Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Dobson v.s. Obama
I am having a hard time understanding why James Dobson feels what Obama said in a speech in 2006 to be a distortion of the bible. One of Dobson’s complaints about the 2006 speech is that Obama said the book of Leviticus suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, and that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."
Again, I don’t see the blasphemy that Dobson is suggesting that Obama made.
Prior to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Hebrews lived according to the religious law, culture and traditions of their time, in which consisted to eating traditions, animal scarifies, and slavery. It is what it is. You can’t sugar coat the Old Testament. What I found interesting and true in the statement Obama made in his speech was the quote about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, wherein he called it "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."
In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes, which are the specifications for the architecture of Christian character. Accepted as a whole, they provide the ingredients for the upright Christian character.
I think Mr. Obama is right in this aspect. If we were to apply Christian principals or better yet, Jesus’ teaching to our Government’s way of business, it would in fact cease to continue as it has been.
I have been thinking, what if Jesus ran for President today, would he win? What would our Country look like if the Government applied the principles from the Sermon on the Mount to it’s foreign policy? Jesus, called by some the great pacifist, would he continue the “War on Terror”? When Jesus said to offer your other check after you have been slapped in the face, could we Americans really swallow our pride and do such a thing in this post 911 era? Would Jesus hold talks with Countries, which our Country has deem enemies? I am willing to bet that Jesus would even travel to Cuba to visit Fidel Castro on his deathbed.
(On a side note, I was just thinking last night, why is that we refuse to have any trade or communications with Cuba, who is no military threat to the US, but we have open trade with communications with China. Money… If Cuba had money, we would talk to them despite being communist.)
Anyhow perhaps Mr. Dobson should use his position and voice to influence the United States government in applying Jesus’ teaching to its policies.
I am having a hard time understanding why James Dobson feels what Obama said in a speech in 2006 to be a distortion of the bible. One of Dobson’s complaints about the 2006 speech is that Obama said the book of Leviticus suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, and that Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."
Again, I don’t see the blasphemy that Dobson is suggesting that Obama made.
Prior to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Hebrews lived according to the religious law, culture and traditions of their time, in which consisted to eating traditions, animal scarifies, and slavery. It is what it is. You can’t sugar coat the Old Testament. What I found interesting and true in the statement Obama made in his speech was the quote about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, wherein he called it "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."
In the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes, which are the specifications for the architecture of Christian character. Accepted as a whole, they provide the ingredients for the upright Christian character.
I think Mr. Obama is right in this aspect. If we were to apply Christian principals or better yet, Jesus’ teaching to our Government’s way of business, it would in fact cease to continue as it has been.
I have been thinking, what if Jesus ran for President today, would he win? What would our Country look like if the Government applied the principles from the Sermon on the Mount to it’s foreign policy? Jesus, called by some the great pacifist, would he continue the “War on Terror”? When Jesus said to offer your other check after you have been slapped in the face, could we Americans really swallow our pride and do such a thing in this post 911 era? Would Jesus hold talks with Countries, which our Country has deem enemies? I am willing to bet that Jesus would even travel to Cuba to visit Fidel Castro on his deathbed.
(On a side note, I was just thinking last night, why is that we refuse to have any trade or communications with Cuba, who is no military threat to the US, but we have open trade with communications with China. Money… If Cuba had money, we would talk to them despite being communist.)
Anyhow perhaps Mr. Dobson should use his position and voice to influence the United States government in applying Jesus’ teaching to its policies.
