The Mormon Question

I haven't posted anything new in a long while due to the press of other matters. However, the whole Mitt Romney/Mormon question stirred up by a certain pastor's introduction to Rick Perry is fascinating to me. I was reviewing a blog on Fox News Insider on the issue of Romney's Mormon faith and Mormonism in general. There were a lot fair minded comments from folks defending Mormons and their Christianity; however, there were a surprising number of vitriolic comments as well like this one:

Pipe Surgeon

Mormonism is a cult. I should not have to go into details. Those who call themselves Christians, should know that Mormon's are not true believers. All the scripture twisting in the world will not change that fact.

Sorry to all the marginal Christians who feel one religion is as good as any other.

Mormonism is not very old. It was founded by a man. He put his hat over his face to translate reformed egyptian hyrogylphics. By the way there is no such thing, according to people who are experts in ancient languages. The name of the person who put his head in his hat is Joseph Smith. No he was'nt martryed for the Lord of Lords.

For some reason I felt I had to respond. I share it with you below and look forward to your comments if anyone is reading this even. Readers or no, I hated to let the time I spent on this go to waste and so it gives me a new blog entry without having to write a new one!

Terrylaw

What is it about religion that causes us to become intolerant? Why did the Crusaders go hacking away at other Christians, Jews and Muslims? Why did the inquisition take place? Why did so many of the church reformers before and after and including Luther lose their property, their freedom and/or their lives preaching reform? What does any of this kind of hate and bigotry have to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The answer, of course, is absolutely nothing. As a community of believers I don't know why we are not looking for the commonality of our doctrines? Maybe even more importantly why are we not looking to the fruits of those doctrines as expressed in our conduct with each other and our relationship to God.

For example, a lot has been said in these posts regarding the Nicene Creed. It is apparently a litmus test for cult membership. Believe in the creed and you are a Christian. Don't believe in it and you are a cultist.

It is true that Mormons do not believe in the fourth century doctrine of the Trinity. However, take a look at the much older Apostle's creed (from the 2nd century.) It is my understanding that it is an accepted creed for most Christian churches. Although the LDS church does not include that creed in its canon, my personal view is that creed is very consistent with LDS doctrine regarding the nature of the Godhead and our relationship to God and his Son Jesus Christ.

I think we would surprise ourselves, if we really understood our brothers' and sisters' beliefs, how many similarities there really are. And as for values, which should be reflections of our beliefs in our doctrines, I think you will find LDS values to be consistent with our Christian brother and sisters. Jesus said, "If ye love Me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. Isn't that the goal for which we are all striving (and frequently coming up short?)

Let's not allow our most cherished faith to become a tool of the other side that can be used to divide us and divert us from our common goal to bring the best person (whoever that might be) to the office of the President of the United States.

The Left is laughing at us as well they should.

Heaven help us all.

Purity or Compromise

Elections are fast approaching. Everyone agrees that this could be one of the most significant mid-term elections in a long time. The voters will either sweep Washington clean or approve the new course President Obama is setting for the nation by leaving incumbents in their seats. Personally I hope it is a clean sweep; however, it would be very easy for conservatives to lose this election if we don't play our cards right. Of course that's the problem conservatives have right now. Many are uncertain which card they should take.

For example, if one listens to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin, Obama and his crew are essentially Marxists. They are boldly molding our nation into European socialist utopia concurrently diminishing the nation's economy and deliberately limiting our military's ability to project American power around the world. A new global government is waiting in the wings and Obama is preparing our nation to enter into that new world order.

On the other hand, Michael Medved and other center right commentators steer deliberately clear from accusing the current administration of Marxism, socialism and other "conspiracies." Instead they talk of Obama as simply a big government guy, or a guy that doesn't understand the economy. He is attacked on points of wrong headed policy rather than going so far as to accuse him of some grander and more destructive scheme.

Personally I'm in the Limbaugh Beck wing in terms of my analysis of the Obama administration objectives. I've seen too much evidence of a deliberate radical agenda to think otherwise. That being said, Medved and his ilk have a point. Thirty to forty percent of the country are not ideologues. Politics is not something in which they have a lot of interest except at election times. These middle of the road folks usually are politically agnostic but usually display a lot of common sense. Radical positions on either side of the spectrum scare them off. Right now they are most concerned about big government actions and policies from the left that are not doing anything positive for the economy. I think the Medved camp may be right that calling Obama a Marxist turns the folks in the middle off. It scares them that conservatives will swing too far to the right. In short, we lose those folks if we are too strident in our attacks on the left.

Still I have sympathy for the purists. What good does it do to elect a RINO if his or her progressive policies are not much different from those of the left. What's the point?

But then I stop and realize that politics is the art of the possible. It is coalition building. It is incrementalism. And yes, it is often compromise. As much as I would like to strive for doctrinal purity among conservative candidates; in the end we have to build a center-right big tent coalition if we are going to prevail in the long run. If we had a parliamentary system instead of a two party system, we could achieve more intellectual and doctrinal purity within our parties. But with a two party system compromise is the name of the game...darn it.

