So, presidential hopeful and devout polytheist, Mitt Romney, declared twice in his closing statement in tonight’s final presidential debate, that America is the hope of the earth. I ask you, as a Christian, what in the hell could that possibly mean that is in any way Christian?
Romney might be a devout polytheist, but he’s nowhere near a devout Christian based upon that repeated remark. In the first place, polytheism isn’t quite Christian. Maybe some of you have read the Bible. I don’t want to be CLOSED MINDED. (Could there be any greater sin?!) It’s totally possible that the Book of Mormon has updated and surpassed both the Old and New Testaments. You know, the Book of Mormon is Bible 2.0 – ditch the old version, already. But since I have not ditched the Bible, one thing that I’ve walked away with, having read both the Old and New Testaments, is that there’s, like, only one God. Okay, so polytheism doesn’t quite jibe with the Bible or Christianity. Don’t let that bother you. It is, after all, a mere theological formality. A polytheist would have just as good a view of reality from which to govern as a monotheist, right? RIGHT? (Don’t get me wrong: I suspect that Obama is at least a bi-theist: himself and then [maybe] the God of the Bible.)
Theological nitpicking aside, what positive spin could a Christian who is a sold-out GOPer put on Romney’s comments? Is America the hope of the earth? I thought that, like, Jesus was the hope of this fallen earth? Again, maybe I’ve just misread the Bible (or not studied the Book of Mormon closely enough), but what gives?
[...] See Tim’s post. [...]
it was a lame attempt to cast vision…
(Don’t get me wrong: I suspect that Obama is at least a bi-theist: himself and then [maybe] the God of the Bible.)
Hahaha, this made me smile!
Hey, Trent, we (McDs and myself) love to see you smile. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Please come by regularly and brag about all this awesomeness to your friends.
since America is Jesus’ country… by default, it is the hope of the world… right?
Israel is God’s country….no?
Hi, Stacey! Mark is, of course, joking. The US is not Jesus’ country, and Israel is (IF, if, if, if, if, if, if properly understood). I wanted to make sure that the if is noted. By Israel being God’s country, do we mean that small stretch of land on the East side of the Mediterranean Sea? No. The Jews have, for just about two millennia now, rejected Messiah. That very Messiah calls those rejecters not true Jews, but a Synagogue of Satan (see Revelation 3:9 for one example). The New Testament teaches that only those with the faith of Abraham are true Jews (synonymous with “sons of Abraham” – see Galatians 3) and the unbelieving Jews are not true Jews, but are being cut off because of their unbelief (see Romans 11, among other places).
Not only is not all Israel Israel (speaking of people), but in the New Covenant even Gentiles are made true Israelites by having the same faith as Abraham. This is the point of Galatians 3 (esp vv 25-29).
What’s more, even as the PEOPLE of Israel is opened up to include uncircumcised Gentiles (who ARE circumcised in Christ – Colossians 2:11-12), so the LAND of Israel is opened up to include all the lands of the earth. To get a foothold on this, look at Ephesians 6:1-3. Paul takes a commandment and an attached promise from Exodus 20/Deuteronomy 5 which speaks of THE LAND of Israel, and applies it to Gentile believers in Ephesus and to their LAND.
What are we saying, then? That Israel as LAND or COUNTRY is not that small strip alone, but includes the whole world. The scope of the New Covenant (which God makes with Israel!) is all the world, all the countries, all the peoples… So, understood that way, Israel is God’s country. Hope that helps.
Why would that be? Perhaps because Jesus was one of several false Messiahs, only he became relevant after being deified by gentiles?
Hey, Jew… I can’t imagine you’re very serious or want to engage in any meaningful way. So, it seems strange that you’d take any time at all to comment. But, on the off chance that you are serious, there were plenty of false messiahs, to be sure. I think Jesus was quite relevant well before the Gentiles were in the picture. It was that band of Jews that the recognized and proclaimed the deity of Jesus. It was that blessed band of Jews that gave Saul of Tarsus (a Jew) the right hand of fellowship as he took that same message to the Gentile world. True shalom is in Yahweh through his Son, Jesus Christ, and by his Spirit – One God, undivided and indivisible, forever blessed. Come join us, friend!