Obama, the unborn, and the banning of Christ

Editor’s note: We here at American Clarity would like to let the readers know that this article is a little different than the last ones, being primarily aimed at followers of Christ.  We highly suggest following any links that reference biblical doctrine, as this article would be tough to defend without the Bible on which it is based.  Enjoy, and God bless.

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With Obama’s declaration that no God condones abortion, one would expect a population of over 300 million people to—at the very least—wonder whether he was expecting a lightning bolt to strike (1). After all, saying something like that and then not only exporting abortions to other countries on our dollar, but also lifting the ban for federal funding on embryonic stem cell research and supporting the Freedom of Choice Act would seem a little bold (and by the way, the FOCA allows the termination of life until fetal viability, or the ability to survive outside the womb) (2)(3). But on the Kenyan goes, not only without blinking an eye, but also apparently secure in his belief that he stands within Christ’s favor.

But what exactly makes a Christian?

First of all, seeing where Obama gets his logic isn’t impossible. Coming from an eternal perspective, in which Christ declared that his kingdom was not of this earth and that we should render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, one could argue that Christians should abstain from enforcing their will on the public(4)(5). After all, if the ultimate goal of this life is to personally follow Christ and win the hearts and souls of those you come in contact with, pushing your standards on anyone else isn’t going to win anyone. Not only is every single one of us fatally flawed and in need of redemption, but you can’t win the hearts of those outside the faith without loving them as human beings and extending the gifts of charity Christ has enabled you to give. This loving attitude extends to all, be they hookers, junkies, or the cast from How I Met Your Mother.

It is Christ who saves and transforms us, after all, and throwing that first stone would appear anathema to the message of Christ: that we are all sinners, and only redeemed through a lifetime of change by faith in the Almighty himself (6). As such, there wouldn’t be a point in demanding that those outside the faith conform to ideas based solely on a Biblical interpretation of human worth, and the inconvenience resulting from our demands would ultimately only serve unhelpful in the quest for souls. Not to mention that judgment is the Lord’s, anyway, and that those who willingly flaunt their sins and deny Christ will get what’s coming to them (7).

However, this is where the logic ends. Aside from the fact that no person supporting Obama’s stance actually believes that morals should be kept to oneself (as fighting pay discrimination or even wanting to pull out of Iraq would assert), the fact that Obama imposes his views upon others every time he enacts a law should attest that the enforcement of moral values is acceptable (8).  This, even aside from the fact that morals exist to protect people from those who would break them. Would it be safe to say that he’s driving people away from his ideology just by taking the stances he takes, anyway?

But in a spiritual sense, as one can rest assured that God Himself believes that we possess a divine, spiritual, and eternal nature, we can also rest assured that abortion is murder, and generally committed out of a need for convenience (9). There is no roundabout way of viewing this particular sin: it is a sin, and although our sinful nature demands that those without Christ remain in separation from Him for even the most infinitesimal of grievances, murder will always remain at the upper tier of offenses. After all, no man would consider murder to be equally as offensive as a white lie, or rape no more egregious than gluttony. In any sense, this would be absurd.

Furthermore, our God is a righteous god, and he not only judged Israel throughout the Old Testament as a whole nation—even if only for the sins of their leaders—but Christ’s apostles made clear references to His judgment of the entire world. Let it be known: The United States of America is not special in God’s eyes, nor will it escape His wrath for the sins we willingly commit and socially condone. From our promotion of easy divorces to granting special rights to homosexuals in the workplace to regarding abortion as a right, we will be judged.

Furthermore, the believer must understand that in the absence of Christ’s standards, political existence demands that there be another standard by which we operate. Regardless of whether Obama believes he is not enforcing his worldview upon anyone else, the fact is that our laws reflect the worldview that we as a nation have, and if that worldview says that God’s laws aren’t tangible in the modern world, then we are operating to either the Deist’s worldview or the atheist’s worldview. Choosing either of these worldviews would suggest that although we firmly believe all truth is found through Christ, we don’t believe that it should have any effect on our society whatsoever.

Here comes the kicker, though. Half of America won’t admit this, but without a firm foundation on which to base the eternal worth of the human (not to be confused with Obama’s pan-religious and truth-denying declaration of spiritual inclusion), you can’t have a logical foundation for human rights at all. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy, the philosophically consistent (yet woefully misguided) would say; and even in a universe guided by Deism in which God had no direct interventions with mankind, His existence wouldn’t have any implications other than to point us back to the survival of the fittest as our modus operandi, the polar opposite of the egalitarianism that lefties like Obama claim to support. Is this Christendom? To pretend that Christ’s attitude toward sin is ineffectual and logically inapplicable? And does sin not only cause spiritual blindness, but also physical ramifications as well?

