Posted on 09/23/2007 7:18:21 AM PDT by Doofer
About the only thing worse than painting yourself in a corner is doing it when the floor doesn’t need painting in the first place.
So I was doubly disappointed a couple of days ago when Dr. James Dobson, a one-time child psychologist who has become a leading Christian activist, absolutely skewered presidential candidate Fred Thompson in what was to me a dazzling display of dumb.
I’ve long admired and adored Dr. Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” and believe he’s a genius when it comes to kids. This week, in what was called “a private e-mail to friends,” the doctor proved to me he’s got a long way to go when it comes to working the same magic with adults.
Apparently Thompson’s history regarding some marriage amendments and the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform deal got Dr. Dobson all wild-eyed and fiery-hearted and he wrote his buddies this puzzling paragraph:
“(Thompson) has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers, not for me!”
Wow, if Dr. Dobson discounts Fred Thompson that fast and this early, it would follow he’s got a bigger ace to play, but if this thing works out like I suspect it will in the year to come, Dr. Dobson is going to make quite a mess walking across all that wet paint just before the election.
Understand, I’m not a big Thompson fan, but isn’t it too early to pick a horse? All I know is what I read, but in watching the various political aspirants I don’t think if I were Dr. Dobson I’d start slinging a whole lot of mud at anybody just yet.
There are some others still in the race who are a “little bit left” of Fred, so to speak, and to slap down the former senator was a needless act that got Dr. Dobson a good amount of the kind of coverage he doesn’t want and that his ministry sure doesn’t need..
I have long held the opinion that “the Christian right,” as it is called, should stay out of politics. There are many who disagree with me, but I don’t think God should be sullied by those who claim He is a Republican or a Democrat. The same drought that hits the red states hits the blue ones.
Further, I know some fine Christians who happen to be rather liberal. There are also some crooks, as we’ve seen lately, who espouse each party, so I wish the churches would stick to salvation and the politicians would handle the marriage amendments and campaign finance questions.
I think Christianity, as I know it and as I believe it, can be summed up in just one word: Hope. I don’t care what happens to me – car wrecks, friends committing suicide, brothers dying, divorce, whatever – I am assured by Jesus Christ the end of my life will include the words, “happily ever after.”
Why should a Christian activist, whose goal is to teach about that same “hope” and enable anyone from a mass murderer to a tainted politician to have the same promise of “happily ever after,” get all jumpy over Fred Thompson at this stage of the game?
The better question is a harder one for me. Is that what being a Christian is about? Is that the way you convince a non-believer to enter the Kingdom?
Dr. Dobson presents himself on a pretty high plain with slick magazines and TV shows and radio broadcasts, but when he pops Fred Thompson for “no passion, no zeal, no ‘want to’,” what part of that glorifies God? I don’t get it, not at all.
Finally, there are the pious who’ll discount the whole thing, pointing out a “private e-mail” should have never been disclosed, but somebody once said, “As a man thinketh, so he is.”
Too late...three of the Ten Commandments (murder, robbery, perjury)--are codified into law as crimes, and have been for some time.
I might agree that Dobson’s words were ill-advised, but evangelicals have a right to their opinions too. I am one, and I do not check my faith at the door when it’s time to talk politics.
I wonder if the author feels the same way about the Christian left?
I have personal knowledge of the extreme personal generosity of Dr. James Dobson and am posting this to say so. You may not agree with his opinion on Fred Thompson (I’d vote for him), but he is not a hypocrite.
What absolutely vile words...God help you.
Dobson’s stupid mistake was to insult someone he never met. Which guarantees Thompson will never talk to Dobson. Men have certain rules of engagement. Kissing ass is not one of those rules.
“It’s time for the GOP to stop acting like a sail to push the democrat ship ever leftward and start acting like an anchor to prevent it.”
My thoughts exactly. I will have a very hard time not going 3rd party this time. The Republican candidates do nothing for me. I won’t vote holding my nose any longer. Last time I did that, and, well, the stench is still in the air.
Dr.Dobson has consistently held high standards ....his life work speaks well of the man.
He is humble, kind, caring and loves the Lord more than life itself.
Yes, I do know him, and I'm grateful I am alive to know him during my time on earth...
..and have every hope & certainty of meeting him in Heaven.
He is God's servant, first and foremost.
I don’t know him personally, but even so, by any stretch of the imagination, I could never think him a “phony”. I don’t happen to agree with his assessment of Thompson, but no one has articulated the pro-life and pro-traditional family with any more effectiveness than Dr. Dobson.
“In a nutshell what evangelism should be about, not politics. In what is supposed to be a secular type of country, where no one religion controls the government, we have the some in the religious right believing they can control politics.”
