Behold the New-Born King!

o m NOT g

Somebody dug up this 2004 interview by Obama about his faith:

FALSANI:
Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:
Yes.
FALSANI:
What is sin?
OBAMA:
Being out of alignment with my values.

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html#ixzz25S6gJknA

And read the whole thing and decide whether Obama is a Christian or not.

Jim,
I did read it all.  Here’s what he says in that interview:

Obama: “So I joined that church and committed myself to Christ in that church.

Falsani: Did you actually go up for an altar call?

Obama: Yes. Absolutely. It was a daytime service, during a daytime service. And it was a powerful moment. Because, it was powerful for me because it not only confirmed my faith, it not only gave shape to my faith, but I think, also, allowed me to connect the work I had been pursuing with my faith.”

That sounds pretty Christian to me.

And here’s what the President said in an interview with Newsweek about his faith:

“At the point of his decision to accept Christ, Obama says, ‘what was intellectual and what was emotional joined, and the belief in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, that he died for our sins, that through him we could achieve eternal life—but also that, through good works we could find order and meaning here on Earth and transcend our limits and our flaws and our foibles—I found that powerful.’ “

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/07/11/finding-his-faith.html

I may not like his politics, but he certainly sounds like a Christian.  Let’s leave the judgment up to God.

That’s fine, and as Jesus says, “by their fruits shall ye know them.”

“—but also that, through good works we could find order and meaning here on Earth and transcend our limits and our flaws and our foibles—I found that powerful.’ “

Sounds very Pelagian to me.

Keep in mind the post is not a commentary on the President’s faith.  It is about some crazy idolatry by his followers.

We don’t know anything about the President’s eternal destiny. We do know that he is in open and serious sin as a divinely appointed governor:

1. by giving his sanction to the murder of 1.6 million babies per year in the US and his support for such murders internationally.

2. By destroying the institution of marriage God established as a creation ordinance.

So, regardless of his eternal destiny, he is certainly not the heaven sent Son or anything like him…which makes the idolatry of his followers even more perverse.

There are too many “sheeple” in this world - folks who will believe anything and follow anyone, without any real discernment.

Jesus - I pray you will open more of your children’s eyes so they can see it is You Lord that that seek so earnestly.  Amen.

The Left is perpetually on a quest for the next Great Helmsman or Dear Leader.  Just witness the iconography and slavish prose put in service to this mountebank in the White House.  I think it’s another datum proving Chesterton’s dictum that, “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything.”

If we’re going to be honest here, no political grouping of Americans is immune from this stuff.

It’s not like there isn’t a bit of Ronald Reagan deification on the right.  Think of all the iconic imagery that is put out there about him intended to project a certain image…riding horses, the cowboy hat, the denim jacket shots, etc.  (All post-movie days, keep in mind.)  A few years back there was an effort to get something named after him in all 50 states.  I remember George Will speaking out against this as something Reagan himself would have rejected because is reminded him of something Communists would do.

And how about the American founders viewed through the eyes of people like Dave Barton?  We have a painting on the inside of our Capital’s rotunda called the Apotheosis of Washington.  Americans left, right and middle love the idea of the glorious leader leading us to better places and times.  As Christians, we need to be careful we don’t get wrapped up in this.

It’s not like there isn’t a bit of Ronald Reagan deification on the right.

True, and he was far from perfect. At this time in 1984, however, the economy, while still in tough shape, was clearly moving in the right direction. We were finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. There is no such light today; in fact, I see precious little evidence of a recovery.

To be sure, I’m no fan of Mitt Romney, but this country can’t afford to stay on its present course.

Re #10: Is there excessive hero-worship of Reagan? Certainly. Deification? Not so much. But your final warning is well taken.

I agree with #10.  The Reagan-worship has gotten out of hand.

There’s no doubt Ronald Reagan was a great leader, one that this country needed at that time. Yes, he made mistakes; I consider the amnesty legislation he signed to be his biggest mistake. (I live in an area that has been adversely affected by illegal immigration.) That’s why I said he was far from perfect. And I agree he shouldn’t be deified.

Having said that, neither should we deify President Obama as some on the left have done.

“That sounds pretty Christian to me.”

As long as you don’t press him to define any of the words he uses. By that standard Mitt Romney’s a Christian as well. He could affirm what you quote.

I won’t comment on whether Obama is a “Christian” or not, but his own word suggest that his is a salvation by works and self-merit.  And he doesn’t see sin as violating God’s standards, but rather in being “inauthentic” to your own values.

FALSANI:
Do you believe in heaven?
....
OBAMA:
What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing….
FALSANI:
Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:
Yes.
FALSANI:
What is sin?
OBAMA:
Being out of alignment with my values.
FALSANI:
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.
(excerpted)

This is more consistent with the sort of false American civic religion known as moralistic therapeutic deism than it does with grace/cross/Christ-centered Christianity.

As for Reagan adulation, I get a little tired of it also.  It’s not the weird kind of quasi-religious, North Korean-style worship that some liberals have for Obama (that’s just creepy), but I would rather that conservatives aim for being true to conservative principles and not to replicate a particularly charismatic but flawed former President.

I find it curious how much effort is devoted to parsing every utterance of President Obama about his faith to try and determine whether he’s a “real Christian.”  Has any other Christian president undergone such scrutiny by other Christians?