Posted by
Zapper on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:36:14 AM
Frank,
I am so impressed with the opportunity you’ve opened for a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe you have some sincere concerns.
As a member, I can’t imagine the L.D.S. church ever
sanctioning members ever asking a “Christian” to “compromise her/his
faith”. In truth, we are taught very
carefully never to discuss any other faith in a negative way, EVER. Some of us do, but not sanctioned by the Church
or leaders. In fact, the Church teaches
us there is good & good people in all faiths. This is fact, the teaching.
No Mormon in their right mind should care who/who does not
vote for Romney. I’m certain many
Mormons will not be voting for him. Some
may actually not agree w/me on this, but then the Church would not agree w/them.
What does disturb ALL
Mormons (a nickname given to the Church by hateful evangelicals in the 1800s)
is that our church has been brought into a national election scene by some
evangelicals as a negative attribute of a candidate. It’s so contradictory to what Mormons are
taught. I voted for both Bushes who are
Southern Baptists, religious affinity never even a thought. My mother voted for JFK, & it was never a
thought. But, suddenly, here comes every
bit of hate for the Mormon Church from some evangelicals.
I grew up in California,
joined the Mormon Church at age 15. I
had no clue about the hate some evangelicals have toward the Mormon Church
until attending a conference in Salt Lake City
in the 1960s. One morning, I saw someone
putting literature under windshield wiper blades of cars parked along streets
surrounding Temple Square. Someone in our group suggested I remove one
& read it. It was filled w/some
pretty strange, bigoted stuff about the church I’d recently joined. In those days, I had no idea who was behind
this, just that someone did it.
Californians don’t typically take this kind of behavior lightly. We pretty much say what we think, no matter
what. Frankly, I was offended. From a very early age, I knew that the Mormon
Church was a Christian faith. I also had
a clear understanding that Christians are not to judge others, say bad things
about others.
At 17-19, I spent 2 years on a building construction mission
for the L.D.S. Church
in Utah, mostly in rural
communities. I can’t recall ever seeing
any activity as I’ve described during that time. Then attended BYU for 7 years, returning home
during the summers to work, never seeing it.
My wife & I married in `71, moved to San Diego. In `75, we moved to College
Station, TX, in the Bible Belt. Reading the newspaper one day, my wife said,
“Wow! Look at this!” There it was, in
print . . . hate toward our church.
Since that time, living in Missouri,
we’ve seen it many times. Out of
curiosity, we even purposely attended a 4-hour hate meeting at a local Southern
Baptist Church, “Mormon Awareness Night”.
It was incredible. Just plain
bigotry, much like we’d seen some people behave toward persons of color, or
Jewish people. Over the years, we’ve
wondered why, & have developed our own thoughts.
“As Christians, our deepest allegiance and commitment is to
Jesus Christ and His Word. We are Christians first, Americans second and
conservatives third—and we’ll support the Republican Party as long as it
maintains fidelity to our deepest core values.” I'm thankful that you feel this
way. This is precisely what we admonish,
not as Mormons, but my wife and me.
Actually, when we’re interviewed by our minister for a temple recommend,
he must ask the question, “Do you obey the laws of the land?” Answering that
question correctly, no matter in which country a Mormon lives, is a
requirement.
A Mormon’s “whole Christian life is (not) spent fighting to
maintain a prominent place for the Christian worldview in the market place of
ideas against the forces of secularism that would seek to silence that
voice”. We are only expected to keep the
commandments, continuously repent as needed, & live & spread the
gospel. We’re not expected to “maintain
a prominent place” for any organization, but only for ourselves (as individuals)
with God. The Mormon Church doesn’t
support any candidate for president of the United
States.
It is, however, evidenced by public record that most Mormons are
Republicans at this time. I vote for the
person. My wife, however, votes for who
she perceives as the Democrat loser in the primaries, and for her choice of
Republicans in November. Sort of her
“double-whammy”.
Do you think it might be even a slim possibility for the
potential that Mormons could have a special website dedicated to saying
negative things about evangelical “Christians”?
I’ve never seen one, & it certainly would not be approved/sanctioned
by the Mormon Church. In fact, if Mormon
Church leadership discovered it, this might be grounds for disfellowship or
excommunication of author(s). You’re
just not going to ever see it. What I’ve
seen in surfing internet blogs & quotes from evangelicals about my church
could be called anything but “soft censorship”.
It is just plain bigotry, “short- or long-step”. I don’t see any articles out there where
“Christianity” is defending itself in this time of election campaigning, do
you? Well, maybe your article?
You accurately state, “If I was a Mormon I would relish the
opportunity to talk about what my religion teaches in the public square, and
what better opportunity to get the message out than when a Mormon is running
for president?” Are you suggesting this is why Romney is running for
president? I’ve mentioned this
possibility to my wife, but it’s hard to imagine anyone would take missionary
work so seriously. He’s got a lot more
courage than I do to run for office.
