, so as not to offend my relatives and fellow believers. i would probably initially attend the LDS meetings, not with a view to conversion, but rather as a Catholic with an enquiring mind, who is eager to learn more about the Book of Mormon and LDS faith. i think i would have to speak to the Bishop beforehand, in order to explain my intentions, so as to avoid any misunderstandings. thank you

i am not an advocate of interfaith, but i do feel that there should be a degree of cooperation between Christian religions. i had a problem when i converted from Catholicism to the Jehovahs Witness religion, as i always felt like an outsider, because i was "alone", and my parents were Catholic, whilst most of the members of the JW congregation, i was meeting with, had a generation or more of relatives, who were all JW's, and as a result there was'nt much sympathy, or empathy, towards the difficulties i had experienced in converting, because very few of those who had been raised as JW's, could relate to a person, such as myself, who had left his family religion. my dilemma is that i am drawn to the Book of Mormon, and would like to learn more about the LDS religion, but feel that i need to be cautious, about what will happen if i ever do decide to attend the meetings, because i burned my fingers before. i think what am really trying to establish, is: will i have to oppose my relatives, and their religion, in order to be accepted for baptism ?

What is the LDS view on Ecumenism, that is initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation, between Christian denominations, such as Catholicis, Mormons, Anglicans, Orthodox etc, and how would i be treated, if i joined LDS, with the scope of promoting such initiatives?

i was raised as a Catholic,but converted to the Jehovahs Witness religion, in my youth. after 15yrs in that religion, i decided to leave in 2000, due to disagreements with some of their beliefs. the reaction was overwhelmingly discouraging. i have been shunned by all the JW members who i thought were my friends. they now all refuse to even greet me on facebook. i am really interested to learn more about the LDS church, but at the same time afraid, as all my relatives and their friends are Catholic, and i know that i will receive opposition, if i do eventually decide to convert to LDS. i am also afraid, because i do not know whether i will be able to fit into the LDS religion, and so am worried about how i will be treated by LDS members, if someday i do change my mind, and return to my family's religion?

sorry, this may not seem very important, but i feel i do need to clarify it. i protested, because the script required protest. else without protest, i would never have been able to evade military service, but i would never have joined the JW's, if it was not for the issue of military service, and the fact that i was pressured at my trial, to join this organization, by both the SADF and the JW's. so essentially, my baptism as a JW, occured under duress, in fact under these circumstances, my baptism should never have been approved, by the JW leaders, in the first place. i should have gone to jail, but they allowed me to join their religion and escape military service. it was sort of like a charity thing. thank God, everyone in ZA, today, is equal, but in the 80's, there was a war going on between blacks and whites, on the ZA borders, it was a big thing in the lives, of us school kids. thank you

no, i actually abandoned my parents and my family. i left the church, and joined the Jehovahs Witnesses, but it was not completely a voluntary decision on my part, as there was coercion involved. i was trying to remain politically neutral, in lieu of compulsory military service, in South Africa, during the apartheid era, and at the time the JW's were the only religion in ZA that had made an agreement with the SA Defence force, to allow those concientious objectors, who refused to serve in the military, to perform 3yrs of community service. the alternative in my case, would have been a 6yrs civilian prison sentence, so the initial 3yrs of seperation from my family, including my baptism as a JW, happened largely as my own fault, even despite the fact that there was a degree of duress, but i have no excuse for the 12 yrs i spent seperated from my parents, in the JW religion, thereafter. i should have left, but i did not, because i actually developed faith in the JW teachings, although there was also a fear that leaving, would result not only in shunning, but also in eternal death.thank you

all i can say is that i will never forget the LDS's, and will always keep the Book of Mormon by my side, i will also continue to pray and hope that both the LDS and Catholic churches will draw closer together, rather than further apart, and that someday all Christians will recognise the Book of Mormon as Gods Word.thank you

3 good sc-fi movies will be watching tommorrow : Forbidden Planet War of the Worlds I, Robot some others Land of the Lost Red Planet Star Trek Star Wars

What are your favourite Sci-fi movies? low budget or blockbuster, classic or modern, popular or just plain terrible

this thread has degenerated into a circular discussion..ought to be closed..ime concluding my participation. thank you to all those who have voiced opinions..

ok..so both of my threads on the subject of "Babylon the Great" and 1 Nephi 13:5 under the Non-Catholic Religions section, at forums.catholic.com, have been banned for unknown reasons. i am assuming that someone from lds.net has lodged a complaint, so i am terminating my discussions on 1 Nephi 13:5 on lds.net, and this will be my last post on this subject. if anyone would like to contact the forum.catholic.com moderators in order to establish the reason for the ban, they are welcome..i will take up the discussion when the topic has been re-opened..thank you

ok..so both of my threads on the subject of 1 Nephi 13:5 under the Non-Catholic Religions section, at forums.catholic.com, have been banned for unknown reasons. i am assuming that someone from lds.net has lodged a complaint, so i am terminating my discussions on 1 Nephi 13:5 on lds.net, and this will be my last post on this subject. if anyone would like to contact the forum.catholic.com moderators in order to establish the reason for the ban, they are welcome..i will take up the discussion when the topic has been re-opened..thank you

very interesting, so Nephi lived around 600BC,when neither the Catholic church or any other Christian denomination existed.. i would guess then that the appearance of this "most abominable church over all the others" that he spoke about, would have been a reference to events that would happen not long after his time. who then was the "man" spoken of in 1 Nephi 13:12? was this Joseph Smith? and what was the time period. was it 1823? 1 Nephi 13:20 speaks of a "book that was carried forth among them[Gentiles]." i am assuming that this is a reference to the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830?

