Several conservative commentators this week defended Dr. James Dobson’s criticisms of Democrat Barack Obama’s Bible interpretation as standing up for the Christian truth.
Dobson, who took issue with Obama’s use of Bible passages to defend his public policy philosophy, was right to challenge the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, argues Pat Buchanan, founder and editor of The American Conservative and a political analyst for MSNBC, in a column featured on Focus on the Family Action’s Citizenlink.
Buchanan accused Obama of preaching a “kumbaya Christianity” where people who believe abortion is wrong are asked to push aside their beliefs in public for the sake of “ecumenical amity.”
But Christians, he said, are taught by Jesus Christ that He is the “way and the truth and the life,” and no one can go to the Father except through Him. Therefore, Christians cannot accept compromising their beliefs so that everyone can get along, he argues.
Dobson last week during his radio program blasted Obama for his interpretation of the Bible and its application in the public square. The Focus on the Family founder based his criticisms on the senator’s June 2006 speech where Obama highlighted that while the book of Leviticus declares homosexuality an abomination, it also says eating shellfish is an abomination and condones slavery.
The senator also said Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “a passage so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”
Dobson had accused Obama of “deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology.”
"[H]e is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter," Dobson charged. “Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the life of tiny babies?”
The central argument of Obama’s speech was: “Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason.”
"What he (Obama) is saying here is that unless everyone agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe," Dobson said.
Dr. Tony Beam, director of the Christian Worldview Center at North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C., also found fault with Obama’s view that the truth is flexible.
“He sees truth as something that can be hammered into a compromise position that can then become amenable, not to the set standard of a Holy God, but to the ever changing and ever compromising standards of sinful humans,” Beam wrote in his column.
“Truth, absolute truth that comes from God’s revelation of Himself in His Word, defies the vote of the majority. It flies in the face of opinion polls and focus groups. What makes Barack Obama, Jim Wallis, or anyone else believes the only way truth can be injected into the public arena is by stuffing it with reason and coating it with compromise?” Beam asked.
The professor then pointed to Obama’s speech earlier this year at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, where the presidential hopeful said he supports a woman’s right to have an abortion and believes the Bible condones civil unions.
“If people find that (civil unions) controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans,” Obama had said.
“Before evangelicals run out to vote for Obama,” Beam warned, “they need to ask themselves if they really want to support a candidate who says they are Christian but believes Paul’s theological capstone of the New Testament is nothing more than an obscure passage.”
“We should all thank Dr. Dobson and Tom Minnery for stepping up to the plate and refusing to allow Obama’s Universalist theology and warped sense of evangelical political expediency to go unchallenged,” he said.
Earlier this week Obama gave a speech about his plan to expand faith-based programs if elected president in a move to court religious voters. He will continue to focus on American values, including religious faith and patriotism, on the campaign trail this week leading up to the Fourth of July.
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Barak Kumbayama doesn't fool me. Abortion is wrong, period.
I am sure Dr. Dobson will acknowledge he is not perfect as I and that only Jesus who is GOD is infallible. I support Dr. Dobson. It takes great courage to stand up and be counted for the sake of our country. Thank GOD for people like him!
I do not understand why some, not all, nationally known, black evangelicals want to support U.S. Senator Barrock Obama because he is black! T%hat's racism indeed!
Quotation from "The Letter to the Galatians, 1:1-10. This message is for all people of all faiths and ethnicities who seek to lead Gods beloved people of all faiths and ethnicities away from the Truth and Light:
"I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by [the] grace [of Christ] for a different gospel (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed!
Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave to Christ".
Ivan Erickson, author of "Song of the Storm Winds", www.ivan-erickson.com
guys the bible says false prophets and those of satan will appear as if an angel of light. Meaning He will do good deeds and say persuasive arguments, but God says to judge their word by His own.
