Dobson still at it

From the news story:

"In his e-mail addressed “Dear friends,” Dobson includes the text of a recent news story highlighting Thompson’s statement that while he was baptized in the Church of Christ, he does not attend church regularly and won’t speak about his faith on the stump.

U.S. News and World Report quoted Dobson earlier this year as questioning Thompson’s commitment to the Christian faith — comments Dobson contended were not put in proper context.

Dobson in this week’s e-mail writes that suppositions “about the former senator’s never having professed to be a Christian are turning out to be accurate in substance.” "

So is Dobson saying that he doesn't believe that members of the Church of Christ are Christians?

 

Isn't that what CoCers believe about everyone else?

 

Some of the old-timers do. The folks under 50 generally don't. At least that was the trend when I left that denomination in February 1999.

 

One headline I read said Dobson believed Thompson was too liberterian.

 

"Dobson Disses Thompson

Posted Sep 20th 2007 7:25AM by NixGuy

This should cause no great consternation in the Fred Thompson camp. The religious right folks are rallying around Mike Huckabee, but so far the Arkansas governor has not broken out of the second tier. If he does so, then the Dobson thing may matter. But for Thompson, the fact that he does in fact look like Ronald Reagan when you stand him next to John McCain, Mitt Romney, and especially Rudy Giuliani. Dobson may not like it, but he's pointedly not endorsing Giuliani either, and right now it's a two-man race.

Thompson can wait it out. Dobson will come around if it's Fred vs. Hillary Clinton. And besides this will make the libertarian wing of the Republican party gravitate toward Fred Thompson even more."

- http://news.aol.com/elections-blog/2007/09/20/dobson-disses-thompson/

 

"Thompson: Serving God And Government

“We still get our basic rights from God, not government”—this is a phrase that Fred Thompson has been pronouncing a lot lately. Upon hearing this mantra my first impulse was to pop it into a large file labeled “Unfortunate and Not Entirely Logical Things Politicians Say When Playing the Faith and Values Game.” (Perhaps it should rest next to Joseph Lieberman’s ill-advised 2000 proclamation that “Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion.”)

Upon deeper reflection, however, it struck me that the remark was, at the very least, quite strategically astute. In less than a dozen words Thompson’s credo manages to assure two key Republican constituencies that he is with them. Conservative Christians, who are not as of yet convinced that he is with them, are clearly his primary target.

On the backstroke, the former senator’s credo is also a gesture to the libertarian component of the GOP. By setting the state against God (an uneven competition if there ever was one) Thompson manages to cut government down to size, so to speak. Upon hearing this, Republicans who value personal freedom and minimal state intervention will be reminded that the former senator from Tennessee has very solid libertarian credentials.

By the standards of political sloganeering that’s pretty good work. But it does call attention to a pretty bad tension among Thompson’s two audiences, if not the Republican Party itself. For the Conservative Christian and libertarian wings of the GOP would appear to be headed on a collision course (see, for example, Ryan Sager’s The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians and the Battle to Control the Republican Party)."

- http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2007/09/god_and_government_too.html

 

I don't care much for any of the GOP's candidates to date. Newt may generate some general excitement, but his private life will be trouble in the Christian community.

 

If Dobson is skeptical about a candidate, I give that some weight.

 

Do you happen to remember where you read that? I'd be interested in taking a look. Many thanks.

 

From a blogger, and usual defender of the Christian right, Jim Rose

"When you have a religious leader telling the media, a man isn't Christian enough for a political base to lend it's support, it smacks of when certain parties on the political Left say that Barack Obama "isn't black enough."

Notice Dobson has been silent about the nonreligious Cheneys and their pro gay stance.

 

It was either in the Knoxville News Sentinel, or the Tennessean. If it was in the KNS, you have to subscribe to have access to the online version of archived articles.

Forgive me for not attributing the source. I read 3-5 newspapers a day and I sometimes do not immediately post the source as I should. Sometimes my memory fails me Plus, an increased work load has limited my time on here. (I will not give up my newspapers)

 

Nor will I........Keeps me informed of the mindset of the enemies of America.

 

Are you calling those who disagree with your political positions enemies of these United States?

 

Most people will react with..."yeah well he is against abortion and is strongly pro-life" as if that legitimizes his unbiblical poli-christianity. And this is the reaction with any "SACRED COW" within the ranks of Evangelicals.

Any criticism isn't dealt with honestly by many (not all but many) but a reaction is formed submitting his resume of good deeds as if that justifies his lack of ethics or his blatant disregard for sound doctrine.

In the case of Dobson, here he is out of bounds. He is USING the platform of the body of Christ to further a political specific political agenda.

As a private citizen he has that right and duty, both constitutionally and biblically to be involved in the government of his country. But the Bible makes clear that the body of Christ is for Christ's doctrine, not political persuasions. It might be that the result of the application of sound doctrine results in many believers with similar views, but those are by-products of their private application and faith. To intrude on that and state "so and so is not Christian enough" is to invade even that private issue of faith before God.

But Dobson goes beyond merely expressing such opinions but invokes the name of Christ and utilizes access to the platform of the body of Christ at large, an abuse of such liberty, for politicization.

It is wrong.

This reminds when, on the National Day of Prayer on Fox's Hannity and Colmes program Shirley Dobson and Jim Dobson stated, regarding the Virginia Tech massacres and Seung-Hui Cho that had Cho been reared in an environment where the 10 Commandments were posted in a classroom he might not have done this (the issue of the posting of the 10 Commandments came up). Or if he had a moral influence like that.

Reasonable sounding? Maybe, if you didn't know that Seung-Hui Cho was reared in a Christian home and his mother was a devout Christian and he long ago knew the 10 Commandments. But did the Dobsons bother to research the family or the situation before POSTURING POMPOUSLY and making it clear they believed Cho lack a moral upbringing? No. They were more interested in "THEIR" agenda and what they had to say instead of finding out the truth of his upbringing first before making such claims against his family.

And herein lies my objections about the Dobsons. Not the good they do, that isn't the issue at hand. But it is the gross and unchecked abuses of liberty and violation of biblical boundaries.

 

If Christians would stop paying attention to Dobson, he would go away.

 

Well yes, in many cases these news spinners have distorted truth because of their hatred for GWB, and a consequence is the fomenting of discord throughout the world for America. Much of that aids and comforts the enemy. See many of the talking points in the middle east. Right out of the left wing manifesto, and NY Times.

 

I hope that people with that kind of mindset remain very few and far between in these United States.