State lawmaker: Mitt Romney ‘a nice man, but I’m afraid of his Mormon faith’

I am a decendent of early converts to The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. They joined the church in England, sold most of their belongings to buy the fares that would bring them across the ocean to America and closer to their new faith. They were good god fearing people who also cherished the country that was to become their home. My great-great grandfather was born on the ship while crossing and named George Washington Williams. They were threatened and run out of their homes by other”Christian” faiths that hated them because they believed a little differently. My Grandfather was asked to fight in the Mexican/American war. Even after being driven out of his home, he agreed to leave his family behind and fight for America. He died and was buried along the Rio Grande. His wife that he left behind also died and their children were adopted out and then traveled to the Salt Lake valley with other pioneer companies. They built a beautiful state that is one of the best places to raise a child because of it’s values. Mormons are true Americans. We are patriots. John F. Kennedy visited church officials in Utah and spoke to a large crowd saying that the Mormons are the finest example of true American fortitude. They are an example for all Americans to follow. I am proud of my heritage.

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How many more generations will we, as a society, have to go thru all this “my fariy tale’s better than your fairy tale!” nonsense?

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Ironically, Rep. Manning is one of the most moderate to liberal Republicans in the State House… one who doesn’t like being associated with “social conservatives.”

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Really MB!
Are those books really your sources on Mormonism? No wonder you don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about. Why not go make some Mormon friends and ask them what they believe?

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Hey TV, thanks for the thoughtful response. Here’s mine…

- Mormons believe in multiple Gods for other worlds, Christianity does not reply *WE DO NOT in other gods in other worlds. We believe in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ the son and the Holy Ghost.*
—This Mormon teaching is cited in the Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 4:1
— This teaching is definitely inferred from the other teachings that Heavenly Father was once not a god and was able to become exalted and attain god status. “In the first place, aeons ago God undoubtedly took advantage of every opportunity to learn the laws of truth and as He became acquainted with each new verity He righteously obeyed it. From day to day He exerted His will vigorously, and as a result became thoroughly acquainted with the forces lying about Him. As He gained more knowledge through persistent effort and continuous industry, as well as through absolute obedience, His understanding of the universal laws continued to become more complete. Thus He grew in experience and continued to grow until He attained the status of Godhood. In other words, He became God by absolute obedience to all the truth, and thereby became the author of eternal truth. Therefore, the road that the Eternal Father followed to Godhood was one of living at all times a dynamic, industrious, and completely righteous life. There is no other way to exaltation.”
~Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages (Salt Lake City: Steven & Wallis, 1945), pp. 114-115 (emphasis added).”

- Mormons believe Jesus was created, Christianity does not reply* Jesus CHrist was created, he was sent from heaven to earth as we all are. The difference between Jesus Christ and ourselves is he is the son of God.*
— Please see The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 346-7 [pre-2002 edition] which teaches that Jesus was not always God.

- Mormons believe in multiple heavens, Christianity does not reply * It is that we believe in mutliple heavens, it is different levels of heaven*
— OK – Mormons believe in multiple levels of heaven, Christianity does not. Depending on how good non-Mormons live their life and the next determines their place in one of two lower heavenly kingdoms –the telestial and terrestrial kingdoms–both of which are still outside the presence of God in his celestial kingdom.

- Mormons believe everyone (regardless of religion) goes to one of the heavenly kingdoms, except those who leave the Mormon faith. They are cast into “outer darkness”. reply *We do not believe that the only way to go to hell or outer darkness as you are calling it is to leave the religion. There are sins that will get to hell. Yes be believe that there are different levels of heaven, but if you read the bible it states that there are different levels. I believe that is in the book of Revelations. As far as calling hell the outer darkness it is just a nice way of saying it. **
— I am not familiar with the Bible describing different levels of heaven, can you enlighten me to those passages? If you are referring to 2 Corinthians 12:2, some people have interpreted this as indicating that there are three different levels of heaven, a level for “super-committed Christians” or Christians who have obtained a high level of spirituality, a level for “ordinary” Christians, and a level for Christians who did not serve God faithfully. This view has no basis in Scripture. Scripture does speak of different rewards in heaven. Jesus said regarding rewards, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12).

- Mormons believe in baptism for the dead, Christianity does not. reply * in the bible it does talk about bapitisms for the dead, you should read the bible agian.*
—There is only one biblical passage that mentions baptism for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29-30). This practice was done by those outside of Christianity since Apostle Paul made a contrast between what “they” do and what “we” do.

