Posted on 11/20/2006 8:24:45 AM PST by areafiftyone
Mitt Romney (R) begins the 2008 campaign season in fourth place among those seeking the GOP Presidential nomination, trailing Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Condoleezza Rice. While many Republican insiders believe the Massachusetts Governor could become an attractive candidate to the party's social conservatives, a Rasmussen Reports survey finds that Romney's faith may initially be more of a hindrance than a help.
Forty-three percent (43%) of American voters say they would never even consider voting for a Mormon Presidential candidate. Only 38% say they would consider casting such a vote while 19% are not sure. Half (53%) of all Evangelical Christians say that they would not consider voting for a Mormon candidate.
Overall, 29% of Likely Voters have a favorable opinion of Romney while 30% hold an unfavorable view. Most of those opinions are less than firmly held. Ten percent (10%) hold a very favorable opinion while 11% have a very unfavorable assessment. Among the 41% with no opinion of Romney, just 27% say they would consider voting for a Mormon.
It is possible, of course, that these perceptions might change as Romney becomes better known and his faith is considered in the context of his campaign. Currently, just 19% of Likely Voters are able to identify Romney as the Mormon candidate from a list of six potential Presidential candidates.
The response to a theoretical Mormon candidate is far less negative than the response to a Muslim candidate or an atheist. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Likely Voters say they would never consider voting for a Muslim Presidential candidate. Sixty percent (60%) say the same about an atheist.
The Rasmussen Reports survey found that 35% say that a candidate's faith and religious beliefs are very important in their voting decision. Another 27% say faith and religious beliefs are somewhat important. Ninety-two percent (92%) of Evangelical Christian voters consider a candidate's faith and beliefs important.
On the partisan front, 78% of Republicans say that a candidate's faith is an important consideration, a view shared by 55% of Democrats. However, there is also a significant divide on this topic within the Democratic Party. Among minority Democrats, 71% consider faith and religious beliefs an important consideration for voting. Just 44% of white Democrats agree.
The national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports November 16-17, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
Do you see through a glass darkly, or a glass clearly?
In the past, he has endorsed the AW ban and the Brady Bill. That's a deal killer as far as I'm concerned.
That's fine. While I disagree with you that he would be a threat to gun ownership, I respect that you are judging him on a substantive political issue. Thank you.
You have matured greatly grasshopper.
Believe it or not I have been wrong before too. :-)
Did you ever graduate from college?
BTW does God know who our next president is going to be? Has he already (from the foundation of the earth) ordained that person to be our president?
That being said, if given the choice between a good Methodist like Hillary or a good Mormon like Mitt Romney, who do you think would be more likely to lead our country in a good direction? If God really wanted America to be punished, which of those two candidates do you think he would ordain as our leader? (The "professed" Methodist or the 5th Generation Mormon?)
I will impose no religious test* on my voting behavior.
Unless you consider Scientology a religion, and maybe Islam too.
Other than that, no religious test.
My knee jerk reaction would normally be that a Mormon is acceptable as a candidate. As a group, they're generally right on the issues I care about. Romney, however, blows it on this issue. I suspect that he's wrong elsewhere, but since he's fatally wrong here, I don't see the point in researching further.
I don't think I would use that parallel. I don't think the Mormons want to endure the kind of scrutiny that would come from a Presidential campaign.
I believe, based upon John 3:18, that every person has the power to send himself to hell: "...whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
It's a sad power that God grants: The power to reject Him and His only Son.
Power and judgment minus ultimate authority is at best, short term, and never eternal. (Like earthly authorities and many cult leaders).
LDS priesthood can never make any claim to ultimate authority. How do I know this?
Simple: All claims to any LDS earthly priesthood authority is derived from Jesus Christ and their version of "Elohim." But neither were gods from eternity. They received both godhood status and divine authority from previous gods. Where did these "previous gods" derive their authority from, since, they too, were "men become gods?"
(Note, too that Joseph Smith taught that only matter was eternal). Bottom line, Mormonism can never point to any Ultimate God as the Original Source of Authority. That is not true for historic Judeo-Christianity. The Biblical Source of Ultimate Authority is the God of the Bible.
So, where does the LDS priesthood derive its ultimate authority to act upon, make judgments, and exercise power? The Mormon Jesus? Yeah, but where did He get His authority to pass it on to the priesthood. Bottom line? Endless regression, with no "Buck stops here" God.
For us, where do we get the "mind of Christ" authority to make judgments? John 1:12-13: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right [Greek: exousia, which means "authority"] to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
There ya have it: True childhood of God is not derived out of heavenly sex between dad-god and mom-god, bringing to birth spirit babes awaiting bodies down here (LDS theology). No, John 1:12 says we "become" children of God, not that we "are" children of God.
Wow what a lifetime of "poor judgements" ....
I am especially impressed with his business and economic good sense. We have never had a man of his caliber in the presidency on such critically important matters.
Do you see through a glass darkly, or a glass clearly?
1 Cor. 13:12: The mirror of Paul's day was a bit fuzzy. (Not the mirrors of today.) So, of course, we're all a bit fuzzy on something or other. We all have blinders on to some degree of our lives and knowledge and discernment.
1 Cor. 13:9: "For we know in part and we prophesy in part..." Just 'cause we may not have the whole--only the part--doesn't mean we can't be certain on the part God has revelationally given us.
Acts 20:27: "For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will [KJV: Counsel] of God."
Thanks be to God. Even the Paul who "knew in part" and "saw through a glass/mirror darkly" could still be used to "proclaim the whole counsel/will of God" to the Ephesians over a three-year period.
