Mitt Romney is now saying that if he is elected president, he will emphasize the role of God in American society and will not “take God out of the public square.” But that raises the question as to whose God will have a role in American society.
Although I am now a Realist I was raised Jewish in a society where most people were Christians. From a Christian perspective they looked at themselves as Judaism 2.0. While keeping the Old Testament they added a New Testament which superseded Judaism. The added Jesus and the Holy Spirit. From a Jewish perspective Christianity was an unauthorized sequel. These new Gods were not our Gods.
Mitt Romney however is a Mormon and the Mormons have a Third Testament to the Bible. Mormons see themselves as Christianity 2.0 and Judaism 3.0. It also has the advantage of being “Made in America”. Perhaps Christians can appreciate what it’s like when another religion writes an unauthorized sequel.
The Book of Mormon is very different than the New Testament just as the New Testament is very different than the Old Testament. It’s not the same religion. That’s why Mormons come to Christian homes to try to convert Christians to Mormons.
Mitt Romney isn’t just a Mormon, he’s a Bishop in the Mormon Church. During the Vietnam War era Romney spent years living in France as a missionary converting European Christians to Mormons. So when Romney says that he will emphasize the role of God in American society, what does he really mean? If Romney is putting God on the table shouldn’t we at least ask Romney what God he’s talking about?
This argument starts with the false premise that all of Christianity has the same ideas about God. But Christianity itself is a fractured mosaic of beliefs. I see no reason why Mormons should be excluded from the large tent of Christianity. Mormons teach that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that’s Christendom’s big message. After that, it seems like details.
Mormons teach that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that’s Christendom’s big message. After that, it seems like details.
But the Devil is in the details.
Christianity teaches that God created imperfect humans and then He will punish humans that are imperfect.
It is a catch-22 situation.
So anyway, after the perfect God made the mistake of creating imperfect humans, He had to figure out a way to fix His mistake.
His solution was creating a sacrificial lamb in the form of a perfect human that was conceived in the womb of a virgin and then sacrificed by extreme torture and a lingering death so that God may demonstrate to imperfect humans that he loves humans with a perfect love.
The only way an imperfect human can become a perfect human is to become a Christian by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and giving money to a preacher that reminds you every week that you are an imperfect human.
That is Christianity in a nutshell.
A perfect God will understand if you are skeptical.
Here is a nice example of where Mormon theology differs from many other sects. Mormons teach that our souls have always existed and are co-eternal with God. In essence, that God didn’t create us, but he created this world for us, gave us bodies and gives us experiences to help us achieve our full potential. God’s mission is to help us have joy.
If Mormons go on a rampage, Pres Obama will have Mark Perkel arrested for this post.
I am more concerned about Christians going on a rampage and sparking a nuclear war that they hope will cause Jesus to come back in the clouds and save us.
Can we just have separation of church and state? Please? Jesus called and left a message, he is completely tired of being brought into things that have absolutely nothing to do with him. Though in Mitt Romneys defense, wild west Jesus (Morman beliefs) are just as ridiculous as almost every other organized religion. Things falling to earth, miraculous conceptions, burning bushes, god using lightning to write on rocks, the devil placing dinosaurs in the earth to trick people and thetans in volcanos and lets not forget zombie Jesus. Seriously, it sounds like horrible SyFy movies rolled into one.
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Mark Nelson says:
9/16/2012 at 9:32 am
This argument starts with the false premise that all of Christianity has the same ideas about God. But Christianity itself is a fractured mosaic of beliefs. I see no reason why Mormons should be excluded from the large tent of Christianity. Mormons teach that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that’s Christendom’s big message. After that, it seems like details. ///
Perfect post to draw a bright line: DEFINE YOUR TERMS.
In this case, what is Christianity? I like the meme of Jew 2.0 and such. That things evolve over time. Things that come from or develop from an ancestor are not that ancestor. Wait long enough and they are different species.
A recent argument on Cage Match demonstrates: are chickens dinosaurs? I say they evolved from dinosaurs but are not dinosaurs. It is interesting: it wont be long before some geneticists modifies only a very few genes and produces a chicken size raptor. The genes might even all be the same with the only difference being when and how long they turn on. The tail bone gene is there but repressed. Turn it on, and the tail of a raptor gets expressed. Foreclaws might be more difficult? … But I digress.
A Roman Catholic might be Jew 2.0 but is a Roman Catholic a Jew? I don’t think so, although the tail analogies could be revisited here.