Dr. Dobson, unlike Billy Graham, has never been about “evangelism” per se. He is about issues that affect families....a POTUS and the things he does affects family.
America, in its founding, never said it was a “secular type” of government - in the sense that Judeo/Christain morality and values would not be enshrined in law - only in the later half of the 20th Century did this start to change. It was implicitly understood that the U.S. was a “Christian” nation. What was made clear by the 1st Ammendment was that there would be NO COMPULSARY taxes on persons to fund a “state” church like the Church of England. All Christian denominations (and other faiths) could freely practice their beliefs without persecution from a “state church” - which was what Jefferson was taking about when he said “Wall of Separation.” The first ammendment was to protect Christians from the government intervention, not to limit Christians from influencing elections. One doesn’t give up the basic rights of citizenship (voting and expressing opinions) when he/she becomes a Christian or something else.
As far as the “religious right” believing they can control politics. Well, they have, can, and will continue to do so. This group is the current foundation of the base of the Republican Party.
Now, is Dr. Dobson correct in his statement. Personally, I don’t know. Why did he make such a statement...again I don’t know. I would venture it is for one or all of the below:
(1) He thinks Thompson is all show or doesn’t like his cavalier disregard of the Christian Right. Thompson is likeable, but he is not openly “Christian” in his ways.
(2) He has someone he thinks is better choice for the nomination - remember he seemed to really like Gingrich earlier this year. Or maybe he would rather see Hunter or Shelby as nominee.
(3) He senses a desparation to win at all costs in the RNC rank and file, and it concerns him. He may not actually dislike Thompson, just doesn’t want people to see him as some “white knight.”
(4) He knows something about Thompson that concerns him.
Whatever, I have observed Dr. Dobson a long time, and I’m not going to castigate him because he doesn’t jump on a popular band wagon. As I stand right now, I will vote for Thompson in the primary, but I am open to hearing what Dr. Dobson thinks before casting that vote.
I remember seeing Billy Graham in an interview once. He was asked if it was true that he never rode in limousines. Graham said, “Yes, not because I think there is anything wrong with riding in a limousine but simply because it looks bad.” Dr. Graham has my eternal respect. The late Rex Humbard had my respect. I don’t give my respect to anybody just because they love to pray on street corners that they may be seen by men.
I presume Thompson talked with Dobson, or had communication. Dobson is keenly interested in the race, and if he doesn’t see passion or zeal in Thompson, what’s wrong with him saying so?
I wasn’t particularly impressed by Fred’s “zeal” for his Christianity as expressed by his comments about his church attendance. Am I not allowed to say that?
Hopefully, Thompson won’t be following his followers thinking that attacking James Dobson is the path to the Presidency.
No republican is going to get elected President if the social conservatives stay home.
Hey, if Thompson comes out on top in the primary, it will be because he starts demonstrating passion and zeal. Dobson won’t have a problem, because it will be obvious that Thompsone heeded his advice and got serious.
Muawiyah, you are also missing a lot of good history. Are you sure you are not trying to construct history to convince people today that the “Christian Right” is too much involved in Government?
All evangelism found in the Scriptures was open, public, and often caused a public uproar. Read through the book of Acts. Read through the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and see that the preaching was to multitudes in public. The preaching of John the Baptist and the Apostles was the same.
Christianity is not designed to be, or willed by God to be, kept restrained or private. The work of Christ and the ministry of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians ch. 5; etc.) is to preached openly to the world. Paul preached to governors and to kings during his ministry.
We are well aware of the worship of George Washington. Mr. Washington prayed in earnest when he was in private, and also penned down dozens of his prayers during his prayer sessions. These penned-down versions of his prayer life have been published — they were published during the generation that saw his passing. We own one of the oldest published copies of THE PRAYERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, and it is required reading in our house. We home school our children and they must study the content of Mr. Washington’s own writing, which prove Him to have prayed in Christian terms and appellations, not as a “Desist,” as some claim he had been.
Good enough place to bump this thread.
I wish Duncan Hunter would ask Dobson to be his running mate. He’d get the name recognition he needs, and an energized base.
Those are written laws in non-Christian societies as well. And I do not believe murder was not considered a crime anywhere until the commandments were written. I was referring to the ones that deal with other behavior and with religion itself. Others have been tried I am sure, like laws against adultery. That makes me laugh, if a law against the seventh were ever enforced you would need a lot more jail space. Most people would not break the sixth, and the fact that it is a commandment has little to do with it. But take the old “Blue laws”. From what I understand they were first made because it was thought people should obeying the fourth commandment not shopping or working or going to a bar. We wisely got rid of those, though I am sure there are some who feel they would still be a good thing, even though it is certainly not the governments business.
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