My Fellow Evangelicals Blow It By Supporting Mike Huckabee

North Star Writers Group ^ | January 8, 2008 | Dan Calabrese

[Invisigoth]

Secular America looks at the rise of Mike Huckabee and fears the growing influence of evangelical Christians in the political process.

This evangelical Christian columnist fears it too, for exactly the opposite reason.

Huckabee’s win in the Iowa caucuses, and his sudden viability as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, owes to one thing and one thing only. Large numbers of evangelical voters are looking for someone to represent their values, and Huckabee is the only candidate who seems to do so.

[tobyhill]

That’s my guy but as for understanding the evangelicals that I do.

[Preachin']

"Then answer the question. I like what you say about Gideon, so you get it. But you’re avoiding the question. There’s usually a reason why people avoid questions."

No I am not. You are comparing apples and oranges. The Lord used Gideon and his 300 men to defeat an army.

How on earth do you suspect that the Lord can use 300 people to win the presidency?

Let’s see... 300 votes against millions. There is a difference between winning a physical war, and winning the election, and you need to get with reality. One needs real votes to win an election, and not some verses about Gideon that are taken out of their context. In the end, a candidate still needs to win the electoral college, and that 1% of the caucus and primary votes doesn’t do it, no matter what verses you quote.

Once again, I like Hunter, but I like Thompson, too. I will vote for Fred in the GA primary. However, my vote and 299 other people won’t get him the nomination.

I have avoided no questions. You have avoided reality, and need to let it sink in.

[Kevmo]

Gideon faced an army of maybe 200k. So let’s call it 300k, that’s one to one thousand. You take that analogy and add your amazing preachable hyperbole and suddenly we’re looking at one to one million. Now, scale down your hyperbole by 3 — yes that is THREE — orders of magnitude. Then answer the question. Hyperbole is just another form of straw argumentation. That’s how far off you are, 3 orders of magnitude, you are off by ONE thousand IN YOUR in your straw argumentation.

Since you’ve been given 2 chances to answer the question, one time you avoid it, 2nd time you use straw argumentation, that is a good example of how strong your argument is: it’s very weak because it relies upon invalid reasoning. If this is an example of your preaching style, I would suggest that you take a critical thinking class so that you don’t mislead any of Christ’s children, which is important to me as a believer in Christ.

[Preachin']

The point is that in elections you have to get more people to the polls.

Elections simply require that one candidate win more votes. There is nothing biblical about that.

Three hundred people can win you an election in Bug Tussle, but not a presidential election.

Keep trying, but Hunter is not a real player. I wish he was, but Fred is a much more electable player, and has way more mane recognition than Hunter.

Once again, you still compare apples to oranges. Gideons 300 ran through the enemy’s camp while the Lord caused the enemy to slay themselves with their own swords. The Lord used so few people on purpose, just to keep the Jews from taking credit for their victory.This election is about gathering more people than the enemy.

An election is a different game altogether. It takes people going to the booths to win. Hunter does not have sort of push now, nor does it appear that he ever will. I wish I was wrong.

You can stay in fantasy land if you want to, but to win a presidential election, or a primary, you simply need more people to cast a vote for you than those who vote for your opponents.

You weary me with attempting to pretend this is some sort of spiritual analogy with Gideon. It is not. Gideon had to many, and the Lord sent them home, and Hunter needs many more.

If Hunter truly is a Gideon, then when will he send his people home and win the battle with three hundred men? That is exactly what must happen in order for your application of this passage to work here, no matter how you attempt to explain it.

[Kevmo]

Interesting stuff about Gideon, but it was not my main point and you’re using it as a red herring. We can talk about Gideon some other time, when you are in a state of mind where you understand what I’m getting at. You aren’t there yet, because you’re all wrapped up in biblical mumbo jumbo. So, from this point on for this thread, Gideon is not the issue. You’ve used it to detract from the question. Feel free to bring up Gideon on some other thread, where we can discuss Gideon, strategy, the bible, how it relates to Hunter’s campaign, whatever you want but that will be the issue rather than the question I’m trying to get you to answer.

Here, I’ll narrow it down for you so that you can answer the question. This is the THIRD TIME. How many times does it take to get you to answer a question?

Preachin: but he’s simply NOT going to come close to winning.
Kevmo: And that aligns with Christian evangelical values exactly how?
Preachin: I hear the talk, but where exactly is Hunter in the mix? Overall he is my favorite, but he ain’t gonna win.
***That does not answer the question. It aligns with the values because...