Bush Flunks as a Christian
By Leutisha Stills
First of all, I freely and proudly declare I am a Christian. I also freely declare that I am a proud liberal in the old-fashioned sense of the word.
By stating this, I am prefacing my remarks.
While it is not for me to case aspersions of Bush's Christian beliefs, as one who studies my Bible daily, I can cite that the Bible admonishes a Christian to compare other Christian's actions to what the Bible teaches before accepting it as gospel. In this respect, using literal application, it is sad to say that Bush's actions to date, has not augered well for others who may be deciding whether or not to give their lives to Jesus.
When the Bible teaches you that "In so far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18) then a Christian who really believes that scripture would call GeeDubya on every action that led to the Iraqi war and subsequent messes every since he flew onto that aircraft carrier a year ago and declared "Mission Accomplished". How can you strive to live in peace with everyone, when you're making inflammatory statements, such as "If you disagree with me, you're unpatriotic" or "Bring it On!" or calling nations of color "Evildoers". How are you striving to live at peace when you're provoking Middle Eastern countries like Iran, Korea and Syria by labeling them "axis of evil"?
The Bible also teaches us to "Honor they father and thy mother". Well, when George decided to go bomb Saddam, he disrespected his father when a reporter asked if he consulted him, and he said, "He's the wrong father. I answer to a Higher Father..." Yes, but God expects us not only to consult with HIM, but He gave us earthly parents to provide wisdom as well, and who better than the man who tried to bomb Saddam 20 years before? What does that teach us as Christians?
The Bible teaches that we are to "feed the hungry, not oppress the poor and downtrodden" and it also teaches that we obtain wealth and riches to bless others in addition to ourselves; that we are to think of the needs of others more than our own. The policies that have been forced through Congress by an aggressive and zealously Religious Right Republican Party that bulldozed over wimpy Democrats (DLC comes to mind) if one studies their Bible, are completely opposite of what the Lord taught. Jesus Himself set the example when He fed the hungry and ministered to the poor and downtrodden. "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for they shall see God."
(Matthew 5) So where is the compassion that is supposed to be coming from GeeDubya, when he allows Enron a free pass after they bankrupted thousands of their employees? Or the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs overseas?
Leaving every child behind in favor of school vouchers? Turning a budget surplus into a deficit? The Patriot Act? The inhumane treatment of prisoners at Gitmo and in Iraq?
In the Book of Daniel (Daniel 4:28-33) the king Nebuchadnezzar began to think so much of himself to the point he considered himself on equal with God, let alone being God Himself. Sounds like messianic complex, doesn't it? Anyway, God, because He is God, didn't appreciate a mere mortal trying to consider himself God's peer. As a result, God allowed Nebuchanezzar to decend into insanity, where he ate grass like an animal and wondered around for seven years, until Nebuchadnezzar had a moment of sanity and declared he had to bow down to God, too. While I don't know if the President is going in that direction, if he's studying his Bible, he would do well to remember King Nebuchadnezzar's plight.
Many Christians are enanmoured of the fact that the President has taken stances on abortion and gay marriage. We know what the Bible teaches, so I won't go into the debate on that issue; my point is, his position would be all well and good if I didn't get the sense that he's really not being sincere about his beliefs. I think they are a matter of convenience and points of distraction to make sure we are not looking at or closely examining the other areas of his Christian life that are...lacking. While his stances are biblicly sound, the heart has to match the stand, otherwise it's being hypocritical. I also believe that Bush will cite his Christianity as a point of intimidation to keep people from questioning his motives. You cannot cherry pick what sin you will denounce and what sin is acceptable. Either all of it is denouced or accepted - there's no middle ground here. As a Christian, I just don't like how he uses God as the excuse to send this country into a degree of shame and degradation from which there's no recovery.
Leutisha Stills Oakland, California leutishastills@hotmail.com
