Reddit reviews Catholic roots, Mormon Harvest

For number 5:

As another Catholic who's been investigating the LDS faith on and off, I found this book to be really enlightening.

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-roots-Mormon-Harvest-Shuster/dp/1599552574/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485848520&sr=8-2&keywords=eric+shuster

It's by another Catholic convert and he breaks down the similarities and differences between Catholicism and the LDS faith.  I became much less skeptical of Joseph Smith after reading this book, as I can't believe that a simple man from a farming family in upstate New York could have possessed the knowledge to write the Book of Mormon and have it be so scripturally inline with thousands of years of Christian tradition. 

go to https://www.mormon.org/ where you can chat online with missionaries who can give a referral to local ones, or with whom you can chat for as many questions as you want.

You don't say what you will want to know. Obviously reading the Book of Mormon is critical. (One of our leaders recently challenged us to re-read all the scriptures of Jesus too. Here's a help to do that http://ldsgeo.org/ElderNelsonChallengeOnSteroids.php )

If you want to just know more about the faith generally, the Encyclopedia of Mormonism is online and gives brief overviews of historial and doctrinal things. It is not a church publication, but the church did allow its employees and experts to participate in the work. http://eom.byu.edu/

If I knew what faith tradition you were coming from, I might be able to suggest some books to bridge that. For instance, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/how-wide-the-divide-craig-l-blomberg/1122986649/2691435013567?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+greatbookprices_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP24146&k_clickid=3x24146 explores evangelical/mormon differences. And here are a couple of books that explore Catholic Mormon differences: https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-roots-Mormon-Harvest-Shuster/dp/1599552574 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/catholic-and-mormon-stephen-h-webb/1121749941/2672313215730?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+greatbookprices_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP24181

Best wishes on your trek.

Bear Your Testimony is a Protestant thing, typical evanglical. You don't see it in Anglican or Catholic denominations basically at all, let alone under that name. When somebody is sharing their "testimony" they are sharing "their story", or "their journey", or "how god touched them", but it's never explicitly "my testimony".

The LDS church is the only place I've ever even seen F&T meetings. But it's part of my favorite things about the Church. This outward sharing of faith. Sure, F&T meetings are more "preaching to the chior" and "family story time", but it's usually considered highly inappropriate in today's society to just randomly testify.

The Sacrament for me is...not very different from the Catholic one. I very briefly believed in the real presence, but I feel that same closeness to God when I partake of the Sacrament, so I just assume it's all ordained by Heavenly Father to get us closer to Him, no matter where life takes us. [Reads further] Oh, you mean like...the how. Yeah in the Catholic Church the sacraments are Baptism, Confession, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination to the Priesthood, and Anointing of the Sick. You guys have all of those, and are also all provided by priesthood members, but you guys only call "communion" "The Sacrament". Which is totally valid and fine. I could go either way on that.

Also the saint thing, pretty much exactly spot on. When we are confirmed we usually pick a "patron saint" who will pray for us in time of trouble. I guess Catholics sort of believe that Saints are semi-omnipotent? I'm not sure.

Also if it seems that I'm answering from both sides of the pew, I am. I struggle to decide LDS or Catholic. There are such strong points for both. Currently, I'm looking forward to going to an LDS service this weekend but we'll see. I made a few friends awhile back at my ward and I kind of want to see them again.


A great book if you can find it is called Catholic Roots, Mormon Harvest (Amazon link) and it talks about how the two churches are similar. In my own experience, if we believe Jesus brought in his dispensation, and then the early church fell away, theoretically, the Catholic church is that Church. and everything, EVERYTHING, hinges on the fact of whether or not you believe a) that original church fell away and b) Joseph Smith restored that gospel.

Those are huge philosophical and historical questions that I am dealing with. So for now I sit, ever wavering, between a pew with kneelers and one without. I know I need to pray more, because I know Heavenly Father has that answer. I'm just not sure if I'm fully ready to commit myself to the answer. If it's "catholicism" that means never looking back to Mormonism. If it's Mormonism, then that's never going back to my childhood parish. It's a tricky decision that needs a lot of faith that I don't have yet. I need to ask. And I need to be brave enough to ask.

We believe that when the original twelve apostles (and those selected to replace them when they died) were killed, the authority to act for God (priesthood) was removed from the earth. As people lived without authority, their understanding of God's will got intermingled with worldly ideas. Finally the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in completeness through Joseph Smith.

But that doesn't mean that everything Catholic (or any other faith) is wrong. It means that the whole correct teachings with the proper authority are not in the Catholic church, but lots of well meaning and trying to live His gospel people and efforts remain within all faiths. If you are Catholic and want to compare see similarity and differences consider http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-roots-Mormon-Harvest-Shuster/dp/1599552574/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1458952015&sr=8-3&keywords=catholic+and+mormon or http://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Mormon-Conversation-Stephen-Webb/dp/0190265922/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458952015&sr=8-1&keywords=catholic+and+mormon