worshipscribe

I’ve received several forwards of a video clip claiming that Obama’s making fun of the Bible. Unfortunately this clip is very short and doesn’t include any context in which the statement was made, much less the whole of the message.

I’m NOT an Obama supporter, nor do I plan on voting for Obama in the election next month. I believe Obama’s policies are too socialistic and I am at odds over fundamental beliefs in regards to abortion and role of government.

Take, for example, his statement that an answer on when life begins was “above [his] pay grade.” It was a terrible answer. It was an answer that showed Obama’s fear of taking a stand on a hot-bed issue. It was classic Obama voting “Present” on an issue, instead of actually taking a stand on it.

I completely disagree with Obama’s vision for government-run, socialized health care. President Reagan hit it on the head when he stated, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” And what a problem it would be if our health care system was run by the government! Think Katrina and you’ll see the multitude of reasons health care should never be handed over to the government.

I disagree with Obama and agree with Republicans that Americans should be able to take their social security and place it into a low-risk investment options. It’s no more a gamble than the current system and could reap greater rewards. And after all, it’s my investment … the Democrats (Joe Biden in particular) are always wanting to discuss what’s fair or not … what’s more fair than to allow the American people the opportunity to do with their retirement funds what they want.

These are just basic and fundamental differences in which I disagree with Barack Obama … and because of which I could not vote for him.

However, I find it’s important to make sure the facts are represented and not distorted in partisan, one-sided, 60-second sound bites.

Below some quotes is posted the full transcript of the message Obama gave. If you care at all about what was stated, you should take time to read the context of the message delivered. If you do, I’m sure many of you could agree with some, not all, of what was stated here. Personally I don’t agree with some of what’s delivered in the speech, but there are some parts that I do agree with.

For example, would any disagree with this statement:

“Each day, it seems, thousands of Americans are going about their daily rounds - dropping off the kids at school, driving to the office, flying to a business meeting, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets - and they’re coming to the realization that something is missing. They are deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough.

They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. They’re looking to relieve a chronic loneliness, a feeling supported by a recent study that shows Americans have fewer close friends and confidants than ever before. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long highway towards nothingness.”

Or this one:

“…my Bible tells me that if we train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it. So I think faith and guidance can help fortify a young woman’s sense of self, a young man’s sense of responsibility, and a sense of reverence that all young people should have for the act of sexual intimacy.”

What about this one:

“You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away - because you are human and need an ally in this difficult journey.”

Another quote:

“…secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their “personal morality” into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition.”

And now the much ado about nothing quote sent around the world:

“And 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? Would we go with James Dobson’s, or Al Sharpton’s? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let’s read our bibles. Folks haven’t been reading their bibles.”

Think about this, don’t just rush to a snap judgment and mistakenly think ‘Oh that heathen, liberal and muslim, he’s just making fun of the Bible’.

Obama is no more doing so than those of us who question how people can take a sentence of a passage out of Deuteronomy 22 to support their position against women wearing pants … but then skip past the other scriptures on mixed threads and eating shellfish.

He’s no more making fun of scripture or Christians than those of us who are against school-mandated prayer … after all who is to say what prayer is prayed, or to whom it’s given.

It’s no more than others who debate the role of religion in politics and policy. Is there anyone who believes it would be good to have, as law, dress standards? Or would it be good for a politician who is of a certain denomination to pass laws using his denominations beliefs? Of course not!

That quote rings true on every count when placed in context. Unfortunately, Dr. James Dobson and Republican partisans are so seething in their hatred of Barack Obama that they’ve blatantly and willfully ignored the context and only pulled out a small segment of a speech that, when viewed as just the segment, indeed could appear as making fun of the Bible. However, when viewed IN CONTEXT, there is no doubt the truth of the statement and it cannot be viewed as simply making fun of scripture.

Here is the full transcript of Barack Obama’s speech in which he’s said to be making fun of the Bible. I wholeheartedly disagree … and I’m pretty sure, if you take the time to read this - the whole context and message, you’ll also understand that this video is a smear campaign used by Dobson and Republican partisans to try and drive a wedge between him and any Bible-believing Christian.

Shame on Dobson for misleading people on what was spoken. He used to be better than this.

Again, I don’t agree with everything in this speech. My purpose in this, is to expose the video as a partisan smear campaign that has distorted and taken out of context what Obama said in this speech.

Nate

‘Call to Renewal’ Keynote Address
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Washington, DC
http://www.barackobama.com/2006/06/28/call_to_renewal_keynote_address.php

Comments RSS