Posted by
Conservative Wordsmith on Monday, December 31, 2007 10:56:34 PM
Conservative Wordsmith Susan Baldwin writes: Mitt Romney has recently been praised by several evangelical leaders, yet I still keep receiving negative comments to the effect that Mitt Romney, as a Mormon, is a member of a weird cult and is going to Hell one day. This is the reason given as to why these commentators will not support his Republican presidential candidacy.
These evangelical Christians, opposing the views of the above-mentioned evangelical leaders, seem to think that profession of evangelical Christian faith is a necessary requirement for a presidential candidate, and they justify the rejection of Mitt Romney as a viable candidate because he is a Mormon.
According to Dr. Wayne Grudem, an evangelical research professor of Bible and theology at the Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Arizona; also a Townhall columnist: "'Here in the United States, God used not only Founding Fathers who were strong Christians, but also Deists such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, to build the foundation of our nation. Jefferson even became our third President in 1801, a demonstration of the wisdom of Article 6 of the Constitution, which says, 'no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.'"* 1
According to a Library of Congress Exhibition called Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, II. Religion in Eighteenth-Century America: "Another religious movement that was the antithesis of evangelicalism made its appearance in the eighteenth century. Deism, which emphasized morality and rejected the orthodox Christian view of the divinity of Christ, found advocates among upper-class Americans. Conspicuous among them were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Deists, never more than'a minority within a minority,' were submerged by evangelicalism in the nineteenth century." 2
Notice that the explanation above states that Deism was the opposite of evangelicalism, and that Deists rejected the divinity of Christ.
The Exhibition continues, on DEISM: "Deism stressed morality and rejected the orthodox Christian view of the divinity of Christ, often viewing him as nothing more than a 'sublime' teacher of morality. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams are usually considered the leading American deists. There is no doubt that they subscribed to the deist credo that all religious claims were to be subjected to the scrutiny of reason. 'Call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion,' Jefferson advised." 2
Regarding Mitt Romney, if Thomas Jefferson were alive today, would Jefferson’s qualifications as the next U.S. President look equally as grim to some evangelical Christians? Since Deists rejected the divinity of Christ, Jefferson would be an equal target of Christian intolerance and hostility.
What kind of country would America be today if Thomas Jefferson had never held any public office, due to the fact that his Deist beliefs outweighed his Christian faith? Based on these facts, I must now ask you this question: Is Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the American Republic, in Hell?
Related Links
1 Why Evangelicals Should Support Mitt Romney
By Wayne Grudem
Thursday, October 18, 2007
2 Library of Congress -
http://www.loc.gov/
exhibits/
religion/rel02.html
http://www.mittromney.com/
http://www.mittromney.com/
Ann-Romney/index
http://www.evangelicalsformitt.org/
http://www.mittreport.com/ - I recommend this excellent website as a great resource for Mitt Romney posts, articles, news, blogs, links, polls, and more.
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