Conservative Christian groups praised Sen. John McCain’s humbleness and patriotism after hearing his revealing acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention where he opened up about his family’s three generations of painful war experiences.
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(Photo: AP Images / Stephan Savoia)Republican presidential candidate, Sen., John McCain, R-Ariz., listens to the applause of supporters during his nomination acceptance speech at the last night of the Republican National Convention at the Exel Convention Center in St. Paul, Minn., Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008.
The former prisoner of war who has been accused of being a war enthusiast shared with TV viewers and convention-goers that his grandfather, a navy admiral, had died the day after returning home from World War II.
When he was five-years-old, Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor after which his father, also a navy officer, was called into battle and McCain rarely saw him for four years.
In his case, McCain’s plane was shot down during the Vietnam War and he was held a prisoner in Hanoi for six years where he faced torture and humiliation.
“I hate war,” McCain stated in his speech as the Republican presidential nominee Thursday night. “It is terrible beyond imagination.”
But perhaps more interesting than his family’s well-known and impressive service to the country is the transformation McCain underwent during his years in prison.
The man vying to hold the highest U.S. government position admitted that going into Vietnam he was arrogant, self-centered and thought he was “tougher than anyone.”
“I liked to bend a few rules, and pick a few fights for the fun of it,” McCain said. “But I did it for my own pleasure; my own pride. I didn't think there was a cause more important than me.”
However, after enduring broken bones that weren’t set right, losing weight until he was only about a hundred pounds, and being unable to feed himself, he said he began to learn the “limits of my selfish independence.”
Other American POWs comforted McCain when he was dejected and encouraged him to get back up to fight for the country.
“I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's,” he said emotionally. “I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people.
“I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore,” McCain said. “I was my country's.”
Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian public policy group, praised McCain for presenting himself authentically and sincerely through his “powerful personal narrative.”
“He could showcase the driving force that propels him forward and tell America about the point when his life’s ‘calling’ became ‘Country First,” wrote Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, senior fellow at CWA’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, in a column.
She also complimented McCain for acknowledging the Republican Party’s past failures and laying out a plan to reverse national problems such as oil dependence, the high unemployment rate, and the education system.
Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, who attended both conventions, also highlighted McCain’s speech about his painful experiences with war during a FOTF broadcast on the convention.
“The man has a story,” Minnery stated.
He also approved of McCain’s position on education reform, where parents will be given more freedom to decide where their child will be educated.
Furthermore, Minnery applauded the 2008 Republican platform. The platform “spares no item on the social conservative agenda that’s important to us,” he noted. Continue >>
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One thing I can promise people is that God will never ask you on judgment day of you loved your country! There is no exhorting to nationalism in the Bible. In fact, this just splits your loyalty to Christ Jesus with your country. You're to love others, but your loyalty is only to God. Second, I've read my Bible and prayed for 40min to an hour every day for the last 13-14 years and often for 6 years before that; I've never seen one Bible verse instructing people to be prideful about anything. The BIGGEST MYTH is that there is GOOD PRIDE and BAD PRIDE. And please don't show me a verse where an apostle proudly proclaims something. That is their mistake. God doesn't confuse people with good and bad pride. Lastly in this area, pledging allegiance to a flag is out right idol worship. There is nothing wrong with doing it occasionally so as not to offend anyone; but putting a real and speacial emphasis on pledging is blatant idol worship. It shows you don't have your mind in the right place and you are splitting your allegiance for Christ with a country's symbol! This tying together of Christ and country is both disturbing and bizzare.
Ah, another Christian Post story that has nothing to do with Christianity or with Jesus's Church. Do we even NEED more evidence that the "Christian" media is just a publicity arm of the Republican Party? Christianpost is getting to be almost as bad as the Christian News Wire.
My "gOd"...America be thy name...
More idolatry in the church everyday...
Here's the problem with Obama and Biden, crystal-clear:
you won't be alive to experience any of the items mentioned here. They're blatantly pro-choice, which flies in the face of Christianity (from two people touting themselves as Christians).
Christian brothers and sisters, I urge you to look at which candidate REALLY lines up with Scripture and let everything else fall in line behind that. John McCain and Sarah Palin are who Christians of all stripes should vote for.
Obama does care about members of the military and his vote FOR the Webb GI Bill is one item of evidence. Consider also his playing a game of pickup basketball in Kuwait with troops or his willingness to talk to them openly and frankly rather than with political hyperbole.
Here's how Vietnam-era vets (and I am one of them) feel about McCain:
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/
philo, my fear is if obama is elected the military will get the same poor treatment they got under clinton and carter if not worse.
Sorry the link didn't work for you, but it is correct. Votevets is a PAC that advocates for vets. You would say it leans to the left, judging by the framing of your question, for who in their right mind wouldn't be opposed to "what we are doing in Iraq?"
We invaded a sovereign country, without a reason in the world, other then the ravings of a megalomaniac who lied, misrepresented and manipulated our country into the worse disaster in our history.
Now, one of his principal henchmen is running for high office by trying to make us forget who is responsible for the mess we are in.
Believer, I'm sorry you can't see it, I really am, but I give up. I have to go now, I'm knocking on doors today - for Obama.
philo, tried my best to get to that votevets site with regards to McCain, but I could not. Do you have another site that would have that same info. Plus I saw where they spoke out against the surge in Iraq, so would I be correct in saying that this group would tend to lean to the left and be opposed to what we're doing in Iraq? And if that's correct could they real present an unbiased report on someone who supports what we're doing in Iraq?
McCain has postured on many things, but when it comes to a vote, he votes against the interests of veterans consistently.
http://votevets.org/mccain.html
His overall record is clear.
philo, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't he one of the main people involved in getting the mess cleaned up at the Walter Reed Medical Center with regards to the military members coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan not getting good medical care?
Believer, I honestly don't know why the Legion did that. McCains record is clear, and well known. On veterans affairs he is among the missing.
philo, I too was a Vietnam Era vet and went to college on the GI Bill and granted it helped me some, but I still needed to apply for various grants and was on work study as well and I wish that I had near the college benefits that men and women in the military are eligible for today. But once again I ask you. If McCain is not a friend of the military why did he get such high approval marks from the American Legion?
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9559
I am a Vietnam combat vet. When I got out, I went to night school (12 credits/semester) on the GI bill, all the way to a BSEE. Even though that terrible war was just as much a waste as Iraq, my country saw to it that I was compensated, in some way, for my service.
I WANT TODAY'S VETS TO HAVE THE SAME CHANCES THAT I DID. John McCain has consistently shown that he does not care about the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, in spite of his words.
I love this country for what it has allowed me to do, and I believe John McCain does too, he just doesn't get it, though.
Oh well, no matter, President Obama WILL take care of the troops, and they realize it to!
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/08/troops-deployed-abroad-give-61.html
Have a great weekend!
philo, there you go again with what appears to be unfounded accusations. If he is not a supporter of the military then why did the American Legion give him such a high approval rating?
Humility is such a WONDERFUL trait!!! For most of my 54 years I've little ability to appreciate such a trait. I was too busy being a self-righteous Pharisee. But now I see a little of it's virtue, thanks to a divorce that provided shock treatment. So to hear John McCain speaking so humbly and candidly about his failures and weaknesses was sooo refreshing...almost unparalleled for a politician. How exciting because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Despite McCain's weaknesses, and mine, the LORD will turn things around for our country and give us another chance. Isn't that the glorious message of the Cross for all of us?!!