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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

For Your Own Sake, Stop the Jesus to Obama Comparisons

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 13th, 2008 at 02:46 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Being a partisan, I want to win this election. And I think you lefties have come upon a winning strategy to help us do it. The whole “Jesus is to Obama as Pontius Pilate is to Sarah Palin” analogy will do nothing but inflame the senses of the evangelical community, others who recognize the offensiveness of the statement, and the edge of voters needed to push John McCain toward victory.

So for Republican victory, keep saying it.

But the greater part of me must encourage you on the left to desist from this statement. Should you buy into this, I think you endanger your eternity because you blaspheme the Lord.

Jesus was not a community organizer. By training on Earth he was a carpenter. By design before the world began he is the Son of God and Truth itself.

You all on the left tend to get bogged down in moral relativism — the whole idea that what is right for me may not be right for you; truth to many of you is fungible. Truth, of course, is in no way fungible. We may, on both sides of the aisle, conveniently avert our eyes now and then to the Truth, but it remains.

To say that Christ is a community organizer demeans the Savior of mankind and denies Him for who He is. Saul Alinsky, the man who, to quote Wikipedia, “is often credited with laying the foundation for the grassroots political organizing that dominated the 1960s” dedicated his book that started the community organizer fad to Lucifer — “the very first radical.” Lucifer was a community organizer in the Alinsky model. Lucifer convinced Adam and Eve of a reality not quite real and caused the world’s problems.

That is what a community organizer does. He convinces people that a problem barely perceived is very real and incites the community to fix the problem — no matter that the problem may be nonexistent or, if existent, a small matter. That is why Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer.

Christ organized no community but Heaven’s own (several times He was implored to organize and take action, but declined). To say Christ is a community organizer treads too near comparing Him to Satan. To equate Him to Barack Obama is offensive and it is at its base blasphemous. Blasphemy is the eternal, unforgivable sin.

You continue this analogy at your peril and at my political victory. But your soul is far more important than any political victory. So I suggest you stop. And if this post just emboldens you to make the comparison even more, you are most likely already lost.

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COMMENTS

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  • w3bgrrl

    This has to be one of your best, Erick.

  • Frozen_Man

    I appreciate this post very much. I too have been upset by the comparison of what Obama did to what the Savior of mankind did. He constant actions and words made it clear that His kingdom was not of this earth and that neither was his focus. I applaud you for your stance and especially for the realization and statement that souls are far more important than elections. It reminds me of what C. S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory:

    “All day long we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities it is with awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play,* all politics.* There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations–these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. . . . And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinners–no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.
    . . .
    The load, or weight, or burden, of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare.”

    I think that we do well to remember this.

  • Marcus_Traianus

    It is also a religion of the blind. I frankly therefore find it less than startling they would make such comparisons.

    Liberals and in particular, Obama, are always talking about how you need the government; how you are dependant on them and how they are going to use that power to make your life better.

    This oratory is of course nothing more than specious platitudes which ultimately do nothing to make your personal situation better in the long run. It also breeds a contemptable, divisive society at odds with each other; certainly a relevant point in contemporary times.

    Very simply, Jesus taught us about personal responsibility. He never walked around preaching how a Roman or Jewish governments were the agents of change and would somehow make your life better.

    This is why our founders generously and often invoked God’s name and spoke of rights provided by God. That is also why our government is one of enumerated rights; not compelled and driven by far reaching charitable causes and perceived needs.

    Liberals need servile dependancy to perpetuate their own religion. So they build fallacious analogies to what we all know in our hearts is a true basis for human compassion, decency and ultimately our societal bond.

    I can think of nothing more despicable and misleading.

  • SooDohNim

    Sir,

    I have been a lurker here for some time. I value and enjoy this blogs and its writers. I have only now registered to thank you for this post.

    I am a Reformed Christian –I eschew the term ‘evangelical’ since it has been perverted and co-opted– whose heart grieves over the vast ignorance, open blasphemy and, at times heresy so prevalent in blogs, print media and tv.

    The views put forth by such people elicit only pity from me. And prayer. They are missing life, and life abundant.

    I could go on for an hour bout this political season, but that is not my intent in commenting. For in all that I read I always keep clearly in mind that we vote against principalities and powers not of this world.

