A. Worship: Worship includes prayer, fasting, church service, participating in gospel ordinances, and other practices that show devotion and love for God.
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/worship?lang=eng
Since worship includes prayer I was wondering how the Mormons reconcile the following citations concerning prayer/worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
B. Pray to/worship only the Father
1. We worship the Father and him only and no one else. We do not worship the Son and we do not worship the Holy Ghost. I know perfectly well what the Scriptures say about worshiping Christ and Jehovah, but they are speaking in an entirely different sense - the sense of standing in awe and being reverentially grateful to him who has redeemed us. Worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God first, the Creator (Bruce McConkie, speech at BYU, March 2, 1982).
2. "...some misguided members of the Church may 'begin to pray directly to Christ because of some special friendship they feel has been developed' with him. This is wrong, said Elder McConkie. We should pray directly to the Father..." (The Ensign, June 1998, page 59).
3. When we pray, we pray to God through Jesus Christ. (Thomas Monson, Current LDS President)
http://thomasmonson.com/716/how-to-pray
C. Pray to/worship the Lord Jesus
1. And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in no wise be cast out (2 Nephi 25:29).
Based on 2 Nephi 25:29 can one really worship the Lord Jesus with all their might, mind, and strength, and their whole soul without praying to Him since worship includes praying?
2. The Father and the Son are the objects of all true worship." Later McConkie writes, "It is proper to worship the Father, in the name of the Son, and also to worship the Son" (Mormon Doctrine, Bruce McConkie, Second Edition, c. 1979, page 848).
3. Tell students that today we will discuss more fully why we worship Jesus Christ.
Have a student read the following statement by President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Be strong in your testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the chief cornerstone of this great work. Of His divinity and reality I bear solemn witness. He is the Lamb without blemish, who was offered for the sins of the world. Through His pain and because of His suffering I find reconciliation and eternal life. He is my Teacher, my Exemplar, my Friend, and my Savior whom I love and worship as the Redeemer of the world” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1992, 75; or Ensign, Nov. 1992, 52).
http://www.lds.org/manual/new-testam...n-4-5?lang=eng
D. To Worship or Not to Worship?
There is some confusion in LDS sources about whether Christians should worship Jesus Christ. In a BYU speech dated November 14, 1967, Theodore M. Burton made these statements: “But we worship Jesus Christ as our God, the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, our living Advocate with the Father…. there are no more ardent worshipers of Jesus Christ, the Lord, than the so-called Mormons” (“We Worship Jesus Christ,” in Outstanding Stories by General Authorities, ed. Leon R. Hartshorn, 3:50). According to Stephen Robinson, “Though all the world may say that Latter-day Saints do not know or love or worship Jesus Christ, I know that we do” (Are Mormons Christians? [Bookcraft, 1991], 114).
Despite these clear statements, other LDS sources deny that Mormons worship Jesus Christ. Charles W. Penrose, president of the LDS Church, made the following statement in General Conference in April 1915:
There need not be any confusion in our minds regarding these important things. It is important that we should know something about the Being whom we worship—the Father, for it is the Father whom we worship. We do not pray to the Son nor to the Holy Ghost; we pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son, under the influence and guidance of the Holy Ghost.
Also reflecting this confusion are contradictory statements by Bruce McConkie. On the one hand, he stated:
Worship consists in paying divine honors to a deity. This religious reverence and homage falls into two categories—true worship and false worship, the one based on gospel truth and leading to salvation, the other consisting of an intermixture of truth and error and leading to damnation. The Father and the Son are the objects of all true worship…. No one can worship the Father without also worshiping the Son” (Mormon Doctrine [2d ed., 1966], 848).
On the other hand, in a notorious speech in 1982 McConkie adamantly denied that Mormons worship Jesus.
“We worship the Father and him only and no one else. We do not worship the Son and we do not worship the Holy Ghost…. Our prayers are addressed to the Father, and to him only. They do not go through Christ, or the Blessed Virgin, or St. Genevieve or along the beads of a rosary” (Bruce R. McConkie, “Our Relationship with the Lord” [BYU Devotional, March 2, 1982], 5, 20, emphasis in original).
