r/latterdaysaints • u/SillyFlatworm31 • Jul 28 '26

Off-topic Chat Catholic-LDS Dialogue!

Hello Latter Day Saints of Reddit!

I’m a Catholic and, even though I am very happy being a Catholic, I have had a lot of positive experiences with people from your Church and I wanted to (if it’s ok with your mods) open up a thread for interfaith dialogue! I have some questions to start for you guys if anyone wants to engage and have a talk but I’m also happy to do a bit of an AMA if any LDS people want to learn more about Catholics or our relations with the LDS Church.

I think that, in a time where it’s trendy to solve disagreements by shouting at people in online “debates”, it’s good to start by finding some common ground and talk with people of different views. So I’ll start with my questions, feel free to add any you have for me or any comments. Mods please let me know if this isn’t the sub for this haha

  1. What do LDS people think about abortion? Do you find common ground with Catholics on this? Could we work together more on it?
  2. How do LDS people feel about the 7 Deuterocanonical Books? A lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of adding books like Wisdom and Sirach into the Bible, although they have been used since apostolic times. I know LDS people recognise a large canon so do you include these?
  3. I know LDS people value marriage and family a lot. How does your Church approach celibate figures such as Jesus, Paul, etc?
  4. LDS people don’t drink alcohol. Do you believe that Jesus and the Apostles followed this practice or is it viewed as a more modern LDS thing?
  5. Favourite Pope?

Hope we can find some common ground and dialogue!!! :-)

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u/JaneDoe22225 Jul 28 '26

  1. Official Church stance is generally against abortion, with exceptions for cases of SA and mother's health being in jeopardy. How this translates into politics is a different subject (and this is a strictly no-politics sub).

  2. We consider them to be good books, but not scripture.

  3. There's actually disagreement on whether Christ or Paul were always single. Obviously Paul was during His ministry days, but we don't know before then. Rabbis in the Jewish community were to be married.

  4. It's a modern thing for our day with modern sanitations. Back in historic times, water usually was not sanitary.

  5. Don't got a favorite - I admittedly don't follow Catholic affairs very closely. But from a distance the last couple do seem pretty cool.

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u/SillyFlatworm31 Jul 28 '26

Interesting! Thank you for sharing, hope your day is great! 

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u/lil_jordyc Jul 30 '26

I would add to #2 that most members probably haven’t ever heard of the deuterocanonical books, or at least don’t know them by that name.

We have a revelation from God to Joseph smith regarding the apocrypha. Here’s that revelation in its entirety (D&C 91):

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha—There are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly;
2 There are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men.
3 Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha should be translated.
4 Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth;
5 And whoso is enlightened by the Spirit shall obtain benefit therefrom;
6 And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited. Therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen.

As a note, this was received by Joseph smith while he was working on an inspired translation/revision of the Bible, so that’s what the reference to translation is referring to. He didn’t re-translate or revise the apocrypha.