Sorry, didn't have time to read your post.
I was too busy looking for the Biblical verse that authorizes an infallible deified Roman Catholic Pope?
After that, will look for the Biblical verse which validates Purgatory? And who is supposed to go there?
Which book in the New Testament speaks of Rosary Beads?
Where in the New or Old Testament does it say to pray or worship St. Mary?
How did the Hail Mary repeated prayers come to mean anything?
Which Bible verse explains the process of being Cannonized? How many Saints are too many Saints? And which Bible verse sets the rules for becoming a Saint?
Which Saint helps us find lost items? Saints for animals?
What about statues of St. Mary? Doesn't the Bible strictly forbid statues?
Where in the Bible does it explain Holy Water? Celibate Priests? Confession Booths?
Eating fish on Friday?
I could go on. But if you're looking for human "traditions" as some sort of reason to disallow Mormonism as a valid religion, I suggest you look no further than some of the other so=called mainstream religions.
I am sure most people think of the above things as "ordained" by the Almighty.
Perhaps they are. Perhaps they are not.
But what gives anyone the right to proclaim THEIR human traditions more valid than anyone elses.... outside of that outlined in the Holy Scriptures.
Papal infallibility refers only to the truths of religion, declared in consonance with 2000 years of tradition. Canon law (Church law) refers to the duties of Catholics within the Church and is not a legal system for a society.
The Pope is not an earthly governor and the Catholic Church actually adapts to just about any system of governance that allows it to exist.
Mormonism and Islam were conceived as all-encompassing systems where the religious authorities would also be the civil governors, and where the religious (including ritual) law would be the law of the civil society. In fact, civil society doesn’t really exist in either Mormonism or Islam.
The difference is that many Mormons are reexamining this, whereas Muslims are not. A big part of the difference is that Mormonism is a combination of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity, somebody’s personal visions, and 19th century spiritualism, while Islam is a combination of Old Testament law, pagan practices and dieties, and a few figures from Christianity. Mormonism has largely abandoned theocracy, while Islam has not.
In the case of Romney, I didn’t like him because I thought he was a liberal. He was probably much more socially liberal than many Mormons, in fact.
As for Momonism in general, I know many Mormons want to be accepted as orthodox Christians, but it is up to them and their leaders to formulate this and work it out.