Posted on 12/24/2009 7:12:51 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
Apparently not content with his congressional majority that wishes to force Americans on a long march to healthcare disaster, President Obama has invoked the name of Jesus to broadcast his gospel of spreading the wealth around.
Speaking Monday afternoon to a group of children from the Washington, D.C., Boys and Girls Club, the president delivered a mini sermon on “why we celebrate Christmas.” He asked the children if they knew. One piped up and said, “The birth of baby Jesus.”
One can imagine the reaction of the media and other elites had a Republican president asked such a question. That Republican would have been accused of violating church-state separation and discriminating against those who celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or nothing. Because the president’s Christmas lesson perfectly fit his social goals, there has been no outcry.
The president spoke of what Jesus “symbolizes for people all around the world,” which he said, “is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect.” And then, in the best tradition of a community organizer, the president said Jesus is about “doing something for other people.” Even the “three wise men” were invoked to support the president’s idea of wealth redistribution: “. . . [T]hese guys . . . have all this money, they’ve got all this wealth and power, and they took a long trip to a manger just to see a little baby.”
And what conclusion should be drawn from that journey? The president told the children, “. . . [I]t just shows you that because you’re powerful or you’re wealthy, that’s not what’s important. What’s important is . . . the kind of spirit you have.”
To the president, this means the spirit of government taking from the productive and giving to the nonproductive. To him, Jesus is a socialist, or perhaps an early Robin Hood. Any first-year seminarian (if the seminary is a good one) could destroy this flawed exegesis.
Jesus of Nazareth was not a symbol. Neither was He just a good teacher as some who do not fully accept His teachings about Himself like to claim. As Paul the Apostle put it, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1Timothy 1:15).
The call of Scripture is to do for other people, as we would like to have done unto us, but that call is personal, not corporate. That’s because only people can be compassionate. A government check too often brings dependence and a sense of entitlement. A personal touch builds relationships horizontally with others and vertically with God.
One upside to the current recession is that it has forced people to reconsider their priorities. To paraphrase one of the better-known lines from the film, It’s a Wonderful Life, the recession has given us a great gift: the ability to see what our lives would look like without stuff.
We still have stuff, too much in fact. Letting go of some of it has not caused people to die in the streets—despite the ludicrous claim by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that someone dies in America every 10 minutes because they lack health insurance.
Anyone young enough to have living grandparents or great-grandparents should take a few minutes this Christmas to ask them what life was like when they were growing up. How many presents did they receive? Unless they came from wealthy families, they didn’t get much by today’s standards and they were probably more satisfied than we who have more than we need.
That’s the thing about stuff: We know it doesn’t satisfy, but we gorge ourselves on it anyway hoping the marketers are right and somehow it will bring satisfaction.
What those “wise men” brought were symbols—gold, frankincense and myrrh. What they symbolized was the grandeur of the baby who would become a man and who, in the words of John the Baptist, would “take away the sins of the world” (John 1:29).
Ponder that this Christmas and every Christmas.
What does the koran misquote Jesus as proclaiming?
Recall that the koran is a rewritten Bible.
Thanks, I'll check it out. There's also another book on the same subject, The Glorious Revolution: 1688-Britain's Fight for Liberty by Edward Vallance, that got good reviews for readability that I'll also look into.
What I'm doing is working my way backward through history. Friedrich Hayek seems to have gotten many of his ideas from the American Founders, who in turn got ideas from earlier stuff like Cato's Letters and The Independent Whig by Trenchard & Gordon, which I believe was in turn based on the Revolution of 1688 you are referring to.
The reason I'm researching the root sources of the idea of limited government in olden times is that it looks like we are going to have to rediscover/reinvent the concept once again.
Of course you won't find a socialist who would acknowledge these facts if they are evil enough to foist this pathetic strawman of an argument on you.
It's really annoying when non-Christians try to pontificate on the meaning of Christmas. Yes Obama, Jesus DID do something for other people...HE DIED FOR THIR SINS SO THEY MIGHT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...not that Obama would have a clue about all that stuff judging from the hate that spewed from the pulpit of the church he occassionally attended.
