Mitt Romney

[rapunzel]

I'm not trying to stir the pot, but when I read the mention of cult I had to check it out. It is listed on www.cultwatch.com and this is what they state about the religion:

Taken from this link: http://www.cultwatch.com/mormon.html

What they will tell you:
Mormons are Christians. (Mormons want very much to be recognised as a normal Christian denomination.)

What they won't tell you:
They believe that God is just an exalted man.

They believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers.

They believe we can become gods ourselves.

They believe that Mormon women are to be pregnant for eternity populating their own planets.

Absolutely no archeological evidence for the Book of Mormon has been discovered (except for the part that was copied straight from the King James Bible).

Over 4000 changes have been made to the Book of Mormon since it was first published - a far cry from what Smith called "The most correct book on earth."

I'm just curious if this is true or if they are blowing certain small, isolated, or one time issues up into something bigger?

This is a link to the website for the documentary I talked about earlier.

http://www.pbs.org/mormons/

You can watch the documentary online, and because it's Frontline there is a lot of other information -- history, common questions, etc. Keeping in mind CCK's comments about objectivity, I think it's worth a look if you are really interested in learning more. I found it enlightening.

But learn more out of intellectual curiosity, because it's completely un-American to evaluate him as a candidate based on his religion.

 

[NoHall]

See blue above for my comments

CCK, thanks for your diplomacy and patience, and I hope we will be sensitive if you don't want to run this gauntlet! I've always respected your posts, and respect you even more for the answers you've been giving on this thread.

 

[Camp Creek Kid]

CCK, thanks for your diplomacy and patience, and I hope we will be sensitive if you don't want to run this gauntlet! I've always respected your posts, and respect you even more for the answers you've been giving on this thread.

NoHall,

Thanks. Nothing anyone says will offend me. I'm proud of who I am and proud of my religion because it teaches me how to be a better person and gives meaning and focus to my life. Religion is a matter of the soul and cannot be proved or disproved intellectually. We should all feel free to learn about each other's faiths and when it is done in the spirit of goodwill and understanding, our world becomes a better place.

 

[NoHall]

NoHall,

Thanks. Nothing anyone says will offend me. I'm proud of who I am and proud of my religion because it teaches me how to be a better person and gives meaning and focus to my life. Religion is a matter of the soul and cannot be proved or disproved intellectually. We should all feel free to learn about each other's faiths and when it is done in the spirit of goodwill and understanding, our world becomes a better place.

I may be old-school protestant, but I'm not into witch hunts!

I'm reading the link Punzy sent; it will take me a while, but I may have some questions... (And I may PM you about them. It gets so sticky when it's on the board.)

 

[Smiling JOe]

sowalgayboi - black text
sj - red text

I'm not trying to stir the pot, but when I read the mention of cult I had to check it out. It is listed on www.cultwatch.com and this is what they state about the religion:

Taken from this link: http://www.cultwatch.com/mormon.html

What they will tell you:
Mormons are Christians. (Mormons want very much to be recognised as a normal Christian denomination.)

What they won't tell you: actually, I recall a recent interview with a Mormon, and they said all of this.

They believe that God is just an exalted man. Is that so far removed from people believing that Jesus, once a man, is God?

They believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Don't most preachers preach a similar belief that good and evil exists in all of us, and that Satan often wears a shiny robe?

They believe we can become gods ourselves. Maybe this idea directs people into the thought that we can all live a pure path, and are much stronger than we may think we are. If they taught that people are all low life scum, that wouldn't give people much to ambition to do right.

They believe that Mormon women are to be pregnant for eternity populating their own planets. This is an interesting one, but in the church in which I was raised, it doesn't stray too far from the concept that sexual intercourse should be for procreation only, and any feelings of lust are wrong. (...and we wonder why are kids are screwed up when it comes to sex) If you look at this idea from a purely scientific statistical point, it doesn't seem to weird. If we stopped procreating, the human population would die off very quickly.

Absolutely no archeological evidence for the Book of Mormon has been discovered (except for the part that was copied straight from the King James Bible).

Over 4000 changes have been made to the Book of Mormon since it was first published - a far cry from what Smith called "The most correct book on earth."

I'm just curious if this is true or if they are blowing certain small, isolated, or one time issues up into something bigger?

Do the Mormons claim that the Book of Mormon was discovered, or recently written? I have no idea.

We have no idea how many changes have been made to the Bible, so as long as we are comparing the two, lets keep a little balance.

As for CCK's comment that during the times of Jesus walking on Earth, Christianity could also be viewed as a cult, I agree. I see that we (people in general) tend to think of any unfamiliar religion as a Cult. We may not feel comfortable saying so, and the thought may be subtle, but I believe the thought is there. We want to believe that "our" religion is the "right" religion.

 

[Bob]

If you're going to dish the bull, you better be able to master it first. Saw Trump on CNBC.....said revenge is ok in business. What a fine example for all the kiddies out there.

 

[Mango]

We should all feel free to learn about each other's faiths and when it is done in the spirit of goodwill and understanding, our world becomes a better place.

Someone once told me that God created different religions so we could learn more about one another, so whether you believe or not, at the very least if it brings communication and respect, then something good comes out of it.

MANgo and I don't have time to go back to school, but we have pow wows over small meals with the laptop and try to learn more about different subjects on-line. Ironically, we were reading about religions since a family member has taken interest in one. One thing led to another and we realized how little we knew about LDS. I have to admit that reading Wikipedia wasn't the best way to truly understand the LDS. As great as the internet is for communication and education, one has to learn how to sort through truth, fiction and extremist opinion. Punzy, thanks for the link, I know I will watch the PBS show.

Personally a candidates religion doesn't matter to me as long as they can separate church and state objectively.

getting back to Romney as a candidate, he wasn't really someone I had paid much attention to frankly until now. On his web site, he has a Romney plan about Confronting Radical Jihadism. I do not know much about the military, but he states he wants to create a special partnership force. Do we not have divisions of the military already in place with these particular skills? Then there's this portion:
Launch A New Type Of Marshall Plan Unifying Nonmilitary Sources Of Power To Support Moderate Muslims. As President, Governor Romney will call together our Middle East allies and the major nations of the developed world to establish a "Partnership for Progress and Prosperity."

It's rather vague. Does anyone have any additional information regarding this and what are your opinions? Someone told me that he did indeed have a grip on what was needed in the Middle East and that his plan is more strategic than tactical.

 

[seacrestkristi]

It just doesn't feel right to me to debate/discuss religion under a candidate's thread? I don't like witch hunts either, NoHall.
If we truly want to learn about specific religions they should be worthy of their own threads. Thanks for teaching us some, CCK.

 

[Smiling JOe]

If you're going to dish the bull, you better be able to master it first. Saw Trump on CNBC.....said revenge is ok in business. What a fine example for all the kiddies out there.

What is surprising about that? Trump is all about power and money, not values, morals and ethics.

 

[seacrestkristi]

It's not surprising but it is a disgusting example of greed and uncaringness to your fellow man/woman, not to mention, your own wellness. What a terrible way to live. I bet he's not really a happy camper, like at a campground either. Hey, that was my own 'deep thought'.