Seems to me “a Christian” by one reasonable definition is one who accepts Jesus Christ as his personal savior, belief in same being the only way to salvation? You can have your own. By this definition, many would say Roman Catholics are not Christians.
Its all definitional. The role of man in the Universe is to define things.
Yea, verily.
If somebody tells me they are a Christian, I laugh.
I explain that they are not conveying any useful information whatsoever.
Christians generally believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ (for the most part) but their beliefs diverge extremely in all directions depending on the individual sect.
I lost count, but there were more than 3,300 different sects that identified themselves as Christians in the United States, and I do not remember how many worldwide.
All of them read the same Bible (for the most part) but they vary widely in interpretation and liturgies and whatnot.
I have no idea what a Christian is exactly, and neither do they.
According to the word of Allah there is not God but God. Thus Allah, through his prophet, Mohammad graciously decided it was alright to allow select monotheists to live as long as they pay the tax.
To the best of my understanding Mormons do not deny the Bible, rather they have added what some might regard as a supplement. It would of course be up to the Mullahs to decide but on the face of it it should be all right to let them live also as long as they pay the tax. Of course anyone who rejects, dishonors or opposes the will of Allah must be dealt with as Koran dictates.
Actually it was Joseph Smith that added supplements to existing Holy Scriptures.
Somehow Mormons believe that Joseph Smith was telling the truth when he claimed that God chose him to reveal other facts of life that were unknown until the 1840’s.
Somehow Islamists believe the prophet Muhhamed was relaying important information from Allah when he wrote the Qu’ran.
None of these things can be verified by independent and objective means.
Consequently, religion is accepted as a matter of faith, not fact.
You are free to believe Muhhamed if you wish, but I have no dog in the fight until Allah decides to communicate with me directly. So far I have not heard any voices in my head or seen writing on my wall.
I wonder if the Obama Admin will have the government investigate the writer of this post and the owner of this blog for such publishing such a vile statement.
The answer is no.
You are paranoid.
If anyone squelches free speech, it would be the corporations that own the mass media.
Oh, that’s right … the corporations are operated predominately by conservative Republican businessmen.
We can’t blame the Republicans for anything.
Republicans are untouchable because they believe in God.
Don’t forget George W. Bush established “Free Speech Zones” during his administration to squelch dissent, or rather, to keep protesters away from the eye of media cameras so that the appearance of dissent was minimized.
As billions of Christians and Muslims throughout the world waited with rapt anticipation, it finally happened.
The Pope, on June 24, 2004 apologized for the annihilation of Constantinople (currently called Istanbul, Turkey) by Christian Crusaders during 4 days of madness, mayhem and murder in April of the year 1204 A.D.
Yes, 1204 A.D.
As we all know, the sacking of Constantinople (known as the Fourth Crusade) was one of the most significant historical events between the fall of the Roman Empire and the discovery of America in the New World . It changed the course of world civilization. It changed the history of European international trade for the next ten centuries. (What! You didn’t know that?)
At least it cannot be said that the Catholic Church does not own up to its mistakes. It’s never too late to apologize. It’s never too late to say you’re sorry. Who cares if its 900 years overdue!
According to teachings inspired by and handed down by God himself, the Pope is infallible (incapable of making a mistake or misjudgment) when it involves Church doctrine. This rule does not apply to launching all out war and attempting the conquest of, and Christianization of the world.
On a visit to Athens, Greece in 2001 the Pope asked for God’s forgiveness for Catholics (yes, that may mean you), who he said had committed sins against Orthodox Christians for 1000 years.
The Pope also apologized to Muslims for the Crusades against Muslim lands.
Finally.
I’m glad we got that apology over with. Now maybe those Muslims will settle down a bit.
That’s IT Mr Perkel? You have nothing else to say or response to anyone elses’s posts here? Figures.
If Romney is putting God on the table shouldn’t we at least ask Romney what God he’s talking about?
The take on Romney’s God is rather amusing when you read the spin by evangelical Christians, who are an entirely different category of religious nutballs:
Bill Keller, the world’s leading Internet Evangelist and the founder of LivePrayer.com, with over 2.4 million subscribers worldwide reading the daily devotional he has written every morning for 12 years on the issues of the day from a Biblical worldview, says it is necessary today with the vast majority of the last two generations having never been to church, and with most of those who do being Biblically illiterate, to educate people on what Mitt Romney and Mormons really believe about African-Americans, God, Jesus, the Bible, and Biblical Christians.
