In case any did not see this where you live.
From The Dallas Morning News
A prominent Dallas minister told his congregation that if they wanted to elect a Christian to the White House, Republican Mitt Romney wasn't qualified. Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, said Mormonism is a false religion and that Mr. Romney was not a Christian. "Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise," Dr. Jeffress said in a sermon on Sept. 30. "Even though he talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult."
Some in the large crowd began to applaud as Dr. Jeffress continued with his remarks. "What really distresses me is some of my ministerial friends and even leaders in our convention are saying, 'Oh, well, he talks about Jesus, we talk about Jesus. What's the big deal,' " he said. "It is a big deal if anybody names another way to be saved except through Jesus Christ."
But wait... it gets better...
Mr. Romney's campaign said Wednesday that,"Despite the differences in theology, voters across the country are more concerned with whether or not Governor Romney has the same values that they do. We've found as we campaign throughout the country, voters don't care what kind of church Governor Romney goes to, but they care that he has faith and that his values are as American as anybody's."
But what does Silver Tongue have to say about it?
Tuesday night on CNN's Larry King Live, popular Houston minister Joel Osteen said Mr. Romney's Mormon faith wouldn't affect whether he supported him or not. "I don't think that that would affect me," Mr. Osteen said. "I've heard him say that he believes Jesus is his savior, just like I do. I've studied it deeply, and maybe people don't agree with me, but I like to look at a person's value and what they stand for.
Back to Jeffress...
"I have conservative friends who are saying, well, he believes in Jesus, we believe in Jesus, let's just hold hands and sing kumbaya," he said. "It doesn't work that way. If a person is supporting Romney, that's fine. But don't confuse him with being a Christian." Dr. Jeffress also said Christian conservatives were compromising the values used to back presidential candidates over the past decade. "It's a little hypocritical for the last eight years to be talking about how important it is for us to elect a Christian president and then turn around and endorse a non-Christian," he said. "Christian conservatives are going to have to decide whether having a Christian president is really important or not."
What do you think?
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12 comments:
First off, I love Jeffress. He's always made very clear statements about modern Christianity and thr truth of God's Word.
Second, he's right. Romney isn't a Christian, just like Glenn Beck. What evangelicals who believe it is their God-given purpose to reform America while letting the church devolve into chaos need to decide is whether that's an issue for them.
Third, I'm not voting for Romney. Heck, I never voted for Bush. I was always an Alan Keyes fan. He may wind up being my write-in this time around too. I'm voting for someone who God will be pleased with rather than the person who is most likely to be able to stand against Hillary.
Lastly, Osteen for President!!!!
For me, this is part of a bigger problem that involves faith and politics. Would I be more apt to vote for a Christian candidate over a non-Christian one if they share the same views? Sure.
However, the church should not be a campaign stop. I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with conservatism and republicanism becoming synonymous with Christianity.
Would I vote for Romney in a general election? Sure. Is he my favorite candidate? No. (I happen to like Fred Thompson who doesn't openly talk about his faith, though he is a believer).
PS: Mike Huckabee drives me nuts.
Settle in...this will be lengthy. I like Romney. Here are the reasons.
1. He's a former Governor. The office of the President of the US is executive. I'm not crazy about a senator being president.
2. He's a venture capitalist. He has been extremely successful in business. He loves the free markets and capitalism...that's a very "conservative" ideal.
3. No hint of scandal. He has been married to the same woman for over 30 years...he has a lot of kids. He's a family man.
4. He is pro-life.
5. He is pro-military.
6. He is against amnesty and illegal immigration.
7. He's against BIG government
Having said this. I'm still not sure I will vote for him. I'm still waiting and watching. Heck, the election is still 14 months away.
Yes, I know Romney is a Mormon. But, will his Mormonism make a difference in the way he runs this country? I'm not sure. Clinton claimed to be a Christian while he served in office. Did he "run" the country as a Christian? Are we more concerned with a title than substance? Clinton carried the moniker. Did he act like it?
My fear is this. If Romney wins the nomination and runs against Hilary, and yes, it will be Hilary, and the Christian "right" does not back him and votes right-in or a third party, what kind of shape will we be in then? I know that Hillary, like her husband, claims to be a Christian. So what. I don't want her running the country. In fact, the way I see it, Romney acts more "Christian" than she does.
As far as the other candidates, they all tout their Christian beliefs. McCain - democrat wearing an elephant pin - forget him. Thompson - I like him but his record with marriages isn't so great. Giuliani - pro-abortion, pro-homosexual agenda, pro-amnesty, pro-socialized health care...hmmmm...doesn't sound much different than Clinton. Huckabee - very conservative and a faithful Christian but can he win? We'll have to wait and see.