When Obama publicly announces that Jesus Christ is Lord then and only then can you say that he is a Christian it's the same with any human. Even then it does not mean that he will not try and turn this nation into a communist state or appoint supreme court judges that would overturn Row v Wade (a real test of a true Christian) or define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. So you see based upon the above requirements he cannot in any way be a Christian.
tpique1 .
I have not doubt that Obama is as good a christian as you are!
feetxxxl
You are messed up, liberalism is a mental disorder and what you wrote proves it. Please go do some research on the separation of church and state the flip flopping of the original intent of the notion is the sole reason that the church has been neutered in being able to speak truth to the power of a tyrannical government and add to that the ownership of the press by leftists has stifled the checks created by the founding fathers to keep Govt. in line.
if a truth cannot stand on its own merits, then it is not a truth. to have bring in the name god to bolster up its merits identifies that it is really not a truth at all.
surely all believers acknowledge that all are creatd thru the spirit of christ, so much so that they are without excuse to see what is of god thru what is "created" then there is no necessity to bring in religion to embrace what is the truth.
in addition im sure no one wants to return to period of theocracy where the church's absolute authority to make laws of god. resulted in burning the saints alive.
to preserve the seperation of church and state is seek truths that speak to the hearts of men and not because they are part of a particular reliigion. and that is what obama is talking about. an approach to the truth that will unite all.
Obama deliberatly destorts scripture. Does he really think the sermon on the mount prohibits self defense? Esp. Considering the fact that Jesus' deciples carried swords by order of Jesus. Obama would have us believe the bible teachs that police are to turn the other cheek when assulted by a criminial. Obama mocks the bible
I would like to say that first I am believer who by God's is black. I mention that first not as a race issue, but as a spiritual issue. One problem believers are having with politics is we need to stop depending on the government to do our job. Every beleiver has been called by God to preach the gospel and disciple those who believe. There is no political, black, white, hispanic, jew or whatever else kind of gospel. Neither is there a "black" liberation gospel. However, the gospel can liberate anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. I do concur that Obama, George Bush and others have wrongly interpreted the bible at some point. Any biblically trained student of word realizes Obama took the scriptures out of context. We'll never know real intent for quoting the scripture he did. As for believers, why should rely on Government grants anyway? The true body Christ depends on God to provide. Grants are human ingenuity. The bible states God adds a blessing with no curse. If we have to compromise our standards to hire someone for the church, then the church is better off without the grants. Why does the church need a faith based inititive when it already has the initiator? Jesus. The church does benefit the community, but when we start relying on other means besides God, then we are saying to God we don't need him. The church of God needs get back ot its intended purpose and that is sharing the gsopel with this lost world. Warning all who do not know Christ to accept him now. Christ is returning again and poltics will not matter only God and Jesus Christ. No longer will it be a Democracy, but a Theocracy.
Just cuz somebody says that they are something; Hindu, Muslim, Christian...etc, doesn't make it the Truth. Let what you say and how you say it show what you are. Example: Obama says he is a Christian. His statements before and since do not match Christ's teachings, ergo He is not a Christian. A Christian will readily state to anyone within earshot "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. He died for my sins." If you can't, won't or don't make that statement, then the Lord is not in you, and you are not a Christian. Where is Obama's and McCain's statement to that effect? I pray that both men would see the Lord's glory and put that in their speech and actions. The Lord, He is God. HE IS IN CONTROL. HIS WILL BE DONE.
Radias-you seem to be new here so...just FYI I'm a lay advocate for special needs children....
oxnard "My group of friends, all Christians, are supporting Obama"
The news reported that Obama wants to remove the right of Christian Groups to only hire Christians. This means that Churches would have to hire non-Christians to teach and even preach. It would require Bible colleges to hire non-Christians to teach things like apologetics and salvation theology! It's interesting he is so against separation of Church and state yet you say Dobson is the nutcase?
Don't get me wrong. I think Dobson needs to spend more of the Focus on the Family resources focusing on the family and less on Washington. After all, the ballot box starts at home.
