Posted on 09/09/2012 10:23:41 AM PDT by Mozilla
On Thursday night, Glenn Beck tackled an issue that has come up frequently throughout the 2012 presidential campaign — Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith. Prior to the show, the radio and television host invited TheBlaze readers and viewers to submit their questions, as he sought to address the myths that often surround The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Beck, who is also a Mormon, told viewers that his faith is inherent in all that he does. In fact, it is his personal relationship with God that guides his actions and sustains him.
“I do what I do, because of my faith,” Beck told viewers. “Because of my faith, I’m not afraid.”
He also went on to highlight some of the elements that people need to know about his personal faith and its central underpinnings. From a belief in Jesus Christ to the notion that helping one’s fellow man is essential, these values lay at the center of the Mormon experience.
“God lives. We survive. America flourishes,” he continued, listing off the other sentiments that Mormons embrace. “The Messiah came and he will come again. Be good to one another. Give until it hurts. Give to the poor, the hungry and the underprivileged. Obey God. Make a covenant with him. He keeps his word. But be on his side. Don’t try to get him on your side.”
The first issue — or myth, rather — that Beck tackled was polygamy, a marriage that includes more than two individuals. Since there is mass confusion surrounding Mormons and plural marriage, Beck provided in-depth background and historical analysis on the issue. While he explained that Mormons did, indeed, practice polygamy at one point in time, he notes that this dynamic ended 122 years ago and that the church takes a strong stance against it today.
GlennBeck.com has more about Beck’s statements surrounding historical constructs of the former practice:
He explained that in the 1800s, there was massive persecution of Mormons wer driven out of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. In Missouri, the governor even issued Executive Order-44 which ordered that all Mormons be exterminated or driven out of the state, resulting in 10,000 Mormons who lived there either being killed or forced to flee. Executive Order-44 wasn’t overturned until 1976. As a result of this persecution, there weren’t many men left. The desire to repopulate played a role in the decision to practice polygamy, but only about 5% did it before the practice came to an end in 1890.
He called polygamy ”a perversion of everything we believe in.”
“The media would have nothing more to have Americans believe that anybody who believes what I believe is [Warren Jeffs],” Beck said, referring to a cult leader who is serving a life sentence for having relationships with underage girls.
Contemporary polygamists aren’t Mormons, Beck explained. Watch the host tackle the polygamy issue, below:
Next, he delved into the so-called “magic underwear” discussion. He was, of course, referring to the undergarments that Mormon adherents wear. Many times, this element of the faith is mocked and ridiculed, as non-believers don‘t understand the significance and haven’t necessarily been exposed to the reasoning behind wearing the clothing.
“It is to remind us of something very sacred,” Beck explained. “It’s a reminder of the promises we make at the Temple.”
Rather than serving as a secretive and elusive tool, the underwear represent the personal promises that Mormons make to be “faithful, modest, and temperate.”
While it’s not always easy to wear the undergarments, especially when it comes to finding clothing to wear over them, Beck said that the difficulty makes it more sacred and meaningful. Considering the importance of the underwear to the Mormon faith, it also become more painful, the host admitted, when others mock the practice:
Beck also tackled the purported “secretive” activities that unfold in the temple. While many critics have alleged that the church is elusive and that some of the activities are top-secret, Beck made it clear that there’s nothing surprising or startling going on behind closed doors.
“There’s no secret stuff,” Beck explained. “There‘s nothing you will find in the temple that you won’t find in the Old or New Testament.”
Marriage and baptism are two of the practices that take place inside Mormon houses of worship — elements that most other Christian denominations can relate to. Beck did delve into “baptism for the dead,” a practice that he said has roots in 1 Corinthians.
See him tackle these subjects, below:
There is also, of course, the question of Mormon missionaries. Beck described the fascinating, two-year trips that young believers make to help spread the faith, while simultaneously embarking on a journey to find themselves.
During this time, young Mormons find themselves “preaching the word and reading the scriptures,” as they go door-to-door to discuss their faith. While sharing an example of a friend’s son who just left for Finland for a mission, Beck encouraged others — regardless of their faiths — to engage in similar experiences.
