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    Dobson:  Obama is “Dragging Biblical Understanding Through the Gutter”

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    Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy - chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, “a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

    “Folks haven’t been reading their Bibles,” Obama said.

    Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament.

    “I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology,” Dobson said.

    “… He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”

    Here’s a link to the whole article from the AP...

    What do you think?  First of all, is Dobson right?  And secondly, are you comfortable with him speaking for you as a Christian?

    The AP reports that James Dobson, is accusing Barak Obama of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

    According to the article, "the criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

    The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

    "Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

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    1. Peter Hamm on Tue, June 24, 2008

      I’m not totally comfortable with the idea of Dobson “speaking for me” as a Christian… He doesn’t.


      but…


      he’s right when he says Obama is “deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology”. A little like Nancy Pelosi quoting imaginary scriptures in the Bible when speaking to Congress.

    2. Leonard on Tue, June 24, 2008

      This ain’t new is it?  Haven’t we heard this from politician’s who try yo get the “religious"vote?  Dobson does not speak for me but that does not make him incorrect in what he says.

    3. Wendi on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Dobson absolutely DOES NOT speak for me.  He works hard to persuade the public that he does though, because unless he speaks for all American evangelicals he has no power.  This makes him nothing more than a lobbyist, and a manipulative one at that (I guess manipulation and lobbyist go hand in hand).  I find that the whole thing reprehensible.


      Yes, his critique is correct of Obama’s theology.  But here’s the problem, unless he publically analyzes McCain’s theology every time he refers to the bible or comments on the Christian faith, through his (Dobson’s) silence he communicates that anything he (McCain) says about Christianity and faith is correct . . . which is why it’s counterproductive to our mission to merge politics with our theology.


      Wendi

    4. Peter Hamm on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Wendi,


      excellent point!


      But I suspect that Dobson is going to be equally hard on McCain (he has been) as he is not exactly supporting him either.

    5. ck on Tue, June 24, 2008

      He is speaking the truth regardless of whether he is speaking for ‘us’.


      And he has been just as hard on McCain, even publicly saying that he won’t vote for him as it stands right now.


      The big difference is that Obama took a shot at Dobson publicly , so Dobson is publicly responding to him.

    6. Wendi on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Peter –


      We’ll see if Dobson is as hard on McCain’s theology as he is on Obama.  True enough, he was very hard on him during the primaries.  However, now that the choice is between McCain and Obama, I’m not sure he wants his influence to persuade people away from his beloved Republican party, so he might become quiet about McCain’s questionable theology.


      Can’t remember, did Dobson put out much negative press about the theological problems with our Mormon candidate Romney during the primary season?


      And CK – I think Obama’s point is correct, not really a shot at Dobson.  If America became a “Christian nation,” whose flavor of Christianity would it represent?  Like it or not, there are big differences among us (a cursory glance at MMI proves that).  This is why Jesus never intended we spread Christianity by creating Christian governments or nations.  We should have learned this lesson with Constantine.


      Wendi

    7. ck on Tue, June 24, 2008

      There is a big difference between Romney’s flawed theology and Obamas.  Romney’s Jesus is a little different than Dobson’s… Obama’s Jesus is WAY different than Dobson’s.


      But what you are missing is something Dobson said 29 years ago in Cincinnati.


      He said publically that he will NEVER vote for a proabortion candidate.  His opposition to both are in line with this belief.


      Though Obama is pro-abortion where as McCain is pro-states right to decide (which is honestly an easy way to say I don’t object to abortion all to much).


      I think if McCain came out and made a declaritve pro-choice statement he would get a vote from Dobson.

    8. Keith on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Wendi, Dobson has been quite vocal in his criticism of McCain. Earlier in the campaign he said he’d never vote for McCain, and he’s backed down from that statement. A McCain staffer recently asked to have face time between McCain and Dobson, and Dobson declined. I think that refutes your statement about giving silent approval to McCain.


      And Dobson hardly ‘works hard to persuade the public’ that he is a spokesman for Evangelicals. He’s a child psychologist and is at his best when he sticks to that topic, but he does have millions of loyal supporters who agree with him on a variety of topics, including public policy.

    9. Keith on Tue, June 24, 2008

      whoops, sorry, i ment to type that Dobson has not backed down from his statement that he’d never vote for McCain.