- Mormons believe humans (of the Mormon faith) can become gods for other worlds, Christianity does not reply* we believe God created us in his likeness and wants us to be like him, however that does not translate into being God. You seem to read too much into things and misunderstand all.*
— See the Mormon Doctrine & Covenants 76:58 and 76:95 “Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God” and “And he makes them equal in power, and in might, and in dominion.”
—”…We must accept the fact that there was a time when Deity was much less powerful than He is today. Then how did He become glorified and exalted and attain His present status of Godhood? In the first place, aeons ago God undoubtedly took advantage of every opportunity to learn the laws of truth and as He became acquainted with each new verity He righteously obeyed it. From day to day He exerted His will vigorously, and as a result became thoroughly acquainted with the forces lying about Him. As He gained more knowledge through persistent effort and continuous industry, as well as through absolute obedience, His understanding of the universal laws continued to become more complete. Thus He grew in experience and continued to grow until He attained the status of Godhood. In other words, He became God by absolute obedience to all the truth, and thereby became the author of eternal truth. Therefore, the road that the Eternal Father followed to Godhood was one of living at all times a dynamic, industrious, and completely righteous life. There is no other way to exaltation.”
~Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages (Salt Lake City: Steven & Wallis, 1945), pp. 114-115 (emphasis added).

- Mormons believe the god of earth was once a man who became god, Christianity does not reply* we believe that Heavenly Father created everything, we do not believe that he was on earth then became god.*
— I didn’t say Mormons believe Heavenly Father was once on earth before becoming a god. Mormons believe that Heavenly Father was not always god, that he was able to be exalted and asind to becoming a god. “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!!! . . . We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea and take away the veil, so that you may see,” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 345).

- Mormons believe god must have a wife in order to become a god, Christianity does not reply* we do not believe will become god, but we will be god like. God created us in his likeness.*
— Mormon Doctrine, 516-7 – God the Father has at least one wife that He needed in order to become exalted to Godhood, and by at least one wife we on this world were all literally born as spirit children prior to taking on our tangible bodies of flesh and bones via our mortal parents (McConkie). Also reference the popular Mormon hymn “O My Father”
— But even if I accept your statement, you must have a wife to be god like, right????

- Mormons believe all humans existed prior to life on earth, Christianity does not. reply * you are created prior to conceception. Heavenly Father created you and chose who you would be, before you enter the world, so yes you did exist be for you were born.*
— Christianity teaches that, with the exception of Jesus, humans are not from heaven or “above”. Christianity teaches humans come from earth or “below”. John 3:31-32, John 6:38-46, John 8:23. Christianity teaches that humans do not exist prior to conception.

- Mormons believe Jesus and Lucifer are spirit-brothers, Christianity teaches that Jesus created Satan reply* Heavenly father created the angels and his son Jesus Christ so technically they are brothers. You and I are technically brothers but we dont seem to be claiming each other.**
— Thank you for agreeing with me. As you again state, Mormonism teaches that god (Heavenly Father) created Jesus and also created Lucifer and Mormons recognize them as spirit brothers. Christianity teaches that Jesus is eternal (both past and future) and was never created. And Christianity also teaches that Jesus created Satan.

- Mormons believe Jesus should not receive the same worship as God the Father, Christianity teaches Jesus should receive the same worship as the Father. *reply I dont know where you heard this one but it is not true*
— See the Mormon Gospel Principles, page 41 which teaches prayer should be to the Heavenly Father and no one else. Even Bruce McConkie (member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles for LDS) recognized this: “We do not worship the Son, and we do not worship the Holy Ghost.” (BYU Devotional, 1972). It is OK to pray to Heavenly father in the name of Jesus.

- Mormons teach that god curses certain individuals with dark skin, Christianity does not.. *the bible states that God cursed people with the dark skin. It is not a mormon belief it is a statement in the bible in Leviticus*
— President Brigham Young said: “Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God.
— Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 5:21. It is said that God cursed the Lamanites with black skin so they would not be enticing unto the Nephites.
— Where is this passage in Leviticus?

.- Mormons teach the Bible is incomplete for faith, Christianity teaches the Bible is reliable *reply We do not believe that bible is incomplete, we believe the book of mormon is a second book. If you feel like it is not possible to for this to be an addition to the bible, so be it. But just an FYI the bible was not written in order and things have been added so you can take that all the way and say the bible isnt true becuase book were added at later times..*

— The Book of Mormon calls those “fools” who claim they have a Bible and “need no more Bible” (2 Nephi 29:3-14).
— The LDS “Living Prophet” can speak oracles which actually supersede scripture and any previous prophet’s oracles, including Joseph Smith. The Bible holds the least amount of authority in the Mormon church. Other Mormon scriptures supersede the bible.

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While I find Ms. Manning’s comments offensive, I take offense to some of you people on her bashing Baptists. I was raised Baptist and am a member of a very tolerant and loving Baptist church. And for the record, in the 2008 primaries, I voted for Romney because I thought he was the best option. I am not a fan of his religion, but he does not wear it on his sleeve. That is one reason I voted for him over Huckabee – I thought he had a better chance of winning. I liked Huckabee and admired that he was not ashamed of his faith, but I knew that it would play against him.

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David- Why all the cherry-picking of quotes? Many of your “references” are not even official LDS doctrine, and yet you infer that your interpretation is what Mormons believe and teach, yet ignore many (more numerous) references that refute your claims thoroughly and in great detail?

Could it be that you are simply regurgitating claims from a biased anti-mormon website as opposed to real study from more authoritative sources?

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She’s an idiot, but completely emblematic of the present-day brain-dead republicans who are routinely elected to office time after time. Can’t we do better than morons such as this?

