Posted on 02/27/2015 4:50:56 AM PST by SJackson
Obamas Self-Professed Confusion About Islamic Terror
Posted By Raymond Ibrahim On February 27, 2015 @ 12:30 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 3 Comments
During the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month, U.S. President Obama tried to shield Islam from criticism by depicting Christianity as equally violent and intolerant (via comments about crusades, inquisitions, and high horses). Much lesser known is that he also tried to shield Islam by invoking Christian virtues.
In many ways, his comments on humility might be the strangest of his entire speechto the point that Obama himself got visibly confused, and admitted it, by his own lack of coherency.
The transcript of the portion in question follows, interspersed with my comments and observations.
Said Obama:
So this [Islamic State type violence] is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith. In todays world, when hate groups have their own Twitter accounts and bigotry can fester in hidden places in cyberspace, it can be even harder to counteract such intolerance. But God compels us to try. And in this mission, I believe there are a few principles that can guide us, particularly those of us who profess to believe.
Two important points here to establish context for what follows: 1) Obama is referring to the atrocities being committed by the Islamic Statethe beheadings, crucifixions, rape slavery, immolationswhich he claims are common to all religions; 2) By invoking God and offering principles to those of us who profess to believea phrase he stressed in the videoObama is clearly addressing American Christians in particular.
Continues Obama:
And, first, we should start with some basic humility. I believe that the starting point of faith is some doubtnot being so full of yourself and so confident that you are right and that God speaks only to us, and doesnt speak to others, that God only cares about us and doesnt care about others, that somehow we alone are in possession of the truth.
These are surely some strange remarks in the context of this speech. Obama calls on Americans in general and Christians in particular to exercise some humility and doubtand he treats the two as interchangeable in meaning, which they most certainly are not.
Humility, of course, is a well-recognized Christian virtue. It is the exact opposite of pride; a modest if not humble opinion of oneself, ones shortcomings. But what does thatexercising humilityhave to do with our understanding of Islamic violence and terrorism, which is, after all, the topic under discussion? Are we not to judge and condemn itsince were apparently no better, a reiteration of the presidents high horse comment earlier?
Furthermore, while Christian humility encourages self-doubt, it does not encourage doubt concerning right and wrong, good and evil. The same Christ advocated humility repeatedly condemned evil behavior and called on people to repent of their sins.
Finally, what exactly are we supposed to doubtthat the Islamic State is evil? That they too are in possession of the truth?
Due to the incoherency of this speech, Obama himself eventually crashed on his own words and was left dumbfounded for a few secondssix long and awkward seconds to be precise:
Our job is not to ask that God respond to our notion of truthour job is to be true to Him, His word, and His commandments. And we should assume humbly that [six-second pause] were confused and dont always know what were doing
Be sure to watch the video (around the 11-minute mark) where it is clear that Obamas own contradictory comments cause him to pause for an inordinate amount of time before he concludes that were confusedapparently a subconscious reference to his administration.
If Obama truly believed that our job is to be true to Him, His word, and His commandmentsassuming of course He is God of the Bible, not Allah of the Koranthen he would be speaking truth, calling a spade a spade, and coming to the aid of those countless innocents being slaughtered, raped, and enslaved by the Islamic State and in the name of Islamjust as the Crusaders did one-thousand years ago (only to be demonized today, including by Obama).
In short, just as the American president misrepresented episodes from Christian history to exonerate Islamic terror during the National Prayer Breakfast, so too did he misrepresent Christian virtues like humility to create doubt and moral confusion concerning Islamic terror.
And in the end, it was hethe president of the United Stateswho was left confused by his own nonjudgmental relativism, or nonsense.
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Gosh, I’m so humble. I resist the urge to get up on a high horse, preferably an F-16 at cruising altitude, and just bomb the living s@#$ out of DAESH. I do this, not because I am certain that G-d speaks to me and not to Moose Limbs, or because I believe that I alone am right and not they, but because I humbly realize that I don’t know how to fly the f@#$ing thing, and the IAF wouldn’t let me near one even if I did. But one day, some young man will get the go call, and climb up there to give ‘em what for. Whether they are American, Israeli, or even French, I tell them, do not doubt your righteousness or the rightness of your mission. Just praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
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