Guns and Butter

Last month I was driving past Boeing field on I-5. As I was admiring the aircraft collection that could be seen from the freeway (yes I was still paying attention to the road) I noticed the Concorde sitting on the tarmac. It suddenly occurred to me that an era had passed in that we no longer had a supersonic airliner available to serve the public. The 1990's remake of the Parent Trap in which father and daughter leave California and were able to beat the English side of the family home, via a Concorde flight, was no longer possible.

Around the same time that my musings on the Concorde were taking place, I learned that the Obama administration was cancelling the Orion and Constellation space program that was to have put our astronauts back on the moon in 10 years. Ostensibly this decision was made due to cost overruns and other technical problems.

What I can't help feeling, however, is this nagging feeling that the nation and the world (in the case of the Concorde) is drifting backwards in terms of its technological capability. Once the shuttle fleet is mothballed we no longer have a manned space flight capability. We will be relying on the Russians to take us to the space station. While the Chinese and Indians are advancing their space programs we are going backwards.

Clearly the Obama administration is focused on its domestic agenda. Foreign policy and more particularly the projection of American power in the world is distasteful to this administration. Along the same lines, I can't help but feel that the the pride most of us have felt from our successes in space, make the President and his associates uncomfortable.

I hope I am wrong in my assessment. Perhaps the Constellation program was simply so flawed that it didn't make economic sense. However, to cancel the program and not have a viable alternative up and running was at best short sighted. At worst it was a reflection of an administration that despises any trappings of American exceptionalism.

This seems to be a consistent pattern for this president. His domestic policies, whether health care or cap and trade are not designed to grow the economy but rather weaken it. I've heard some suspect that the president is ignorant of economic theory. I don't subscribe to that notion and instead see the president's last 14 months in office as a mad dash to dismantle the nation's ability to sustain its superpower status.

Unfortunately for us, the President's apparent hatred of what we are as a nation diminishes us and our technology. The President is currently flush with victory on the health care front but where is he otherwise leading us as a nation? Clearly not to the moon or Mars.

Is this how the Romans felt as they noticed their society and technology slipping away as internal political struggles and invasion robbed them of their unique place in the world? When would you liked to have lived, 3rd Century Rome or 8th century Europe? I know which time I'd choose.

A great nation should be able to accomplish its rational domestic goals and still put people on the moon. Shame on the current administration for "forgetting" that.

This nation is still capable of producing guns and butter simultaneously. At the rate we are going, I'm not sure how long that is going to last.

An Unhealthy Prescription

The House is debating its health care bill today. I urge all two of you who read my blog to write to your congressman to tell him what you think. This bill if passed will change what it means to be an American in profound ways and take us down a path I don't want to tread. Following is my brief note to Congressman Rick Larsen:

Dear Congressman Larsen, As the House is debating its health care bill I urge you to reconsider voting for the bill. It is an ill conceived piece of legislation that the majority of your constituents don't want. It's not that many of us don't want health care reform. We do. However, this 2000 page monstrosity, which I'm sure you have not read in its entirety, creates a massive new bureaucracy and burdens our future with trillions in debt in a way that will cripple our economy. There are better ways to control health care costs and to provide options for the non-insured and marginally insured. This bill is too expensive. It is ill conceived. It rewards special interests. It limits individual liberty and choice. It's the wrong bill at the wrong time. Please vote no.

Feelings

Feelings

I started out my morning with my usual Drudge fix and was stunned to see that Obama had won the Nobel Prize. I was even more stunned when I learned that the nominations for the prize had to be submitted by February. Obama would have been in office for just a month. Maybe this was an April Fools’ joke. What had Obama done prior to February 2009 that was worthy of being awarded the Nobel Prize? Were community-organizing lawyers such rare and valuable contributors to our society that they would even be considered for the prize? What was I missing? Had Obama qualified for the prize simply because he was able to get himself elected? It made no sense.

I thought that I truly must be some Neanderthal knuckle-dragging throwback like the mainstream press always accused conservatives of being. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Surely the stolid Norwegians had not been caught up in the magic of the Obama rhetoric. While it is true that blue blood hating, blue collar Harry Reid once said that Obama was a gifted orator (Mr. Obama graciously agreed with Harry that he indeed did have such a gift) surely, I thought, the gift had been lost in translation by the time it hit Norwegian ears.

Last week in Copenhagen, the IOC was under-whelmed and sent the President and his Chicago entourage packing. A former Danish IOC representative explained in the Berlingske Tidende that Mr. Obama’s five hour blitz was simply too business like and had not addressed the spirit and feeling the IOC had for the Olympic games. So last week Obama lost the games for Chicago for not having enough feeling for Olympic spirit.

