My beloved brothers and sisters, on behalf of the worldwide membership of this Church, I extend to our Catholic neighbors and friends our heartfelt sympathy at this time of great sorrow. Pope John Paul II has worked tirelessly to advance the cause of Christianity, to lift the burdens of the poor, and to speak fearlessly in behalf of moral values and human dignity. He will be greatly missed, particularly by the very many who have looked to him for leadership.Given that there seems to be much good in the Catholic Church, can Satan lead someone to join that church? More specifically, can someone decide to leave the Mormon Church to join the Catholic Church, claiming the Spirit led them to that decision? Or would that decision be a result of influence from Satan?
Given that "all things which are good cometh of God" (Moro 7:12), can Satan influence someone to do something that is good, but may be perceived as less good?
6 comments:
This is very similar to the classical ethical argument of stealing from the rich to help the poor.
I think this is one of those moral quagmires which eventually turns into a 'I am more righteous than you because I'm willing to damn more people than you are' arguments.
That's quite a step up from "great and abominable".
Hey Jeff, I thinkt Gordon must have been speaking as a man when this came out.
I'm sure you've still got the party-line correct.
;)
The Book of Mormon says Satan leads people "carefully down to hell." So as a general principle, I'd have to say that Satan does lead people from good to less good. Eschewing something good for something less good is what he wants us to do, step by step by step.
I think it's possible that someone disaffected in the Church of Jesus Christ, not getting much out of it, might be led of the Spirit into the Catholic church or some other Christian church, and have it be an improvement of his personal gradient.
I like the "personal gradient" idea. If one moves from atheism to Catholicism, one has moved up and chosen the good. If one moves from Mormonism to Catholicism, one has moved down; therefore, it was not good for them. Merely good distractions, if taking you away from the most important thing you should be doing, are not good, but bad for you.
I do acknowledge the point though that an inactive member, who due to some hang up with the church is unable to move directly back into full activity, may use some other form of Christianity as a stepping stone to a full return to activity in the LDS Church. Although, I would never recommend it, because although in some ways they are moving closer to what they should be doing, in other ways thy are moving away from what they should be doing.
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