i would not exactly describe Atheism as a church, or even a religion, but i have a feeling that we will need to waite for the correct interpretation to 1 Nephi 13:5 to still be revealed in the future. this is not unreasonable. much of the interpretation to verses in the Bible book of Revelation, were not known till recently, and others no doubt will only be revealed later on. here is an article on Nauvoo.many thanks for your viewpoints The Catholic Post : Archive Article - Catholics, Mormons in Nauvoo laying foundation for dialogue

since there has been a lot of interest on 1 Nephi 13:5, in a previous thread, have opened a new thread to allow for a more in depth study of the interpretation of this verse. 1 Nephi 13:5 reads : "And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a 'church which is most abominable above all other churches'" the question is : who is this church that the prophet Nephi was refering to as the 'most abominable above all other churches'"? it is clear that Nephi was here making a comparison between a single church/religion and all other churches/religions. he was not saying that all were acceptable, but that all were abominable, but this verse singles out a specific church/religion, as being more abominable, or reprehensible than all the others. the following exerpt from the article entitled "the great and abominable church", on wikipedia, may shed some light : "A book entitled Mormon Doctrine, originally published in 1958 by Bruce R. McConkie, contains references linking the Roman Catholic Church to the Whore of Babylon. McConkie became an apostle twelve years after its publication, and was a respected scholar[clarification needed] and authority regarding the doctrines and beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is said that some leaders in the LDS Church at the time urged McConkie not to identify the Roman Catholic Church as such, but the initial publications went out unchanged as McConkie intended.[citation needed] A later edition published in 1966 removed the reference." many other Christian denominations have agree with this viewpoint. some Protestant denominations have become very vocal on this subject. "the Mother of all a harlots", "Babylon the Great" are all terms that have been applied to the Roman Catholic Church. there is no question that Catholic church was decended from Rome, and that she did form part of the Roman Empire. there is also no question that she was involved in the Inquisition, and stifling of Bible publications, during the Reformation. what is the correct interpretation of this verse. who is this church, that is most abominable over all others? thank you

the scripture at 1 Nephi 13:5 applies to the Roman Catholic church. Mr Bruce Mc Conckie new this. Pres von Stetton knows this..i know it, and there are/were many other Mormon leaders who also know this..there are many Protestant denominations that are in agreement with this viewpoint..i am not...but this viewpoint is not a secret..the Catholic church is well aware that the Vatican has been held to represent the Rome church ..it is not a new topic, nor one over which i would waiste much time..many thanks to everyone

i think i will terminate my online discussions on the Book of Mormon..i will contact the LDS missionaries..when am ready..many thanks to everyone for taking the time to answer my questions

i am finding it difficult to believe that 1 Nephi 13:5 is a symbolic reference. it is clearly refering to a single church, that is more abominable than all the others. if this was symbolic then the rest of 1 Nephi 13 would also need to be symbolic, yet 1 Nephi 13:12 says "And i looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters, and i beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and "wrought upon the man;" my understanding of this passage is that it is referring to a literal person, and 1 Nephi 13:20 that says "..and i beheld a "book and it was carried forth among them", a literal book, the Book of Mormon. so my question is : 1) who was this person? and 2) what time period is this verse referring to (what year?) thank you for your replies, and apologies for these questions. if there are any lds.net members who are in contact with any Italian LDS members, residing either in Durban, or any other part of South Africa, would appreciate this information. many thanks

for what reason would Nephi have mentioned this, if it was not important. clearly if this particular church/religion is more abominable than all the others. no person would ever want to be a member of it, nor would they want their relatives to be a part of it. so naturally anyone, such as myself, contemplating conversion to the LDS church, would want to know. who is this church/religion? there is no sidestepping this question. either the answer exists, or the interpretation has not yet been revealed..i wish i could pose this question to Pres von Stetton. i spoke with him over the phone the other day. wish i knew where he was. i would go there personally to ask him. does anyone perhaps have his electronic mail address? i have emailed sisters Stark & Olfon at the Durban,ZA missionary office, but am no longer receiving replies from them. i have a feeling that they have had enough of my continual phoning, leaving messages, and asking questions. the only thing everyone keeps telling me is that i need to go to the meetings in order to discuss my concerns with Bishop Scott