This is a reprint of an article I wrote in 2007 about the candidacy of Mitt Romney for President. My position has not changed.
I am befuddled by people who adamantly oppose participating in ventures with those who profess to be Christian (BWA, NBC) but who will support and even endorse joining forces with a member of a cult (Mitt Romney, Mormon). What I think we have are Christians who have fallen for the idol of morality instead of living out biblical principles for the purpose of exalting Christ.
Can a person be moral and not be a Christian? Of course. Christians have no patent on morality. True Christianity produces the by-product of morality but that is not to say that all who hold to Christian morals are Christians.
I think most Christians would agree that our purpose while we’re here on earth is to glorify God. Everything that God does is for His glory. God reminds us in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned.” How have we all sinned? By falling “short of the glory of God.” Therefore, anything that is done for any reason other than to glorify God is sin. Good works done for the sake of morality and not to glorify God is sin. Morality in and of itself is nothing. Unless morality is embraced in a manner which exalts Christ, then it is empty and useless (John 15:5).
One reader commented that Romney would be “going to live by the Mormon doctrine of holiness.” Is that reader truly speaking of holiness or morality? The word “holy” means something or someone set apart for the purpose of glorifying God. If a Mormon does not honor, trust, and worship the God of the Bible, how can any of his “holiness” be construed as glorying to God? It can’t. If the Jesus of the Bible is rejected for a Jesus of one’s own creation, then that person worships an idol and is not worshiping the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, all of that person’s righteousness is “filthy rags” to God (Isa. 64:6). That person’s version of “holiness” is then no holiness at all in the biblical sense.
Let me challenge you to take a step back and ask yourselves, “Am I more interested in promoting morality or Christ?” Morality outside of the context of Jesus Christ is a subtle idol. Some say they will not work with a non-Christian in evangelism but they will work with a non-Christian to promote moral principles. Can you not see that morality for the sake of morality is not Christian morality? Don’t sacrifice your exaltation of Christ for the sake of human morality. Don’t resort to pragmatism in the name of morality at the expense of one person turning to a cult rather than to Christ.
IMHO, voting for Mitt Romney would be the same as voting for a Muslim candidate if he or she embraced the same moral values as you. Muslims are against abortion and homosexuality. Muslims are for moral living and conservative values. Why not vote for a Muslim?
It is my hope that Christians do not get blinded by a white, good-looking man with his white, good-looking moral family who uses the words “Jesus,” “God,” and “conservative values,” and is under a veil of spiritual deception just as dark as any other non-Christian religion.
I appeal to my fellow Christians not to let your desire for morality supersede your desire for glorifying Jesus.
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