Those who believe in logical consistency recognize that if a stance against Christian political interference is taken, then Christ’s effect on our democracy can have no potency whatsoever, and results in the abolition of Christian values from our system altogether. To claim otherwise would be philosophically inconsistent, since those in a democracy are supposed to have a direct influence on the kind of society they vote to have, and it should reflect their values. In short, this is eradication of Christ from the world on a socially accepted level, and must be recognized by those professing Christ for what it is, instead of pretending that everyone else is holding themselves to the same standard. And remember, Christ Himself broke the laws to heal the sick on the Sabbath, so would it be blasphemous to suggest that he not also vote to protect the unborn from outright murder, despite our social norms regarding tolerance?

Last but not least, there has been a tendency for churches to condone reprehensible acts in our country in the name of unity (15)(16). As mentioned before, we all sin on a daily basis, and it would seem that following Christ amounts to allowing and wishing Him to change the desires of your heart, a time-consuming process that doesn’t cease until death; but that doesn’t mean that we are to have a tolerance of sin. Paul commanded that we abstain from even dining with members of the church who engage in sexual immorality, and Jesus Himself informed us that many of his “followers” would be left outside His eternal kingdom (17)(18). So although it seems we should refrain from casting that first stone, refusing to recognize sin for what it is—the very thing Christ sacrificed His life to overcome—would be tantamount to spitting on the cross, and should be avoided almost as though the soul depended upon it (19). 

So what is a Christian? A Christian is a person who accepts Christ as their savior and the salvation he extends to them. A Christian is in the constant process of being changed by Christ Himself into a more perfect being. A Christian is a person who believes that sin makes us worthy of death, and that it is reprehensible to God, and must be dealt with in a righteous manner. A Christian is a person who believes the teachings of Christ are the solutions to all problems in all situations for all ages. This is the Christian; nothing more, nothing less. 

Where Obama fits into this is a matter between him and the Lord.  All of us fall sway to the Devil’s persuasions at some point or another, but we must walk the fine line between acknowledging our epistemological encumbrances and not treating the Lord’s words as though they present us with no truth whatsoever.  Obama, this writer fears, has repeatedly displayed that he’s fallen into the latter category.  After all, saying that your policies on scientific research should be based primarily on what science dictates as moral would seem to replace Obama’s claimed God with another yardstick/idol by which to measure his existence.

So let us not be tossed about by the winds of doctrinal inconsistency. We’ve been given a reason to live and a direction to go, and although a deeply passive humility may appear righteous and effective for converting unbelievers, it is ultimately a false humility predicated on theological suicide. We must not stand idly by and tolerate the killing of innocents, and we must not stand by and allow our churches to become polluted by the inclusion of all but those willing to take their stands for Christ. After all, not everyone who calls on Jesus name will be saved. Keep this in mind, brothers and sisters, and remember which God you serve: the author of Truth and the life that proceeds from it, not the author of confusion.

1) Obama says no god condones killing of innocents

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/05/obama-attends-prayer-brea_n_164190.html

2) Obama lifts restrictions on abortions funding

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50M3PQ20090123

3) Obama and the Freedom of Choice Act

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/22/obama_statement_on_35th_annive.php

4) FOCA and the age of fetal viability

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.1964:

5) Not of this world

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2018:33-37;&version=31;

6) Render unto Caesar

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:15-22;&version=31;

7) Living by the law doesn’t save

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=GAL%202:15-21;&version=31;

8) Judgment is the Lord’s

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%202:1-16;&version=31;

 9) The equal pay amendment

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/politics/30ledbetter-web.html

10) God’s knowledge and plans for us before birth

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%201:5&version=31

11) Civil war erupts as King David’s punishment for adultery and murder

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2012:1-12;&version=31;

 12) John speaks of the horrible judgment of mankind

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%206:15-17;&version=31;

 13) Fulfilled prophecies related to the end-times

http://contenderministries.org/prophecy/endtimes.php

14) Jesus breaks the Sabbath by healing a man’s hand

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2012:9-14;&version=31;

15) The Unity church and homosexual marriage

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_unit.htm

16)  United Methodist’s press release about support for abortion

http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/newsreleases/march4choice.html

17) Paul commands Christians to not associate with sexually immoral believers

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%205:9-13;&version=31;

18) The parable of the bridegroom

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:1-13;&version=31;

19) Harsh words for Christ’s disobedient followers

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%2010:26-31;&version=31;

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on 14. March 2009 at 02:04 and is filed under philosophy, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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