Miraculously (would you expect anything else) things turned dramatically better for the president today. Still I could not understand why that was. Was the IOC just feeling sorry for our new President? That could be it. The Russians aren’t playing well with Obama. Neither are the Iranians despite a lovely speech by Mr. Obama earlier this year. The Chinese are seeking to establish a new reserve currency. Domestically Obama’s agenda for change has hit a snag due to a bunch of pitchfork wielding hate speaking Limbaugh zombies taking their elected officials to task.

Later in the day, the IOC seeming to anticipate my question explained that the prize had been given in anticipation of the things Obama hopes to do as opposed to what he has accomplished to date. This explanation suddenly gave me hope for a change in my own bottom line. I have some ideas on cold fusion (it involves a can of Coke a nail and two wires) and faster than light rocket engines that could change the world, as we know it. Could not the Nobel committee anticipate that I could use the $1.4 million prize to achieve limitless power and to reach out to the stars? What is Obama’s goal of emasculating the United States’ super power status (so that we can be just like Norway or Iceland) in comparison to my goal of providing cheap unlimited power to all of the peoples of earth? Obviously Obama’s goals are small potatoes compared to mine.

And yet it is finally clear to me that my goal of doing something concretely beneficial for humanity just won’t cut it with the Nobel folks. It is far better in the committee’s eyes to feel good about something or someone than to actually do something good for society. Feelings are so much easier to deal with than the hard and sometimes messy work of doing good deeds.

Like the old song says, “Feelings, nothing more than feelings …”

Curious Circumstances

It's curious. A couple of weeks ago, the Israeli press were hot and bothered by their Prime Minister's disappearance. It later turns out that Netanyahu had gone to Russia on a secret mission to see Putin. Then we get the news from the international atomic regulators that Iran (surprise surprise) really does have the capability to create nuclear weapons and very soon will have ICBMs to launch them to just about to any target in the world. Then the Iranian president (again) announces that the holocaust never happened and that Israel will soon no longer exist. Finally the other bookend to this interesting set of facts is the Obama administration's announcement that it is changing course on the Bush administration's decision to place missile interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic. Putin then announces that Obama has made a brave decision. The Poles and Czechs rightly complain that they have been betrayed by America.

The Poles and Czechs have every right to be concerned given Russia's reincarnated imperialism over the past few years. Last August's incursion into Georgia and the Russians' disputes with the Ukrainians understandably have the Poles and Czechs wondering if they are next in a re institution of a Soviet era type buffer between Russia and western Europe.

My first reaction to this set of circumstances was that the Obama administration was simply appeasing another autocratic state. It seems that is what liberals like to do since they so often profess being uncomfortable with the projection of power externally even though domestically they revel in it.

That being said, I wonder if something else is going on. My suspicious mind asks whether a deal was cut with Russia not to seriously interfere with an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear processing facilities. Netanyahu's secret meeting with Putin can really have no other explanation. Although Iran is almost a Russian client state, the Russians have to be concerned with a nuclear Iran to their south. It would be in Russia's long term interests to have a non-nuclear Iran even though the Russians effectively exploit Iran's conflict with the west over the issue. Could the Obama administration have exchanged the missile program that was such a huge irritant to the Russians for Russia's tacit approval for an Israeli strike on Iran?

If that is indeed what happened, then perhaps the Obama administration will have made its first adult foreign policy decision.

On the other hand, my speculation as to these curious circumstances may be completely off base. We may simply be seeing, once again, a 1938 type of appeasement of a quasi dictatorship which results in a betrayal of good friends in the name of achieving peace in our times. We all know how that turned out in 1939.

In any event, I think you will agree these are some curious circumstances.

A Big Fall

Summer is almost over. Next week people will be saying goodbye to summer and wondering how it went by so fast. Fall is already setting in based on the fall sunlight angles I've been noticing. There is kind of a special lighting that Fall has (when you can see the sun in Seattle) that I'm sure has to do with our latitude. Science aside it is beautiful and I enjoy the early part of Fall a lot.

This year, Fall has special significance. The nation will see whether its collective outrage over the President's and Congress' plan to assume control over the remainder of our nation's health care will have any effect on the implementation of that plan. The optimist in me hopes that the legislators have sensed their own political demise if they pass the bill. The pessimist in me understands that they probably have the votes needed to pass the House bill pretty much as is after conference committing with Senate. About 1/2 the nation is outraged with what is going on. 30% think the 50% opposing the bill are heartless backwater inbreds because they don't support the bill. Another 20% don't have a clue what is going on and couldn't care less if they did know. I wonder how those demographics will play out.

Reality is that we are on the cusp of becoming a nation that is different from what our founders intended. The 60's radicals have taken power. I hope this Fall is a big one because the collective wisdom of the American people prevails over the radical agenda. If it does not, then historians will mark this Fall as the beginning of the end of our constitutional republic.

I pray that we choose wisely.