Romney and Karmic Liberty
Jesus, Mitt Romney, and secular humanists agree on one thing at least: you don’t owe a karmic debt to the universe for your past misdeeds.
In 1993, Mitt Romney gave some remarkable advice to a troubled young Mormon. According to the New York Times, Romney told the young man that “as human beings, our work isn’t measured by taking the sum of our good deeds and the sum of our bad deeds and seeing how things even out… The only thing you need to think about is: Are you trying to improve, are you trying to do better? And if you are, then you’re a saint.”
Romney’s advice reflects a core message of the historical Jesus: you don’t owe a karmic debt to God for your past misdeeds. Even an atheist can agree with that viewpoint; in fact, we practically have to agree with it. Romney’s statement is remarkable because it does not square well with Mormon teaching. According to Mormon doctrine, northern Europeans, southern Europeans, and Africans were awarded supremacy, mediocrity, and slavery (respectively) for their deeds as spirits in their heavenly pre-existence. If a whole race can be cursed for millennia for something they don’t even remember doing, that sure makes it look as though the sum of one’s past deeds matter to God. If Native Americans are supposed to be the cursed, dark-skinned descendants of evil Israelites, it sure looks as though God is in the habit of holding past sins against one, even when they are one’s ancestors’ transgressions. Romney’s good advice doesn’t jibe with Mormon doctrines about God’s justice.
But then religion is more about community than about doctrine. A clever human is too wily to let bizarre doctrines trump good sense and good advice. Behind the fraudulent sacred texts of Mormonism and underneath the half-spurious gospels is the original teaching of the historical Jesus. As the pre-eminent Jesus scholar E. P. Sanders argues, Jesus seems to have taught not the pedestrian theme of a sinner’s repentance but rather the radical promise of God’s forgiveness. You don’t owe a debt for your past misdeeds. Jesus’ message was particularly radical in his day, when poverty, sickness, and mental illness were understood as God’s curses on sinners. Somehow, centuries of legends about Jesus, even those of the Mormons, haven’t entirely blotted out all of his good ideas.
(It should go without saying that complimenting Romney’s good sense is not tantamount to endorsing his candidacy for president. He may be the best Republican contender, but that’s not saying much.)
In 1993, Mitt Romney gave some remarkable advice to a troubled young Mormon. According to the New York Times, Romney told the young man that “as human beings, our work isn’t measured by taking the sum of our good deeds and the sum of our bad deeds and seeing how things even out… The only thing you need to think about is: Are you trying to improve, are you trying to do better? And if you are, then you’re a saint.”
Romney’s advice reflects a core message of the historical Jesus: you don’t owe a karmic debt to God for your past misdeeds. Even an atheist can agree with that viewpoint; in fact, we practically have to agree with it. Romney’s statement is remarkable because it does not square well with Mormon teaching. According to Mormon doctrine, northern Europeans, southern Europeans, and Africans were awarded supremacy, mediocrity, and slavery (respectively) for their deeds as spirits in their heavenly pre-existence. If a whole race can be cursed for millennia for something they don’t even remember doing, that sure makes it look as though the sum of one’s past deeds matter to God. If Native Americans are supposed to be the cursed, dark-skinned descendants of evil Israelites, it sure looks as though God is in the habit of holding past sins against one, even when they are one’s ancestors’ transgressions. Romney’s good advice doesn’t jibe with Mormon doctrines about God’s justice.
But then religion is more about community than about doctrine. A clever human is too wily to let bizarre doctrines trump good sense and good advice. Behind the fraudulent sacred texts of Mormonism and underneath the half-spurious gospels is the original teaching of the historical Jesus. As the pre-eminent Jesus scholar E. P. Sanders argues, Jesus seems to have taught not the pedestrian theme of a sinner’s repentance but rather the radical promise of God’s forgiveness. You don’t owe a debt for your past misdeeds. Jesus’ message was particularly radical in his day, when poverty, sickness, and mental illness were understood as God’s curses on sinners. Somehow, centuries of legends about Jesus, even those of the Mormons, haven’t entirely blotted out all of his good ideas.
(It should go without saying that complimenting Romney’s good sense is not tantamount to endorsing his candidacy for president. He may be the best Republican contender, but that’s not saying much.)
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