Folks, before you get all crazy on me, I do believe that faith matters. Ask Daniel. He and I went several rounds about this. I want a conservative Christian in the White House. But we certainly don't need a socialist, communist, week minded, tax raising, left wing, tree hugging, liberal nut job in there either.
Whoever wins the Republican nomination, conservatives, in my most humble opinion, need to back him all the way. A third party candidate will not win.
Bush "claims" to be a christian too, what do you have to say about that?
Rob,
Our main textbook is New Testament Greek for Beginners (Second Edition) by Machen an McCartney.
The original writer (Machen) was a professor at Westminster Theological and wrote the book in 1923. The man who sits in his seat now (McCartney) revised it. It's pretty good.
Undecided at this time about who I will vote for in the primary, I will vote for the Republican nominee in the general election. I am interested to know why Huckabee drives Daniel crazy. I heard someone else make a negative comment about him, but no reason was given.
With that said, I too am uncomfortable with conservative Republicans being synonymous with Christianity. Theocracy didn't work for the Jews, it sure doesn't work for Islam, and it won't work for us. I recently watched a PBS special titled "History of Disbelief." I had never seen an apologetic for athiesm--which they now prefer to call disbelief, because they can't really verify that there is no God, so want label their lack of belief in God as disbelief.
One man on th program said that he believed that there are some people in the world who would like to have a Christian Ayotollah.
A philosopher, named Colin McGinnis, (I think that is his name), said he wished there was a God, because life offers no justice. I wonder if he might be closer to the kingdom than he knows.
That takes me back to conservatism and Christianity. Political justice and Christian justice are not the same. We live in two worlds. What we must remember is that one will pass away. The other is eternal.
FWIW
I must admit, I know about as much politics right as I do diesel mechanics. Being in seminary where I’m learning to engage the world has an ironic ability to segregate you from the world at the same time. So don’t put too much stock in what I’m about to say.
What I’ve seen of Huckabee, I love. But I agree with Clay… He won’t win. He can’t. He’s too verbal about his beliefs. That will not fly in the religious relativism known as America. So if Romney wins the general election Christians will be put into a pickle. Do we vote for Clinton (read: liberal) OR do we vote for Romney (read: quasi-religious)? I’m going to have to decide do I want a Mormon running things or a baby-killing, anti-family, make-love-not-war candidate. Again I agree with you guys in that historically not much “faith” has filtered its way down through the ranks of the Presidency. I mean one can see the underpinnings of their beliefs but day-to-day the President is not portrayed as being a true believer or an avid ‘disbeliever.’
So does it then turn to Morals? If so then I’m voting on the person that will strengthen the family, honor marriage and not glorify divorce, save the babies, protect our country from threats, understand how much healthcare costs a single-income youth pastor, and keep their legislation out of my church.
When multiple choice is [A] or [A] there really is not much option right?
This may be an odd-sounding side note, but maybe what the church needs is a little government interference. A little persecution may do us some good. After all, Jesus pretty much guaranteed that if we look like Him, the world wouldn't like us.
I'm just saying....
Then get ready, Jeffress' comments are only adding fuel to the "Pastors shall not speak out against hate crimes" fire.
Pretty soon Bobby you won't be able to call sin, sin.
The biggest problem, in my opinion, is not the government telling the church they can't speak out against sin. Rather the biggest issue is that the church isn't calling sin sin right now.
Yeah, we'll call out homosexuals and abortion activists, but we overlook a lot of other stuff like divorce, lust, unforgiveness, and a host of other sins.
Who needs the government to tell us to stop when we aren't doing it anyway?
Don't get me wrong, I don't want Hillary or any other big government feminazi telling me what to do, but we know from history that the church has flourished the most in times of hardship.
Robert,
It came in the mail. Melana loved it! Thanks so much...it means a lot.
When we speak of political candidates speaking or not speaking against evil, and then I begin to think about what evil really is, the bottom line evil is denial that Jesus is the Son of God or embracing any other way to God than Him. That is the final dividing place. I just heard an ad on the radio that Jehovah's Witnesses would call evil. It was a Red Cross ad that said, "If you ever need my blood, I will give it."
In the meantime, I tend to think that we might have to join with people (with whom we don't have common Christian beliefs), in order to achieve another goal. Francis Schaeffer called that being co-belligerents.
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