When the Republican Evangelical Christians smelled (what they thought was) Muslim blood in the water, the first thing that they said was, "there's no way they could ever support a Muslim candidate because Islam is not line with traditional Christian values."
But now, in Bishop Romney, we have a religion that's founded by a guy named "Joesph Smith" as their founder and concepts involving a planet called Planet Kolob. And that's some how more in line with "traditional Christian values"?
The GOP can't have it both ways and this piece explains why.
One of the things that I find to be the most troubling about Mitt Romney is that he's manipulated the rule (might I add in a very slick and cunning way), that religion should not be placed as the primary barometer for who is to be elected President.
Obviously though that is true, it doesn't mean that we can't take an analytical look at the beliefs of the guys asking for our vote. Republicans have an ingenious way of formulating misguided parameters for a conversation and making it seem like it has to be one way or the other within their prescribed guidelines of a question or situation. For instance, "If you're against (the war or) President Bush who supports our troops, then you're against the American troops themselves". Obviously, the premise of the question offers no asylum for those who dissent against the President or the war for that matter. So the weak minded, were afraid to heavily dissent for fear of being viewed as UN-supportive of America and our military. It was only later that people started to scream that they were against President Bush because they were FOR the troops. Accurately re-framing the conversation properly.
Despite a "no religious test clause" to become an American President, I think people have been fooled into thinking that it's somehow wrong to take a look at the beliefs of Romney and the secrecy of the Mormon Church. More importantly, we should be alarmed at their unwillingness to confess and speak openly about their beliefs. Sorry, but those 30 second "look here, Imma a cool Mormon" commercials with interracial couples isn't quite going to be enough. After all, if it's all reasonable, and above board, why can't we talk about it? I've always been taught and believe that in the end "there's really no such thing as a good secret". So what's iron curtain for?
Why can't Romney go into severe detail about his Mormon beliefs? For fear people will view him differently? That's funny because I 'm a Christian and proudly proclaim myself as such. As a result of my proclamation, I actually hope that people do look at me "differently ".
Let's take me for instance; I proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believe that there is but only one way to the Father and that is through his son, Jesus Christ. I guess the difference between me and the GOP is, I don't hate everyone who doesn't believe that. I prefer to pray for them and treat them with the same respect and dignity as anyone else. But back to my specific beliefs, I subscribe to the scripture that "should I ask anything in his name, I shall receive it." Now, if I go to Vegas, and ask the Lord to "bless me" with the right slot machine so that I can have the best party weekend I've ever had in my life and buy the best chick magnet car ever created, then unfortunately, it doesn't quite work that way. I can sit down and in my beliefs as a Christian, explain why it doesn't. To anyone. I can profess that for me, the Bible is the same then as it is now and that again, all things are possible through Christ. And then I can give you a shpeel about what it means to be Christian and trying to be more Christ like in our daily behavior, compassion, mercy, justice, treatment of the poor and not using filthy four letter words all of the time like it's nothing etc.. Furthermore, though I've certainly never been a "big wig" in my Church, I can tell you all about our (what some would call) "ceremonies" and the like as well. It's no big deal! For instance; If you come into my church from out of the street, and desire to be baptized and confess Christ, then we'll be happy to dunk you in the water and pray over you. How does that work you ask? We have a small pool in the Church where everyone can see you. Just out of view, we have a room filled with fresh white robes and under garments. Someone from the Church escorts you to the back, gives you a towel or two, let's you change out of your street clothes in private and then when you're ready, you come on out in front of the congregation. Maybe you'll say a word or two, maybe not, walk down into the warm water and then take the Nestle plunge! A gentle immersion, backwards being held by whoever is assigned to baptism duty that day while you may or may not hold your nose. In the summer, it's the same deal except at times we do it outside in the drink. We have sunrise service on Easter and I can explain all of the concepts within that Church holiday. Last but not least, we believe in the power of the Holy spirit. We will have a HOLY GHOST party in a New York minute.
