I see Huckabee is making some interesting comments about Romney...
breitbart.com
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"
And the response from the Mormon side??
The authoritative Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, does not refer to Jesus and Satan as brothers. It speaks of Jesus as the son of God and of Satan as a fallen angel, which is a Biblical account.
A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Huckabee's question is usually raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine.
"We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the father of all," said the spokeswoman, Kim Farah. "That means that all beings were created by God and are his spirit children. Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh and we worship him as the son of God and the savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for."
This is going to prove an interesting problem for Romney and the Republicans, who depend heavily on the christian vote... But I think Huckabee is taking a serious risk here and creating the impression that he's trying to disparage Romney's mormon beliefs..
But is what Huckabee saying about those beliefs true?
Yes.. Mormons do believe that Satan is the Second born of God (Jesus was first). I attended Mormon seminary sessions in High School (for the affections of a mormon girl and this is what I was taught.. ;0) According to Mormon theology, they are brothers. In fact, Mormons believe we are ALL brothers and sisters of Jesus and Satan, since God and his entourage of multiple wives each gave birth to our souls. We are all God's "children", literally, not just rhetorically.
Mormon history of polygamy:
signaturebookslibrary.org
Mormon "plan of salvation":
lightplanet.com
en.wikipedia.org
And a bit more "biased" link, but one which contains quotes from early mormon leadership about Jesus and Lucifer:
luciferlink.org
So.. (and my comments are NOT meant to be derogatory towards his, or any other mormon's religious beliefs.. I'm just stating the facts..) this raises the question of Mitt Romney's political vulnerabilities in both the primaries, and should he win, the national election. Does he really think that some political "demolition" squad isn't going to bring up the very points that Huckabee is starting to voice?
What happens, if he wins, when some democratically affiliated group just happens to bring up some of the other controversial LDS beliefs, such as being an exalted human being, or that most mormons believe that they will become "Gods" of their own worlds, populating them with their own embodied "spirit children"?? Will the American people be able to handle having a President who firmly believes he will someday become a God and have his own world to populate?
But most importantly, with respect to the vote of the Christian constituency, what happens when they find out that the mormon church teaches that only mormons are worthy of achieving the highest level of heaven (they believe in 3 levels of heaven)??
Does he really think he'll be able to avoid dealing with the questions of his mormon beliefs?
And should he become the Republican candidate, how will he deal with such a democratic "unveiling" of his religious beliefs..
To be fair.. it's not Romney's fault.. The LDS church, since its inception, has attempted to gloss over many of its more controversial religious doctrines. From ending their practice of polygamy in exchange for statehood, to accepting Blacks to the Priesthood (one of the necessary earthly "ordinances" required for ascending to "godhood"), to the early beliefs that God, being a physical being, actually had physical sex with Mary in conceiving Jesus, the Mormon leadership has attempted to make their faith more palatable to the religious mainstream..
So this puts the Republican leadership in a bind.. Romney is very popular, but IMO, he cannot win because his religious beliefs, once made public by any democratic "dirty tricks" operation, will find himself alienated from the largest Republican constituency, Christians...
Which brings up a second point.. Would the American elect a "President Huckabee".. After all, what's in a name, right??
So my bet is that Fred Thompson campaign is going to get a revival sometime soon... But Huckabee is paving the way by finally bringing up some of those religious vulnerabilities facing Romney before the Democrats get the opportunity to do so in the national elections..
Once again, though.. I could care less what Mormons believe.. It's their right to hold those beliefs and they shouldn't be ostracized for them.. But politics is a rough "winner take all" game and Huckabee's comments are likely to be only the opening shot in a coming barrage of questions about Romney's beliefs.
Just my opinion..
Hawk |
