[an error occurred while processing this directive]

LATEST LETTERS

Paul Campos & Mitt Romney

Thursday, October 25 at 2:00 PM

Thomas A. Whipple of Centennial writes:

Paul Campos in his opinion piece, “Romney’s odd view of ‘faith,” (Rocky Mountain News, October 16) stated: “He \[Romney\] believes in various doctrines which, in the eyes of orthodox Christians, are abominable heresies.” Synonyms of “abominable” are such words as “detestable,” “hateable,” “horrid,” “loathsome,” “offensive,” “repugnant,” etc.(SeeWebster’s Collegiate Thesaurus.)Two ofthe so called “abominable”
doctrines that seem to setmembers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian religionsis thebelief that Jesus Christ has a body, the very body he was resurrected with, an event thatis believed in and celebrated by all Christians on Easter!The other is that Jesus Christ and God the Father are separate beings asdemonstrated by Christ when heinstructed his discipleshow to pray. It is a prayer that all Christians recite and it begins, “Our Father which art in heaven...
"They are Christ’s word and his use of the pronoun “our” demonstratesthat he is praying to his Father in Heaven and the disciples Father in Heaven(and our’s. At the time,Christ was residing on earth and was praying to his Father who was residing in heaven, obviously two separate personages in two separate locations. These are just two of the detestable” loathsome,” “offensive,” and repugnant” doctrines that Romney believe in as well as each Latter-day Saint and that Campos is stating other Christians call heresies. Incidentally,Latter-day Saints once practiced the doctrine of polygamy, as did the old testament prophets and leaders of ancient Isreal Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon among others where plural wives was divinely an accepted and approved order of matrimony.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Mormons believe in multiple wives. Prove me wrong.

Posted by rick on October 25, 2007 02:28 PM

I'm a Mormon and every time I'm asked how many wives I have, I tell them what my wife tells me: I have one more than I deserve.

Posted by Neal5x5 on October 25, 2007 04:08 PM

Thank God for "separation of church and state". If Romney can keep his religion (but not his opinions) out of the affairs of government, he'll make a far better president than the one we have now.

Posted by Stan B on October 25, 2007 04:26 PM

he other is that Jesus Christ and God the Father are separate beings asdemonstrated by Christ when heinstructed his discipleshow to pray...

They are Christ’s word and his use of the pronoun “our” demonstratesthat he is praying to his Father in Heaven and the disciples Father in Heaven(and our’s. At the time,Christ was residing on earth and was praying to his Father who was residing in heaven, obviously two separate personages in two separate locations. These are just two of the detestable” loathsome,” “offensive,” and repugnant” doctrines that Romney believe in as well as each Latter-day Saint and that Campos is stating other Christians call heresies.

Unfortunately, Mr. Whipple doesn't understand the usage of "person" and "being" in Christian theology. He's using them interchangeably. Christian theology does not do this. Rather, a "person" is a subsistence within a single Being. It would help his case if he would bother to acquaint himself with the opposing position. There is a vast literature on this of which he could avail himself.

Mormonism teaches that the Father's name is "Elohim" and that he is not only a separate being, but he is a being with a physical body. Mormons are polytheists. Christians are monotheists and teach that God the Father and the Son (along with the Spirit) are three subsistences within one Being, such that if one of them is not fully God, then God Himself does not exist. They believe in a Trinity, not a Triad, one God, not three separate gods.

So, yes, when Romney minimizes this difference and pretends that he's just as much a Christian as anybody who ascribes to classical Christian theism itself, this does, in point of fact, trivialize and misrepresent the differences between Christians and Mormons, which I might add, Mormons until very recently themselves stressed themselves. It insults not only historical Christianity but historical Mormonism.

Posted by GeneMBridges on October 26, 2007 07:49 PM