Posted on 10/07/2011 5:17:45 PM PDT by freespirited
Texas evangelical leader Robert Jeffress, the Baptist megachurch pastor who introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, said Friday afternoon he does not believe Mitt Romney is a Christian.
Jeffress described Romney's Mormon faith as a “cult,” and said evangelicals had only one real option in the 2012 primaries. Continue Reading
“That is a mainstream view, that Mormonism is a cult,” Jeffress told reporters here. “Every true, born again follower of Christ ought to embrace a Christian over a non-Christian.”
Asked by POLITICO if he believed Romney is a Christian, Jeffress answered: “No.”
Jeffress's comments represent the first major attack of the 2012 cycle on Romney over his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an issue that some Romney supporters believe cost the former Massachusetts governor in his last presidential run.
The attack on Romney wasn’t just faith-based. Jeffress called the Republican presidential candidate a “conservative out of convenience” who “does not have a consistent track record on the subject of marriage, on the sanctity of life.”
“I just do not believe that we as conservative Christians can expect him to stand strong for the issues that are important to us,” he said.
Jeffress said that he had not spoken with Perry about his views on Romney's faith and was “in no way speaking for him.” In an email, Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black said that the campaign didn’t choose Jeffress to introduce Perry and does not share his view of Mormonism.
The Romney campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the other Mormon candidate in the Republican presidential race.
Looking ahead to the general election, Jeffress warned that in a race between Romney and Obama, he believes many evangelicals will stay home and leave the GOP nominee without their votes.
“I do not think evangelical voters are going to be motivated to go out and vote for Mitt Romney,” he said. The conservative Christian leader said that he himself would vote for Romney and does not doubt that he is a good man.
“I think he’s a fine family person,” Jeffress explained. “It is only faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that qualifies you as a Christian.”
Jeffress said he does not believe that Mormonism is a disqualifier for the presidency, pointing out that constitutionally, the “government can impose no religious test.”
“Private citizens can impose all kinds of religious tests,” he added.
No...
...Just deceived.
Who do you think those Mormons who would have voted for other candidate otherwise? I probably was not clear. I was referring to the general elections. I would think that the Reid-type Mormons will vote for the Dim candidate anyway. Although you may be right. In the primaries, Mormons voting for Romney because of his religion may make a difference.
Mormon’s weren’t really GOP until about the 1950’s. When I was LDS a lot of the older members were still staunch democrats. But, things change.
Anyway, Utah isn’t in play it will go for Romney.
By the way, how do you justify the Mormon conception of the Godhead?
The LDS church currently teaches that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are separate gods. In LDS theology, God the Father is called "Elohim" and Jesus Christ is called "Jehovah." This Mormon doctrine raises an interesting theological difficulty. In Hebrew the Ten Commandments read:
2 אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִֽ֑ים׃
3 לֹֽ֣א יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ֛֩1 אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
In the KJV of the Bible the word "LORD" (in all capital letters) stands for the holy name "Jehovah" which I will abbreviate as "J" from now on to prevent too much repetition of this most Sacred Name. Thus what the Ten Commands are really saying is: I am J thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. In other words J has just forbidden anyone to worship any other deity than Himself. If Mormonism teaches that J is really Jesus, and that Jesus is a separate God than the Father, then why do Mormons worship the Father? Wouldn't this constitute a violation of the Ten Commandments since Mormons would be worshipping Elohim rather than J?
Furthermore Mormonism teaches that God the Father is named Elohim, but in Isaiah 45 J says that there is no Elohim besides Himself:
5 אֲנִ֤י יְהוָה֙ וְאֵ֣ין ע֔וֹד זוּלָתִ֖י אֵ֣ין אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֲאַזֶּרְךָ֖ וְלֹ֥א יְדַעְתָּֽנִי׃
5 I am the LORD,and there is none else, there is no God [Elohim] beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
I am sure that you see what I am getting at here. If Mormons teach that the Father is Elohim and Jesus is J, then why does Isaiah say that there is no Elohim besides J? The implication is that J is the only Elohim, and therefore that J and the Father are the one and only God. Thus the Father and the Son would be the same being which creates a theological problem for the LDS since the LDS teach that these two are not one being. This passage does, however, make sense to one who believes in the Trinity.
I am sorry if this is coming across as an attempt to bash your belief in God. That is not my intention, I am only pointing out questions concerning the above mentioned theological difficulties in Mormonism that appear to undermine or contradict its own doctrine. These doctrinal problems and the Mormon conception that there are many gods just don't seem to mesh with what the Bible is saying.
We already covered that when you posted it earlier.
Pat says it’s ok to divorce your wife if she has alzhiemer’s. It shows Pat has lost his mind. This is just further proof that he needs to get out of ministry.
And I still don’t get why Mormons want to be considered Christians since so many of the leaders have stated such hateful things about Christianity.
Want sources, Rip?
To me the mormon part doesn’t matter, I simply don’t trust Romney.
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For me the Mormon part is a good reason WHY I don’t trust Romney. Been there done that (see tagline) and I know the reasons why he flip flops and lies to get what he wants and it gets back to Mormonism.
Given a choice between a mormon and a muslim....I take the mormon every time!
