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.
...
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."
...
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 ...
“I am not aware of any new statistics indicating whether growth has picked back up since Romney’s term ended.”
Off topic here. You are aware that when Flip’s term ended in MA, the republican party was left in shambles. If Flip is such a great republican, as you and the rest of the fliparoos claim him to be, why did he leave the republican party in shambles? Doesn’t that give us reason to believe the same thing will happen to the national party if he becomes the republican nominee?
...yawn... I’m sorry, were you saying something?
Are you a woman, by chance?
No
Only telling you the Truth.
Ah, so you are an agitprop fool! I did not claim his use establish the doctrine of the Trinity. I posted that Theophilus used the word, not that he establish an order or creed. But in typical Mormon style to twist the words of others in your effort to make an heretical niche for your peepstone prophet’s false religion, you do not disappoint! Have you found out yet why the Tertullian booklet could not have been authored in around 150 AD? Or do you need help with that, also! You deceivers just throw out tar babies left and right and think you’re being ‘scholarly’. Bwahahahaha ... is there something in the water over at FAIR or at BYU in the Mormon Apologetics department?
~”Which part of LD$, Inc was it....that you certified was 100% charity??????”~
Ummm... The whole thing. It’s a church. Churches are charities.
The Church does control ventures designed to further its own interests - communications, publishing, food production, etc. If the LDS Church were out to make money for the sake of the profits, wouldn’t it be in software? Oil? Stock brokering? Something more lucrative than cattle ranching?
Good grief, am I talking to an eggplant here?
I stand corrected, it was the Tabernacle. Nice choir, BTW.
It might, who knows? I’m no fortune-teller. I still think he’s our best bet.
In any case, this is the -MA- Republican party we’re talking about here. There is no saving it.
They have to sell Mormonism. Salvation is given away in the Christian quarters...they think "restored" Christianity can be a value-added enterprise by making you pay for it...and there's no "gift" section in the Mormon storage unit.
You implied that he taught the doctrine. In fact his use of the word had nothing to do with the doctrine of the Trinity as accepted by Constantine's conference, does it.
I am not disparaging you for your beliefs. I am just asking the source, since it didn't come from the teachings of the Apostolic Christian Church, and now not as you implied, from Theophilius.
Since you are bashing me personally, I expected some comment about my four generations of being afoul of your dancing doctrine.
“You implied that he taught the doctrine.” I can help you to be less ignorant, but I can’t fix your penchant for mischaracterization ... I implied nothing of the sort. Have a nice night.
BTW, it was not a ‘copy and paste mistake’ ... as a writer I write my own stuff. Capish? If I cite someone else I will give them credit. If I copy and paste (as two of my posts on this thread), I ping the person whose work generated the entry (like with Colofornain and the material on Tertullian, or Diamond and the material on the Comma, the Johnanine Comma from which the 1John5 verse is taken).
I bet you also can't show the source of your dancing doctrine.
That is OK, I recognize it is part of your religeon to bash those who don't agree with you.
Next time you want to bash someone, start with the disclaimer "I want to bash you for your beliefs. I also cannot show the source of my closely held beliefs. I only want to bash yours"
Isn’t it your bedtime yet? Thursday is a school day, isn’t it?
AS I mentioned earlier, these people can be referred as DRIVE BY ANTI MORMON BLOGGERS
A cult leader is someone who isn't divine who claims to have a monopoly on the truth and believes all others are wrong. (Joseph Smith qualifies)
That is really authoritative isn't it. Just like Tertullian did when he wrote his "Adversus Praxeon" where he he openly declared his allegiance to the New Prophecy of Montanus, Pracilla and Maxilla.
Let me post a quote from the Johns Hopkins Press regarding Tertullian.
In the treatise Against Praxeas he defends and articulates trinitarian belief, insisting on continuity between his recent defense of the Paraclete and the older Rule of Faith. This work indicates that monarchian Christians at Carthage were substantially the same as the "psychic" majority opposed to the New Prophecy. Thus what was to become "orthodox" Christian theology depended on the "heretical" New Prophecy at this particular place and time
You stated that Tertullian was not the source of Trinitarian doctrine, and implied that Theophilus wrote of it before Tertullian, but when I showed you that Theophilus' writing had nothing to do with the Doctrine of the Trinity, you got all petulant.
This source states: Thus what was to become "orthodox" Christian theology depended on the "heretical" New Prophecy at this particular place and time
How about that for a referenced source of the Trinity?
If you’re trying to toss out a stealth insult to FreeRepublic.com, implying it is merely a blogsite of no significance, well, you’re making a fool of yourself. Of course you could make it interesting by spittling out threats like tracer the Mormon does ... And my only blog is a pro-life manuscript offered free to people wanting a handle on what embryonic stem cells and cloning and abortion are about. You can access it by clicking on my name, if you’re not too busy. Perhaps you can help Mitt Romney to become a truly pro-life man.
Now you’re sounding like the Delphi User, making empty accusations which the posts refute without further effort. You’re not very adept at this are you? So far your just trying to stand up strawmen; keep it up and you can work your way to outright liar.
your = you're ... Bwahahaha, what a maroon I am; I corrected another insulting Mormon on that one just yesterday! Maybe I should ping him to enjoy my stumble. :^)
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