April 16, 2009 11:52 AM
Obama at Georgetown: disses Jesus, but coopts Sermon on the Mount" to promote policy
While Obama shrouded the name of Jesus from the background for his "major address" - and which Obama address has not been billed as major? - he didn't hesitate to borrow Christ's words to sell his self-flattering appraisal of our current situation:
"There is a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells a story of two men...'the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house...it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock,'" Obama said. "We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand," he added. "We must build our house upon a rock."
What a defilement of the Scripture! This is not the first time Obama has co-opted Christian scripture to replace The Savior with himself.
The rock Jesus referred to was a spiritual foundation, not a political/economic/ideological one. And certainly not the cult personality of B.H. Obama.
Why did Obama choose to deliver this address - which could have been delivered anywhere - at Georgetown University? For the same reason he's going to Notre Dame in May - it's part of the effort to co-opt and divide the Catholic Church, using familiar bastions of Catholic tradition to his own ends, even as he trashes our leaders and our beliefs.
And what's up with that AP photo which has craftily captured a halo around their hero's head?
Posted in Catholicism, Church Issues, Obama Nation | Permalink
Comments
I noticed the ridiculous bibilical "reference" as well. The parable loses its meaning when you take out God since HE is the foundation. Obama blatantly replaced himself for Christ. Lord, have mercy on our country!
Posted by: Lauren | April 16, 2009 12:41 PM
Obama: There can only be one, 'One'.
Some people have argued that Obama does not want to use religion to further a political ideology. However, Obama did evoke the Sermon on the Mount, at this Georgetown appearance, to further his economic agenda. Although Obama failed to mention Jesus Christ by name for the Sermon on the Mount.
“There is a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells a story of two men…‘the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house…it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock,’” Obama said.
“We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand,” he added. “We must build our house upon a rock.”
The last statement is particularly ironic since building your house upon a ‘ROCK‘ means to build your house with Christ as the foundation. Obama decided to blot out the real foundation from the timeless parable.
See the hi-res pictures:
http://tinyurl.com/djtzgm
Posted by: Jordan | April 16, 2009 1:09 PM
This disgusts me. He is pandering to universalism by doing this. Why is he so afraid to be aligned in any way with the name of Jesus? Maybe he just sees Christ as a "great teacher", but not Lord. His response in an interview awhile back about his "faith" gives one the impression that he is a CHINO: CHristian In Name Only". He is a moving target on the subject, unable to be pinned down.
Posted by: Kim | April 16, 2009 1:18 PM
I apologize for jumping to conclusions in my previous comment. The Obamas did indeed attend Easter services at St. John's Episcopal, as was reported by a style blog (don't miss Michelle's dress!)
I must have missed it in the excitement over the new dog.
[It did come across as rather an afterthought and I couldn't help wondering how much of it was a last minute scramble because of the rumblings about the lack of church]
Posted by: Milehimama | April 16, 2009 1:40 PM
Besides the sheer audacity, there's the irony too!
"We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand," he added. "We must build our house upon a rock." Printing worthless money and putting us trillions of dollars into debt IS building on a pile of sand!
Posted by: evergreen | April 16, 2009 2:26 PM
What a creep ! He obviously has no idea what he's talking about. And doesn't think anyone will notice. Did I already say, what a creep ?!
Posted by: dee | April 16, 2009 2:35 PM
The Gospel words coming from the mouth of the most pro-abortion politician ever, felt like a stab in the heart.
Posted by: Leticia Velasquez | April 16, 2009 4:12 PM
This bible quote sprang to mind: "And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God." Luke 12: 8-9 (RSV-CE) It chills me that Georgetown would honor the White House's request.
Posted by: Donica Haraburda | April 16, 2009 4:31 PM
I think you are my least favorite person in existence.... You say this shit because you don't like Obama.... it isn't a defilement of scripture... it is a use of it.... If John McCain used scripture in his speech you would be like "yeah! go McCain!" if he said some shit like "For all have sinned.... And fall short of glory... I have made mistakes, but I have learned from them and want to be your leader" you'd be like "YAY GO JOHN!"
And also.... Some comments on here are fucked up..... Pro-choice has NOTHING TO DO WITH CHRISTIANITY! I am a Liberal Democrat, AND a Christian.... and it is ignorant, close-minded people like you, ones who believe you're doing good, who believe they know what God wants more than anyone else, people like YOU who make me more angry than anyone in...... in.... .IN ALL FUCKING EXISTENCE....FUCK YOU!
Posted by: Nicolas | April 17, 2009 1:39 AM
The blogosphere is a great big world, Nicolas feel free to go elsewhere for your information. You are not providing anything productive with your comments. Actually you are leading many good Christians to think quite un-Christianly of you and that makes me sad. I try very hard to be fair in my judgment of others but when I read such vile comments it is hard.
