Posted on 04/04/2012 10:41:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
At a prayer breakfast this morning, President Barack Obama said he looks to the story of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection for inspiration whenever he struggles:
The president got "Amens" from religious leaders at a White House prayer breakfast in the East Room as he recounted Jesus saying, "In this world, you will have trouble."
Obama says he's among those who sometimes question God's plan for him. But he says that's precisely when he recalls the "triumph" of the Easter story, and Jesus overcoming his doubts and fears before the crucifixion.
This isn't the first time Obama has cited Jesus and his Christian faith as an animating force in his life. A media double standard applies here, as it does in so many things: When GOP candidates talk about religion, they're often criticized for somehow not respecting Thomas Jefferson's principle of the separation of church and state, but, to my knowledge, Obama has never been criticized along the same lines for his religiously themed comments.
In the interest of avoiding a double standard myself, though, I’ll write that I find Obama’s comments encouraging. They display none of the weak understanding of Scripture that some of his past comments did; they’re just a generic tribute to the Easter story near the Easter holiday. While such a tribute might very well have had a partial political motivation, it might also have been sincere. Either way, it says something positive about this country that our president knows statements like these won’t hurt his standing in the eyes of the electorate.
More importantly, though, the passage he cited is a good one for any president — but especially for progressive presidents — to contemplate. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace,” Jesus says in the Gospel of John, Chapter 16. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Perhaps pondering that verse with regularity will help Obama to realize that earthly utopia is neither the aim of Christianity nor a possibility in this fallen world. Perhaps that realization, in turn, will inspire him to recognize, “The purpose of politics is not redemptive” and that “When governments seek after utopia, they end in oppression and disaster, because man and society are infinitely complex, and cannot be reshaped by an aristocracy of experts. Humility is the only proper attitude for governing authorities,” as Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner has written.
He has god advisers. Plenty of Americans are stupid enough to fall for this.
LOL!
One commenter at site:
Give me your loaves and fishes you rich bastards, and stand back. I’ve got a miracle to perform… (spreadin the wealth around)
And for my next trick, I’m gonna smite the SCOTUS from the temple of justice…
If only one thing goes my way for the rest of my life, let it be Ubama fading into the Sharia sunset on November 6th.
I suppose it was Jesus and Obama's (alleged)Christian faith that animated him to stand for infanticide in the Illinois Senate.
Did anyone need the Heimlich Maneuver after he said that? I know I would have either choked on my eggs, or the coffee would have gone done the wrong pipe.
Well, he and God do have one thing in common, one cannot find a legitimate birth certificate for either.
You know, when I said Barry thought this week was about him, I was just kidding.
Well in this case, I wish God WOULD take the cup from his hand.
Where was the lightning?
“But he says that’s precisely when he recalls the “triumph” of the Easter story, and Jesus overcoming his doubts and fears before the crucifixion.”-from the article.
Two points that concern me tremendously about what Obama said.
One, that’s a pretty poor understanding of the Easter story. The triumph had nothing to with Jesus overcoming doubts and fears before the cross. Jesus suffering in the garden had nothing to do with doubt (I don’t want to start a theological debate, but I don’t think an omnipotent God can doubt- he knows.). Jesus was agonized by the knowledge he would soon take upon himself the sin of all mankind and be forsaken by God the Father for three hours of darkness of the cross. The triumph of East is the resurrection, the empty tomb- The Risen Savior.
Point two, consider the agony Jesus faced in the garden when he couldn’t get even the closest of the disciples to stand by him and knowing that they would all desert him when the time came. It is arogance of the highest order to compare any minor earthly suffering to the mighty suffering Jesus faced.
To compare oneself to Jesus is a bit too close to Isaiah 14:14 “...I will be like the most high.” We know who said those words.
i almost pizzed myself laughing when i saw that photo.. you hit the nail on the head with that one.. No dought O is a evil man.. -— “The tree is known by its fruit” Jesus
Gag me with a spoon.
That kind of statement, especially coming from Obama, is enough to "gag a maggot on a gut barrel".
Moochelle is the only one you know Obama that suffers agony in the garden.
Wearing those designer shoes while tramping around in the mud is agonizing.
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