Mormon/LDS to Catholic: Apologetics and Support

Hello All,

I come from a very LDS (Mormon) family. I had been raised LDS, and although I was taught some excellent and extremely beneficial morals, I never felt any indication of God's presence. Three years ago, against my parent's wishes, I decided to look into other faiths. I didn't know what to expect. After some time, I had a personal experience where I felt something I hadn't before; a deep sense of understanding, love, and hope. It was from that point on that I knew God's spirit is, without a doubt, in the Catholic Church. After a few years of study, reading, prayer, fasting, and support from Catholic friends, I decided to join The Church. I asked my parents for permission to learn more and, naturally, they refused.

This last year I left to college, a long way from home, and I was given my chance to take part in an RCIA class. I decided to be baptized and receive my first communion this Easter. However, I had yet to tell my parents.

About a month ago, I decided that I needed to be honest with my family and tell them how I felt and what I had decided for myself. During what was the most nerve racking phone conversation of my entire life, I testified of my faith and asked for their love and understanding. My reply was the sound of a phone being hung up.

Two days later, I received an email from my parents that told me, in short, that I was no longer part of the family and that I, by deciding to convert, have shown that I could not possibly love my family any longer. They also mentioned that they feel as if I have died, and that they shall never be part of my life again. They told me that I am not to come home ever again.

After many unanswered phone calls, emails, and even written letters, I have become increasingly worried about losing my family. I know that the Church is true. I cannot deny it. I don't want to lose my parents or my brother and sisters. I love them with all my heart.

My RCIA leader and my priest have both told me that time heals all wounds, and that I just need to hang in there and continue praying... but it is still hard to take the stress.

Is there anything more I can do? I imagine many of you have experienced similar things to this... and I was just wondering what advice you could offer me.

If not, please pray for my parents, I know that they are in pain as well.

I'm not sure whether or not you have seen it advertised but it seems that there is a new reality show that is coming called;

..."Sister Wives."

Its about a man having three wives and getting ready to add a fourth! Here is the link to the preview;

http://tvwatch.people.com/2010/09/08...-sister-wives/

I checked and it seems that there are no U.S. Government laws that prohibit polygamy but there are state laws that do so.

The practice is illegal in all 50 states.
Over a century ago, citizens of the self-governing territory of what is present-day Utah were forced by the United States Federal Government to abandon the practice of polygamy through the vigorous enforcement of several Acts of Congress. They eventually complied.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints formally abolished the practice in 1890, in a documented labeled 'The Manifesto'. Among American Muslims, a small minority of around 50,000 to 100,000 people are currently in illegal polygamous relationships.

Canada: It is illegal as per Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Bigamy is banned as per Section 290. However, the law banning polygamy is not enforced by the government. As of January 2009, no person has been prosecuted in over sixty years.

The legal status of polygamy varies from country to country.

There are many countries which do not permit polygamy, and a person who marries in one of those countries a person while still being lawfully married to another commits the crime of bigamy. In all cases, the second marriage is considered legally null and void, and consent from a prior spouse makes no difference to the validity of the second marriage.

Almost all western countries prohibit polygamy, but several recognise polygamous marriages entered into in countries that permit them. Besides the second and subsequent marriages being void, the bigamist is also liable to other penalties, which also vary between jurisdictions.

In no country is polygamy ever required, but is only permitted and recognised. Where it is permitted, it is openly and frequently practiced, sometimes even encouraged.

Hi gmsantos, I think the area that you are looking for is in the forums. Go to the top of the page and click "forums" and at the very top of that page is a place that says;

Ask an Apologist (35 Viewing)
Catholic answers to your faith questions. Manned by Catholic Answers staff apologists.

Ask Your Question Here

I hope that this helps! I am only now getting to the point that I can do a few things on here and that is only because of good supportive people! May God bless you in your search to become more well informed on the Catholic Faith!

DesertSister62

Thank you so much DesertSister62 your time is greatly appreciated.Now I am always in situations where I have to defend my faith so should I post any apologetic issues in another group or is this one OK ?Thanks again ! gmsantos

Blessings everyone.........not sure if i joined the right group but i just wanted someone to help me reply to something. I posted this Quote
on my Facebook -The Wish of Jesus
"It is the most decided wish of her Son that we should come to Him through His Blessed Mother." -St. Louis de Montfort
And a non catholic friend posted the following..... Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
It's friends like her that make me want to learn more about my faith but at this moment I'm not sure what to post .

When Mormons Call
SKU: CB254

Isaiah Bennett, a former Catholic priest who converted to Mormonism and then reconverted to the Catholic faith, wrote this book. His inside knowledge of Mormonism is indispensable in answering the many errors and contradictions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
List price: US$12.95

Our price: US$4.95 save 62%

For those who are interested, this particular book is available NOW here on the CAF forums. I haven't read it but it looks to be very interesting!