Even the “three wise men” were invoked to support the president’s idea of wealth redistribution: “. . . [T]hese guys . . . have all this money, they’ve got all this wealth and power, and they took a long trip to a manger just to see a little baby.”
Interesting example Obama chose there. The difference is that they choose to give the gifts. Obama's version has Herod confiscating the gifts, going to Bethlehem to find the baby and murder it in the name of health care.
Everything that comes out of this sorry clown's mouth sounds like it was vetted by the International.
Yes, he is, quite literally, a tool.
One I'm thinking of off hand is the one where the master who called his three servants and gave one 10 talents another 5,and the last 3 talents to take of care while he was away.
With that said, however, we are not the first Americans to examine Jesus's philosophy as it relates to how that philosophy, within the confines of the individual human hearts of members of a society, might make that society more benevolent and charitable.
As a matter of fact, the writer of our nation's Declaration of Independence, which he said reflected the "American mind" of the time, Thomas Jefferson examined carefully the words and teachings of Jesus.
Jefferson wrote that Jesus "preached philanthropy and universal charity and benevolence," that "a system of morals is presented to us [by Jesus], which, if filled up in the style and spirit of the rich fragments he left us, would be the most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught by man."
He stated, "His moral doctrines...were more pure and perfect than those of the most correct of the philosophers...and they went far beyond both in inculcating universal philanthropy, not only to kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering all into one family, under the bonds of love, charity, peace, common wants, and common aids," which, Jefferson said, "will evince the peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all others."
Comparing the Hebrew code which, according to Jefferson, "laid hold of actions only," "He [Jesus] pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man; erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head."
That Jefferson cut out the statements which he believed to be directly attributable to Jesus, pasted them into a little book which he kept by his bed and, by his own words, read from them daily, might lead one to conclude that his political philosophy probably was influenced by what he considered to be the superiority of the "philosophy" of Jesus.
Jefferson's devotion to liberty and to the ideas essential to liberty were based on simple principles, some of which, undoubtedly, came from his understanding of the basic law underlying all valid human law: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Remember the slam the Democrats used during the election? “Pontius Pilate was a governor (like Sarah Palin), but Jesus was a community organizer.” (like Barack Obama)
I’m surprised his head doesn’t spin around when he speaks the name of Jesus.
As a matter of fact, he stated: "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson
And, "The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God." (to Roger Weightman, Writings 1517)
Apparently, this Administration and Congress believe they are that "favored few" Jefferson decried as being illegitimate rulers, not statesmen representing their masters, "We, the People."
While currency certainly existed, those who were poor or destitute used the barter system if they had any skills such as carpentry or other skill which they could trade evenly, service for service.
Or vomit pea soup for maximum distance.
GG is God Girl aka Cathleen Falsani) GG: Who’s Jesus to you?OBAMA: Right. Jesus is a historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher. And he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history....
GG: Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA: Yes.
GG: What is sin?
OBAMA: Being out of alignment with my values.
GG: What happens if you have sin in your life?
OBAMA: I think it’s the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I’m true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment...”
Also
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524-5,00.html
Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, but Obama’s household was not religious. ‘My mother, whose parents were nonpracticing Baptists and Methodists, was one of the most spiritual souls I ever knew,’ Obama said in a 2007 speech. "But she had a healthy skepticism of religion as an institution. And as a consequence, so did I."
He prates of Jesus but he means Marx.
How can anyone ever forget the glorious birth of the Obamessiah? Here is proof, if proof were needed, that Democrats are not to be trusted in matters of history or of faith. Or anything else.
Mark 12:17 (King James Version)
And Jesus .. said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
That is NOT 'socialism'.
But hey, what can you expect from Obama. He learned all he knows about Jesus from the good Reverend 'God Damn America' Wright!
And Jesus .. said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
And if 10% is good enough for God, it should be good enough for Ceaser.
Thanks for the book names; they sound like some interesting reading.
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