O.K. I shared last week an anonymous letter I received from “Concerned Christians.” You can read it here. This week I have received another. I thought I would share with you the Barack bashing:
Dear Pastor: We write as a follow-up to our letter of April 4th, concerning current events that threaten the foundations of our Christian nation (wow…serious assumption right there). We will quote, verbatim, from a town hall meeting held at Hocking College, Nelsonville, Ohio on March 2nd – so that you can see for yourself the character of person that could be our next President:
“I don’t think my church is particularly controversial. It’s a member of the United Church of Christ. It’s got a choir (sweet). We read scriptures (very nice). You would feel at home if you were there (do you serve coffee and donuts?). Jeremiah Wright has said some controversial things, calling for divestment of South Africa and things like that and he thinks it’s important for us to focus on what’s happening in Africa, and I agree with him on that. I think what you may be referring to probably has to do with two issues, which is abortion and gay marriage. Which has become, I think, how people measure faith in the evangelical community, and, you know, I think that there are genuine differences of opinion in this area. I will tell you that I don’t believe in gay marriage. But I do think that people who are gay and lesbian should be treated with dignity and respect and that the state should not discriminate against them. I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in the hospital or transfer property to each other. I don’t think that it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state. (author of letter bolded last sentence) If people find that controversial, then I would refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think, you know, is in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.”
For a professing Christian to manipulate and denigrate the Holy Scriptures is apostate in character. When what is apostate in character seeks the most powerful office in the Western World, it is the duty of Christians everywhere to sound the alarm!
With sincerity,
From Concerned Christians
Well…
- I’m not a Barack Obama supporter. I’m not a Barack Obama hater either. But why is this ALL about Barack Obama. Has anyone asked about Hillary Clinton’s views? What about John McCains?
- “Apostate”?! Is Barack running for Pope, for Bishop, for some religious office?
- Do you know what Thomas Jefferson did to the Bible? Has anyone ever heard of the Jeffersonian Bible? He didn’t believe in the possibility of miracles, so he literally cut them out of his Bible.
- Many of the earliest founding fathers of our country were Deists who would hold “apostate” views of Scripture in the eyes of many and yet we celebrate them as some of the great leaders of our country’s history.
- Is our standard of for the Presidency someone who interprets the Bible in the same manner and same hermeneutic as “Concerned Christians?”
- If “Concerned Christians” don’t want to vote for Barack Obama because of his interpretive views of Scripture, then by all means…don’t vote for him…but please don’t contend it is the “duty of Christians everywhere to sound the alarm!” The alarm of what?! Barack doesn’t see the Bible like I do.
Sam I Am 
I generally agree with each of your statements. (Not that anyone cares what I think.)
It’s interesting (sad) how the “politics” of Jesus have been transformed into just two issues by evangelical christians living in the U.S.
Far too many Christians believe government should protect, project and promote our faith. And they measure candidates for office based upon their faith view. Yes, I want candidates with integrity. Yes, I would like candidates that will embrace constitutional principles, not rewrite them.
But the mission of Christ is our responsibility. If we want this nation to be light in the world of darkness, we must build a nation of Christians that are won heart by heart, not vote by vote.
I doubt that I would vote for Obama. Too many of his supporters (in my opinion) promote a socialist agenda in the name of compassion. Wouldn’t it be great if the Church would begin to act with compassion and social justice and take that plank back from the socialistic – government can run all, fix all crowd?
One nation under God is possible, but it will never happen at the polling places.
I like you, scmiller, whoever (or is it “whomever”…?) you are! I come from the South (that’s right, I capitalize it!), where if you’re Republican, you fervently support people like Mike Huckabee (yikes). I used to be totally into that. Now that I’ve been away from it for a few years, that mentality (like Concerned Christians’) just makes me cringe.
Let us look toward the future. Never give up on the audacity of hope. We need real change and not to be beholding to Big Oil or Washington lobbyists. [smiling big] [waving to my friends across all the racial and social divides] Keep hope alive! Believe in the future. Let’s work together for change. Shun the politics of the old. Thank you.
Wouldnt the world be a booring place if we all interpreted scriptures the sme way? Christians would have nothing to disagree about, then we would have to focus our attention on something else like, mabye, the mission of God for a change. 🙂