Still, Obama's position will overturn the civil rights act of 1964. Even many Dems aren't very happy with the idea.
tpique1---you got my point and you didn't even realize it. Maybe you should read what I posted. Your post was hogwash!!!
The basis of my statement is the belief there is only one actual God. None of the other ones exist. The Bible makes a clear distinction between God and god(s). It uses the lower case in reference to the gods of other religions. Therefore, if infact other religions are worshiping God it would have to be...God.
You seem to be another angry person who is very interested in starting some kind of arguement. That's OK...Jesus loves you anyway.
oxnard
You have said....
"Obama has openly declared his faith in Christ. That is enough for me. Is Dobson's Christianity somehow more pure than Obama's. It is this self righteous attitude that really annoys a lot of us."
You shall know them by their fruits. Christ cursed the tree that did not bare fruit. You and your friends have cursed the tree that does bare fruit.
I'm sorry but that is annoying.
My group of friends, all Christians, are supporting Obama, because of people like Dobson who are right wing fanatics, and so self-righteous, like the pharisees in the Bible. The present state of our country is so bad because Dobson and his right wing cronies, including Bush, will go around justifying a war, that never should have been waged, in which thousands of innocent people have been killed, and continue to die each day. They do not care about the poor, the environment, about trying to bring about peace, and especially spreading the Gospel around the world. Obama has openly declared his faith in Christ. That is enough for me. Is Dobson's Christianity somehow more pure than Obama's. It is this self righteous attitude that really annoys a lot of us.
Obama is a poser. He will say and do anything to gain office. He will throw any friend under the bus for convenience sake. He is a very smooth talker - smoother than Gore or Kerry - but ultimately is an empty suit. Or really, a liberal in drag.
That statement has nothing to do with party. It's a comment on the man, and would remain true were Obama a Republican.
Radius: I'm offended by your statement about the special olympics and being retarded. Though you might have meant that trying to be funny, not funny here. Especially when I have family that have been diagnosed with down syndrome. However, to argue your point, politics is nothing new to Christians. Was it not Paul that stood before the governor on several occasions standing for the faith? Was it not Jesus who stood before the politcal leaders of those days-pharisees and sadducees? Being political and standing for the faith are two different situations. What Dobson did was merely stand for biblical truth.
I think what's pretty funny to me is how every Presidential candidate claims some "form" of Christianity. What's interesting though is why no one has yet to claim being Buddist, Hindu, Muslim, Bah'hai, etc? Why Christianity? Very simple; the Bible says that the "law of God has been written on the hearts of man". Therefore, one can only associate themselves for what has been written. They may be far from truly knowing God, but that's all they can claim. This is why people will blame God about 9-11 and not Buddah. Or blame God for the war in Iraq and not Allah. Or blame God for the levees being destroyed in New Orleans during Katrina and not Krishna. Why God? Because it was His law that was written on men's hearts not the other one's that don't exist! Therefore, if Obama and McCain claim God and Christianity, it's because it's written on their hearts and not necessarily because Jesus lives in their hearts. Obviously, if Jesus was Lord and Savior of their lives, their biblical interpretation would be sound and doctrinal, and we as believers would all agree. As Scripture tells us "our spirits will agree we are from God."
Daniel Paul & JHS,
What a bunch of hogwash!
Daniel Paul, you are obviously completely ignorant of the central beliefs of the world's major religions. Buddhism and Hinduism don't even accept the monotheistic notion of one God. Islam's god isn't even Jehovah, but a caricature of Him. Only Judaism and Christianity share the same God - YHWH, the I AM. I think you need to study up a little further on your understanding of the world's major religions. They don't even come CLOSE to being similar!
JHS,
As for you, who gives a flying rip WHAT Obama's party affiliation is?? He isn't a CHRISTIAN! That's what people are criticizing about him. Nothing more, nothing less. he's claiming a title that is obviously a fraud. McCain is no better, he's courting Christians too and his policies are no better. Republicans (reprobates)/Democrats (demoniacs), who cares.
Dr. Dobson is a "Daniel" of the century! Stand tall & stand in unity!