    Like Mr. Alinski before them, those that curse the name of the Lord and Savior serve only their father: the father of all lies.

    Thanks to you and all of your colleagues for the work you do. It does not go unnoticed.

  • Oz

    and you’re no Jesus.

    If you were, you would be telling Bill Ayers to go and sin no more not accepting his help to get you into politics.

  • Elizabeth

    Very, very important reminder. I needed that.

  • demrebuttal

    But John McCain’s one commercial, which blatantly also compared Obama to Jesus, wasn’t blasphemous? That was OK and inoffensive to the evangelical community?

  • Achance

    Great piece but it will fall on deaf ears amongst the lefties.

  • mbecker908

    McCain’s ad simply pointed out that BO’s supporters, and BO, seem to think he’s the messiah.

    Obviously not the same. At least to those who are capable of rational thought, which you obviously are not.

  • gamecock

    and so did Clarence Thomas.

    Clarence Thomas was never a Governor! And Obama was never Christ or even Judas.

  • Feddie

    Well done.

  • CroakerNorge

    but I think it is bigger than that. The Catholic Church is no longer tolerating nonsense on issues of sin, scripture and morality. Surely this has to grate on the ears of Catholics, as well. American public life may soon be divided between Christian and pagan.

  • kevinforrester

    Look it up.

  • Jack_Savage

    During his three years of ministry here on earth, Jesus was first and foremost a teacher (“Rabbi”). To call him a “community organizer” at once demeans Him, and completely misrepresents His time among us. I cannot think of anything put forth by any campaign in my living memory that is more stupid than this.

    The only organization the community had was to gather together to crucify Him. And it bears mentioning that when His disciples ran, abandoned and denied Him, the ones who sat at the foot of the cross and first saw Him while walking from the tomb were WOMEN.

  • eagle24

    Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
    John Adams

  • streiff

    and why they won’t listen.

    First, they think we’re stupid and this is just the killer comparison they’ve been trying to find for decades to win over religious voters.

    Second, they believe everything in the Bible can be condensed into one or two proof texts that they know, typically “cast the first stone” is the limit of their knowledge.

    Third, never having studied the Bible beyond said proof texts it never occurs to them that anyone else has.

    Fourth, they don’t believe Christ is the Son of God. At best they think he’s some kind of New-Age-Space-Music guru at worst he’s one of our many delusions.

  • MrMosis

    But they were women in a place and time that it “shouldn’t have been women.”

    (Especially from the perspective of those who consider it fairytale- and consider the accounts to have been created retrospectively)

  • Erick

    Well said indeed.

  • PaRep

    Updated: 9/13/2008

    Summary:
    McCain – 49.1%
    Obama – 44.3%
    Not Sure/Other – 6.6%

    This is a classic case of polling as a snapshot in time. We?re turning Pennsylvania purple today, as McCain takes a small edge. But as in Ohio, we are watching this closely and things could change in this classically blue state.

  • Wubbies_World

    … is about as offensive as any Democrat attempt at marginalizing Christians has ever been. I remember during the 2000 presidential race, Al Gore speaking to a group of Christians and his attempt to present his bonafides as a Christian by attempting to “talk the talk” only he didn’t do so well. He said his favorite scripture was John 16:3 and spoke briefly on John 3:16. The sweetness of the gaffe became apparent to anyone who actually reads the bible:

    “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. -John 16:3-

    Eric is absolutely correct on what a Community Organizer does. He is also absolutely correct on how Satan deceives people to get the to act on his behalf. It is a very simple thing to do, if you follow Satan’s Community Organizer model. All you have to do is look in the book of Genesis and see how Satan got Eve to take a bite of the forbidden fruit.

    And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
    2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
    3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” -Genesis 3:1-3-

    Satan takes a bit of the truth and twists it just enough to get you to do his bidding.

    So it is with Community Organizers.

  • Old_Crow

    The job title of Community organizer is irrelevant since you are neither elected or hired. Therefore, it’s what you do or don’t do while in the job that matters. Obama didn’t accomplish much as a community organizer except spending millions of dollars on a failed liberal school ‘improvement’ program that didn’t achieve ANY of its goals. Hardly a resume enhancement.. He did, however, bolster his connections with shady real estate folks scamming the poor areas of Chicago.

