In my article, 'The Republican Election' I pointed out that no one can reasonably deny that Ron Paul is the most conservative of all the candidates, not to mention being the only one who has a realistic plan for cutting America’s national debt. Moreover, he is also the only candidate who takes serious the need to interpret the constitution (especially the 10th amendment) through the lens of authorial intent. (For more about the 10th amendment and the importance of states' rights, see my article here.)
I also pointed out that one hugely overlooked problem with Romney's Mormonism is the simple issue of trustworthiness. Can a Mormon be trustworthy? As a former Mormon missionary for two years, it is probable that Romney will have been taught to lie about his movement. The culture of lying is deeply embedded in the Mormon church and forms a key component of the missionary training program that Romney will have attended at Brigham Young University. Mormons are literally trained to hide key facts about their sect’s teaching and are taught a variety of techniques to obscure the truth. Do Americans want someone with this background to be President? I don't want to be simplistic, nor to imply that this is the main problem with voting for Romney (it's not!) but the question is at least important to explore in more depth.
Further Reading
Further Reading
The Republican Election
3 comments:
Robin, could you expand on the Mormon-lying argument, with references? I respect your writing and would like to hear more on this.
In their training programs at Brigham Young they are taught to deny reason and to advance a subjective epistemology that is only selectively followed. They are also taught to never face the truth about what their sect actually teaches but instead to present themselves as basically another Christian group but one that has the fullness of the truth. And yet, the things they are taught to deny are right there in their own sacred documents. Here are some examples of doctrines from their writings that Mormon missionaries will deny their church teaches, taken from my chart at http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mormonism-and-the-Trinity.htm. If you share these doctrines with Mormons they will lie (because they have been taught to) and claim their church teaches no such thing:
“I will preach on the plurality of Gods…. I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when I have preach on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It has been preached by the Elders for fifteen years.” -- Joseph Smith, sermon, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7hmneja
“…they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth…. And they (the Gods) said: Let there be light; and there was light…. And they (the Gods) comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided, from the darkness. And the Gods called the light Day, and the darkness they called Night.”
-- The Pearl of Great Price, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7kpov5w
“and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you…”
-- Joseph Smith, sermon, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7hmneja
“Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God anyhow--three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization.”
-- Joseph Smith, sermon, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7hmneja
“Three personages composing the great presiding council of the universe have revealed themselves to man; (1) God the Eternal Father, (2) His Son, Jesus Christ; and (3) the Holy Ghost. That these three are separate individuals, physically distinct from each other, is very plainly proved by the accepted records of the divine dealings with man.”
-- James Talmage, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from his book The Articles of Faith, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7ycarcb
“Three separate personages: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, comprise the Godhead. As each of these persons is a God, it is evident, from this standpoint alone, that a plurality of Gods exists. To us, speaking in the proper finite sense, these three are the only Gods we worship. But in addition there is an infinite number of holy personages, drawn from worlds without number, who have passed on to exaltation and are thus gods.”
-- Bruce R. McConkie, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from his book Mormon Doctrine, pp. 576-577
“We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea…”
-- Joseph Smith, sermon, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7hmneja
“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man…”
-- Joseph Smith, sermon, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7hmneja
“If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way.”
-- Joseph Smith, sermon, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7hmneja
“The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.”
-- Doctrine and Covenants 130:22, available online at http://tinyurl.com/6s54m3c
“Therefore we know that both the Father and Son are in form and stature perfect men ; each of them possesses a tangible body.”
-- James Talmage, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from his book The Articles of Faith, available online at http://tinyurl.com/7ycarcb
“The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood - was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers…”
-- Journal of Discourses, vol. 8, available online at http://tinyurl.com/6oyuzwy
“The question has been, and is often, asked, who it was that begat the Son of the Virgin Mary…. When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost.”
-- Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, available online at http://tinyurl.com/6oyuzwy
“Christ was begotten by an Immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers."
-- Bruce R. McConkie, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from his book Mormon Doctrine, p. 547
“The fleshy body of Jesus required a mother as well as a Father. Therefore, the Father and Mother of Jesus according to the flesh, must have been associated together in the capacity of husband and wife."
-- Orson Pratt, an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, from his book The Seer, p. 158
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