What Is The LDS View On Ecumenism


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The main thing I'm familiar with ecumenism is where it concerns baptism, we do not recognize other Church baptism's for they don't hold the authority to perform them. If you went around suggesting we do you'd be preaching against a rather core doctrine. What exactly do you have in mind? It sounds good to talk about greater Christian unity and cooperation, but when you talk about initiatives what do you have in mind? My first thought my be something like interfaith cooperation and dialog, but according the Wikipedia the interfaith movement and ecumenism aren't the same thing, so if you could clarify what you're talking about that would be helpful.

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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 ?

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We cooperate with other religions on many levels. Much of our offerings for the poor are used in conjunction with Catholic Charities and other religious organizations in many nations, as there is no need to have two organizations doing the same thing in the same place.

In many areas, we have ecumenical discussions. For example, in Nauvoo Illinois, they have a monthly ecumenical discussion, which include leaders from the Catholic, LDS, Evangelical and other religions in the area.

I know in our area, we reach out to other religions. I'm on a speaker's bureau, where I've explained Mormonism to other groups, including one of the major Catholic churches here. It definitely helps in us seeing that we have more in common than not.

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will i have to oppose my relatives, and their religion, in order to be accepted for baptism ?

You'll need to explain what you mean by oppose. I personally wouldn't say it requires opposition to other's religions but I can understand how under some viewpoints people claim it does. You won't have to shun them or hound them, but you will need to accept the points of our doctrine which are at odds and in some cases mutually exclusive to points of other religion's doctrines. For instance someone who is LDS and someone who is Jewish will have opposing viewpoints of who Jesus is/was.

Edited by Dravin
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We believe that all people who seek to follow Christ and the teachings in the Bible are good and honorable people of God. Here, we invite those who wish to, to hear the higher teachings given via modern prophets, and to add upon the good they have learned in their previous Christian churches. You may continue rejoicing in Christ with your family and friends, as you also may share the greater truths and light, which Christ wishes us to share with those around us.

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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

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What is the LDS view on Ecumenism, that is initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation, between Christian denominations

Usually, we don't bother because other Christian denominations won't give us the time of day. But there are exceptions. My ward and the community church across the street have fostered friendly relations, and each of us has donated building space to the other during building remodeling. And Ravi Zacharias of Standing Together Ministries came to speak to both LDS and evangelicals in our own Tabernacle. 5 years ago. And I sneak my kids into a homeschool co-op run by our local mega-church, but we learned early on to keep our heads down and don't talk about being mormon.

and how would i be treated, if i joined LDS, with the scope of promoting such initiatives?

If you are asking, will the LDS church ask you to be some sort of ambassador to other faiths because of your background, the answer is we probably wouldn't. Because again, other faiths often won't give us the time of day, so we don't waste our efforts.

If you are asking how will you be treated by mormons if you get baptized, well, we'll treat you like we treat any other member. There are a lot of converts in our church, lots of interesting different stories.

And no, the church is in the habit of keeping families together, not splitting them apart. If you get asked to shun or avoid your family, send whoever told you that to me, and I'll give them a sound verbal thrashing.

Edited by Loudmouth_Mormon
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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

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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

Yes you'll be greated and welcomed. But nobody is going to drag you in and dunk you in a baptismal font.

All you'd have to do is sit the back and when approached kindly say you're there to observe.

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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?

The LDS church doesnt believe that any other religions hold God's authority so they don't view their ordinances as valid. so like dravin says, if someone were to get baptised in another church and then decide to join the LDS church, they would have to get baptised again.

Outside of ordinances, we'd love to be able to cooperate or promote unity and understanding between different denominations as long as it doesnt involve having to lower our standards. Over the years the have been quite a few lds and non lds professors that have teamed up to achieve that.

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Marco, I think you are mis-using the term Ecumenism. Ecumenism goes beyond inter-faith cooperation and delve into commonality of doctrinal authority.

Ecumenism does not make sense in an LDS view because LDS is not protestant church - or a "Christian denomination that split off of the major Christian Church (usually refers to Roman Catholic)". Ecumenism basically, tries to reconcile those things that caused a specific christian protestant church to split out of the Roman Catholic Church and attempts to bring them back under Papal Authority. For example - okay, this is a completely fiction example - a specific Christian denomination split off the Roman Catholic Church because it doesn't believe that Priests have to wear vestments... okay, clearly, the doctrines of salvation are all the same, like belief in the atonement, baptism, eucharist, etc. So yes, in an ecumenical council, one might submit that this protestant denomination can be accepted as in full unity with the Roman Catholic church and all baptisms and other ordinances performed in that protestant denomination remains valid in the Roman Catholic Church.

So, as you can see, LDS cannot be in ecumenical relationship with any other Christian Churches because we don't believe that priesthood authority is valid outside of LDS keys.

Now, from your follow-up posts, it seems like all you really want to do is to be in inter-faith cooperation with all other Christian Churches. If that's the case, then the LDS Church is probably one of the best - if not THE best - Church when it comes to inter-faith unity. It is so important that it is written in the Articles of the LDS Faith:

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

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