Obama has been getting a LOT of flack for the statement below. Today I'd like to chat about it.
And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our bibles. Folks haven't been reading their bibles.
To me, Obama is raising a valid point here. Christians all across this country have a variety of beliefs. The Bible has of course stayed the same, but our practice, the way we apply it to our lives, has not. There is a VAST spectrum of beliefs held by Christians across the USA. Baptists, Amish, Pentecostal, Methodist... Often these groups are found arguing about if the others are even "saved"! We practice a variety of types of Christianity in every area... some drink alcohol, others consider even a sip to be sin. Some rarely even attend a church service, others consider missing even one service to be a sin!
My question for today is:
If we DID base the laws of our society completely on the Bible, what do you think would happen? Would you stay here?
6 comments:
"If we DID base the laws of our society completely on the Bible, what do you think would happen?"
interesting point
I believe that people got back to even the 10 commandments it would be a major start
we certainty have to read our bibles and we certainty need Gods help the world is falling apart fast
theres a lot that needs to change the world isnt what it use to be 38 years ago
jen
Jana - I was raised in a very strict Baptist home. There was no wiggle room. Black or White - no grey areas.
I now consider myself Pagan. My family, while I love them, are VERY far from what I believe. They are hypocritical and judgmental, and that is what I have trouble with. The Bible, Jesus, etc. are good. The differing interpretations that are religion - bad. I really like what Obama said. How do we choose which version of Christianity to go with?
I would not be happy about basing the laws of our country on the Bible. I fully believe in separation of church and state. Religion has caused a lot of wars over history and we have "wars" of a sort going on right now in our country based on religion and perceptions.
Jen, I wouldn't know about 38 years ago, I wasn't alive then! *teasing poke*
Tammy, I really think it's sad that Christianity has attached so much traditional "crap" to itself. I believe if a person chooses it, they should only be expected to live by the Bible... not to be bound by everyone else's ideas of what the Bible SHOULD mean to them, or what Christianity has "traditionally" taught. I think they should have all the "wiggle room" they need as they look for a way to combine faith with real life situations, and see where they fit into the spectrum of black-gray-white that makes up Christianity today... or forge their own bright red path with the red-lettered teachings of the Bible!
I see more and more people walking away from the traditions of modern Christianity and looking to the Bible for answers and wrestling with what it really means to be a Christian in today's society.
Hello, I'm the husband of a lady you just met, and a religion prof. and have no real reason to write on your blog, but heck! I was never very strong on the history of US religion, and had to learn so more of it last year, and I was very surprised to learn that the US used to have state religions. Until 1820something the constitution was interpreted as forbidding the federal government from having a state religion, but allowing individual states to have official religions. And several did, specific denominations even. Virgina was officially Anglican/Episcopalian, Mass and Conn were officially Congregationalist, Rhode Island officially had tolerance for all religions gaurenteed, New York took no solid position, even to gaurentee absense of state religion as Rhode Island did. Pennsylania and Maryland were aligned with the Quakers and Catholics, but neither had an official state religion. Even after the 1820s, many places had various levels of official religion, typically, some "compromise" Protestantism. Public Schools routinely taught Protestant Christianity as the official truth, until early in the 20th century, but carefully stayed neutral between different Protestant groups. Early in the 20th century the Progressives and Pragmatists teamed up to switch the focus of the school system from Protestantism, to a mix of secular psychology and Democratic ideology, and to fight to get Catholics and Jews to part of the US mainstream.
Anyway, basing society on a specific denomination of Christianity HAS happened in the US before, and some folk liked it and some folk flocked to the states that didn't have it.
-Brian M. AKA JediDaddy
Great question!!
And I completely disagree with Obama, (surprised? I didn't think so.) No where in the bible does God suggest that slavery is good, why do you think Moses lead the Israelites OUT of Egypt?
You have to read the entire bible to understand the things that were taught in the OT. If you recall Jesus was very clear about the Laws of man and God's laws. In proverbs it says we should discipline our children, NOT stone them. The stones represent the tribes of Israel when they crossed the Jordan river. And what is so radical about the sermon on the Mount? He is distorting scripture.
To answer your question...God gave us the 10 Commandments and Jesus said the greatest commandment of all was to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
It would be a society living in harmony not in chaos in confusion.
I agree that the Bible does not claim that slavery is good, and indeed has a lot of anti-slavery stuff in it. When I lived in Idaho one of the local preachers actually made the pro-slavery argument in public, and I had to write a little rebuttal finding all the old Biblical anti-slavery arguments.
But what Obama actually said was "Should we go with Leviticus which suggests that slavery is ok ..." And Leviticus does do that. See Lev 19:20, Lev 25:6 and many other places; Lev 25:44 is particularly explicit "As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you." I agree that God does not like slavery, or think it is a good thing, but someone who thinks Leviticus says slavery is OK is not being stupid, that sure seems to be what it says at first glance.
-Brian M. AKA JediDaddy
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