Posted on 01/08/2008 4:09:13 PM PST by tantiboh
Mitt Romney is facing an unexpected challenge in Iowa from rival Mike Huckabee, who has enjoyed a groundswell of support from religious voters, particularly evangelical Christians wary of the clean-cut former Massachusetts governor because of his Mormon religion.
The common worry among evangelicals is that if Romney were to capture the White House, his presidency would give legitimacy to a religion they believe is a cult. Since the LDS church places heavy emphasis on proselytizing -- there are 53,000 LDS missionaries worldwide -- many mainstream Christians are afraid that Mormon recruiting efforts would increase and that LDS membership rolls would swell.
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THE ONLY PROBLEM with those fears is that they don't add up. Evangelicals may be surprised to learn that the growth of church membership in Massachusetts slowed substantially during Romney's tenure as governor. In fact, one could make the absurdly simplistic argument that Romney was bad for Mormonism.
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ONE WAY TO GAUGE what might happen under a President Romney would be to look at what happened during the period of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Held in Salt Lake City, they were dubbed the "Mormon Olympics."
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Despite all the increased attention, worldwide the Church grew only slightly, and in fact in the year leading up to the games the total number of congregations fell. Overall, from 2000 to 2004, there was a 10.9 percent increase in memberships and a 3.6 percent increase in congregations.
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The LDS church is likely to continue its current modest-but-impressive growth whether or not Romney wins the White House. Perhaps the only real worry for evangelicals is that, if elected, the former Massachusetts governor will demonstrate to Americans that Mormons don't have horns.
Carrie Sheffield, a member of the LDS Church, is a writer living in Washington, D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
>Mormons equate being Christian with certain “sins” and not with others.
False. English defines Christian as a person who believes Jesus Christ. Mormons do not create a new definition for the English word.
>They don’t recognize that all men are capable of sin, and only through Christ are we perfected.
We recognize that some men may not be capable of sin because of the lack of ability to reason and consciously disobey God’s word. LDS doctrine does not teach “original sin,” as taught by the RC Church and some other Christian churches.
You are right. Mormonism equates it with both actions and belief and so do we Christians.
I didn’t word my response to II very well.
Christian according to American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition:
>Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
Christian according to religious bigots:
>People who don’t accept what WE say Christ taught.
It really is that simple.
>People who don’t accept what WE say Christ taught.
Yep, you are the one posting your definition of a christian, and demanding that we accept whay YOU say. Too bad you follow a religion based upon the life and teachings of Joseph Smith's interpretation of a guy named Jesus.
Faulty assumption, especially since the plates are no where to be found. The only form of Egyptian that a person such as Lehi would have familiar with in 600 B.C. was Hieratic, which was certainly not more space-saving than Hebrew, and would not have been suitable for engraving on metal. Although demotic came on scene around 660 bc, it is unlikely that it would have spread to Caanan in that short span, as Hieratic was still popular through to the 3rd century BC.
Mormon scholar Dr. Hugh Nibley maintained that the writing found in the Book of Mormon was derived from the Egyptian script known as demotic. He acknowledged, however, that demotic is "the most awkward, difficult, and impractical system of writing ever devised by man!" (Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites, 1952, page 16)
>Yep, you are the one posting your definition of a christian, and demanding that we accept whay YOU say. Too bad you follow a religion based upon the life and teachings of Joseph Smith’s interpretation of a guy named Jesus.
No. I don’t demand that you accept LDS teachings to be Christian. It’s some so-called Christians who demand that other people believe what THEY teach to be Christian.
My post was clear. Your words on the subject have been clear.
Before you rely too heavily on a dictionary and bash religious bigots, you may want to check out the article: We're Christians just like you! The author makes a well-annotated, compelling case Mormonism is anything but Christian.
Are you jealous?
Seriously, I expected better from you born againers than to blame the victims. But I should know better, anyone that thinks a newborn baby is born filthy and spiritually dead will think the worst of anyone I suppose.
I really do pity you and your fellow Cabbalers.
Religious bigotry is not allowed on this forum.
Why should I be tolerant of religious bigots?
I’m sure you do atheist. I’m sure you do.
Okay...
Yeah, I know you born againers think that once you are saved you are free to go and sin all you want. I can name minister after minister who has done just that.
So you don't believe Christ when he said to go and sin no more?
Ya know you don’t have to be athiest to reject the doctrine of original sin.
That’s correct. To my knowledge, the Mods haven’t accused anyone here of being a bigot, so what seems to be the problem? The only people who are accusing anyone of being bigots are Mormons, a backslidden Mormon (who claims to be an atheist), and a few people who know nothing about Biblical theology.
“Why should I be tolerant of religious bigots?”
You shouldn’t tolerate religious bigots. If you spot one, let us know, and we’ll take care of them!!
Zakeet thought that I should not “bash” religious bigots. I pointed out that this forum prohibits it.
How the moderators here judge is beyond me. It’s not my forum. I fail to see how their reasoning in many things, though, as I witness personal attacks and name calling go on unabated (at times), while other times it’s silenced.
And I was banned initially on my return from a long absence based on meritless claims proven wrong, only to be reinstated following my complaint accompanied with proof of the error.
So I’m not inclined to rely on how moderation is conducted as evidence of whether religious bigotry is present or whether a person personally attacks another.
To each his own.
Wasn’t it you who made the snide remark that a god who put so much junk DNA in our chromsomes wasn’t much good at ‘creating’? I think I recall such a stupid remark coming from you!
That's probably because that most / many believe that ANYTHING goes.
Heck..."counselor" if you want to worship your weird neighbors goat...The Dims are okay with that.
BTW, why are you so Anti-Christian..and intolerant and bigoted towards my beliefs?
[Religious bigotry is not allowed on this forum.
Why should I be tolerant of religious bigots?]
I happen to be Ordained in the Church of Religious Bigotry. Therefore you MUST be tolerant of my church, lest you be bigoted against my church.
Of course, being in Nevada where 94% of Republican Mormons voted for Mitt, I wouldn’t be actually acquainted with Mormon bigotry myself, I think.
Now that made me smile. Senator Reed is one of the minority.
At BYU law, most of the professors were Demos. Go figure.
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