McConkie argued that any “worship” of Jesus would be in a different, lesser sense: “I know perfectly well what the scriptures say about worshipping Christ and Jehovah, but they are speaking in an entirely different sense—the sense of standing in awe and being reverentially grateful to Him who has redeemed us. Worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God the first, the Creator”.
http://mit.irr.org/prayer-trinity-and-nature-of-god
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/worship?lang=eng
Since worship includes prayer I was wondering how the Mormons reconcile the following citations concerning prayer/worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
B. Pray to/worship only the Father
1. We worship the Father and him only and no one else. We do not worship the Son and we do not worship the Holy Ghost. I know perfectly well what the Scriptures say about worshiping Christ and Jehovah, but they are speaking in an entirely different sense - the sense of standing in awe and being reverentially grateful to him who has redeemed us. Worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God first, the Creator (Bruce McConkie, speech at BYU, March 2, 1982).
2. "...some misguided members of the Church may 'begin to pray directly to Christ because of some special friendship they feel has been developed' with him. This is wrong, said Elder McConkie. We should pray directly to the Father..." (The Ensign, June 1998, page 59).
3. When we pray, we pray to God through Jesus Christ. (Thomas Monson, Current LDS President)
http://thomasmonson.com/716/how-to-pray
C. Pray to/worship the Lord Jesus
1. And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in no wise be cast out (2 Nephi 25:29).
Based on 2 Nephi 25:29 can one really worship the Lord Jesus with all their might, mind, and strength, and their whole soul without praying to Him since worship includes praying?
2. The Father and the Son are the objects of all true worship." Later McConkie writes, "It is proper to worship the Father, in the name of the Son, and also to worship the Son" (Mormon Doctrine, Bruce McConkie, Second Edition, c. 1979, page 848).
3. Tell students that today we will discuss more fully why we worship Jesus Christ.
Have a student read the following statement by President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Be strong in your testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the chief cornerstone of this great work. Of His divinity and reality I bear solemn witness. He is the Lamb without blemish, who was offered for the sins of the world. Through His pain and because of His suffering I find reconciliation and eternal life. He is my Teacher, my Exemplar, my Friend, and my Savior whom I love and worship as the Redeemer of the world” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1992, 75; or Ensign, Nov. 1992, 52).
http://www.lds.org/manual/new-testam...n-4-5?lang=eng
D. To Worship or Not to Worship?
There is some confusion in LDS sources about whether Christians should worship Jesus Christ. In a BYU speech dated November 14, 1967, Theodore M. Burton made these statements: “But we worship Jesus Christ as our God, the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, our living Advocate with the Father…. there are no more ardent worshipers of Jesus Christ, the Lord, than the so-called Mormons” (“We Worship Jesus Christ,” in Outstanding Stories by General Authorities, ed. Leon R. Hartshorn, 3:50). According to Stephen Robinson, “Though all the world may say that Latter-day Saints do not know or love or worship Jesus Christ, I know that we do” (Are Mormons Christians? [Bookcraft, 1991], 114).
Despite these clear statements, other LDS sources deny that Mormons worship Jesus Christ. Charles W. Penrose, president of the LDS Church, made the following statement in General Conference in April 1915:
There need not be any confusion in our minds regarding these important things. It is important that we should know something about the Being whom we worship—the Father, for it is the Father whom we worship. We do not pray to the Son nor to the Holy Ghost; we pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son, under the influence and guidance of the Holy Ghost.
Also reflecting this confusion are contradictory statements by Bruce McConkie. On the one hand, he stated:
Worship consists in paying divine honors to a deity. This religious reverence and homage falls into two categories—true worship and false worship, the one based on gospel truth and leading to salvation, the other consisting of an intermixture of truth and error and leading to damnation. The Father and the Son are the objects of all true worship…. No one can worship the Father without also worshiping the Son” (Mormon Doctrine [2d ed., 1966], 848).
On the other hand, in a notorious speech in 1982 McConkie adamantly denied that Mormons worship Jesus.
“We worship the Father and him only and no one else. We do not worship the Son and we do not worship the Holy Ghost…. Our prayers are addressed to the Father, and to him only. They do not go through Christ, or the Blessed Virgin, or St. Genevieve or along the beads of a rosary” (Bruce R. McConkie, “Our Relationship with the Lord” [BYU Devotional, March 2, 1982], 5, 20, emphasis in original).
McConkie argued that any “worship” of Jesus would be in a different, lesser sense: “I know perfectly well what the scriptures say about worshipping Christ and Jehovah, but they are speaking in an entirely different sense—the sense of standing in awe and being reverentially grateful to Him who has redeemed us. Worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God the first, the Creator”.
http://mit.irr.org/prayer-trinity-and-nature-of-god
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