Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Posted on 10/04/2007 5:25:13 AM PDT by Neville72
It hasn't gotten much comment yet, but in his interview on Fox last night, Fred Thompson rather emphatically told Focus on the Family chief James Dobson to take a hike. Host Sean Hannity asked Thompson about Dobson, who has attacked Thompson and made it clear he would not support a Thompson candidacy. "Don't read too much into the Dobson thing," Thompson told Hannity, continuing:
A gentleman who has never met me, who has never talked to me, I've never talked to him on the phone. I did have one of his aides call me up and kind of apologize, the first time he attacked me and said I wasn't a Christian…
I don't know the gentleman. I do know that I have a lot of people who are of strong faith and are involved in the same organizations that he is in, that I've met with, Jeri and I both have met with, and I like to think that we have some strong friendships and support there…
Hannity then asked: "Would you want to have a conversation with Dr. Dobson? Do you think that might help?"
I have no idea. I don't particularly care to have a conversation with him. If he wants to call up and apologize again, that's ok with me. But I'm not going to dance to anybody's tune.
Ok so that’s a fabrication also? If so why hasn’t Dobson come out to refute it’s authenticity?
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
WARNING: If you want to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.
The solution would have been to sever all ties with his organization and put it under a stewardship while he ran. Not really rocket science, but I really believe the groundswell Newt was looking for when he proclaimed he would run, wasn't there.
How insulting to judge me as non-Christian. Another born-again trait.
Dobson should fight with candidates that are liberals, like Rudy and Hillary, not the other ones like Fred etc.
You’re welcome.
Ted Kennedy?! And all because I refer to a moron as a moron. A moron, may I remind you, that had to have an aide call Thompson to apologize.
Now, before you go accusing me of hating all religious rightists, let me be on record right now as saying I was always very fond of certain non-moronic Christian Conservatives, such as John Lofton, Cal Thomas, and the late Jerry Falwell. Not that I always agreed with them, mind you, but I respected their non-ego driven desire to further their respective goals.
Dobson should take some lessons from their examples.
Love it!
It doesn't say Dr. James Dobson clarifies his stance, it says they had to "explain" it to mean something other than what he said.
We know what this is......
Now, Dobson may be an honorable man, but he doesn't speak for the entire Christian community.
Fascinating thread, eh?
I have always considered the 'old media' more than simply a 'strawman'. I have always considered the 'old media' to have an agenda, just as the 'old media' has always had an agenda.
“..Jesus commands us to love our enemies. I take that to mean to forgive them as well - something I have a hard time doing. Or do you like to withold your forgiveness, holding it out as a bargaining chip.” ~ 7thson
Just as there are emotionally immature professing Christians, there are also spiritually immature professing Christians.
You may get up to speed here —if you’re interested:
When Forgiveness Is a Sin - By Dennis Prager
http://www.dennisprager.com/forgiveness.html
Reprinted in Reader’s Digest, March 1998, from The Wall Street Journal
The bodies of the three teen-age girls shot dead last December by a fellow student at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky., were not yet cold before some of their schoolmates hung a sign announcing, “We forgive you, Mike!” They were referring to Michael Carneal, 14, the killer.
This immediate and automatic forgiveness is not surprising. Over the past generation, many Christians have adopted the idea that they should forgive everyone who commits evil against anyone, no matter how great and cruel and whether or not the evildoer repents.
The number of examples is almost as large as the number of heinous crimes. Last August, for instance, the preacher at a Martha’s Vineyard church service attended by the vacationing President Clinton announced that the duty of all Christians was to forgive Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who murdered 168 Americans. “Can each of you look at a picture of Timothy McVeigh and forgive him?” the Rev. John Miller asked. “I have, and I invite you to do the same.”
Though I am a Jew, I believe that a vibrant Christianity is essential if America’s moral decline is to be reversed. And despite theological differences, Christianity and Judaism have served as the bedrock of American civilization. And I am appalled and frightened by this feel-good doctrine of automatic forgiveness.
This doctrine advances the amoral notion that no matter how much you hurt others, millions of your fellow citizens will forgive you. It destroys Christianity’s central moral tenets about forgiveness. Even by God, forgiveness is contingent on the sinner repenting, and it can be given only by the one sinned against.
” And if your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him,” reads Luke 17:3-4. “And if seven times of the day he sins against you, and seven times of the day turns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him.”
These days one often hears that “It is the Christian’s duty to forgive, just as Jesus forgave those who crucified him.” Of course, Jesus asked God to forgive those who crucified him. But Jesus never asked God to forgive those who had crucified thousands of other innocent people. Presumably he recognized that no one has the moral right to forgive evil done to others.
You and I have no right, religiously or morally, to forgive Timothy McVeigh or Michael Carneal; only those they sinned against have that right, If we are automatically forgiven no matter what we do, why repent? In fact, if we forgive everybody for all the evil they do, God and his forgiveness are unnecessary. We have substituted ourselves for God.
I host a talk-radio show, and when confronted with such arguments, some callers offered another defense: “The students were not forgiving Carneal for murdering the three students. They were forgiving him for the pain he caused them.” Such self centered thinking masquerading as a religious ideal is a good example of the moral disarray in much of religious life.
Some people have a more sophisticated defense of the forgive-every-one-everything doctrine: doing so is psychologically healthy. It brings “closure.” This is therapy masquerading as idealism: “I forgive you because I want to feel better.”
Until West Paducah, I believed that Christians will lead America’s moral renaissance. Though I still believe that, the day those students, with the support of their school administration, hung out that sign I became less sanguine. If young Christians have inherited more values from the ‘60s culture than from their religion, where can we look for help?
Nobody knows exactly what he said unless there is a tape somewhere. You seem to believe the MSM and dismiss Dobson's statements on their face. Personally, I'll leave it in the "unknown" category.
March 29, 2007: "In his conversation with Mr. Gilgoff, Dr. Dobson was attempting to highlight that to the best of his knowledge, Sen. Thompson hadn't clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him. Dr. Dobson told Mr. Gilgoff he had never met Sen. Thompson and wasn't certain that his understanding of the former senator's religious convictions was accurate. Unfortunately, these qualifiers weren't reported by Mr. Gilgoff. We were, however, pleased to learn from his spokesperson that Sen. Thompson professes to be a believer.
I don't think Thompson is the second coming of Bob Dole. I do think he has fire in his belly for the race.
Furthermore, I think Dobson was out of line. Fred really owes him nothing.
The subject of this thread is those who nominally are or should be in the Republican ranks who, through design, stupidity or egotism, are currently doing their dangest to divide the party.
I sincerely pray that Dr. Dobson purges himself of this urge.
Leni
Dobson speaks for Christians in the same way that Jesse Jackson speaks for blacks.
Thanks dmz. Okay, the quotation is: “[But] I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression....”
You’ll understand my saying (I hope) that the statement lacks context, and I wish I had more. But having said that, I wouldn’t defend the statement. He qualifies it, but still it reads dumb. If he said, “I don’t think he claims to be a Christian,” okay; but as it stands, without a lot more context or qualification, I’d never defend it.
So to your original question, Always Right, myself, not running for office, I’d respond by giving my Christian testimony, and probably saying I’d be glad to meet with him if he wanted and see what his concerns were. I’d also express puzzlement as to why he’d say such a thing.
But then I am a Christian. I’m unclear about Thompson.
Before I read the post, after the title by Dennis Prager, is there any point below that where it is you talking or is it just Prager after the title.
I like Huckabee, too. Like Brownback and some others, Huckabee is either running for VP in 2008 or to get more name recognition for a possible 2012 run. He doesn't have any chance this election cycle.
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