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This broad would probably vote for a nazi as long as he claimed to be Christian. what a bass ackward, southern, bigot. Even though I am not a Romney supporter, I support his right to run for public office.

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I am more confused.Did man create God?Or as Bible teaches God created man in(Gods father/son likeness)?Someone states Abram(Abraham) had more than one wife.Do not remember more than one.I know he had intercourse with Hagar(with Sarahs permission) Ishmael born.After Sarahs death may have had other wives,Sarah was1/2 sister to Abrham. Need to re read, all above from memory hope correct.

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Zinger,

Have you ever stepped back from Christianity and thought about some of the things that must be taken on faith? Virgin birth, Resurrection, Eucharist, Trinity. Not to mention miracles and other assorted supernatural phenomenon.

Seriously, all religions sound nuts to someone not in the religion. Do I think that Joseph Smith dug up some tablets in the desert? No it’s preposterous but if you apply logic to any religion you quickly realize that 90% of the world is insane.

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Its amazing how the GOP is so divided among moderates and true conservatives. If republicans think they can win with Newt or Santorum then prepare for 4 more years of Obama. Their only chance is Mitt Romney. end of story.

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I have a sister and niece who are Mormons, and have lived among them in three different states for over 25 years. They are better behaved and generous almost to a fault. If they mention religion, all one has to tell them is you do not want to discuss it and that individual will not mention it to you again. If all or most people professing to be Christens conducted themselves as Mormons our entire country would have negligible problems compared to crime, unwed mothers, and most social problems that cause and create so much consternation. Mormons, Baptists, Methodists, etc., are all Christians. This is like dissing someone for being bald, tall, short, fat, skinny, whatever. The people who will not consider voting for a Mormon due to their religion is either ignorant, bigoted, or just stupid.

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We’re dealing with economic crisis and a war in Afghanistan. These morons going on about faith need to get a life and deal with real issues. My relationship with God and how I worship is none of their business.

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Gfyhimr,

We get it. Mormons are great people. I had two Mormon partners in my last company and I would trust them with my life or my wife. I would vote for either of them for president.

That said, the founding of the Mormon religion is a bit of a stretch. Maybe because it is within modern memory that it just seems so silly. And one more thing that is a real sticking point for me.

Joseph Smith, L.Ron Hubbard, Muhammad – they all set out to create religions. Jesus did not.

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Many good reasons to vote against Romney. This is not one of them.

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Read your American History! Have you ever heard of the Mormon War? The Mormons kept moving further and further West in order to practice polygamy. Finally the US sent Gent Albert Sidney Johnston with an army to route them out of Utah. The Morons Indian allies massacred wagon trains on behalf of the Mormons. Please don’t take my word for it. Research American History.

I like my Mormon neighbors but I know that they are separate from Christianity. And I will vote for Romney if he is the one runnning against Obama.

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Excuse my misspelling of Mormon. It was not intentional.

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I am appalled, and ashamed to live in a state where such an idiot narrow minded uneducated sociopathic person can become a member of the legislature.

The horror that anyone would say such these days. Proves the old adage, open your mouth and remove all doubt as to whether you are a fool….

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No offense taken on the spelling. The early members of the LDS church were tarred and feathered. Their homes burned, wives raped and children terrified by our “Christian” brothers. They moved west because of the brutal treatment. It was not because of polygamy as you say. It was because they were prosperous in every town that they settled because they worked hard. Another reason was that they were anti-slavery and the residents in the states where they resided feared they would vote as a block to end the slavery being practiced in their communities. The killing of innocent people in ONE wagon train that you refer to was called “Meadow Mountain Massacre”. It was a very sad time in the churches history. There was a paranoia among the members in that area because of the torture that they had endured before coming to the Salt Lake valley. They were wrong. Horribly wrong. As we all know…..people fail. We pray that the Lord will forgive those who murdered innocent families. The LDS church does not give any excuse for what happened. Read unbiased US history. Did you know that until a few years ago there was an extermination order law set up by governor Boggs? Do you still want to perpetuate the hate mongering against the LDS church members?

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Mormonism is a cult. So be careful America who you choose.

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This why this country is the laughing stock of the whole world.You can run your country into a pile of debt,lie under oath,be the most crooked politician out there,but as long as they are”christian” or faithful to their wife,the rest doesn’t matter…

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Enter your comments here

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OMG….What we presently have is a student of “reverend wright” who spewed hatred for whites over a 25 yr period…but, God forbid, to say or remind anyone of this …is pure racism! WHAT A JOKE!!!

So, please give me a Mormon any day!!! and a businessman as well..sounds like a winning combo to me!

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Enter your comments hereWhy are we only talking about her comments on Mormonism? She is totally gay bashing. Newt has a gay sister. Cheney a gay daughter with a child ..and he supports gay parentage, Bill Byrne..now running for Cobb Commish chair again as a Republican. Are only the select few Gop’ers allowed to be supportive of gays? It’s 2012…enough with the bigoted homophobic politicians.

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