Posted by: Margaret | April 17, 2009 7:07 AM
Nicolas, I find it difficult to believe you are Christian. To be a Christian means to try to imitate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I think you could begin to imitate Jesus by leaving out the profanity. Julie
Posted by: Julie | April 17, 2009 10:53 AM
Nicolas,
If you would do yourself a favour and reread what you posted you might see how you do a great disservice to:
Democrats,
Liberals,
Christians,
Barak Obama
and most of all, to yourself. At the very least, if you could avoid the vocabulary crutch that cursing is we might be a little more convinced that you were a person with a well thought out opinion, but as it is, we are left with the feeling that you don't put much effort into anything. If you are truly committed to your beliefs, than you owe them some integrity and viability. You will garner more respect for both yourself and your cause by making that little bit of effort.
Posted by: Kelly | April 17, 2009 11:17 AM
Nicolas, who is the rock upon which we build our foundation? The answer is Christ.
Obama substituted himself and his policies for Christ in the parable. As a self professed Christain, that should give you pause.
Also, I understand frustration. Trust me, I've been on the verge of having a cussing fit many a time. However, you do nothing for your cause when you post profanity.
Posted by: Lauren | April 17, 2009 11:51 AM
Hi Nicholas,
I made a button for my blog that I feel illustrates the hypocrisy of Obama's coopting Matthew 25 perfectly. Perhaps a quick glance might let you know where we are coming from.
You'll find it on the left sidebar under my profile.
http://milehimama.blogspot.com
Feel free to grab it for your site or wallpaper, it's perfect for someone who supports Obama's use of Scripture!
Posted by: Milehimama | April 17, 2009 5:57 PM
You people are so paranoid. Why does Obama covering up a religious symbol matter at all?
[Kathryn, let me interrupt you to say that what is striking here is that Obama chose to hold his "major" address at Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the US. He could have chosen from several dozen other venues - including the White House itself where he would not have had to cover up the name of Jesus.]
Maybe he did it because he realized not everyone in America believes in the same God you believe in, or even believes in God at all. As an atheist, I rather enjoy the fact that he doesn't force Jesus on us in his speeches and surrounds himself with religious symbols when he's on TV or in pictures.
[How do you feel about his coopting scripture and using the Sermon on the Mount, replacing references to a spiritual foundation with references to himself? It seems everyone needs something to believe in. For atheists, that often becomes a political system or a political figure - hence, Obama, the Messiah]Whether or not he is a Christian doesn't make any difference, the point is Americans aren't only Christian. He IS the President, he does sort of have to take his audience into account, and we're not a Christian nation. It doesn't mean he thinks he's better than Jesus, ya'll dig so deep into things that just aren't there.
And Leticia, there is no such thing as "pro-abortion", that's an idea made up by conservatives to make liberals sound worse for being pro-choice, but the plain fact is nobody is pro-abortion. We don't sit around going WOOO ABORTION YEAH! Least anti-abortion would be a more accurate term.
[Pro-abortion is the accurate term. Abortion is a billion dollar industry in America and Planned Parenthood does not provide any alternatives to its paying customers, in fact does not want them to know the reality of the condition of the living being they are about to abandon. They are not pro-choice. They are pro-abortion]
Posted by: kathryn | April 17, 2009 10:47 PM
No one is pro-abortion. The risks for outlawing abortion far outweigh the loss with abortion. The abortion decision will never be overturned because this country already knows how bad it will get if abortion is made illegal. Mothers will die along with their children in unclean facilities with inexperienced people performing abortions. I would be all for making it harder to get an abortion, raising requirements, raising prices, making it far less attainable. I understand arguments against abortion, even if I disagree. I don't LIKE abortion, but a big problem with conservatives I've had to deal with is most of them seem to want abstinence-only education in schools and that just isn't going to stop unwanted pregnancy. If we attack the issue of unwanted pregnancy, since it occurs a great deal in teens and young adults, then the abortion issue will decrease for that age range as well. We have to teach kids how to be safe, how important it is and how risky it is, they need all the information there is because they will make smarter protective decisions if they know how to.
And Obama is not our Messiah. I don't believe in blind faith, that is why I'm atheist. That's another issue I find with most conservatives I know, they think just because we love Obama that if he were to actually drastically change this country into something bad, we wouldn't care. That is the farthest thing from the truth. Being a liberal democrat doesn't make us stupid. I love this country just as much as any conservative, that's why I want to save it from the religious right. I want religion to have nothing to do with my legislation and general politics at all. It's not like Obama can't mention religious themes, he is a Christian and so are many Americans, he has to appeal to you just as much as me, and I think so far he's done a good job of not getting too religious while not leaving out religion. But religion itself has no place in government. Whatever the Bible says, let it rule your life, but I will never let a word in the Bible rule mine.
Posted by: kathryn | April 18, 2009 10:47 AM
Barbara - wondering if you've seen this!
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46844
Posted by: Milehimama | April 18, 2009 4:15 PM
