With Sanctity of Life Sunday approaching, I appreciate Justin Taylor posting the above video, and President Obama’s visionary words for protecting our children – ALL our children. And I concur with John Piper, who Tweeted:
“This use of the President’s words, with the most intense irony, is right and righteous.”
A week has passed since the 2012 Presidential Election, and many (who voted like me) are still licking their wounds and awaiting armageddon. OK. That may be a bit too strong, but that is what it has at times seemed like to speak with those who (like me) did not support the re-election of Barrack Obama.
I understand the disappointment, and even the concerns. But what troubles me, more than anything else, is when I hear Christians demonizing other people, especially other Christians, just because they voted for Obama. I do not want to minimize the passions. I just want us to regain our perspective.
Here is a penetrating question posed by one writer:
If I feel more of a kindred solidarity with those who share my politics but not my faith than I feel with those who share my faith but not my politics, what does it say about me?
I find that question, which I read in piece by Scott Sauls in Redeemer City to City, to be an excellent perspective-shaping querry.
Sauls goes on, and profoundly answers his own question:
“… It suggests that I have sold out to Rome. I have rendered to God what belongs to Caesar, and to Caesar what belongs to God.”
Maybe you can’t bring yourself to agree with Sauls’ specific conclusion. But I hope you will find his prevailing premise resonates with you, as it does with me. In short, if you find yourself more akin with folks who share your political persuasions than you do those who share your faith foundations, something is amiss.
So, if either of the following describes you:
… let me encourage you to consider Sauls’ whole article: To My Elated & Despairing Post-Election Friends.
Here is what I have been reminding myself for the past week: God says, “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2.6) That’s all I really need to know.
The Kingdom of Heaven is bigger than a political party.
Suspicions abound. The questions perhaps even more. What I am referring to is the faith of President Barrack Obama: Is he a Muslim, or what?
Though I did not vote for him, I was pleasantly intrigued during the 2008 campaign when Obama, speaking with Rick Warren at a forum at Saddleback Church, gave a testimony of personal faith that was both clear and substantive. He certainly was more on target than anything John McCain offered about his own faith. But the skeptics still wouldn’t buy it.
I’ll have to admit, some of Obama’s policies give me reason to question, if not the veracity, the consistency and substance of his faith. But then again, my own sin and short-comings may sometimes give people I encounter reason to wonder about my faith.
Then in a speech yesterday, for the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama gave us another glimpse of his personal faith. CNN provides the video: Obama’s Faith.
Many people I know were moved by his words. But as I’ve listened to the speech a few times, I am still not sure what it reveals. It seemed genuine, and it was certainly Biblical – far more Biblically faithful than anything I’ve heard Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity utter. Shoot, he was more Biblical than Joel Osteen. But some questions remain. There was still something missing.
My intent is not to knock Mr. Obama, nor his moving, heartfelt testimony. The fact is what was missing from his message is often missing from many pulpits. There was a lot of religion, moralism, and Bible quotes, but there was no Christ. It was a vivid example of what Michael Horton refers to as Christless Christianity.
Christ-less Christianity expresses the morals and mandates from the Bible, but makes no mention of Jesus. He may be assumed or he may be ignored, I don’t know. And most who express this probably believe in Jesus. But he is absent from the conversation; never mentioned, invoked, or referred to.
The problem with Christ-less Christianity is that, at least rhetorically, it cuts the heart out of the Christian faith. It makes Christianity to be like all other religions – merely moralistic. Jesus Christ is the heart of Christianity – particularly what he accomplished on the Cross and by his Resurrection. It is by this work of Christ that the Believer is forgiven of sin, adopted by God, declared righteous, and destined for Heaven – if these benefits are appropriated through faith.
I don’t know the “reality” of Obama’s faith. I will likely never know. I never met the guy, and never expect to meet him. I am not suggesting he is not a Christian. I was pleased by what he did say. But I am reminded by what he did not say – what many do not say – that we can never deny nor simply assume Christ if we are trying to testify about the Christian faith.
As Paul declared:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. – Colossians 1.15-20
Let’s get some perspective. I am chagrinned to see the current state of our election process. Not enough substance, and too much knit-pickey junior highish rhetoric. The most recent example of it this week being the accusations that Barrack Obama dissed Sarah Palin by calling her a pig. I’m not an Obama supporter, but I don’t think so.
I saw the video of Obama’s speech in Lebanon, VA, where he said: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”, and really thought nothing of his comments. It was obvious that he was trying, yet again, to link John McCain with George W. Bush. That’s fair game. To read anything else into it says more about the listener than the speaker.
But I will admit, when I saw it a second time, after people started making a big deal out of his “Pig in Lipstick” anaology, I did notice something. The crowd seemed to infer something that Obama did not seem to intend. Obama appears to have quickly recognized what they were reacting too. He may have even been somewhat amused by their reaction. But all he did was finish his thought. No slam. No sexist implications. Just politics.
While I expect nothing of substance from the media, I am disappointed with the two campaigns.
The McCain people should have simply ignored it. Perhaps more appropriate, Sarah Palin should have risen above it all, and released a statement that Obama was not talking about her. I realize that this would have then become a missed opportuity at keeping the Obama people off their game. But that’s precisely the problem that causes me disappointment. Both campaigns are treating this campaign like a game – a childish game. And the presidency is not a game.
My disappointment in Obama is because of his response to the accusations. I understand what it is like to be misunderstood, to have your words twisted and applied in a way that they were never intended. It is very frustrating. I understand that there are people out there just looking to take offense, and willfully look for every opportunity to do so. And I believe, in this case, Obama has fallen to just that trap. However, his response was shrill, and, I think, weak. Rather than recognizing that even his own supporters inferred something, and then disarmingly and firmly reiterating his intended point, Obama moved back into the junior high level himself. With a feaux bravado, he declared: “Enough! I’ll not have another election stolen…”
Mr. Obama, no election has been stolen. Recent elections have simply been lost.
Why do I write about this? Well, because I’m praying for both of these guys who are running for president. And I’m praying for our country. I’d like to see that these guys are taking seriously the problems and challenges facing the people they hope to lead. It’s time that they get back to thinking and acting like grown-ups. It’s time they act like leaders.
GRACE & PEACE 