If Mitt Romney wants to run for president, then I do not believe the Mormon Church will stand in his way.
Quite frankly I find it distressing that 43% of Americans would hold Mitt Romney's religion against him and categorically refuse to vote for a Mormon. I voted for Jimmy Carter because I thought he was a good dedicated Christian. He may have been, but he was also an incompetent idiot and the worst president that we have ever had. Brigham Young would have been a better president than Jimmy Carter.
Mormons vote for Evangelical and Orthodox and Catholic Christian leaders all the time because they agree with their politics and their morality. I find it sad that many Christians refuse to return the favor.
>> Listen, Jesus Christ cannot be both an elder spirit brother of Lucipher (which makes Lucipher, BTW, an elder spirit brother of every human, too)--which is the LDS view--and be Lucipher's Creator, which is the Biblical viewpoint based upon John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1. He can't be both!!! It's a different Jesus (2 Cor. 11:3-4).
You got some twisted understanding of things, Nowhere in Mormon teachings does it say Lucifer is older than anyone. So BZZT on this one.
Let me make this easy on you, Creation happened twice Creation (2X)
The first Creation was every thing spiritually (1X) and everything Physical (2X)
God the Father created everything Spiritual; Jesus Christ (Jehovah) created everything Physical. (It’s like you eavesdropped in on Sunday School and half of each doctrine is all you heard, and man did they get twisted in there!)
>> Likewise, Jesus can't be a mere organizer of matter that's been there for eternity (LDS
>>view) vs. Being the one who created everything out of nothing (Heb. 11:3; John 1;
>>Col. 1; Heb. 1).
Yeah, you create worlds all the time, right, so it’s mere to you.
See the Two phase creation above.
>>Jesus can't be the one you can't pray to (LDS doctrine, which says we pray to Father
>>thru Jesus) vs. being the One we pray to, which even the Book of Mormon supports
>>(surprisingly!).
You really do have confusion issues.
>> I can go on and on. At some point, we're talking about two different Jesuses. And that point, 2 Cor. 11:3-4 kicks in!!!
LOL! Mormons ask you to pray about it!
>> Hey, bottom line on this objection of yours is that every one who calls himself
>>Christian and is not a Mormon isn't necessarily a Christian, either. Not all Methodists
>>are Christian. Not all Presbyterians are Christian. Not all Catholics...etc.
And only Jesus Christ can tell who is and who isn’t, except for you apparently, you can see into my heart and declare me un –Christian!
>>Alright, now you are getting ridiculous. The Christian faith is a monotheistic faith. >>One God! That's it. We not only believe in one God, we don't believe a pantheon of >>gods exist.
So what does 1 Cor 8:5&6 mean to you?
5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
( http://scriptures.lds.org/en/1_cor/8/5#5 )
>>Ask any Mormon. They will tell you they believe in one Godhead. But ask them to
>>define that. They will tell you that Godhead is three separate gods, Father, Jesus, and
>>Holy Ghost...and that many more gods exist than them (they just don't exercise faith in
>>those gods. By definition, that is a polytheistic belief system.
One more time, what do Mormons believe? http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1
>> Christianity, by definition, cannot be both a monotheistic and a polytheistic religion.
See verse 6 it does not say Trinity.
You just enjoy the rest of this thread. You'll see ignorance on parade.
Yet it has been said that if Romney were to face off against Gingrich (Baptist), Allen (Baptist), and Giuliani (Catholic), Romney would be the only Republican candidate who has had only one wife, and for 37 years now.
His sweet wife has multiple sclerosis. One should note that he has not abandoned her, but tends to her faithfully and tenderly.
Christians are supposed to judge by the fruit of the Spirit as made manifest in one's life and actions, not by appearances. That's what makes the parable of the Good Samaritan such a devastating critique.
Sure they do. You just have to be invited.
Good for you. The rest of us must confess that we are partly blind and in constant need of the guidance of the Master. Sadly, we make mistakes in judgments all the time. You don't. You are blessed.
And you since you asked me this question twice, allow me to add an analogy.
The bad-news people, the Mainstream Press, often sees (at best) through a glass/mirror darkly. They just don't have the entire story.
But that doesn't stop us from (a) posting their articles here; or (b) believing at least portions of what they write as true.
Just because the MSM doesn't have the entire scoop doesn't make everything they report to be untrustworthy [well, let me qualify that by saying just because a number of journalists who are part of the MSM don't have the entire scoop doesn't make everything they report to be untrustworthy :() ]
Anyway, if that's true of even the MSM, then ya gotta concede that Evangelicals have it better than them, right?
And yet, what does LDS Scripture say: That all of our creeds are an "abomination" before God (Joseph Smith 2:18). Something's gotta give. Either Joseph Smith was wrong there, which means his first vision wasn't as he described (he put out 7 different versions of the First Vision); or, all of our creeds are sewage in God's eyes.
Which is it? Why do LDS daintily try to tip-toe around calling us corrupt practioners of used toilet-water creeds?
Joseph Smith hasn't afforded you that option.
When I wrote, "we're all a bit fuzzy on something or other. We all have blinders on to some degree of our lives and knowledge and discernment." ...ya wanna explain to me how I am not part of that "we're all" I mentioned?
Again, just 'cause the MSM gets it wrong a lot of time, it doesn't mean they don't get some of it right. That's true for Evangelicals; it's true for Mormons.
The key part that we can't afford to be fuzzy on is who God is (even Joseph Smith said it's the first principle of the Gospel to know who God is)...and how we receive heaven/salvation.
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