“He will live the exact opposite of a trophy society. In a culture where ‘I’ve got to go find myself, while spending $50,000 a year and listen to a bunch of liberal Marxist professors at some liberal college…these guys do find themselves,” Beck proclaimed. “Please, do this in your faith. It changes your children…it’s one of the reasons that Mormons are so successful. They know why they are at an early age.”
“It’s not weird to be a Mormon. And it‘s not weird to be president if you’re Mormon,” Beck concluded.
This special episode comes as the nation prepares to potentially elect its first Mormon president. While some biases certainly continue to color Romney’s candidacy, the impact appears to be minimal. As we’ve previously reported, November 2011 Pew Research Center results found that, while Romney may have experienced some negative results due to his Mormon faith in the primary race, his general election chances likely won’t be impacted.
Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped anti-Mormon attacks from unfolding in media. Beck’s goal, of course, was to dispel some of the myths that drive and fuel these incidents.
Post #27 covers a some of many reasons Mormons are not Christians.
I remember the JFK campaign, when people were saying the Pope would be running the country if JFKL was elected, and it was a fad for people to use red fingernail polish to paint Cardinal caps on George Washington's image on quarters.
Just saying.
Nothing, eh? That's rich. Except for maybe the masonic blood oaths and death penalties that were removed from the temple endowment ritual in 1990. But hey, I guess Jesus thought that anyone who didn't keep the masonic ritual secret deserved to have their throats slit from ear to ear, or to have their chests and bowls severed. Where are those practices in the temple of the Old Testament and New Testament?
You also don't hear about multiple gods existing in heaven in the Old or New Testaments.
The penalties made the temple ritual so cult like that the Church had to drop them out so as to stop scaring members out of the church. I guess Beck must have joined Mormonism after they took those parts of the temple endowment out.
What about the oath in the Temple Ritual until Utah petitioned for statehood, which required all Mormons to swear to seek revenge upon the Untied States government for the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith? Sound pretty Christ like, doesn't it? I bet that one wasn't in the Old or New Testament.
I suspect that Beck doesn't personally know much about mormon doctrine, or the Church's history other than what his leaders tell him. Probably hasn't looked too much into it. Otherwise, he wouldn't say things like he does in this article that indicate his ignorance of Church history and doctrine.
BTW, all of the secret oaths made in the temple also sounds a lot like the "secret oaths and combinations" that are forbidden as evil in the Book of Mormon.
And yet,as late as 1976, during the US Bicententiniel, there were an estimated TEN THOUSAND mormons in Utah still practicing Polygamy.
Well, when the LDS are teaching converts, they just show the converts the good values and family emphasis that mormons hold--which are in fact mostly wholesome and attractive. They almost never mention all of the crazy doctrines and church history to the converts.
The only part of the church that converts are generally allowed to see is the good side. That is most likely why the church's convert rate is as high as it is. For the most part, the LDS convert people because they do not disclose all of the truth, only the favorable things. They cover up all of the scandalous doctrines, changes in doctrine, and bad parts of church history. This is often intentional as LDS Missionaries are often told by their superiors to stick "to the lesson plans" and not to mention doctrines that the lessons don't talk about.
However, some of this deception is also unintentional, because many mormons are unfamiliar with the church's past teachings and history and thus don't talk about it because they themselves do know that these things were ever taught or endorsed by the church.
I agree the left accuses people of hate all the time, so why do you keep accusing me of hate?
Sorry, Dan that wasn’t meant for you.
And you are correct.
“I remember the JFK campaign, when people were saying the Pope would be running the country if JFKL was elected...”
What I wrote was historical fact. There is a reason why the kept being thrown out of places, and it was NOT prejudice against their religion. They voted as a solid block.
“In 1844, Smith created the Council of Fiftythat became “the Municipal department of the
Kingdom of God set up on the Earth, and from which all Law emanates.” The members
of the Council of Fifty and the leaders of the Mormon Church were identical. Thus, the
Nauvoo government took the form of a theocracy, a unified church and state.
The rapid development of Nauvoo’s economic and political power, along with rumors
about strange Mormon religious rituals, greatly unsettled other Illinois residents. They
particularly resented the Mormon practice of voting in elections as a bloc at the direction
of Joseph Smith. Then in 1844, Smith decided to run for president of the United States.
