Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A View from Mormon Land
The American Thinker ^ | October 6, 2012 | Elwell

Posted on 10/06/2012 5:48:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- the Mormons. Not being Mormon but having lived most of my 53 years in Utah, the seat of the religion, I would like to offer a perspective on having a Mormon as President of the United States.

This question takes on a greater sense of importance with recent reports that the de facto American political truce against attacks on a candidate's religion has been breached by means of a telephone campaign slandering Romney's Mormonism.

I grew up in rural Utah, in a town that was (and is) about 80% Mormon. I went to college in another rural Utah town, somewhat more cosmopolitan because of the university, but the non-student population was still about 80% Mormon. After two post-college years in Massachusetts, I returned to the Salt Lake City valley, which is now around 52% Mormon.

While working as the CEO of the company I co-founded upon returning to Utah, I have hired many people, Mormon and non-Mormon, and have had both working at all levels of the company. Given a lifelong exposure to and interaction with members of "The Church," I have one very solid observation to make: Mormons are no different from non-Mormons...............

[Big SNIP]

We have now suffered through nearly four years of an utterly incompetent, Islamophilic president desecrating and destroying much of what most of us hold dear about this country. Though as a libertarian I do not fully agree with Mitt Romney's politics, the thought of having him as a Mormon president of the United States is a very comforting one indeed.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: lds; mormon; religion; romney2012
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last
[Big SNIP]
1 posted on 10/06/2012 5:48:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife; Colofornian

Look - Mormons are a bizarre branch offshoot what most would call Christianity (they barely qualify, if at all).

But thinking that Jesus is Satan’s brother and He trod Mesoamerica or wearing funny writing on underwear doesn’t mean anything to how a President governs.

The Mormons espouse from birth great family values, most of which are consistent with Conservative values.

We need the POTUS to embrace hard work, independence, low taxes, limited government and support of Israel. After that, it is between him and his perception of God.

The current potus believes in none of that and his muslim leanings are attempting to back-channel the 4th Reich in the destruction of Jews everywhere. That is but one example the difference between a personal belief and a destructive ideology.

(courtesy ping to Colofornian, who always has interest in LDS).


2 posted on 10/06/2012 5:58:30 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (We canÂ’t just leave it (food choice) up to the parents. -- moochele obozo 2/12/2012 (cnsnews))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
Mormons are a bizarre branch offshoot what most would call Christianity

mormonISM is not a bizarre branch off shoot of Christianity, there is nothing in Christianity to offshoot that would lead to mormonism, mormonism is made up out of the mind of a shyster.

3 posted on 10/06/2012 6:17:23 AM PDT by svcw (Why is one cell on another planet considered life, and in the womb it is not.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003

Hopefully you did read the article, as some of your “points” are made there as well, so worth the short read.


4 posted on 10/06/2012 6:18:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
Jim Elwell

I think Mr. Elwell speaks loudly and clearly for most of us having grown up in the culture of Mormonism. Rather than fight the dogma I personally "dropped out". We left Utah in 1967 to seek our fortune "in the world and OF the world", returning in 1998 to form a non profit foundation for the historic preservation of an important American artist's home.

While we appreciate our good neighbors and friends in small town Utah, we remain apart on religious matters. We do though agree with Elwell and our neighbors regarding Romney.

5 posted on 10/06/2012 6:27:56 AM PDT by Utah Binger (Southern Utah where the world comes to see America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
A few are slimy, knife-you-in-the-back scumbags.

Good article, and this line explains Harry Reid. I too have known a few Mormons, and from my experience I have never been able to quite come to grips with Harry Reid being a Mormon. I try to visualize Harry and Mitt meeting at a church function or going on a counseling mission together and Mitt seems more like the Mormons I have known than Harry Reid does. Harry Reid has recently said that Mitt Romney has "sullied" the LDS faith and that Mitt is "not the face of Mormonism". It seems just the opposite to me, and Harry himself fits that description better than Mitt Romney does.

6 posted on 10/06/2012 6:34:38 AM PDT by Reddon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Reddon

That’s because, first, foremost and always, the socialist ideology trumps everything else [no matter your gender, race, religion, age, infirmity, sexual orientation, etc, etc of the progressive superstructure].


7 posted on 10/06/2012 6:40:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Reddon

I was born and raised a Catholic. I’ve thought for a long time that if I was 25 years old again that I would much rather be on a deserted island with a bunch of co-eds from BYU than a bunch of sluts from Georgetown.


8 posted on 10/06/2012 6:42:50 AM PDT by PeteyBoy (The fence--Build it and they won't come!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: svcw

>>mormonISM is not a bizarre branch off shoot of Christianity, there is nothing in Christianity to offshoot that would lead to mormonism, mormonism is made up out of the mind of a shyster.<<

Agreed — I was sort of dancing here. LDS is closer to scientology than Christianity.

My point is it doesn’t matter to how Romney will run the country. From that perspective LDS is probably a tiny bit better than scientology.


9 posted on 10/06/2012 6:49:37 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (We canÂ’t just leave it (food choice) up to the parents. -- moochele obozo 2/12/2012 (cnsnews))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Well, I wouldn’t say, as the author of this piece did, that having Romney was “comforting,” but I’m going to vote for him because

1) he is the lesser of the two evils (which is usually the choice we have when voting for candidates), and

2) he would be the better of the two candidates in order to have the “best moral soil on which the freedom to believe and disbelieve can actually function,” (Ravi Zacharias quote), and thus, hopefully, have a Christian voice.