Keller said, “It is not religious bigotry to tell people the truth about what Romney and Mormons really believe, since he and those in his ‘church’ lie when addressing these issues. These are legitimate issues since people have a right to know what guides and motivates the person who is asking them to vote him into most powerful job in the world.”
Keller stated, “Romney and members of his ‘church’ believe and teach that African-Americans are cursed and it has only been in the last few decades that they allowed African-Americans to join their ‘church.’ Just like polygamy, they have had to set aside their true beliefs on race to become mainstream, but that doesn’t mean they no longer believe what their ‘church’ teaches on these issues.”
Keller continues, “Romney and Mormons lie when they claim to be a Christian, since the teachings of Mormonism are inconsistent with Biblical Christianity. When Romney talks about God, it is NOT the God of the Bible, since the Mormon god was once a man who died and ascended to god status. The Jesus Romney speaks of is NOT the Jesus of the Bible, since the Mormon jesus was created in a sexual union between their man/god and Mary meaning he is not a deity, that he visited the United States during his brief life, and is the brother of Lucifer.”
Keller went on, “Romney and Mormons will quote from the Bible to further their deception of being a Christian, but don’t believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God as Christians. Instead, they view the Bible as a flawed and incomplete book, using the writings of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrines and Covenants, as their theological authority. Romney and Mormons also view Biblical Christians as inferior to those in their ‘church.’ Romney also believes in Smith’s ‘White Horse Prophecy’ that states the nation will be in chaos, a Mormon will become President, and under the guise of saving the union set aside the US Constitution and enact a Mormon theocracy. These fantastical beliefs are why Romney and Mormons are no more a Christian than a Muslim is!”
Keller concluded, “Mitt Romney is a ‘temple Mormon,’ meaning he has gone through the secretive temple rituals, including taking a blood oath to his ‘church’ above everything else, and wears the temple garments (magical underwear) with satanic markings that he believes protects him. Listen, if people want to vote for a man who believes he will die and become the god of his own planet, have an endless supply of women to have sex with and create spirit babies, that is fine. All I have ever asked Romney or anyone in his cult like Glenn Beck to do is be honest about what they really believe and to quit lying to people!”
I can’t stop laughing! One nutball is calling the other nutball a nutball!
🙂
I should point out that preachers are supposed to be neutral concerning politics or they risk losing their non-profit status.
Of course, we all know that preachers tell their sheeple who to vote for, or who not to vote for, depending on the situation.
The Evil & Imaginary God of Abraham
Not suitable for young children.
Neither is religion. Look at how alfie turned out.
@Orchicup:
Orchidcup -20 for an Uber-fail
” it would be the corporations that own the mass media”
“the corporations are operated predominately by conservative Republican businessmen”
Even if corporations are predominately owned by conservative Republican — and I don’t believe this, by the way.
Mass media is controlled by Jewish interests who have a strategic interest in media outlets for reasons unknown.
Which is funny, since I don’t really care, but the term “neo-con” literally emerged post-911 as a description for former liberal Jewish activists that switched positions from liberal to conservative due to circumstances and became a war hawks suddenly in relation to Iraq and Middle East policy.
If conservative business ran the media, why would Glenn Beck hate CNN, MSNBC, etc.
Your proposed idea makes no sense because it isn’t true and isn’t what we see.
Now think about it … for example, The Huffington Post … Ariane Huffington from Greece the daughter of a super-wealthy Greek businessman … next the to heart of Middle East … zoinks … Israeli influenced web site.
George Soros? Jewish. Really? Surprised?
I’m not really into conspiracy theories and all that garbage … just simple Google results validate this.
It’s simple political alignment theory. Pick a group you wish to control … say people in S.F. because they don’t like the Catholic Church caveman dogma … exploit … convert … influence … control.
P.S. This is me contributing to Bobbo and Dallas’s education. Their occasional posts of brilliance have certainly contributed to expanding my viewpoints.
HMyers===puleeaase don’t credit me with your expanding consciousness.
But speaking of my own brilliance and how YOU can/should/hopefully at some point in the future will benefit from it: recognize that not being Glenn Beck does not insulate Corporate Ownership of everything not nailed down as being conservative.
Thats exactly why Corp Meida boosted Glenn Beck until his crazy lost too many sponsors. I mean–even a good excuse has to pay for itself THIS quarter.
Have you ever noticed that Huffington and Soros both speak with a heavy accent making them unintelligible? Come thru even in what they write.
Ha, ha. Still an independent huh?
This was one of the funniest dialoques I’ve heard in a long time.
Thank you for the many zany and irrational thoughts. Made my day!
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