…read this disgusting article on Catholic Online titled (and I am not making this up): “Newt Gingrich to restore faith in presidency with faith in God.”
Yes, the serial adulterer and monomaniacal Gingrich is better than Romney because….
Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and despite that religion’s generally positive public and moral image, some classical, trinitarian Christians have difficulty with the Mormon Church’s claim to being a Christian religion. Perhaps because of that, they are having difficulty reconciling themselves to the notion of a Mormon president.
For orthodox or classical Christians, those who adhere to the ancient Creeds of the Christian Church, it is a matter of religious integrity. They admire the moral integrity of Mormons and stand with them on many “social” issues. However, they wish that the LDS Church would be more honest about their theological beliefs.
Although Mormons publicly proclaim their Christianity (they even refer to their church as The Church of Jesus Christ), they are widely felt to be outside the orthodox view of the Christian faith. While Mormons seek to make this a debatable subject, it’s perception is what matters most, and some within America’s Christian community may not be ready for a Mormon president. For others, it does not matter at all. For example, Catholics and Mormons have worked together on many important social issues, including the defense of marriage and the defense of unborn human life.
Meanwhile, Gingrich, the dishonest, insider politician who compares himself to Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt (without irony) is a “breath of fresh air.” I would not believe this article if I had not read it with my own eyes. n/t to Mike Parker for linking this article on Facebook.
Both are frauds. Newt is the more shameless fraud (hard to believe), because he really believes in his own greatness, and that, all evidence to the contrary, whatever he says or does is of world-historical import. He sees himself as the great manipulator of the system and of people for whom anything is justified since he is the indispensible man.
Mitt is also a user and has a strong belief in his own destiny. He is also willing to endure any humiliation, to say or do whatever it takes to get the prize. But somewhere in the back of his mind is a little doubt, as if he knows what he’s saying is ridiculous and he feels a slight twinge of embarrassment about it. People can sense this and it makes him come across as a hollow man, inauthentic and fake.
Newt has successfully banished those compunctions, if he ever had them, and now says the most outrageous things with utter confidence and the low information voter who has forgotten all the previous Gingrich sins sees a stalwart warrior for his cause.
Bill, even though Romney is not my first choice (he would be third after Ron Paul and Huntsman), I don’t see him as harshly as you do. But you are not alone in such feelings. On a side note, here is a very good article (the best I have seen) describing what Romney did as bishop and stake president:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney-faith-20111208,0,4579590.story
Disgusting.
As a “classical” Christian [RC] if I feel like being ironic I would [and have] said that any faith without an “original” revelation is derivative and therefore invalid. I know that’s hooey but if you follow that line– Lutheranism is foolishness as is the entire Protestant line.
But– that is of course hooey as faith and works are far more important than what kind of vestments your priest/minister/mullah wears or if some of the nuances of your faith could be considered singular if not exotic.
The notion of Gingrich riding back into town on a donkey bringing the message of Christ is absurd. Serial adultery, dishonesty, fliploppery and having been a part of the D.C. problem in a Boardwalk Empire sense makes him a laugh.
I know it’s unpopular but I don’t care if the president is a snakehandler or water-buddhist– so long as he governs with a sense of duty, goodness, morality and leaves no air between himself/herself and the constitution.
Is Mitt the man? If Ron Paul isn’t then it’s gotta be Mitt.
Can he beat Obama in the generals? Mmmm. If he can’t then it’s not because of his faith says me.
I am wondering how the traditional idea of the Trinity suddenly became more important than Catholic teachings on adultery, divorce and honesty.
Speaking of which, a woman has come forward to say she and Newt Gingrich had sexual relations while he was with his first wife.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/07/woman-says-she-performed-sexual-acts-on-married-newt-in-1977-thinks-voters-should-know/
as a Juliard-certified religious historian i think that the notion of the Trinity was -not- part of the ordthodoxy as revealed but was used as way to ‘relate’ to the pagan indigenous multitheism of Rome and later to to RC outposts. that’s at least what more than one jesuit taught me 🙂
newt is grasping at straws which is unfortunate [to him at least.] he has an almost bidenesque curse of no filter between mouth and brain.
Thanks for the link to that LA Times story, Geoff. How refreshing to learn that there was more to service as bishop and stake president than interaction with a dozen feminists. The Washington Post didn’t know.
I find it galling Gingrich was having an affair with wife #3 while he was prosecuting President Clinton for having an affair and lying about it.
Leaving wife #1 for wife #2, while wife #1 was in the hospital for cancer surgery is disgusting.
see: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2937633&page=1#.TuDpPmDQbuQ
I don’t care if he has repented, there are consequences for such heinous acts, which include not running for the Republican candidacy.
I am not fond of Romney, but please, the Republicans have ” gone to hell in a hand basket”.
Geoff,
I’m shocked… that you’re shocked.
Many good examples of what I’ve been saying are in this article.
First, note that the accusation of Mormons being liars is based on the fact that we claim to be Christian yet aren’t Trinitarians!!!
But, of course, Catholics have no issue refering to many ancient and current sects that don’t accept the Trinitarian doctrine as “Christian.” (e.g. Eastern Orthodox has their own separate views as to many Protestant sects, to say nothing of the ancients of which absolute none were Trinitarians in the Catholic sense prior to 5th+ century creeds.)
Second, notice that this writer *doesn’t accept that this is the case.* For him it comes down to ‘perception.’