      And Wendi, where do you get that the GOP is ‘beloved’ by Dobson? He cricitizes both parties when they act (in his opinion) unbiblically.

    10. Jim on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Actually, Obama is speaking and sounding more like a Muslim every day.  It is quite normal for a Muslim to embrace Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible, but the good prophet Jesus.  When you look at Obama’s statements about there are other paths to Heaven, it shows he’s completely thrown-out the Biblical Jesus, and all that Scripture teaches about the Christ.  In actuality, he’s sounding more like a Muslim every day-he distorts Scripture, He denounces Scriptural teaching about Jesus, he’s abandoned Biblical morality under the guise of tolerance, and he’s willing to embrace and defend every Muslim leader and terrorist, under the guise of “negotiating”. 


      For Obama to claim he’s a Christian, while he spends a lot of time denouncing most of Christian teaching, has about the same ring of truth and sincerity as a Nazi concentration camp guard claiming the death camps were Jewish weight loss centers.  Unfortunately, the world didn’t see through the Nazi propoganda until it was too late, either.  And I truly believe that if Obama’s elected President, by the time the Christian Church awakens to find that the Bible declared “hate speech”, because of its position on immoral behavior; and the Constitution is trashed with the loss of free speech and religious freedom, and many other “Inalienable Rights"through the court systems, because of the Judges that Obama will nominate to the Court System; we will find ourselves in a very similar position as it was in 1936 Germany.  In 1936, by the time the German Church woke-up to what the Nazi propogand really meant, it was be too late it was too late to alter their tragic history.

    11. Michael Schutz on Tue, June 24, 2008

      This is a bit of side note to the main issue of this post (I’m really not a fan of any thought process that God’s work is so tied up in government….), but I thought it interesting timing that you make this comment, Jim:


      “When you look at Obama’s statements about there are other paths to Heaven, it shows he’s completely thrown-out the Biblical Jesus, and all that Scripture teaches about the Christ.”


      With the just-released Pew Forum survey showing that 70% of people with a religious affiliation and 57% of Evangelicals saying the same thing, is Obama really that out of step with American Christian culture? Maybe some Muslims would say that, but almost 2/3 of (admittedly self-identified) Evangelical Christians say the same thing. (And if you look at some Barna research over the last few years, more and more regular self-identified Christians believe what you see in Obama.)


      Just thought that was an interesting note…

    12. Carole Turner on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Dobson gets on my nerves way more then Obama does.

    13. Daniel on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Jim, how much do you know about Islam? You’re ringing up a 3000 on the ignorance-meter right now, and about a 2000 on the fearmonger-meter.


      Dislike Obama’s politics if you must. But leave your un-Christian labeling out of it.


      I personally care no more for Dobson’s Christianity than I do for Obama’s.

    14. Jim on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Daniel, I would agree that there is much about which I’m not aware, but I’m not out in left field about the Muslim sounding Obama.  I’ve studied in Israel under both Christian and Islamic teachers, and have Arab/Christian friends in Israel.  I also had an Pastor was from Turkey who, as a child, watched his mother and grandmother butchered by Muslims in front of him, because they would not denounce their Christian faith.  So, I would agree that I’m not well versed on many issues, but I would bet you that Obama will, if elected, proclaim himself a Christian, but he will become very open to the Muslim world, and more critical of the Christian community, as he is already declaring.  He declared Israel to be a stain in the Middle East, and that there will never be peace as long as Israel exists (wow! that’s an insightful statement), he’s willing to talk to and negotiate with Iran’s leader (does anyone remember the great negotiator Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain prior to WWII?), who is trying to build atomic bombs to finish off the Jewish and Christian communities around the globe, and he’s never met an Arab/Muslim he’s not willing to embrace.  Don’t forget, when he was a child, he was registered as a Muslim as a student.  


      Daniel, if I’m wrong, then we have absolutely nothing to worry about and, I, as many others, will just be labeled to be alarmists.   However, if all of the cultural experiences I’ve enjoyed through the years that are warning me about this man, and he’s elected President, then it will be too late to restore the freedoms he will destroy that our Constitution protects.  Oh, and let me add, I’m about as excited about John McKain as I am Obama.  I will vote for McKain, but I will hold my nose while doing it.

    15. Dave on Tue, June 24, 2008

      Perhaps Mr Dobson should take the Jesus test at http://www.sentforlife.com/jesus.html


      He would probably fail miserably,

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