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    Cal Thomas:  Obama is no Christian…

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    Cal then goes on to give some Obama quotes on his faith:

    “I’m rooted in the Christian tradition… I believe there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

    “The difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they’re going to hell.”

    “I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. When I tuck in my daughters at night and I feel like I’ve been a good father to them, and I see that I am transferring values that I got from my mother and that they’re kind people and that they’re honest people, and they’re curious people, that’s a little piece of heaven.”

    Cal Thomas’ conclusion:

    “Any first-year seminary student could deconstruct such “works salvation” and wishful thinking. Obama either hasn’t read the Bible, or if he has, doesn’t believe it if he embraces such thin theological wisps.

    Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement. One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian. Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called “false prophets.”

    What do YOU think?

    You can read the whole article here...

    Cal Thomas writes: "David Brody first broke the story on his blog "The Brody File." Obama's campaign for the conservative Christian vote, which has largely gone to the Republican presidential candidate in recent elections, has been dubbed the "Joshua Generation Project." Joshua, Moses' successor, led the Israelites into the Promised Land. It wasn't the group that fled Egypt in the Exodus, though. They died in the wilderness, lacking faith in God's promise. It was the next generation that Joshua led into Canaan. Apparently, if we have enough faith in Obama, he will lead us all into a new America, but if we vote for John McCain, we will demonstrate a lack of faith (in Obama) and die in the political badlands.

    Obama is better at biblical language and imagery than any Democrat in modern times. He certainly beats Howard Dean, now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who once offered Job as his favorite New Testament book.

    Obama has declared himself a committed Christian. He can call himself anything he likes, but there are certain markers among the evangelicals he is courting that one must meet in order to qualify for that label...

    Comments

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    1. Joey Smith on Wed, July 02, 2008

      Gosh. I hate agreeing 100% with Cal Thomas but what other choice is there (and why do I hate it)? little help here?

    2. bob carlton on Wed, July 02, 2008

      This is exactly what we’ve come to expect from someone from the Moral Majority & FOX TV.


      Disagreeing with how someone lives in their faith is understandable.  Deeming someone as without a Christian faith is sad & pathetic.


      When the current President said publicly all faiths worship the same God, hatemongers like Thomas said nothing.  When people of faith were manipulated for elections & wars, the “moral” minds were silent.


      Shame on Cal Thomas & the Baptist Press.

    3. Peter Hamm on Wed, July 02, 2008

      I would love to hear Obama’s response to this. Do you think he reads MMI?

    4. Matt on Wed, July 02, 2008

      I have been reading many of the posts and responses about Obama over the past few weeks, but this is the first one to which I will respond. 


      I am a very conservative Baptist pastor and I have never voted for a democrat as president. That will change this year.  I believe that Obama is the most serious and devoted Christian we have seen running for the office of president in many years.  I think he takes Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount more seriously than most politicians and (sadly) more seriously than many pastors and church leaders.


      Why has his theology been so questioned? I seem to remember 8 years ago when George W. Bush was hailed by most Christians (myself included) as a near messianic figure - his beliefs were hardly questioned. We all just believed he was a great Christian for one reason - he said so.  He used the right language.  He gave lip service to the one or two social issues we have selective moral outrage over. 


      What is behind this “mistrust” of Obama, someone who for more than two decades has demonstrated in very real, tangible ways the evidence of a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ? Why do people want so much more “proof” from him than they’ve required from any other candidate in memory? 


      The above article could have been written in criticism to vague statements made by G.W. Bush, but it wasn’t.  There is a larger agenda at work here and we shouldn’t be blind to it. 


      Sorry for the long rant ... everyone has a right to their opinion.  I really believe that Obama is the walking the walk and it’s frustrating to always hear people saying, “he’s not a real Christian” or “He’s a Muslim, you know.”  This is ridiculous and thinly veiled bigotry, in my opinion. 


      By the way - the speech made by Obama that Dobson was so offended over- I encourage everyone to read it in its entirety.  It was a great and thoughtful speech. If that’s the worst that Dobson could dig up, then that says something in itself.

    5. jud on Wed, July 02, 2008

      This is absurd. The very people who have BLASTED the “moral majority” for 8 years for being co-opted by the Republican Party are now hitching their trailers to the Democrats.


      As far as Obama being a Christian, I DON"T believe he is. It has nothing to do with whether or not I like him. I simply take him at his Word and match it up with God’s Word.


      Mr. Obama, in his OWN words…


      http://falsani.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-obama-2004-god-factor-interview.html

    6. Joe Louthan on Wed, July 02, 2008

      So let me get this straight:


      We have Obama who at least tries to profess the Christian faith and does it better than any front running candidate that I can ever recall despite his theology being a little wishful…


      ... or we have John “uh… what… what is faith” McCain who assume he will automatically get the Christian vote based on the sheer fact he is the Republican candidate.


      Let us face facts, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, that our next President is not a Christian.


      Like I have been telling people for the last 2 years: it doesn’t matter what our government is, we still have to bow and worship our kind King.

    7. Joe Louthan on Wed, July 02, 2008

      By the way, Matt…


      ... thank you for learning the mistakes of the last 8 years.


      I am with you.  I have no clue why Christians mistrust Obama so much when McCain has given nothing to earn our trust other than flip-flopping 10 times in the last 6 months.


      If Obama spits out, “Jesus Christ is Lord”, then there is no question who my vote goes to.  But until then, I give it over to God and let him dictate my next ruler is going to be.

    8. CS on Wed, July 02, 2008

      “He certainly beats Howard Dean, now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who once offered Job as his favorite New Testament book.”


