By Douglas V. Gibbs
There are no religious tests for political office, but since Perry's pastor decided to call Mormonism a cult, I decided it might be prudent to comment on this topic.
I am a Born Again Christian, probably closer to Evangelicals than anything, though I really do not consider myself a part of any denomination, religion, or group. I do have a special inside on Mormonism because my great-grandfather Josiah Gibbs was a high ranking member of the Mormon Church before he defected and wrote the book, "Lights and Shadows of Mormonism" against the church. Few copies exist since the Mormon Church burned as many copies as they could. As a result of my studies of why he left the church, I have spent many hours in conversations with various elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
If you wish to use a broad brush that anyone who believes Jesus walked the Earth is Christian then I suppose you could say, "Yes, Romney is a Christian." However, from the strictist religious definition in which Christianity is a faith that traditionally believes in the deity of Christ, that He is a part of the Trinity of God, and that Jesus did not visit North America nor did God sanction any additional books to the Bible other then the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, then as a Mormon I would not consider Romney a Christian.
As for the word "cult," by Perry's pastor, the word also has various definitions depending on the brush you choose to use. In the pop culture's opinion, a cult is a whacked out religion like the Branch Davidians, or Jim Jones, or the Westboro nutcases. However, going back to Christian definitions, a cult would be defined as a religion that is not in line with basic mainstream Christian doctrines. Once again, in the case of Mormonism's additional book to the Bible, their different view of the identity of Christ in the sense of being God in the flesh, their differing view of the Trinity, and a number of other differences, in the strictest definition Mormonism would be a cult.
Should that deter from voting for Romney?
No.
However, I do not like Romney, not because he's a Mormon, but because of all the candidates, aside from Huntsman, he is the least conservative on the stage. He believes in the man-made global warming myth, and though he is right regarding the State's right to have a system like Romney-care, I don't trust that he will truly recognize that State Sovereignty distinction once he is in the White House if he were elected. Granted, we are in an "anybody but Obama" mode, so if Romney won the nomination I would be forced to vote for him in the general election, but in the end, I don't think he is the best candidate in the GOP field.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
2 comments:
(Note this item, Douglas, that I saw on the never boring net. Tim)
LDS a "cult"? What about the "rapture"?
by Bruce Rockwell
Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is "not a Christian" and Mormonism is a "cult," according to Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of the Dallas (TX) First Baptist Church.
His "cult" remark is based on his belief that the Latter-day Saints church (which didn't exist before 1830) is outside "the mainstream of Christianity."
But Jeffress hypocritically promotes the popular evangelical "rapture" (theologically the "any-moment pretribulation rapture") which is outside mainstream Christianity (Google "Pretrib Rapture Politics") and which also didn't exist before 1830 (Google "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty")!
And there are 50 million American rapture cultists (some of whom turn Wikipedia into "Wicked-pedia" by constantly distorting the real facts about the rapture's bizarre, 181-year-old history) compared with only 14 million LDS members.
The most accurate documentation on pretrib rapture history that I have found is in a nonfiction book titled "The Rapture Plot" which is carried by leading online bookstores. I know also that the same 300-page work can also be borrowed through inter-library loan at any library.
Latter-day Saints believe in fairness, which is why I feel called to share this message.
The rapture was actually an accepted belief among the Paulicians, but was challenged by the gnostics who created their own scripture about 600 A.D., and questioned by the Roman Catholic church after it was created when the Roman government merged it with paganism. Your premise that the rapture is a new concept is in error.
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