Christianity Today has posted a Q&A session between interviewer Collin Hansen and Mormon Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney. I must admit that I have concerns about the doctrinal differences between Mormonism and orthodox Christianity, especially when choosing a president. However, should those doctrinal differences preclude Romney from the Evangelical Christian’s list of acceptable candidates? According to the article, Romney’s value decisions line up strikingly close to those so often touted by Evangelicals. So, does this create a case where the “ends” do actually justify the “means”, even if an Evangelical finds his or herself voting for someone they might consider un-christian?
And an even deeper question, what does this say about different doctrine/theology when conclusions are so closely aligned? I’m not talking here about a persons “proclaimed” theology, but the theology that they actually allow to govern their lives. The two can be very different (what we say vs what we do). We may say that we believe such-and-such, but the decisions we make and the actions we take prove otherwise. Can we look at the decisions/actions of a person and make some determinations about the doctrines/theology that influenced them? Seems that Jesus said something about a tree bearing fruit or something like that didn’t he? Jesus said good trees bear good fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit (Matt 7:17,18). Something to think about, isn’t it?