Yep, I said it. And proudly. As a result, I have my friends, blog followers and people who I otherwise have a tremendous amount of respect for like the Bill Maher types laugh so hard at those things, they almost can't breath. They'll say, he's a great guy, very engaging and I enjoy talking to him. All up until he starts to pray over his food, pray over me when I'm sick and starts his "unicorn stories about people who never existed in his fake bible. It's all a bit ridiculous but heck if we don't love his blog and use it."
I'm good with that. I'll never pour a caramel coating over my confession for Christ or edit the more "silly" elements of beliefs for fear of not being accepted. This isn't a religious blog of any kind, so it really never comes into play here. Even in my piece about how the GOP right is the enemy of the Christian Church and Christ, I didn't have to be one to see how their behavior towards the poor and needy is an affront to the teachings of Christ.
I'm not running for anything but if I was interviewing for the job and it came up during an interview, I'd confess it all with a straight face and feel bad for the person who discriminated against me for it because I'm a proud and a true believer.
Enter a man who I like to refer to as "The Master" Mitt Romney and his Church.
He's managed to take the conversation of what his core beliefs are, what drives him and what he teaches his children as completely off limits in terms of details. His posture and even that of his Church is, "we know what our practices are and they're fine with us. We've reviewed them and because you shouldn't judge a Presidential candidate based on his religion, never mind analyzing the finer details of what we believe. The End". Sound familiar? It should because it's similar to his position on his taxes. He wants us to believe that because HE HAS reviewed them, HE HASN'T SEEN anything there worth talking about so let's all move on to the next portion of the exercise. Not only is this elitist in nature and treating Americans like "the help", it elicits a feeling that he's hiding something because he's either ashamed or embarrassed by what he's doing or has done.
For many elected positions, like dogcatcher, this posture could skate by the smell test without protest. But for The Office of The President, Bishop Romney will have to share more of his core religious beliefs and his business records by way of his taxes too. Did I mention he was a Bishop in the Mormon Church? Yes, " The Master" is a Bishop too. Which one would think would qualify him and cause him to tell us more about the intricacies of the Mormon Church more than probably any other candidate in the history of Presidential elections. But instead, Romney shies away from telling us details about Mormonism. Not only is that illogical but it's very suspicious to say the least.
Could it be the Planet Kolob thing? As cut and pasted from my friends at Wikipedia;
"Kolob is a star or planet described in Mormon scripture. Reference to Kolob is found in the Book of Abraham, a work published by Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. According to this work, Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne of God..
..According to several LDS writers (such as Cleon Skousen in his book The First 2000 Years), the earth was created near Kolob over a period of 6000 years (six "days" in Kolob time), and then moved to its present position in our solar system. ..
.. In addition to the literal interpretation of Kolob as an actual heavenly body, the LDS Church has proposed that Kolob is also "a symbol of Jesus Christ", in that like Kolob, Jesus "governs" all the stars and planets similar to the earth".
It should also be noted that The Battle Star Galactica science fiction series was patterned after the Mormon tales of Kolob using the name "Kobol".
Why won't Bishop Romney and the Mormons openly share those stories with us? Exactly who is Joseph Smith? How is he viewed by his Church? Inquiring minds want to know from the candidate who believes in these things.
Or maybe it's the "magic undergarment" as people often refer to? From Wikipedia as well.
"Mormon underwear is a type of underwear worn by a vast majority of adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement, after they have taken part in the Endowment ceremony. Garments are worn both day and night and are required for any previously endowed adult to enter a temple...
According to the LDS Church, the temple garments serve a number of purposes. First, the garment provides the member "a constant reminder" of the covenants they made in the temple. Second, the garment "when properly worn...provides protection against temptation and evil... General authority Carlos E. Asay adds that the garment "strengthens the wearer to resist temptation, fend off evil influences, and stand firmly for the right."
Is Romney going to wear this undergarment everyday or when he has to make his most important decisions because he feels like it's going to help him and America someway? That's a very fair question we should ask.
