Friday, September 03, 2010

BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU THROW THOSE ROCKS. WHAT MAKES THEM WILLING TO SUSPEND REASON AND LATCH ONTO SOME ABSURD DETAIL THAT BECOMES FOR THEM REALITY? WHY DO THEY HATE THE MAN SO MUCH? For weeks I have been receiving a steady stream of ridiculous bits of nonsense about Barack Hussein Obama, and I wonder if the people who send them to me truly, truly believe the stories are true. If they do, I am left to wonder what happened in their life experience and in their schooling to make them willing to suspend common sense. Some of the e-mails come from old friends and even from relatives who got them from who knows where. I know for a fact that they didn’t make the stories up themselves, so who is it who deliberately writes and then publishes stuff that anybody with a good, inquiring mind and a fourth grade education should recognize as illogical. Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. There is Fox News. In these digital tracts the subject is often the President’s religion... a story of "hidden truth" about the most famous man in the world who is a Muslim living in disguise as a Christian in the most famous house in the world. In the first place, it isn’t supposed to matter in this country what a person's religion is. In the second place, the people closest to him, his wife and children, go to church with him and participate in church in all the ways that Christians participate. And about that expressed belief that all Muslims are terrorists: It should be clear to just about anybody with even a smidgen of natural curiosity that just as there are people in the large Christian community who are selfish, misinformed, poorly educated, mean, heartless, and misguided when it comes to other people... people who would self-identify as Christians who are actually murderous monsters... there are probably just about the same percentage of Muslims who do terrible things. Remember the Nazis and their Fuehrer (leader) Adolph Hitler... and how the majority of people in a Christian nation bought into the notion that it was O.K. to call him "fuehrer," the name he gave himself... and how many of them fell right into his project to conquer the world, and how they somehow went along with his effort to eliminate Jews and homosexuals from the earth? Remember?

Why is it so difficult for some people to let the terrorists who happen to be Muslims blind them to the fact that most Muslims are just like most Christians. Most Christians are pretty nice people most of the time. Why is it so difficult for some people to see that the Muslim terrorists are not like most Muslims. My family and I lived for four years in a part of the world where Islam is the dominant religion. We know from first hand experience with our neighbors and from people who worked for us that Muslims are mostly really good people... just as Christians are mostly really good people.

BUT THAT DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PRESIDENT’S RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION.

Someone sent me a picture today of President Obama taking off his shoes before kneeling in a mosque. I have done the very same thing dozens of times. I am a Christian. It's what civil people do when they are invited to come into a mosque. Taking off his shoes is exactly what I expect Barak Hussein Obama, the self-identified Christian, to do in the same situation. What’s the big deal? I have also worn a kippah if it was expected of me when I entered a synagogue. Jewish men wear them as a respect for God. I didn’t become a Jew by putting on a kippah. I can put on a kippah in a synagogue, and I can take off my shoes in a mosque... and still remain a Christian when I do so. What I can’t do and remain a credible Christian is pass around stories designed to smear the name and honor of any other person, even the President of the United States.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good writing! Absolutely hit the nail on the head. (Is there some connection to the small rock?) Ginny

Anonymous said...

God bless you for this! I have not received the emails you refer to, or anything about our President lately. When I do I try to respond in as honest and loving but firm way as possible. I am saving this from you to share with others when the occasion calls for it.

Sometime ago my brother, my own brother sent out a broadcast on our family email list (used as a monthly prayer newsletter) and asked if anyone could tell him why President Obama would not produce his birth certificate. Yes, that's righrt, my brother a birther. So I sent him the site for the President's birth certificate and then told him this story.

Toward the end of President Bill Clinton's first term as president, Senator Barry Goldwater was on the Jay Leno show. I was watching this live and Leno is asking Senator Goldwater about his opinion of Republican challengers to President Clinton for his second term and Goldwater is sharing several prospects, whose names I don't presently recall. And then, I think probably after a brief commercial, Leno leans toward Senator and says, "Now tell me, Senator, really, what do you think of President Clinton?" And Senator Goldwater looked at Jay Leno and said, "He's my president."

Up until that time I did not have a lot of positive thoughts about Barry Goldwater, but after that my respect for the man was secured.
Taylor

Anonymous said...

AMEN...from a "non Christian"...
Joe

Anonymous said...

Hi Jerral
Don't worry I am not sending an e mail about weather Obama is a Christian or not. I think he probably is. They say he doesn't attend a church in the Washington area on a regular basis because it would cause such a distraction because of security measures. They also say he likes to go to a chapel at Camp David when he and the family are there and that he gets prayer updates on his blu-tooth. I really don't know who they are but I am willing to believe it.

I think the whole thing about the Muslim thing is fear. People fear the Muslim extremists who want to make everyone Muslim by force. You have to admit some of them hate us. Twin Towers? Plus all the other bombing of embassies etc.
I certainly don't fear the Muslim friends I have made, but they weren't extremists.
I think the people who write the "ridiculous bits of nonsense" about Obama are far right extremists, just as the far left extremists wrote the "ridiculous bits of nonsense" about George Bush. Now I did vote for GB but was unhappy with many of his actions. You have to admit there were alot of absurd stories about him as well. Full of hate and disrespectful of the position of the President. I always wondered at the time who was writing those absurd stories! I never heard where he went to church or if I did I forgot!

Yes there is Fox news. There is also the "mainstream media". I listen to and watch both, to try to understand the bias of all of them. And yes, there is bias. I really have not seen or heard on Fox the stories about Obama being a Muslim.They seem more concerned about Obama becoming more like a socialist dictator than a President with his take overs of the car companies, banks, and possibly the media.The Muslim stories I have seen are mainly internet stories and pictures which everyone should know by now, are not usually credible stories.
So why can't we all just get along? I fear the division in this country, helped by these extreme far left and far right groups.
So Jerral , you got me thinkin' and hope you understand my point of view at this time.
Love from your Christian friend, Mary Beth

Unknown said...

You should send this to Fox News. Oh, never mind, they would never use it.
WWhat a GREAT piece of writing. Seriously, I can't understand for the life of me what all the hubbub is about concerning our President and his religion.
IT DOESN'T MATTER.
And, I could care less what President Bush's religious affiliation was. Jesus, let's find something else to complain about.
Your post was excellent, I'm reading it saying, "Yep...yep...and yes to that to."

And your one commenter with the shot of Obama and socialism, seriously?

Anonymous said...

For the life of me, I do not understand why anyone would think President Obama is a Muslim. He, obviously, is a Christian. Some point to his name, but that is hardly a true indication. We happen to be Republicans who voted for him and still support him.

Considering how Islam got its start, and the violence that is preached from too many Muslim pulpits, I have come to regard that religion with great suspicion and lack of respect. I hope we do not have to admit too many of them to our country. France and other countries are having considerable difficulty with Muslims. We have enough problems of our own already.
Ron