DesertSister62

Why I left the Mormon Church
by Richard Packham


While I was living in Ogden, a fundamentalist publisher brought out a photographic reprint of the entire Journal of Discourses, in hard binding, for $250. If I had not been a poor schoolteacher I would have bought it, because I yearned to be able to read the wise words of the early leaders. But the question of why this work was suppressed by the church still bothered me. I put the thought aside.

One of the accusations made by anti-Mormon works I had read was that Brigham Young had taught that God had revealed to him that Adam was, in fact, God the Father. To substantiate this, they quoted Brigham's sermons in the Journal of Discourses. If only I could check for myself! I was reminded of a strange comment made after class one day by Sidney B. Sperry, the BYU professor and authority on Book of Mormon and Bible studies. I had taken a Book of Mormon class from him, and admired him greatly. One day he said mysteriously to a small group of students who had stayed after class, "I think, when you get to the Celestial Kingdom, you may be greatly surprised to find out who God really is!" Wow! That implied that Dr. Sperry knew some secret that not many people knew; that we students didn't really know all there was to be known about this; that the prophets had not told all. What could that secret be?
As I researched this more, and found again and again the same words quoted from Brigham Young's Journal of Discourses sermons, it began to fit together: Adam was really God!

After two years teaching high school in Zion, I was offered a scholarship to continue my graduate studies in Baltimore. We accepted. Again we were surrounded by Gentiles, and again I had a large research library available.

Certain events in church history really began to bother me. Why had Zion's Camp failed? Why had the Kirtland Bank failed? Both of these enterprises were organized for the benefit of the church by God's prophet, who promised that they would succeed. It was difficult to avoid the conclusion that God was not doing much to direct the affairs of his church. And, as I thought about it, the same could be said for the experiments in the United Order (holding all property in common), plural marriage, the Deseret Alphabet - all projects begun with great promise, directed by God's anointed leaders, and all of which failed and were soon abandoned. It bothered me, but I put the thought aside.

http://packham.n4m.org/whylft.htm

To be continued;...

Why I left the Mormon Church
by Richard Packham


After my graduation from Brigham Young University I was offered a scholarship at Northwestern University to work on a master's degree. So my young wife and I with our two (at that time) babies moved to Evanston, Illinois, and for the first time in my life I was surrounded by non-Mormons. I was the only Mormon in my university program. This did not intimidate me in the least. I felt that I was intelligent enough, knowledgeable enough about religion, and skillful enough in debating skills (I had been a champion debater in high school) to discuss, defend and promote my religion with anybody. I soon found takers. Since it was no secret that I had graduated from BYU, many of my fellow graduate students had questions about Mormonism. They were friendly questions, but challenging. For the first time in my life I had the opportunity to spread the gospel. It was exhilarating. We had some wonderful discussions. Even my professors were willing to listen, and so I educated my linguistics professor about the Deseret Alphabet and my German literature professor about the similarities between Goethe's worldview and Joseph Smith's.

Some of my fellow students, however, had tracts and other literature about the Mormons which they had obtained from their own churches. They asked me questions that I was unable to answer satisfactorily because they were based on facts I was unfamiliar with. I had never heard about the Danite enforcer gangs, about the Blood Atonement Doctrine or the Adam-God Doctrine. Where did these horrible allegations come from?

I realized that in order for me to defend Mormonism I would have to know what its enemies were saying about it, so that I could be prepared with the proper facts. I had never been an avid student of the history of the church, although I had earned the highest grades in the third year high-school seminary course in church history. I mean, what was there important to know about church history, beyond the story of how Joseph had his visions, got the plates, translated them, and how Satan had persecuted the Saints until they got to Utah? I was more interested in doctrine: the Truth, as taught by the prophets. The Truth, eternal and unchanging.

But now I began to read church history, both the authentic histories published by the church and the awful lies and distortions published by its enemies. How different they were! It was almost as if the authors in each camp were writing about different events. And the university library, where I spent a good deal of time, seemed to have more of the latter than the former.

After one year I got my master's degree in German and accepted a teaching job in Ogden, Utah. We returned to Zion and had our third child.

In Ogden I encountered for the first time the writings of the Mormon fundamentalists, who believe that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were true prophets, but that the church since then - especially since the abandonment of the practice of polygamy - is in apostasy. At the time I was studying the doctrines and history of the church extensively, and it seemed that the fundamentalists had a lot of historical information that was not otherwise available. For instance, they relied heavily on the Journal of Discourses, a multi-volume work containing practically all the sermons preached by the church leaders in the first thirty or forty years after coming to Utah. Many years ago, I learned, every Mormon home had a copy of this work. But then the church leaders decided that it wasn't necessary for the members to have it, and ordered all copies to be turned in. It became a rarity. Why? Every anti-Mormon work I had read relied heavily on quotations from the sermons in the Journal of Discourses. But the present-day church leaders almost never referred to it. Why? It bothered me, but I put the thought aside.

To be continued,...

http://packham.n4m.org/whylft.htm