Rudy Takala
The Jesus question
By Rudy Takala
Liberals in recent days have begun to assert their moral superiority over conservatives on various social issues. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, for instance, ran an editorial urging people to realize that the "state budget is a moral document." In a post-election appearance at Tufts University, Hillary Clinton said "No one can read the New Testament of our Bible without recognizing that Jesus had a lot more to say about how we treat the poor than most of the issues that were talked about in this election." It's all in the spirit of alluring "religious" voters.
In the third presidential debate, John Kerry said that he couldn't "legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith." Just over a hundred words later, he said "My faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage of the Bible that says, "What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead. And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith... That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith."
Indeed, Democrats have become religious, if only with dyspepsia and with occasionally conflicting statements. Since their recent discovery that morals seem to matter to people, they've decided to modify their beliefs in the name of political expediency.
However, they are not the first socialists to conceive of this; there already exists a World Council of Churches. Its general secretary, the Rev. Sam Kobia, recently said in reference to the Asian Tsunami, "We need to learn a few lessons of humanity." What lessons was he referring to, precisely? Of course, it was that "This was a clear warning on what climate change could to do the world."
And then the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Rev. Ishmael Noko, reminded us that "relatively inadequate efforts by the international community to address climate change continue to be subverted and undermined by some of those most responsible."
And so, after decades of muttering about the separation of church and state, Democrats have begun asserting the necessity of their unification for the implementation of socialist ideals. It's truly ironic; for a long time, Christians were a nominal factor in American politics. However, after decades of liberal persecution ranging from the removal of the Ten Commandments from public buildings, to attempts at removing "under God" from the pledge, to transforming government schools into licentious bastions of paganism and attempting to force people into attendance, Christians have become somewhat more than a nominal factor. Accordingly, Democrats have lost an enormous amount of politcal power; their reaction has now been to talk about what good friends they are to Christians.
It was indeed a miscalculation to believe that Christians were an irrelevant political force. According to the latest census data, 76% of Americans profess to being Christian. Only 10% claim not to be religious at all.
But as Hillary Clinton also said in her speech at Tufts University, "I don't think you can win an election or even run a successful campaign if you don't acknowledge what is important to people." In a sentence, she summarized the new tactic of the Democratic Party. They will begin to acknowledge that yes, unfortunately, Christians exist; however, that's why Democrats do what they do. Redistribution of wealth is indeed in accordance with God's will; after all, when Jesus said to give money to the poor, he obviously didn't mean it should be one's own money; it should be other people's. Liberals will continue to fabricate such gross fantasies in the days to come, even sending ministers out to claim that Republicans, in their failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, are effectually murdering every person killed by an earthquake, tsunami, forest fire and lightning strike.
They are not alone in their abuse of the Bible as a political document. However, they are far more willing to distort, deceive and make a mockery of it in their quest to power than most. As it says in Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." It appears as though in the days ahead, this will be demonstrated during the course of elections and in the affairs of politics.
© Rudy Takala
Liberals in recent days have begun to assert their moral superiority over conservatives on various social issues. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, for instance, ran an editorial urging people to realize that the "state budget is a moral document." In a post-election appearance at Tufts University, Hillary Clinton said "No one can read the New Testament of our Bible without recognizing that Jesus had a lot more to say about how we treat the poor than most of the issues that were talked about in this election." It's all in the spirit of alluring "religious" voters.
In the third presidential debate, John Kerry said that he couldn't "legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith." Just over a hundred words later, he said "My faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage of the Bible that says, "What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead. And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith... That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith."
Indeed, Democrats have become religious, if only with dyspepsia and with occasionally conflicting statements. Since their recent discovery that morals seem to matter to people, they've decided to modify their beliefs in the name of political expediency.
However, they are not the first socialists to conceive of this; there already exists a World Council of Churches. Its general secretary, the Rev. Sam Kobia, recently said in reference to the Asian Tsunami, "We need to learn a few lessons of humanity." What lessons was he referring to, precisely? Of course, it was that "This was a clear warning on what climate change could to do the world."
And then the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Rev. Ishmael Noko, reminded us that "relatively inadequate efforts by the international community to address climate change continue to be subverted and undermined by some of those most responsible."
And so, after decades of muttering about the separation of church and state, Democrats have begun asserting the necessity of their unification for the implementation of socialist ideals. It's truly ironic; for a long time, Christians were a nominal factor in American politics. However, after decades of liberal persecution ranging from the removal of the Ten Commandments from public buildings, to attempts at removing "under God" from the pledge, to transforming government schools into licentious bastions of paganism and attempting to force people into attendance, Christians have become somewhat more than a nominal factor. Accordingly, Democrats have lost an enormous amount of politcal power; their reaction has now been to talk about what good friends they are to Christians.
It was indeed a miscalculation to believe that Christians were an irrelevant political force. According to the latest census data, 76% of Americans profess to being Christian. Only 10% claim not to be religious at all.
But as Hillary Clinton also said in her speech at Tufts University, "I don't think you can win an election or even run a successful campaign if you don't acknowledge what is important to people." In a sentence, she summarized the new tactic of the Democratic Party. They will begin to acknowledge that yes, unfortunately, Christians exist; however, that's why Democrats do what they do. Redistribution of wealth is indeed in accordance with God's will; after all, when Jesus said to give money to the poor, he obviously didn't mean it should be one's own money; it should be other people's. Liberals will continue to fabricate such gross fantasies in the days to come, even sending ministers out to claim that Republicans, in their failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, are effectually murdering every person killed by an earthquake, tsunami, forest fire and lightning strike.
They are not alone in their abuse of the Bible as a political document. However, they are far more willing to distort, deceive and make a mockery of it in their quest to power than most. As it says in Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." It appears as though in the days ahead, this will be demonstrated during the course of elections and in the affairs of politics.
© Rudy Takala
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