Obama Pulls a Kerry
June 25th, 2008 by tempe
Here’s an interesting post from La Shawn Barber’s website; she does a pretty good job at explaining the uses and differences in the OT law, including pointing toward Jesus Christ. I hope that many politicians (and voters), regardless of party affiliations, would read it.
IMHO, this is not an unusual thing for someone who lays claim to “American Christianity” to make such a statement as did the senator from Illinois. This is what people do, Christian and non-Christian alike; they set themselves up as experts on the Scripture, read it a-contextually, read their own personal wishes and desires into it, ignore the parts they don’t like, etc. If anything, this should emphasize the importance of God’s people attending a church where the minister has been adequately trained and the word of God is faithfully taught (Ms. Barber, if memory serves, attends a PCA church, plus she likes James White). But, just to show I’m not picking on anyone in particular, I found the following observation (concerning the third 2004 Presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry) to be interesting. When asked what part faith played in his policy decisions, the President responded:
First, my faith plays a lot — a big part of my life. … My faith is a very — it’s very personal. … Someone asked me one time, ‘Well, how do you know?’ I said, ‘I just feel it.’
The article continues by stating:
By contrast, Senator Kerry answered the same question by referring to Christ’s summary of the law that he was taught in church and parochial school. … Following the debate, the media were almost unanimous in praising President Bush’s response to the question and in ridiculing Senator Kerry’s response. The president, they said, was sincere and passionate about his faith while the senator was merely answering the question by rote. … A close look at the contrast between the two answers shows President Bush’s religion to be almost entirely personal, having to do with a private relationship with God that goes beyond public scrutiny. He prays a lot, and his religion is authenticated by his feelings. Although the president’s answer is, no doubt, sincere, it has very little connection to what has historically been considered Christianity.
The article I’m citing appeared in Modern Reformation magazine. Read the rest of the article here.