This write is not one of the 1/3 I’ve been writing about. He’s actually more like the 2/3rds. (We know for Evangelicals there is 1/3 that is bigoted against Mormons in a harsh way. The % for Catholics is unknown, but I think it’s probably much lower.)
But even though he is more like the 2/3rds he is just too dang sympathetic to the 1/3 to be able to lift a finger to say what he really believes: that Mormons are not lying when they say they are Christians because the word “Christian” isn’t traditionally equivalent to “Trinitarian.” Not by a long shot.
But admitint this is more than he can handle, so this is the best we can expect.
Until the 2/3rd wake up and say “I’m tired of my churches being bigots, I’m out of here” the 1/3 will continue. Once the 2/3rd wakes up, the 1/3 will be gone over night. The counter cult movement will become equivalent to the skin heads and no one will want to touch them. The real trick is finding out how to wake up the 2/3rds to the problem with the 1/3.
I think about how Superman (i.e. Superman radio show.) defeated the KKK. For those that don’t know this story, look it up or read about it in Freakonomics. You just have to find the right way to deal with bigotry like this. It’s fragile and can only exist while the 2/3rd do nothing about it.
From a purely practical “choose somebody who will beat Obama” standpoint, Gingrich is by far the worst choice. He will never get more than 35 percent of the women’s vote. He is not popular in most swing states. What a mess.
“Until the 2/3rd wake up and say ‘I’m tired of my churches being bigots, I’m out of here’ the 1/3 will continue. Once the 2/3rd wakes up, the 1/3 will be gone over night”
Research suggests that this is currently going on among the younger generation. That is why there are more people who call themselves spiritual than religious. I have my own problems with this approach, but will hold off on going on a tangent for now.
What a load of gutless tripe that article is. They talk about being ‘more honest’ but don’t even directly make an accusation themselves. It’s all innuendo and between-the-lines.
If you have to write so dishonestly, your argument self-discredits.
Mormons need to be “more honest about their theological beliefs.” This really burned me up. I mean, it’s not as if the Church has not made a huge PR effort to make it clear what we stand for. I am imagining that the real issue is that the writer of the piece on Catholic Online wants Mormons to admit they “really aren’t Christians.” Well, given the name of the Church, the subtitle of the Book of Mormon, the fact that every single chapter of the Book of Mormon mentions the Savior, it would be literally impossible to make such an admission. Grrrr.
My stomach is mostly stainless steel and plastic tubing nowadays, but I think it just blew a gasket or two.
Geoff B.:
every single chapter? seriously?
Senile not-so-old fart, go take a look. I once went through the Book of Mormon, and there is a mention of the Savior in every chapter. Perhaps I missed one. Let me know if you find a chapter without a mention of the Savior in some form or another, and I will gladly admit I’m wrong.
If I were looking, I would look in Ether.
If you include references to ‘God’ or ‘the Lord’, then Geoff B. is probably right.
I’m convinced that the day will come when America will lie in ruins, having found that their “Christian” saviors have not saved them, but sent us further along the road to ruin, because each (whether Democrat or Republican) has sought to get gain. When that day comes, many will say, “you have clothing, come be our ruler!” (Isaiah 3:6-8). They will seek a new ruler from those who still have something! Yet, no one will want to, nor be able to fix the ruination.
Only in such a day, will the righteous LDS stand as the only real solution. Whether Romney is one of them or not, remains to be seen. Given he’s been a stake president and bishop, I would hope he is.
Why do I say this? Because our Church is foremost in managing crises. For decades, we’ve been the ones ready to step in to solve problems in disasters. I’ve seen hundreds of LDS involved in flood relief. I’ve seen thousands help out in hurricane relief.
When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, 2 stake centers were used as command posts for the Army and Red cross. The army said they needed 300 chain saws, but it would take them weeks to requisition them. The stake president told them the chain saws would be there the next day. And they were.
For Hurricane Katrina, the Church organized regions of stakes to go to Louisiana and Mississippi for months on the weekends. So, every weekend there were thousands of Mormons from as far away as Indiana (and perhaps further) helping people, clearing roads, etc.
We have been taught frugality, food storage, self reliance, etc, for so long that it is ingrained within most of us. Church Welfare has been praised by President Reagan and leaders of many nations.
Can you imagine how we could turn around the nation if asked to do so? And I believe that day will come. I’m just not sure that the nation is quite ready for it, though I would hope it is.
We’re not talking about a religious radicalism here, but a practical set of principles that have worked for centuries. These used to be American principles. Now they seem to be primarily Mormon principles. All it requires is a good LDS member to lead the nation back to those key principles, and the nation would return to its greatness and strength.
Geoff, you just blew my mind. I can’t believe we both have the same second choices.
Don’t we already know that he cheated on his first wife with his second? The possibility that he cheated on her more than once wouldn’t be shocking.
78% of White Evangelicals in Iowa say a candidate should be judged by their personal life. And guess what? They rank Gingrich over Romney on their personal lives. Yep, even when you take politics out of it Evangelicals prefer a serial adulterer to a Mormon.
Awesome.
The rest of that poll doesn’t say much about Mormons and Romney’s personality, but it does make pretty clear that many things the Tea Party were screaming about two years ago doesn’t matter to them anymore if they think their candidate can beat Obama. Gingrich’s ties to Freddie Mac make that pretty clear.
Sorry, here’s a link to that poll of Iowa Evangelicals. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57337973-503544/newt-gingrich-strong-with-iowa-evangelicals-tea-partiers/