News Flash!!!
According to the Drudge Report, President Obama is going to church!
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm
Oh, to be a liberal/progressive/Democrat. They were certain that they had elected anything but a church goer. Sure he went to Rev. Wright’s church, but he admitted he never listened to a single sermon. Otherwise he would have heard the hate speech flowing from the pulpit. Twenty years in the pew and not one memory of the Pastor’s “Hate America” diatribes.
We have since learned that nearly half of America is not certain if Obama is a “Christian” at all. A huge chunk of the populous thinks he might be a Muslim. He actually was schooled in Muslim education system in his early childhood. Then again, I know a few friends of mine that went to a Catholic elementary school, and I don’t think the Catholic Church would put them up as poster children. The only serious caveat is that to real Muslims, you are born a Muslim by having a Muslim father. You cannot choose your religion after that. Either you are faithful or you are an infidel. I think Muslims around the world are just as confused as Christians in America are.
The ones with the best clue might be Europeans. They have had nearly a century of “Christian” political leaders that one would have a difficult time identifying due to their lifestyle. One of my favorite measuring sticks for determining if someone is a Christian is twofold. First Imagine that it is illegal to be a Christian under penalty of death. First, would a person boldly claim to be guilty? A real Non-Christian would say “NO”. A real Christian would have to decide if they were willing to die for their faith. However, there is a second step. If a person were to admit such a thing, the court appointed lawyer would plead that her client were mentally unstable and the plea should be disregarded. The court would then enter a plea of not guilty due to insanity. Then there would be a presenting of evidence. Here is where things get dicey. Think of all your friends, family and co-workers. If they all had to testify on your behalf, what would they say? Some would think they were doing you a favor by presenting evidence that you were anything but a “real” Christian. Authorities might search your home to discover a Bible, only to have your defense lawyer show that it was rarely ever was opened.
Under this scenario, we return to the analysis of Obama going to church. He walked to the service with his family. Anyone with a clue in politics realizes that this is nothing more than a photo op. So the bigger question is, why? What polling numbers told Obama’s political strategists that he needed to create a new image? So many of his supporters are agnostics, atheists and at most, members of liberal Christian denominations. This means that a great percentage of his base either does not attend church services, or at best go a handful of times a year. Just going to a church service pushes Obama to the political middle. This has to be bad news to his Progressive Left supporters. Then again, maybe it is the fact that his “army” of supporters has abandoned him already, and he has decided to move to the middle like President Clinton did after losing Washington to Newt in 1994.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for someone going to church. However, real Christians know that going to a nice building has nothing to do with going to church. In fact you can’t “go to” church, you can only be a “part of” the church. So the question is what is President Obama bringing to the “body” of the church? This is where he has his most difficult challenge. From those who have much, much is expected. He is arguably the most powerful man in the world. What is he doing to promote the Great Commission? All religions have something similar to the Golden Rule, but the Gospel of Christ being spread to the ends of the earth is the responsibility of each member of the body of Christ. I don’t believe that President Obama has any clue in this area. When Obama and McCain both accepted an invitation to meet with Rick Warren. It was McCain who was able to “speak the language” that Evangelical Christians recognize. Obama seemed lost. It was this event and the introduction of Sarah Palin that solidified the Religious Right’s continued support of the Republicans in November of 2008. This is something Republicans should not take for granted. Mitt Romney is still not considered a Christian by most Evangelicals.
I don’t anticipate Chris Mathews leading off his Sunday show with this breaking news of Obama’s new conversion. It is more likely meant to be used by Whitehouse mouthpiece Gibbs at some later date to show how “normal” Obama is. No longer can opponents say there is no “proof” that his is a Christian. Symbolism over substance. I once told a friend that I think 2008 is likely to be the last election where both major candidates fell the necessity to claim to be a Christian. I might be wrong by one presidential election cycle.
According to the Drudge Report, President Obama is going to church!
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm
Oh, to be a liberal/progressive/Democrat. They were certain that they had elected anything but a church goer. Sure he went to Rev. Wright’s church, but he admitted he never listened to a single sermon. Otherwise he would have heard the hate speech flowing from the pulpit. Twenty years in the pew and not one memory of the Pastor’s “Hate America” diatribes.
We have since learned that nearly half of America is not certain if Obama is a “Christian” at all. A huge chunk of the populous thinks he might be a Muslim. He actually was schooled in Muslim education system in his early childhood. Then again, I know a few friends of mine that went to a Catholic elementary school, and I don’t think the Catholic Church would put them up as poster children. The only serious caveat is that to real Muslims, you are born a Muslim by having a Muslim father. You cannot choose your religion after that. Either you are faithful or you are an infidel. I think Muslims around the world are just as confused as Christians in America are.
The ones with the best clue might be Europeans. They have had nearly a century of “Christian” political leaders that one would have a difficult time identifying due to their lifestyle. One of my favorite measuring sticks for determining if someone is a Christian is twofold. First Imagine that it is illegal to be a Christian under penalty of death. First, would a person boldly claim to be guilty? A real Non-Christian would say “NO”. A real Christian would have to decide if they were willing to die for their faith. However, there is a second step. If a person were to admit such a thing, the court appointed lawyer would plead that her client were mentally unstable and the plea should be disregarded. The court would then enter a plea of not guilty due to insanity. Then there would be a presenting of evidence. Here is where things get dicey. Think of all your friends, family and co-workers. If they all had to testify on your behalf, what would they say? Some would think they were doing you a favor by presenting evidence that you were anything but a “real” Christian. Authorities might search your home to discover a Bible, only to have your defense lawyer show that it was rarely ever was opened.
Under this scenario, we return to the analysis of Obama going to church. He walked to the service with his family. Anyone with a clue in politics realizes that this is nothing more than a photo op. So the bigger question is, why? What polling numbers told Obama’s political strategists that he needed to create a new image? So many of his supporters are agnostics, atheists and at most, members of liberal Christian denominations. This means that a great percentage of his base either does not attend church services, or at best go a handful of times a year. Just going to a church service pushes Obama to the political middle. This has to be bad news to his Progressive Left supporters. Then again, maybe it is the fact that his “army” of supporters has abandoned him already, and he has decided to move to the middle like President Clinton did after losing Washington to Newt in 1994.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for someone going to church. However, real Christians know that going to a nice building has nothing to do with going to church. In fact you can’t “go to” church, you can only be a “part of” the church. So the question is what is President Obama bringing to the “body” of the church? This is where he has his most difficult challenge. From those who have much, much is expected. He is arguably the most powerful man in the world. What is he doing to promote the Great Commission? All religions have something similar to the Golden Rule, but the Gospel of Christ being spread to the ends of the earth is the responsibility of each member of the body of Christ. I don’t believe that President Obama has any clue in this area. When Obama and McCain both accepted an invitation to meet with Rick Warren. It was McCain who was able to “speak the language” that Evangelical Christians recognize. Obama seemed lost. It was this event and the introduction of Sarah Palin that solidified the Religious Right’s continued support of the Republicans in November of 2008. This is something Republicans should not take for granted. Mitt Romney is still not considered a Christian by most Evangelicals.
I don’t anticipate Chris Mathews leading off his Sunday show with this breaking news of Obama’s new conversion. It is more likely meant to be used by Whitehouse mouthpiece Gibbs at some later date to show how “normal” Obama is. No longer can opponents say there is no “proof” that his is a Christian. Symbolism over substance. I once told a friend that I think 2008 is likely to be the last election where both major candidates fell the necessity to claim to be a Christian. I might be wrong by one presidential election cycle.
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