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There are reasons why the LDS would rather work with Muslim charities than Christian ones and why Muslims are so at home at BYU (I can source both of those btw)....
“I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—‘Joseph Smith or the Sword!’ ” - LDS founder Joseph Smith
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE....
“The Greek and Roman Churches, which have been called Christian, and which take the name of Christians as a cloak, have worshipped innumerable idols. On this account, on the simple subject of the Deity and His worship, if nothing more, I should rather incline, of the two, after all my early traditions, education, and prejudices, to the side of Mahomet, for on this point he is on the side of truth, and the Christian world on the side of idolatry and heathenism.”
- Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.38
“..instead of saying that Mahometanism prevailed against Christianity, and that Christianity was in danger of being done away by its prevalence, we would rather say, that where Mahometanism prevailed, it taught and established one truth at least, viz., the true and living God, and so far as this went, it did preserve people from worshipping idols. And had the crescent waved on the tower of London, or on the church of St. Paul, instead of the cross, and had the Mahometan religion been enforced instead of the Roman religion that was enforced for a series of generations, and had tradition riveted what the sword enforced, then that nation and the surrounding nations would have been worshippers of one true God instead of idols; they would have recognized it in theory at least, whether they would have worshipped Him in spirit and in truth or not. But now [Christians] do not recognize Him in theory, for they acknowledge as their god an imaginary being without body, parts, or passions.”
- Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.39
“Now, if we take Mahometanism during those dark ages, and the corruptions that are so universally prevalent over the earth, and the idolatrous systems of religion, falsely called Christianity, and weigh them in a balance; with all my education in favor of Christian nations and Christian powers, and Christian institutions, so called, with all my prejudices of early youth, and habits of thought and reading, my rational faculties would compel me to admit that the Mahometan history and Mahometan doctrine was a standard raised against the most corrupt and abominable idolatry that over perverted our earth, found in the creeds and worship of Christians, falsely so named.”
- Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.40
“Though Mahometan institutions are corrupt enough, and need reforming by the Gospel, I am inclined to think, upon the whole, leaving out the corruptions of men in high places among them, that they have better morals and better institutions than many Christian nations; and in many localities there have been high standards of morals. So far as that one point is concerned, of worshipping the one true God under the name of Mahometanism, together with many moral precepts, and in war only acting on the defensive, I think they have exceeded in righteousness and truthfulness of religion, the idolatrous and corrupt church that has borne the name of Christianity.”
- Apostle Parley P. Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p.41
Hi T. :)
Thanks for posting this. I did not know that.
“Like it or not, there will be some conservatives who will not vote for Romney because he’s a Mormon, not because of his positions on policy issues.”
Like it or not, there may indeed be many of them.
I don’t think Mr. Romney is going to do very well with Christian evangelicals, for example.
Just speculatin’...
Don’t know much about mormons other than I won’t vote for Romney.
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Well T minus and I DO know a lot about Mormons. I was one for several years. What you don’t know can harm you when it comes to them.
I can get along with Mormons and think they are nice people but I am not about to bow to a pressure to label their religion the same as my own when it is not.
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I am often accused of being a Mormon hater because I speak out against Mormonism and I have a duty to do so (see tagline), but I do it because I love Mormons and know there is something better, the Real Jesus of the Bible.
I still have a lot of friends who are LDS, and I love them. They know where I stand and that I was LDS. They know I don’t accept them as Christians and I know they consider me a ‘son of perdition’. We get through it.
Romney IS Obama - just ‘white and delightsome’ (to use a Mormon phrase).
That being said. If Mittens is the nominee, I will hold my nose and vote for him against the current abomination in the White House.
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And, as a Christian, I will not. I cannot. Romney is Obama - just paler.
We need to make sure Romney doesn’t get the nomination and what scares me is how many are throwing up their hands and resigning themselves to vote for Romney.
I wish I could find one intelligent anti-Mormon activist. All the ones I see are like you and they don’t do justice to your cause.. whatever it is.
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I wish I could find one intelligent Mormon apologist. All the ones I see are like you and they don’t do justice to your cause.. whatever it is.
ping
ROFLMAO.. You really need to do your research and quit giving the LDS pat answers.
Just once I would like to come across an intelligent Mormon who could defend their faith...oh wait, if they do that much research, they end up leaving like me!
Yeah, when you are down to bravado and such, well you are out of everything else...
But your views on the nature of God are based on old sectarian notions, interpreting Biblical scriptures in a way to fit your own beliefes, not revelation from God to clarify such issues directly.
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That is RICH coming from a Mormon. And their 100+ sectarian breakoffs. And it shows you know NOTHING of real Church history.
Christians agree on the basics, person work nature of Christ, salvation by Grace, reliability of the Bible for teaching and doctrine.
Mormons disagree with Christians on all of those things. No Christian church accepts Mormon baptism or considers them to be Christians.
And if we are all ‘apostates’ why are you guys so desparately trying to convince everyone you are one of us?
Don’t trust Mormons to tell you the truth. They spin and redefine Christian words so what they SAY and what they mean are often 2 different things. I’ve been there, done that (see tagline)
Check out this post and the ones following it. One of the posts I parse a typical Mormon/Christian conversation.
If you have any questions feel free to ask me either in thread or via freepmail.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2786065/posts?page=72#72
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