      I don’t know.  I recall Obama referring to Romans 1 as an “obscure” part of the New Testament.  The quote of a “many roads to God” type philosophy is also pretty bad, ignoring John 14.


      I also agree with Matt’s point about the perception President Bush being seen as a Christian.



      CS

    9. Matt on Wed, July 02, 2008

      Jud,


      I’m guessing that the “many paths” statement by Obama in the interview you reference might be where you’re basing your view that he is “not a Christian.”


      According to a recent survey, something like 70% of American Christians believe that many paths lead to God (forgive me if that statistic isn’t exactly correct, I’m relying on memory).  I believe that 70% of American Christians are wrong - I believe that Jesus is in fact the only path. But I’m not willing to say that none of those 70% of Americans actually have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  I’m not willing to exclude the presidential position to the percentage of American Christians who believe like me. 


      By the way - try to find a recent quote of George W. Bush or John McCain saying that Jesus is the only way to God.

    10. Joe on Wed, July 02, 2008

      I think there are bigger issues for Christians to work on than calling each other non-Christians.  


      Did I miss the verses where the Great Commission is defined as judging another’s doctrinal purity? 


      How does that create disciples? How does that make the Kingdom of God grow near?


      Why don’t we go back to the days where Catholics and Protestants were at war and begin there?


      Before we judge Obama for the splinter in his eye we might ought to look at the beam in ours.


      I know a lot of committed Christians who are voting for him, and it is an insult to these disciples to tell them they are voting for an apostate.


      Those who presume to judge another’s faith may not care about that, but I suggest they are operating a little beyond love of God and neighbor.

    11. DanielR on Wed, July 02, 2008

      I think if someone took everything I’ve ever said, or even just everything I’ve ever posted here at MMI you could pull enough out of context to make the argument that I’m not a Christian. (And can I say it irks me to see “Christianity” in quotes like that.  Why is it that some people can’t disagree with someone else’s theological beliefs or doctrine without questioning whether the person is even a Christian?)


      I disagree with much of what the Anglican Church is saying and doing these days but I don’t question whether they are even Christian.   Same with the Catholic Church.   I don’t agree with everything that Methodists believe but my brother is a Methodist Minister so maybe I’ll skip that one.  http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif


      And I find it quite disturbing that Cal Thomas questions whether Jews believe in the same God as Christians. 


      If Obama were a Pastor or Theologian I would question the specifics of his theology and doctrinal beliefs more, but he’s not, he’s a politician.  If I disagree with what he’s been taught I have an issue with his teacher.  I celebrate that fact that he is a Christian and that he says that his faith plays a big part in his life. And I trust that if his beliefs need straightening out God and the Holy Spirit can accomplish that.  His opponents so far haven’t seemed to be religious at all and yet it’s Obama who seems to constantly take criticism for his faith. 


      According to God Voter.org John McCain was raised an Episcopalian but calls himself a Baptist today. When asked why he became a Baptist, John McCain indicated that Baptists believe in baptism by immersion. The peculiar thing is that John McCain states he is still thinking about it but has yet to be baptized by immersion.  His switch coincides with his second marriage to Cindy McCain, a Baptist, and the Baptist church he attends is hers. John McCain’s switch to the Baptist denomination appears to be based on Cindy McCain’s Christian faith more than his own or theological beliefs.  He has also called Islam, which denies the deity of Christ, an “honorable religion” and stated that Mitt Romney’s Mormonism should “absolutely not” be an issue to his candidacy for the Presidency.


      Is the reason that John McCain skirts questions about faith because he doesn’t have any faith?

    12. DanielR on Wed, July 02, 2008

      Wow, that didn’t look that long on a MS Word doc.


      Sorry http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/grin.gif

    13. Peter Hamm on Wed, July 02, 2008

      Joe writes [Those who presume to judge another’s faith may not care about that, but I suggest they are operating a little beyond love of God and neighbor.] Not only that, but the double-standard is a little annoying, as Cal hasn’t come out with an article about McCain with these same thoughts.


      I wonder what would happen if we voted for the person we thought could lead our nation the best, and for the person who might be most likely to advance what is important to us, whatever that might be.

    14. Nora Beerline on Wed, July 02, 2008

      For me, the question boils down to is Obama deliberately trying to deceive Christian people about his beliefs in order to get their vote?  In other words, is he saying he’s a Christian when he does not believe that he is a Christian?  If he is not being deliberately deceitful, then he is (possibly) in error—but I will not be the first to judge his heart or his status before God. 


      We have to remember that we are not calling our next pastor; we are voting for our next president, and different standards and expectations apply to each.

    15. Eric Joppa on Wed, July 02, 2008

      I am intrigued that we are discussing politics. This is a conversation I normally avoid so as to steer away from conflict, but I am curious, so here goes.


      Does any of us actually think that either McCain or Obama are actually believers? OF COURSE THEY ARE NOT. my question is…does it matter?


      Faith is an election platform. It is not a policy setter. I believe Bush is actually a believer, but he still does not set policy on a large scale based on his faith. Some things like the faith based initiative, and justice appointments he has. but nothing else has seemed to look like it is focused on biblical standards before it is implemented.


      My point is that most presidents in my life time, have either not been deep christians or have not been christians at all. They run on that platform, but are not truly believers. Only a few have been elected (bush). Most are weeded out long before the conventions begin. (Alan Keyes, Mike Huckabee)


      I just think when it boils down to the presidency, we look at it with a “yeah that’s great, but what does he think about…” approach to his faith versus his policy on other issues that matter to us.


      In the end, it just doesn’t matter if they are a believer or not. The question is will he do what is in the best interest of our nation regardless of his beliefs.


      -E

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