  • mbecker908

    just beginning to talk about matters of sin in the practice of politics. They really haven’t done much so far but talk about it, but at least they’re talking in pretty specific terms.

    Off the top of my Evangelical head, the only specific I can think of is Rudy’s private agreement with the Cardinal to abstain from communion. That was made public after he took communion from the Pope and was publicly – and rightly – rebuked by the Cardinal.

    So far, Kennedy, Biden, Pelosi, etal have been allowed to skate with nothing more than harsh words from various Bishops.

    It will be interesting to see if the Bishops finally, and publicly, decide to deny communion to pro-choice politicians. Or even better, excommunicate a couple of them. I hope so.

  • JohnKaspok

    is wearing lipstick?

    Sorry, couldn’t resist a little porcine humor.

  • Erick

    He was a community organizer. Exactly.

  • Terrie

    Mega dittos, Erick.

    The New Testament is divided into the Law and the Gospel. The Gospel is God’s love for us manifest in His grace and mercy through Jesus. The Law is our obedience and accountability to God — when we have a true relationship with God, necessarily we must have a new relationship with sin.

    Many churches ignore the Law and preach only the Gospel — specifically, a social gospel that demands good works of governments, as well as individuals, and considers God’s Law “judgmental.”

    No wonder so many are confused about who Jesus was, how he lived, and what he said. Fortunately, there is a book that can correct all misconceptions.

  • CSUFBomb

    …using two of your heroes as examples:

    Che Guevara = Community Organizer

    Franklin Roosevelt = Governor

  • mfr2063

    Well said, Erick. The blatant mis-use of sacred tenets magnifies how the left does not understand the Christian right. Many in our great land will be repulsed by the “religion for convenience” angle.

  • gigi21

    The wikipedia article that you quote has been edited in over 25 ways in September by someone called Mtngoat63. That includes adding the information of the dedication to Lucifer. Most of the editing happened in the last two days. Wikipedia seems sketchy to me sometimes.

  • Mark_Kilmer

    and we’re fortunate it did. If it were a petition, I’d sign my name beneath it large and loud.

    Some will mock, but that’s how things have always worked.

    I think Axelrod (Obama) is risking more than the ire of evangelicals and practicing Catholics. Anyone who considers his or herself to be a Christian, has to be at the very least uncomfortable with the comparison. Christians, no matter how avid, know the story of Jesus’s life. They know why He was here.

    That is something the Obama campaign should not touch. God is not mocked.

  • MichChins

    I have been a lurker for a very long time and have enjoyed this forum very much. I come here for much of my information.

    I just have to thank you for this wonderful post and the well needed reminder (yes, I very much needed this reminder) that there is more than just politics at stake here and that we should pray for those that take our Lord so lightly.

    Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.

  • MichChins

    I have been a lurker for a very long time and have enjoyed this forum very much. I truly appreciate what you do here.

    I just have to thank you for this wonderful post and the well needed reminder (yes, I very much needed this reminder) that there is more than just politics at stake here and that we should pray for those that take our Lord so lightly.

    Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.

  • MichChins

    I didn’t think it posted the first time!

  • rick554

    I almost feel sorry for them because they have been so ignorant of what they are doing…….almost

  • Moriah

    But I get upset at the idea of community organizing being (IMHO) falsely denigrated by associating it with the likes of Lucifer and Barabbas, as much as it being falsely venerated by associating it with Jesus.

    Maybe I’m naive. When I think of “community organizing”, however, I think more of the likes of Daisy Bates here in my state of Arkansas. She wasn’t a saint or a hero or a religious leader. She wasn’t a demon or a busybody, and her cause was not “nonexistent” or “a small matter”. She wasn’t the Savior and she wasn’t the Devil. She was just a person.

    I would rather not see hyperbole either way.

  • McCainForPrez

    Does the Left have a point? Politics aside, might it be true that Obama is literally the Christ, having returned to earth?

