{"id":1469,"date":"2007-12-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-19T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/19\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/"},"modified":"2013-01-30T16:37:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T21:37:01","slug":"the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/","title":{"rendered":"The exaltation of Mitt Romney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Few religious leaders on earth have as much power and authority as the \u201cprophet, seer and revelator\u201d who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

But this life, on this world, is just the beginning. Consider this glimpse into eternity, drawn from a funeral eulogy for President Spencer W. Kimball in 1985.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIn the Colorado Rockies, I asked President Kimball a searching question,\u201d recalled Barbara B. Smith, the 10th general president of the church\u2019s Relief Society. \u201c\u2018When you create a world of your own, what will you have in it?\u2019 He looked around at those mountains for a few minutes before he answered and then he said, \u2018I\u2019ll have everything just like this world because I love this world and everything in it.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n\n

After all, added Smith: \u201cWhat is our greatest potential? Is it not to achieve godhood ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This is the question that will not die when Mormons<\/a> face the leaders of traditional Christian groups to discuss that blunt question: \u201cAre Mormons Christians?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

A fussy feud over doctrinal details? Ask Mitt Romney about that.<\/p>\n\n

This concept of devout Mormons achieving godhood and creating worlds \u201cis not an idea that would be foreign to Mormons today, but it is also not a concept we hear a lot about,\u201d said religion professor Robert Millet of Brigham Young University, a veteran of many interfaith dialogues.<\/p>\n\n

Still, it\u2019s clear that this belief \u2014 called \u201cexaltation\u201d \u2014 is something that remains \u201cconceivable to Mormons, while it is absolutely inconceivable to traditional Christians.\u201d But for modern Mormons, he stressed, there is little or no difference between talking about \u201cexaltation\u201d and talking about salvation and \u201ceternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

When it comes to the very nature of God, Mormons have radically different beliefs than traditional Christians. For starters, Mormons reject Trinitarian Christianity and believe that the Father God of this world is a former man who, like Jesus, has a physical, perfected body. This Heavenly Father is married to a Heavenly Mother, creating a celestial family that is the cornerstone of Mormon teachings about family and eternity.<\/p>\n\n

Most debates about these topic begin with a 1844 sermon by Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, in which he stated: \u201cGod himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great secret. ? I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity, I will refute that idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Note that if Mormons can achieve godhood and create new worlds, this implies there are other gods ruling their own worlds. For the many critics of Mormonism, this mystery can be captured in one word \u2014 \u201cpolytheism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI think \u2018polytheism\u2019 is used \u2026 to describe the multiple gods of, say, the Greeks and the Romans,\u201d Boyd K. Packer, now acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told me in a 1986 interview. \u201cWe are talking about something entirely different, and that word conjures up ideas that are not accurate.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI suppose that technically, it means \u2018many gods.\u2019 Technically, the word is all right. \u2026 It carries a lot of baggage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

These issues loomed overhead as Romney delivered his recent \u201cFaith in America\u201d address. Thus, he risked this profession: \u201cWhat do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. My church\u2019s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Romney was in a tough spot, said Millet, who attended the speech. It was a classic \u201cdanged if you do and danged if you don\u2019t\u201d situation as the candidate affirmed his heritage while reaching out to the conservative Protestants and Catholics who are so crucial in Republican races today.<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s crucial to understand, said Millet, that Mormons are determined to retain their unique beliefs, while striving to clarify the differences between the actual \u201cdoctrines of the church and what you might call a kind of Mormon folklore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The results will pacify few hostile outsiders. But the trend is clear.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThroughout the church,\u201d he said, \u201cour faith is much more Christocentric \u2014 more centered on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ \u2014 than the Mormonism that I knew as a boy in the 1950s. That has affected everything that we say and do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few religious leaders on earth have as much power and authority as the \u201cprophet, seer and revelator\u201d who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But this life, on this world, is just the beginning. Consider this glimpse into eternity, drawn from a funeral eulogy for President Spencer W. Kimball in 1985. \u201cIn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[204,208,473,571,572,602,627,1544],"class_list":["post-1469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-christology","tag-jesus","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-nicene-creed","tag-orthodoxy","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe exaltation of Mitt Romney<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Few religious leaders on earth have as much power and authority as the "prophet, seer and revelator" who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The exaltation of Mitt Romney\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Few religious leaders on earth have as much power and authority as the "prophet, seer and revelator" who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-19T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-30T21:37:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/\",\"name\":\"The exaltation of Mitt Romney\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-19T13:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-30T21:37:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"Few religious leaders on earth have as much power and authority as the \\\"prophet, seer and revelator\\\" who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2007\/12\/the-exaltation-of-mitt-romney\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The exaltation of Mitt Romney\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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