September 4, 2012

"[I]t is my obligation, not only as an elected official in a pluralistic society but also as a Christian, to remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided..."

"... just as I cannot claim infallibility in my support of abortion rights. I must admit that I may have been infected with society’s prejudices and predilections and attributed them to God; that Jesus’ call to love one another might demand a different conclusion; and that in years hence I may be seen as someone who was on the wrong side of history. I don’t believe such doubts make me a bad Christian. I believe they make me human, limited in my understandings of God’s purpose and therefore prone to sin. When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations — whether they come from a lesbian friend or a doctor opposed to abortion."        

Barack Obama, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" (2006)(pages 349-350, Kindle Edition).
Posted by Ann Althouse at 12:52 PM
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211 comments:

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Bender said...

Is that page and publisher citation supposed to fool people into thinking that that fraud of a book excerpt you posted is real?

By the way, if you are going to make stuff up, you should at least not make your lie so transparent, such as having the publication date four years after George Romney died and referring to "Anne", when George's wife was named Lenore.

9/5/12, 12:31 AM
Anonymous said...

I just read the posts through and through and am pretty much stunned by the thoughts put forth.

The bible and the constitution being set in stone and not evolving or meant to evolve being a central theme. I guess there is room for all kinds of thought and belief and that is a hallmark of our society and country.

I just wonder how theologically one reconciles a God who is part of someone's current, daily life would expect us to assume the garments of 2,044 (and back) years ago - essentially think like Matthew, Mark, Luke et al, because the God they were relating too simply stopped in time and never went forward. That conveys that God isn't omnipresent but a frozen in time diety. The words in the bible don't change (watch out you King James types), but society produced individuals evolve and their understanding of the bible isn't through the prophet's eyes.

Then again I was reading some Jefferson who wanted the constitution to be revisited every couple of decades as our country changed. I got the feeling that he would be aghast that past the first ten amendments there had actually been so little change in the past 200 years.

9/5/12, 12:37 AM
Anonymous said...

Bender said...
"Is that page and publisher citation supposed to fool people into thinking that that fraud of a book excerpt you posted is real?"

can't put one over the ol' Bender now can we!


9/5/12, 12:40 AM
Bender said...

As for Obama's blood-stained hands reading the Bible and discerning God's purpose, he should beware the writing on the wall, "Mene, Tekel, Peres."

9/5/12, 12:46 AM
george said...

Watching all of this I find two words (or as Biden would say three words) come to mind --- banana republic.

There is not a single person at that event who gives a shit that entire generations are being born with tens of thousands in debt and that between $600,000-$700,000 of their lifetime earnings have already been committed to paying for government entitlements. They are all just hot to have government use force against their neighbor to give them something they cannot get by legitimate means. There is no way such a system can last.

We are at the point where people are willing to resort to rule by fiat to try to keep things afloat and that is exactly what we got with Obama. Next they will demonize anyone who manages to preserve any of their personal wealth and try to think of new ways to confiscate it... but even when they take it all it will not be enough. It never is.

All of this is irrelevant in the end. Obama can promise all of the "free" stuff he wants but eventually the bill will come due. It always does. You don't just run out of other people's money but the slaves you are counting on being born with all of these commitments will eventually have other ideas. You simply can't spend every dime future generations will ever have.

But you can't even get mad at these people for their innumeracy. It would be like getting mad at your dog because he can't help you with calculus. He is a dog. These are leftists. Math is hard. A dog will eat until he throws up and will never consider what he will eat tomorrow.

So all of this appeal to emotion by either side is just so much horseshit. All that matters is who is going to cut the size of government the most before it is too late. Ryan at least has a plan. It is tepid and tries to preserve an unsustainable status quo but it is a start and at least acknowledges the existence of a ledger. Obama on the other hand doesn't even have a budget. To the extent he thinks about numbers at all it is only to the extent of how he can spend the same dollar twice. If it has to be explained any more clearly than that then you have no business trying to operate a voting booth.

9/5/12, 12:47 AM
wyo sis said...

Lindsey
I think Jefferson would be aghast as well, but not for the same reasons you do.

It's just a theory, but it's possible that there are truths that are true now that were true when Jefferson was alive and when the Bible was written and in the times the Bible is about.

It makes sense to me that there are things that always are and always have been true.

I suspect you think so too. If you think about it. The Golden Rule doesn't need to change just because it's old. It's still true.

Would you want me to come to your house and take your stuff? Would you want someone to be able to rape or kill without consequences?

9/5/12, 1:05 AM
Anonymous said...

of course not wyo sis, but i'd rather you stop short of killing all men who spill their seed or working on the Lord's day type of thing.

That may have happened and idea probably did here and there but society evolved and did a bit of selective give and take. Some rules are easier than others - such as your Golden Rule reference - but others not so much and there is the rub.

Absolutists as found here have no blurry edge. It is all or nothing and that is something that for me, makes no common sense whatsoever but more important makes me think that God created a path of breadcrumbs rather than a straight line to walk. The constitution is, in my opinion much the same thing and that was the point.

9/5/12, 5:31 AM
Rusty said...

Meade said...
The big lie is that he attributes anything at all to God. Both his parents were atheists. He doesn't believe in God. He believes in himself and nothing else.


Such a fragile vessel to put ones faith in.

9/5/12, 6:04 AM
Kirby Olson said...

Jesus never overturned the 10 commandments.

9/5/12, 6:29 AM
Kirby Olson said...

Jesus was Jewish.

9/5/12, 6:29 AM
Anonymous said...

Kirby Olson said...
Jesus never overturned the 10 commandments."...


11. YOU shall love one another as much as I love you and in the same way - spiritually not physically - John 15 v 13. IF you DO this, ALL men will KNOW that you ARE my disciples and are exercising and learning "Self" discipline - Discipleship.

12. Judge no-one, so that you will not be judged, by God...

oooops

9/5/12, 1:40 PM
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