After studying what Mormons believe and watching the below episodes of South Park, I find myself, an evangelical Christian, and a conservative, wondering how could I trust someone who believes in Mormonism to be intelligent enough to run the country?
A brief intro to these episodes: Stan is told to go beat up the new kid in town from Utah because he was weird. Stan ends up going to his house and learning about Joseph Smith. When Stan goes home and tells his dad, his dad comes over to beat up the Mormons but ends up becoming one. After Stan hears the whole story of how Mormonism began, he is amazed that anyone would believe it.
I wrestled with this dilema until I came across a passage in the Bible about Solomon. As you probably know, in response to a humble wish for wisdom to rule God's people instead of self centered wishes, God rewards Solomon with wisdom far above anyone that ever lived. Unfortunately, here is what happens;
4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 2 Kings 11
Despite the fact that he was the wisest man that ever lived, he was raised by the Godliest father ever, his mentor was Nathan the prophet, he had been visited by God twice, he succombed to idol worship! Do you realize how "dumb" this is? Look how Isaiah describes it;
12 The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
13 The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in the form of man,
of man in all his glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
14 He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
15 It is man’s fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me; you are my god.”
18 They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
19 No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
20 He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?” Isa.44
In other words, blacksmiths, carvers, carpenters work up a sweat to form something that has no eyes, ears, brain, life, etc. and they carry it everywhere it goes and they worship it saying, "Oh idol you are so great - you made me". How can anyone be so stupid? Well, the smartest, wisest person ever did.
Then, there is evolution. How can an intelligent person actually believe that we are grown up germs when they see the complexity of even the most primitive single celled organism and think that in a world where things go from order to disorder - this single cell evolved into a complex human being and at the same time the opposite gender was forming without any of these transitional forms currently existing? Yet intelligent people like Matt Damon state that if you believe the Biblical account of creation you are unqualified to run for public office because you are the idiot.
Then you have people like Tom Cruise and John Travolta , who you know aren't stupid, believing an incredibly irrational belief like Scientology!
(sorry about the poor quality)
I could go on and on but we have to ask "where is the disconnect between what we believe in the spiritual realm and rationality"? In other words, how can a smart person be so dumb when it comes to the supernatural?
The Bible does address this and if you are an unbeliever you will probably mock this explanation, too. Paul says in Romans 1;
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Idols)
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind...
Paul says that when we decided to supress the truth we all know that there is a God and He is our master so that we can be our own masters, our minds became darkened, depraved, futile, and foolish in areas having to do with the supernatural and morality. He even lists homosexuality in this passage because frankly common sense tells you homosexuality isn't logical.
Paul also discusses this in 2 Corinthians 3 and 4;
But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away... And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God...
Bottom line - don't think that Mit Romney being a mormon means he can't be a brilliant and effective leader of our country. I believe scripture and experience tells us that when trying to eliminate the truth of the gospel as a possibilty for one's life that person will fall for anything in the spiritual realm.
