Obama-ination
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:53 AM
The next week my friend Cindy, who teaches at a Christian school, expressed dismay at the horrible comments made by her high schoolers after the election. One went so far as to say hopefully: "Maybe Obama will be assassinated." Horrified, she tried to teach kids who were likely only parroting what they heard at home the Scriptural principles of honor for your leaders and God's control over who ends up in leadership and the command to pray for our leaders.
My response to the election is fear of another four or eight years of venom spewed by fellow Christians, as in the Clinton years. I wish Cindy could give all the disrespectful so-called Christians a lesson in biblical grace and citizenship. You can disagree with a president, or any leader, and work to block policies he or she espouses if you don't agree, but there is no biblical wiggle room to be rude and to attack a politician personally. It was Paul who told us to honor our leaders, and that was during the reign of Nero, he of the human Christian torches.
So after listening to the hysteria of the fringe, I was interested to read the new book from Christian publisher Thomas Nelson called The Faith of Barack Obama. It's written by Stephen Mansfield, the same man who wrote The Faith of George W. Bush, so I expected it to be from an evangelical viewpoint and fair. I found it to be so. Mansfield walks through Obama's spiritual journey, including his unconventional childhood, explaining in Obama's own words his conversion experience. It covers his appearance at Rick Warren's Saddleback church and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy. As Mansfield describes his own visit to Obama's church (after Wright has moved on), he does so from the stance of a white visitor, and he notes the differences we whites would notice.
An insightful section of the book, which was released in August and so before the fall elections, talks about the faith of the four key personalities in this election— Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and George W. Bush—contrasting their styles and beliefs while showing how each represents a certain subset or generation of Christian Americans. I felt excited, just as I did while the election unfolded, to see how personal faith had once again become something of value in the political discussion, no matter what party one was a part of, and how it impacts one's decisions on policy and justice.
So what is the faith of Barack Obama? My conclusion, based on the book, is that he has a sincere faith in Jesus Christ, and yet he does not necessarily believe Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God. I have a problem with that, as I often discuss with one of my friends who feels the same. First, Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). He doesn't say "a way" and seems pretty clear there are not multiple ways. And even if you could discount that verse and others on a similar theme, here's my other problem with the "multiple ways to God" theory: If any sincere faith (or many sincere faiths) can bring people to God, it would be horribly cruel of God the Father to send Jesus to earth to be crucified to offer one subset of people another alternative. If I were Jesus, I would have had to say, "Let them use one of the other five or fifty or five thousand acceptable ways to God, and leave me out of this." That he didn't, and God didn't, to me indicates his death must be the only way.
But no matter what the beliefs of my new president-elect, I am called to pray for him and honor him. The Faith of Barack Obama will help me to do that as I understand more about what makes him the man he is. And I call on my Christian friends of all political persuasions to show the world, and President-elect Obama, that we have the Spirit of Christ within through our gracious words, our commitment to prayer for our President's good, and our willingness to work together to, as Micah puts it "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God."
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Cindy
December 20, 4:46 PM ET
FYI Those high schoolers now pray daily for Mr. Obama,our future president, as well as for our nation.
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Mark Wusinich
December 23, 3:55 PM ET
Excellent post. Please keep up the postings, I enjoy them immensely. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
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Carol R. Cool
December 23, 9:43 PM ET
Cindy, it's great to know you've had such an impact on these kids; keep up the good work. Thanks, Mark for the encouragement. Life is, I think, about to get easier, so it will hopefully mean a resumption of the weekly posts.
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Nancy
December 28, 12:49 AM ET
Hey Carol -- We did a mock election at my kids' private Christian school and OBama only got three votes. (which was a shock -- who were those three, people wondered.) nevertheless, they pray daily for our new president elect. :) Nancy
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Claudia
January 12, 12:53 PM ET
HI Carol- I always enjoy your blog! It often makes me laugh and always makes me think, much like having a conversation with you. It is good to see that my sister (in-law and in the Lord) is as always a voice of reason in the midst of turmoil. For better or worse Mr. Obama is "ours" for the next 4 years anyway. Surrounding him with our prayers is our calling, our responsibility, and the best thing we can do for our country.