Thursday, January 24, 2008

Not a Muslim

For the second time in two days, Christianity Today emailed me this article. I'm not complaining. It's all good. It's a good Q & A about faith and Christianity. Click the link at the bottom and read the entire article yourself. It's actually a little enlightening.

Barack Obama wants to set the record straight. He is not a Muslim, as recent e-mails falsely claim.

I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.

The above statement is directly opposed to the beliefs of Muslims. But I also want to say that I'm wary all the statements made by politicians while campaigning. George Bush made hay with evangelicals when he said that Jesus Christ is his hero. If he hadn't have said that, I wonder if he would have gotten evangelicals to rally around him the way he did and keep Gore out of the White House. I don't know if I voted for Bush because he was a true leader, his statement about faith in Christ, or if he was just the lesser of two evils.

I definitely don't want to be confined to a choice that, boiled down, is the lesser of two evils.

CT put out a great list of issues we need to think about when electing our next leader. I've reprinted them below:

While the secular media handicaps the election as a horse race, asking whether Obama is black enough or Clinton is warm enough, we should press the candidates to answer questions such as these: What is your plan for Iraq? For the Middle East? What would you do to stop the genocide in Darfur? How would you expand religious freedom worldwide? What would you do to reduce abortion and to protect innocent life in general? How would you secure our borders against terrorists, reform our immigration laws, and permit more refugees to resettle here? How would you promote equal economic opportunity for all while protecting the environment?

Source: Q&A: Barack Obama | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Good political link

 

,

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's quite a picture of Barak. If we're voting for "easy-on-the-eyes" votability, I'm pretty sure I know who'd bet my vote.

Anonymous said...

thanks for that Bryon! I was looking for something like that for my Mother. She believes he is a Muslim.

Bryonm said...

I'm here for you.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bryon that was me with the Obama thanks.


Marcos

Anonymous said...

Great questions posed by CT! I have reached a point where I take "personal testimony"-type statements from presidential candidates with a huge block of salt. And so far, even with AZ's "Presidential preference" election coming up next week, I have not settled on one candidate. Bottom line: I don't trust any of them. I'd rather read their answers to CT's questions, even knowing they might well hedge, fudge or outright lie, if they tho't it would help, than to read about their Christian faith. Show me your faith in action, but also show me your good sense, wisdom, and leadership ability, for starters.