In his talk, Obama put his "Council for Faith-Based and
Neighborhood Partnerships" in stark contrast to
President Bush's current program. "First, if you get a
federal grant, you can't use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can't
discriminate against them--or against the people you
hire--based on your religion," he said. Despite the clear and present danger this would pose to church-based outreach programs, Rev. Jim Wallis, President of the liberal Sojourners, wasted no time announcing his support for the plan, even implying that "Obama's proposals also contain necessary protections for religious liberty..." The reality is that Obama's interpretation would be a body blow to religious groups that apply for federal funds. In contrast, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) released a statement today supporting the rights of religious organizations that apply for government funding to "hire people who share their faith." While Wallis was out in force to promote Obama's "faith-based" plan, he was silent when the Illinois senator endorsed same-sex "marriage" to the Alice B. Toklas Pride Breakfast last week. In addition to calling the California man-woman marriage amendment "discriminatory and divisive," the senator "congratulated" members of the audience "who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks." As a self-described evangelical, surely Rev. Wallis would agree that tradition, like all other major religions, rejects the redefinition of marriage.
Daniel Paul
You are spot on right, if Obama was a republican you would not hear a word from the republican/evangelical crowd, because at the end of the day, it's only about their tax cuts and their money!!!
Why is the headline " Some Defend Dobson's Attack on Obama"
and not "Obama attacks, misuses, and makes light of Scripture"?
"The fact that the "Evangelical President Bush" says repeatedly that Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhist etc, all worship the same God is not mentioned from any of these men who claim to know what the bible says, speaks volumes."
Christians believe there is only one God (trinity). Therefore, everyone can only worship the same God. Many may not be doing so correctly but still there is only one.
Diana626,,
Show me where President Bush is saying that all roads lead to God on his website. If so, HE IS WRONG! Only those who honor, obey, and keep GOD'S WORD are Christians. That's not to say they keep it to perfection, but are those who pursue righteousness according to God's Word, not a righteousness according to opinion polls and cultural shifts.
Let's be fair, neither candidate knows anything about Christianity. They think we're nothing more than a bunch of ignorant Bible-thumpers. They think that if they can just quote a scripture that will cause us all to come running over to their "camp".
Politicians need to get a clue. We're looking for the fruit of your faith not the sly of your tongue.
The Spirit of the Lord bears witness to whether someone is of the faith or not, not some empty, fork tongued profession. That's why Christians can so confidently shoot down these wolves who are courting the sheep, because we know our own. The Spirit of God produces fruits of righteousness in His own; not fruit that condones wickedness and contradicts God's own Word.
Funny...
The fact that the "Evangelical President Bush" says repeatedly that Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhist etc, all worship the same God is not mentioned from any of these men who claim to know what the bible says, speaks volumes. HYPOCRITES! They selectively choose which sins to attack society for (missing the most important one... Love the Lord your God). They slink out that Christ said He is the way, the truth and the life... but they don't have a clue who Christ is. This same Christ rebuked the Pharisees (our present day Dobson's, and Buchanan's, etc) who pick and choose what part of the bible they like, and they fail to preach the WHOLE council of God. They have nothing to say about fornication, adultery and the grossest sin of all pride and idolatry (which will lead sinful man to the other sins). If they have a problem with Obama, they should really be screaming at BUSH because he is so proud of his heresy, it's posted on the Whitehouse website.
The Lord will give sinful America the President she deserves, the one that represents her beliefs (all roads lead to God).
HYPOCRITES R US strikes again.
Real pastors, called of the Lord, preach the Word, in season and out. Forget about politics and this democracy. No where in the bible does it say a democracy is God's form of government. All authority men have is given to them by God, even the worse dictator is where he is for God has placed him there.
Why wouldn't we defend James Dobson? Check Obama's voting record. It is anti-family, not pro-family. James Dobson is right.
Obama has no understanding of scripture whatsoever, but, in fact, twists and distorts it. He is deceitful.