Lastly, there are special symbols written on these garments that have a wide range of interesting meanings. Too long to go into on this blog but that I encourage each of you to be independent and critical thinkers and research for yourself.
These two areas of Bishop Romney's beliefs are only a small fraction of what he should be coming clean about and explaining in detail so that Americans can have a clear picture of who and what kind of man Mitt Romney is. But again, we get the distinct feeling that he doesn't really want us to know anything about him that would cause us to question his judgement, character or business acumen in taxes and finances. All of which he says are superior to that of President Obama's. But without the proof.
In Islam they proudly confess their beliefs and are willing to discuss them in detail. Same with Judaism. And of course, with 80% of Americans being "Christian" and the majority being protestant, no secrets there either.
So why can't the old Bishop and his Church go into detail about their prophets, ceremonies, rituals and beliefs? The oddities of the Mormon religion and particualrly that they are very much not in line with traditional christian values and concepts is HUGE.
But why is it huge Mr. Destroy The Right? After all, That whole baptism and being born again thing is as loony as Mitt's magic underwear thing to a non-believer like me!
The question is fair and a good one but the answer is even better.
When the Republican Evangelical Christians smelled (what they thought was) Muslim blood in the water, the first thing that they said was, "there's no way they could ever support a Muslim candidate because Islam is not line with traditional Christian values." If they didn't say it once, they didn't say it a thousand times! We all understood them loud and clear. But now, in Bishop Romney, we have a religion that's founded by a guy named "Joesph Smith" as their founder and concepts involving a planet called Planet Kolob. And that's some how more in line with "traditional Christian values" than Islam? And now you come out and support Bishop Romney more than you do the "traditional Christian" candidate?
That tells us that it couldn't have just been the whole Islam thing you complained so hard about as to why you lied and said that you couldn't support Barack Obama. But what could it be? Could it be that you were discriminating against the fact that he came from Harvard? Man I tell you, you really gotta watch those Harvard graduates. Nah, that doesn't sound right either. I just can't seem to think what it could be?
Interestingly enough, if you take the time to examine Islam, the Koran goes into great detail about Jesus Christ and also refers to Mary and Peter as well. In fact, the Koran parallels the "traditional Christian" Bible in many way to include but not limited to:
Jesus was born of a virgin
Jesus healed those born blind.
Jesus healed the lepers.
Jesus revived the dead.
and the list others is actually astounding. Peter's figure, especially in Shia theolgy is important as he is generally regarded as the first Imam after Jesus, and therefore is in accordance with the Christian view of Peter as the 'Prince of the Apostles'. The Koran further tells us that Jesus came to teach the same basic message which was taught by previous prophets from God—that we must shun every false god and worship only the one true God. Jesus taught that he is the servant and messenger of that one true God, the God of Abraham. Imagine that?
Now what if, after a thorough examination of what Mormons believe vs. a thorough examination of what Muslims belief, it came to pass that Islam had as much IF NOT MORE relation to "traditional Christianity" than Mormonism?
If Romney and the Mormon Church have their way, we will never take the time or have the information to verify and see for ourselves because Romney is doing everything in his power to hide who he is, what he does and what he really believes from the American public until it's too late. But luckily for us, we're smarter than that!
Seems like the Republican machine would rather act ignorant of the facts and prop up a man who they really don't like or know than support a man who proclaims himself outwardly as "their kind". A"traditional Christian" candidate in President Obama. The one thing that USED TO BE their biggest litmus test. My how things change. They couldn't support Obama the first time around because they were all about traditional Christian values and there was some questions there. Now, It's his "performance"?. And they're supporting a Mormon who believes in things so far from traditional Christian doctrine that it's beyond the realm of what can be categorized as "opposite". But hate it when they're called hypocrites, racists, bigots and flip floppers.
It's either one or the other;
If you were against the prospect of electing a "potential Muslim" in President Obama the first time, then it is impossible for you to ever consider electing Romney.
And if you're considering electing Romney for President, then you have to outwardly confess that you would elect a Muslim for President as well.
Romney+Mormon=Islam
The jig is up!