Please try to see my opinion of what’s clearly happening . . . some
evangelicals have raised the question so loudly, bringing our church to the
attention of the media that this seems to be happening anyway. In other words, they’ve brought it on
themselves. What you say is precisely
correct. Instead of feeling guilty for
not being good missionaries, as we’re asked to do by our church leaders,
there’s a swell of nonmembers now seeking us out to answer their questions
about our church. Believe me, we had
nothing to do w/this! But it’s suddenly
very exciting to see so much interest.
Had evangelicals just left it alone, as they perhaps did when a Quaker
was elected, this may not have happened.
I’ve looked at www.lds.org since it was invented. Bigotry implies intolerance, an un-American
behavior. I’ve never seen an ounce of it
at that website. Let readers explore for
themselves. If you think this, you
haven't explored it yourself. I'm a
university professor. Had my students
reviewed a document & made such a conclusion, they would fail an exam.
Romney’s not going to talk about his personal beliefs, or
Mormon doctrine. We observed the effect
of another candidate’s sincere personal beliefs yesterday in one of his
television ads. I respect him for his
beliefs, but it’s not appropriate for any candidate/president to eschew his
personal beliefs on the national population.
That’s why Romney will never talk about these things, before or
after. His behavior in this regard was
demonstrated when governor of Massachusetts.
I like your example of “equality and rights”. Not until moving to the Bible Belt did I
completely understand this issue. We
have a street named “Division Street”
in our town. A building manager for a
local “Christian” church explained to me that the congregation was divided by
the sanctuary’s center aisle until the 1970s, northern (abolitionist)
sympathizers in one side, southern on the opposite. In 1907, not just a few people, but a
majority or over 6,000 men & boys surrounded a Statue of Liberty replica in
the Town Square to watch
the lynching of 3 black men accused of raping a white woman, then dropped into
a bonfire below, after which they were acquitted. Afterward, the sheriff shouted, “Okay boys,
you’ve had your fun. Now go on home!”
Even today, we have all-white & all-black evangelical churches in our town. One of my 1st questions when I joined the
Mormon Church was, “Why can’t black men hold the priesthood?” No member had an
answer, or even does now. We've always
gotten very excited when black people have attended our church, no matter where
we've lived. It was just not yet
revealed that they should. I never spoke
to a Mormon who didn’t feel sadly about this pre-1978 policy, but they just
accepted it, just as we and some evangelicals accept baptism by immersion. For all Mormons I’ve ever met, it was an
elation when it was revealed to President Spencer W. Kimball that all worthy
male members could be ordained.
“Theologically, Mormons and Christians share almost nothing
in common . . . .” You may be correct.
No intelligent Mormon would agree that we are “Christians” although I
think “almost nothing” is a little extreme.
I’ve had many close friends as evangelicals. I never choose to argue w/them but, instead,
ask them about their beliefs. It’s
surprising how much we do agree on, theologically. The puzzling thing is that they so often
disagree w/each other, or even w/their ministers. When they seriously disagree with their
ministers on a point of doctrine or practice, they simply move to a more
compatible congregation, church, minister.
“As far as it is translated correctly” doesn’t diverge from
what’s occurred anywhere in Christendom today.
How many translations of the Bible have been published over the past 20
years? And before that? One of my Baptist ancestors was burned at the
stake in New England for publishing a new translation of
the Bible. Did Joseph Smith do anything
different than provide a tweaked translation, just as many modern translations
by different Protestants?
There’s no point in debating Mormon doctrines delineated
next in your article, or references to them in the Bible. You know them as well as me.
Before or after inauguration, Romney or not, the world will
“in fact hear volumes from Salt Lake City”. That will never end because Mormons believe
it’s a commandment to spread the gospel “until every ear will hear, every knee
shall bow to Christ”. Romney as candidate
has nothing to do w/it. Harry Reid,
Democrat Senate majority leader believes/practices the same. His 2 sons have fulfilled 2-year missions as
well. He recently spoke to over 20,000
BYU students, bearing his testimony w/great fervor.
For all of us, one thing is certain. I don’t want to see Bill Clinton living in
the White House or Oval Office EVER again!
I’m sure everything had to be sanitized when he moved out. Why go to that expense again? I am hoping, as I think you are, for a
conservative who will cut expenses and taxes; somehow salvage medicare and
social security, bring our soldiers home, try to preserve peace in the world,
restore us as a beacon to the world, be a role model in the White House,
somehow get D.C. government to work together, be assertive, figure out how to
get the media to support our national interests. I really don’t care about her/his
religion. I know we are subject to the
same God no matter what His image. I
pray that, if Romney is elected, you will soon realize that he will be no
threat to your church, that he will do nothing to disrespect his office or the
people of our nation. It is most
important to me that you understand that, if he did, he would be
disfellowshipped or excommunicated from the Mormon Church.
Steve