Sunday, July 08, 2007

Inspiration....

Guy over at Messenger and Advocate has a post about a question Mary Van Steenis asked Romney, heres the account from Guy's blog:

Mary Van Steenis asked Romney how he would ponder important decisions as president and which source of inspiration he would seek.
“Where would the Bible be in that process?” she asked. “Would it be above the Book of Mormon or would it be beneath it?”
Mitt’s polite, politically correct response was:
“I don’t know that there’s any conflict at all between the values of great faiths like mine, like yours, like other faiths, like Jews who don’t believe in the New Testament,” Romney said.
Not satisfied, Van Steenis persisted:
“I asked if you had to look to one source what would it be? He didn’t really respond to that,” she told reporters after the event. “This is serious to me.


Guy got after Romney for not defending the Book of Mormon a bit. Personally after reading the question, I think my answer would be a different approach than Guy or Mitt:
"Inspiration comes from God. Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are witnesses of Christ, however, personal inspiration requires more than just reading the scriptures. Prayer, pondering, and scripture study are all vital parts to receiving inspiration.

How would you answer Mary? I just answered as me...you can pretend you're Mitt and take a stab as how a candidate would/should answer it or just be yourself.



7 comments:

Steve said...

I think this is going to be where Romney is going to trip up and lose. If you (no offense) can give an answer that is 100 times better than his, what hope does he have? He needs to learn to talk about his faith, not get defensive about it as his answer was. Besides, how many times in church do they say 'Pray and Ponder', so simple, but would have been a good answer there too.

Frozen Okie said...

Your answer is very close to mine- but I don't agree with Steve that it is 100 times better as an answer to that question within a political context. A pretty big criticisms of Bush has been that he honestly believes he talks to God, and that he's on God's side in everything so no amount of evidence to the contrary will convince him he isn't right in his actions.

Because really, saying you'll follow the inspiration from God isn't much different (to a nonbeliever) than just saying "I'm not really going to think about it or cite any authority scriptural or secular- I'm just gonna go by my gut."

I personally think that your answer is good, and is right- and probably the answer Romney should give- but I don't agree that it's the politically advantageous one.

I think Romney's came pretty close. Basically saying that the principles taught in both books are the same- there's not a need to choose. Neither book is going to tell you what exactly to do in specific modern situations- but the principles therein will influence your values and thus how you decide things.

Joy said...

I disagree. Romneys answer covered the common ground but wasn't what she wanted to hear, partly because she might have been baiting a little and expected an answer like Guy's really. However, Guys doesn't really cover it. Romney's answer answered a question that Mary didn't ask.

Shannon said...

Since it seems that every American I know hates the current president, I'd have answered like this...

"What does Bush do? I'll do the opposite."

Joy said...

Funny because of all the candidates---Mitt reminds me the most of Bush. I can't even put my finger on it exactly...but it scares me a bit.

Anonymous said...

Funny because of all the candidates---Mitt reminds me the most of Bush.

Really? In many ways I think Romney is almost at the opposite end of the spectrum, at least in terms of competence, religion, intelligence, management style, and the like. They share a few common political positions--but I think that's true purely for political reasons.

As to the Book of Mormon thing . . you're right to a degree. I was probably chastising Mitt just a bit; but, more, I was probably irritated that the question is even asked. And I was probably wanting to get in the questioners face a bit.

I like your answer though . . .it's good!

Joy said...

Mitt and Bush are similar when it comes to the press.


As far as Mitt goes....I would've voted for Mitt with the ideals he had 10-15 years ago....or his dad.