This combining of religion and politics further inflamed public opinion in Illinois. Nor
did all Mormons in Nauvoo approve of Joseph Smith’s political activities.”
The LDS church ended polygamy when the US government threatened to take the Temples.
lds still practice polygamy, they hide it by calling it celestial marriage.
Oh and by looking the other way with their members are polygamist.
;-) Beck is not going to tell the truth about mormonism, he can’t.
Sure but that wasn’t the point.
The point was if you are going to use that as a reason to condemn someone you should know the history of Christianity.
I know but it don’t mean we can’t dissect Romney’s religion anymore than Obama’s.
One thing I noticed from studying polygamy in the US is that the Mormon Church doesn’t wink at things. If they tell you to do something, they expect you to do it. When they outlawed polygamy, they told the polygamists to go away. “Go to Canada or Mexico but you no longer exist in our eyes.”
Technically, polygamy is still a mormon doctrine. Mormon scripture (D&C 132) still says polygamy is a good, divinely inspired institution. The church has never condemned the practice of polygamy. It has only told its members to temporarily stop doing it, because the US government and the federal army threatened to wipe out the church if it kept practicing it. With this threat over the church's head along with the church's hope to bolster Utah's application for statehood, the church finally promulgated a temporary ban on polygamy via the 1890 Manifesto. This ban does not repudiate polygamy as being wrong in of itself, but only says that until the prophet says otherwise that mormons should "refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land." Thus if the law of the land changes, polygamy will be ok under the wording of the manifesto. Also, all polygamous marriages contracted by members of the church up to that point in time were still allowed to stand by the church.
BTW, mormons believe in a ritual called "sealing" which joins a husband and wife in marriage for "time and all eternity." If the wife dies after being sealed to a husband, she is considered that husband's wife forever. If the husband survives his wife's decease and then gets "sealed" to another living woman, both women are considered his wives forever. Thus technically speaking, some mormons still believe they are practicing a form of celestial polygamy even today. The church approves these sealings so technically the church still approves of polygamy. Of course, the government doesn't much care about this as long as both wives are not living at the same time.
When they outlawed polygamy, they told the polygamists to go away. “Go to Canada or Mexico but you no longer exist in our eyes.”
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When did that happen...
1 The prophet/president of the mormons Woodruff after his “proclamation in 1890 stayed in Utah and as the leadeer o0f the mormons and kept right on with his harem of polymous “wives”
as did the following prophets until the last one died in 1965...
Mormon men kept right on being “sealed” (married) in the temple to extra “wives” with whom they lived with ...(read sex here if youre from Rio Linda)
2. The Romneys ran away from the law in the US not the mormon religion...
It was a mormon colony that they began in Mexico...
ran from the mormon hierarchy in SLC..
After 1890 polymous couples would go down to Mexico to be “married” and then return to live in Utah...
Just do not beleive that to be correct, as my uncle married a woman who was from a polygamist union and the family lives in SLC and most are temple workers.
There are hundreds of polygamist families in SLC, and they are not thrown out of the SLC lds corporation.
The LDS church ended polygamy when the US government threatened to take the Temples.
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Ah no...
The mormons pretended to end polygamy in 1890 in order to have Utah become a state...
Utah became a stsate in 1896 100 years after the 16th state, Tennessee...
a couple of notes ...
1. The mormons kept the “rules” omn polygamy being necessary to become a god like their mo0rmon jesus....
and to go to the mormon afterlife...
1. The first member of congress from Utah was a known polygamous elected by voters from Utah who KNEW that he was such...
When he tried to be seated in Washington the Christians around the country rose up and petitioned that he not be allowed to sit on moral grounds...
although his mormon friends in Utah objected to his being expelled, there were SEVEN MILLION signatures sent to Washington from offended good people and he had to go back to Utah...
Oh Nana when did that happen ???
When the LDS “winked” years after 1890...
Someone upthread mentioned that polygamy still existed under the name “celestial marriage”, but I didn’t understand how. I now see what they mean. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
I have seen D&C 132 as well as Official Declaration 1 (both are readily available online at lds.org) and you can pick up a D&C at just about any book store. The whole thing is there in writing if you wish to read it.
As I said before, I don’t mind that they choose to have doctrines that change depending on the current mood of a given national government. I just wish that they would be up front about it.
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