I also believe in the sovereignty of God and that America is in great peril, resulting from her turning away from God and His only revealed Way unto salvation from our sins, our lawless ways and deeds, which we continue to not only do, but justify doing.

The Bible says we are headed for judgment. Just as with His people Israel and Judah so long ago, there comes a point when there is “no remedy” for sin.

I do not see the solution to our problems as political or economic or even social, the solution is to individually turn from our wicked ways and believe (trust) in God’s provision of His only begotten Son, the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, for the forgiveness of our sins.

He only is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.


10 posted on 10/06/2012 6:50:00 AM PDT by TurkeyLurkey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PeteyBoy
I would much rather be on a deserted island with a bunch of co-eds from BYU than a bunch of sluts from Georgetown.

In the interest of full disclosure and accuracy, can you post pics of those groups? Just so we can evaluate your opinion...

;)

11 posted on 10/06/2012 6:52:35 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (We canÂ’t just leave it (food choice) up to the parents. -- moochele obozo 2/12/2012 (cnsnews))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: PeteyBoy
I would much rather be on a deserted island with a bunch of co-eds from BYU than a bunch of sluts from Georgetown.

i guess it's no fluke

12 posted on 10/06/2012 6:57:57 AM PDT by TheRightGuy (I want MY BAILOUT ... a billion or two should do!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
Mitt Romney served his LDS mission in France, and he certainly became more sophisticated by living in France for over two years.

This brought a chuckle. Does this mean he learned how to waive a white flag?

13 posted on 10/06/2012 8:37:20 AM PDT by aimhigh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

Well, if R can run America as well as Utah apparently is, I don’t care if he is a Mormon.

I live in AZ and make frequent trips to UT and at present am up in Salt Lake City. EVERYWHERE I go there is building going on and the depression (small “d”) does seem as evident here as it is elsewhere. Going out for dinner, the places and parking lots are always crowded. It’s a marvel to me to see this kind of prosperity when compared to what I see in Nevada and read about conditions elsewhere.

Not a Mormon and don’t believe a lot of their stuff - (especially resent the clannishness, having lived among ‘em these past 15 years) but still don’t hold his religion against him.

It comes to mind as to how far the Democratic Party has fallen. There was some concern when a Catholic president was elected (JFK) and everyone thought he’d favor his religion while in power. He didn’t, and heard complaints from that sector. Fast forward today and we have this closet Muslim doing all he can to help his boys. I don’t think that will happen with R, although no doubt, the pressure will be applied.


14 posted on 10/06/2012 9:29:56 AM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003

“Agreed — I was sort of dancing here. LDS is closer to scientology than Christianity.”

I fully agree with that statement and have held that position for some time. Joseph Smith was the 19th Century’s flim-flam man just as L. Ron Hubbard is the 20th Century’s. Both are false, both “evil” because they knew they were peddling snakeoil.

Personnally, I am trying to avoid bashing Mr. Romney over his Mormonism. I know it WILL affect how he governs...as Mr. Obama’s beliefs (whatever they may be today) affect him.

I am not voting for either man. However, I must admit I am starting to admire Mitt Romney as being a very clever politician (in the best sense) since he diced and sliced Mr. Obama in the debate....it was a thing of beauty. So, I am sort of “for” Mr. Romney (base SOLELY on a good debate), but I cannot bring myself to vote for him. Should he win, I cannot take credit for it and any good he MAY produce....but I cannot take blame for any ill he MAY also produce.

IF he wins, then I hope conservatives can keep his “Mormonism” in check (and not so latent liberal tendencies). Of course, it is impossible to keep Mr. Obama in check....he is too wishy washy.


15 posted on 10/06/2012 3:16:00 PM PDT by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: PeteyBoy

“I was born and raised a Catholic. I’ve thought for a long time that if I was 25 years old again that I would much rather be on a deserted island with a bunch of co-eds from BYU than a bunch of sluts from Georgetown.”

Correct!

Where on a desert island could one find anything large enough to boil a Georgetown slut in? After all, there are certainly no arm length rubber glove vendors on desert islands, are there?


16 posted on 10/06/2012 3:35:54 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
This question takes on a greater sense of importance with recent reports that the de facto American political truce against attacks on a candidate's religion has been breached by means of a telephone campaign slandering Romney's Mormonism.

I just HATE when stuff like that happens!



Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).
Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).
 
 
 
Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).
 
 
 
Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).
 
 
 
Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses
, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).
 
 
President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).
 
 
 
James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).
 
 
 
President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).
 
 
 
More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).
 
 
 
President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).
 
 
President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).


Of course; MORMONism might have changed it's mind since then.

If it has; I'm quite sure that our resident MORMONs on FR will let us know.

Either posting the evidence itself or at least some links to it.

17 posted on 10/06/2012 7:10:16 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
But thinking that Jesus is Satan’s brother and He trod Mesoamerica or wearing funny writing on underwear doesn’t mean anything to how a President governs.

Oh?

When faced with the preponderence of evidence that MORMONism is rife with false teachings about Christianity and still clinging to it; tells ME something about discernment.

18 posted on 10/06/2012 7:12:17 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Reddon
...I have never been able to quite come to grips with Harry Reid being a Mormon.

Harry says that MORMONism made HIM a DEMOCRAT!

19 posted on 10/06/2012 7:13:57 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: aimhigh
Mitt Romney served his LDS mission in France, and he certainly became more sophisticated by living in France for over two years.

Class; for extra points; do some research and find out just where his SONS have served a mission.

20 posted on 10/06/2012 7:15:58 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson