Much has been made about the fact that Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon. The typical questions are “what do Mormons believe?” or “Will evangelicals vote for a Mormon?”
To find out what they believe, ask a Mormon or do a little research. As for evangelicals voting for a Mormon? Some aren’t going to. But most agree with Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Land says, “The fact that we don’t believe that Mormonism is a Christian faith doesn’t mean we would not vote for someone who is Mormon, if they are pro-life.”
Land also predicts that the fall will be full of specials and stories about the “weird” beliefs of Mormons.
I don’t know if he has the gift of prophecy, but CNN is already on it.
“Reporting” on Romney’s remarks following the Aurora shootings, CNN said:
Romney also left no doubt about his source material in his next line when he said, “The Apostle Paul explained – “Blessed be God who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.” He was quoting from 2 Corinthians 1:4 using the King James Version of the text, a translation favored by Mormons.
Oh. The. Horrors. The King James Version? We’re doomed.
I mean seriously, do they know nothing about the King James version of the Bible? Some 400 years after it was published in 1611, it remains the most popular version among evangelicals.
Those would be the same evangelicals that CNN wants Romney to have a problem with because he quoted the KJV.
The mind. It boggles.
As the King James Version hit its 400 anniversary last year, The Christian Post reported:
According to the recent study by LifeWay Research, 62 percent of American adults own a King James Version Bible and 82 percent of those who read the Bible at least once a month own a KJV.
Perhaps if the folks at CNN spent a little more time reading the Bible they’d note that the comparisons of the Scripture Romney quoted aren’t all that different:
2 Corinthians 1:4
The King James Version:
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
The New International Version:
Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
Still, if we overlook their Biblical illiteracy, aren’t these some of the same folks who were outraged at the attention paid to Obama’s pastor of 20 years, the anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-American Jeremiah Wright?
Over 50 years ago the debate was over the Catholicism of John F. Kennedy. I recall helping to clean out my Aunt’s house when she passed in 1983. I found a brochure entitled “Do we really want a Catholic for President?” I wish I’d had the foresight to keep that. But, I digress.
Does a President’s denomination really matter? These days, I’m a little more concerned about the denomination of the bills that used to be in my wallet before Obama was elected.
I’m an evangelical. And while I will admit that while Mormon theology can have a tendency to weird me out, I’m not voting for a pastor.
What I know about Mormons is that they’re moral, good citizens, patriotic and they believe in America. If they in turn share the political values and policies that I do, then I don’t need to worry about anything more.
Richard Land is correct that we haven’t heard the last of this. The media and bloggers of the left will try to make Romney’s Mormonism a wedge issue in this campaign.
I could quote a bumper sticker I saw recently, “I’d rather have a Mormon than a Moron in the White House.”
But I’m pretty sure that, no matter what translation you use, there’s a Scripture that frowns on that.
