Posted by:
dagny
(
)
Date: April 30, 2011 05:24PM
One criticism we often hear from other Christians about Mormonism is that they sometimes focus on JS instead of Jesus.
I can say as a Mormon I never prayed to or actually worshiped a prophet (dead or alive) or general authority but I'm certain some Mormons do elevate the status of Mormon leaders to having better access to godly powers.
Today on CNN I happened to catch the story about a Catholic lady and her comments about the now dead pope JPII (related to the push for beatification no doubt.) Here is a quote from the lady:
"All I could think about is to pray to Pope John Paul II. I just felt him with me and I knew he would be the one that would heal my son," said 67-year-old Joanna Lukasik of Chicago, who grew up near the late pontiff's hometown of Wadowice, Poland. "I was driving to the hospital and I was begging him and crying and begging him to save his vision and that's what happened."
The article now posted on CNN (link below) states that:
"Lukasik's story is one of thousands of testimonials being collected through a website set up by the Diocesan Tribunal of the Vicariate of Rome. It was created to help Pope John Paul II with his candidacy for Beatification and Canonization."
So, I would like to point out that Mormons are not anywhere near this level of elevating their leaders, IMO. I cannot see how Catholics have any room to criticize Mormons for admiration of their leaders.
The "Prophet" worship might seem silly to us but compared to Catholic Saints and Popes, Mormons don't seem so bad on this point. It seems like they fill the same rolls to me.
Did you ever pray to a dead prophet? I didn't, and in fact would have considered it inappropriate.
Here's the link to the story I'm quoting:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/30/chicago-family-credits-pope-john-paul-ii-with-personal-miracle/?iref=allsearch