  • MikeKoz10

    Erick, you suggested that comparing Obama to Jesus was blasphemy, a sin that is unpardonable. Well, that’s not quite accurate. In Matthew 12:14-37, the unpardonable sin is described as “blasphemy against the Spirit”, which is contrasted against pardonable sins such as “any sin and blasphemy” (see Matt. 12:31). So, blasphemy proper is not unpardonable, but blasphemy against the Spirit is. In context, the Pharisees accused Jesus of healing a blind, dumb and demon-possessed man by the power of Satan (“Beelzebul”) so it would seem that characterizing a miraculous act of Jesus as the activity of Satan is most likely the blasphemy of the Spirit.

    Of course, those comparing Obama to Jesus may well be “lost”, but it is likely more due to their unwillingness to trust in and follow Jesus (of which committing blasphemy would be one “fruit”), but not because they are blaspheming the Spirit.

  • Dukeboy01

    The Obamaniacs are in free fall and it’s only going to get worse.

    Might as well make them a new campaign poster:

    Not the hope and change we originally wanted...

  • Elizabeth

    From Matthew 24, NIV:

    23At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect?if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time.

    26“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

    …

    30“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

  • streiff

    but very unconvincing if you believe in the Triune Godhead. Your position is actually an early heresy.

  • David_Hinz

    too bad its not in color — but then again, since the Obama campaign has been entirely about black and white — it works for me

  • David_Hinz

    nobody on the left EVER questions the accuracy of Wiki.

  • bs

    Please explain. I just got done teaching a Sunday School class on the Holy Spirit, and the nature of the Trinity was a key discussion point. Please explain what portion of MikeKoz10′s post describes an early heresy. I’m not seeing it (but I am not all that well-versed in the history of the early church)

  • streiff

    that Christ is not God is not the Holy Spirit is heretical. The three parts of the Trinity are not divisible. You can’t blaspheme the Christ, or God the Father, without blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

    There have been books written on the subject. Maybe you should read one before your next class.

  • bs

    I wasn’t catching what you were referring to.

  • Pentagon16

    when trying to win over NON Christian voters and the secular, the proper way to attack the libs on this is to state, “I thought you guys wanted religion OUT of government? Now you are claiming that Obama is the Messiah and Palin is the Roman who killed the messiah?!”

    that is much more effective when targeting the MAJORITY of voters- one of the problems of the GOP in the last 8 years is a feeling that it is a Christian conservative party- not a conservative party. I would rather win elections based on the Constitution and promoting conservative GOVERNANCE- not christian dogma..

  • Shaggy_Dog

    To this idiotic “Jesus was a community organizer/Pilate was a Governor” meme is to remind the other side that Pilate’s great sin was that on the most important matter to ever come before him, he simply voted “Present.”

  • IndependentfrMI

    I cling to my gun and faith because it is my right granted to me under the Constitution of the United States, Mr. Obama.

    **I represent small town America, where we work in your factories, we grow your crops and we fight your wars; Sarah Palin

  • jerrymcl89

    … and despite not being all that interested in seeing Obama win, I wince every time another Democrat says this. It suggests, I think, that Obama and his campaign do not at all understand the country they are campaigning to govern.

  • Next93

    N/T

  • GregInFla

    As a Christian, it sounds like a better word would be “Christians” instead of evangelicals. But then again, to have people denigrate people as Christians would not gain them many votes.

  • Moe_Lane

    Going over your account, you were pretty much on the edge. Nothing quite obnoxious enough to justify tossing… up to this point. But you just couldn’t resist taking a swing at a woman, could you? I wish that I could say that this was unexpected.

    Bye.

  • lambam

    As a born again christian & biblical scholar, i have found McCain’s to be deeply offensive & unfortunately could have scored an own goal.

  • Moe_Lane

    Bye, amabo!

  • MikeKoz10

    streiff, please know that I believe that the Triune God is three persons in one essence and that I also affirm God’s simplicity. Yet, there are yet 3 Persons within the Godhead and they have distinct roles and functions within the Godhead. Jesus did say that “blasphemy” was forgivable and blasphemy necessarily entails treating God in a profane manner. Thus, it would seem that it is Jesus that is making the distinction between blasphemy proper and blaspheming the Spirit. I am just exegeting it for you in accordance with orthodox theology and applying it to Erick’s argument…