A Christian in the White House?

Much about Barack Obama's politics has given Christians cause to shudder, but the Illinois Senator's self-profession the he is a Christian gives the saints hope that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction in his life regarding his position on many issues.

When your Christianity is nothing more than what you say it is, all bets are off. And so it is with the President-elect of the United States of America. Below I have excerpted some of his comments posted at World on the Web. Not many of them are good.

The full interview, which demands our attention for getting these comments in their full (and troubling context) can be found here.

What he believes: “I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

On whether he considers himself born again: “Yeah, although I don’t, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I’m not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I’ve got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others.”

On how often he attends Trinity United Church of Christ: “Every week. 11 [o'clock] service.”

On his prayer life: “Its’ not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. I think throughout the day, I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why am I doing it.”

On who Jesus is to him: “Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher. And he’s also a wonderful teacher.”

On who he looks to for guidance: “Well, my pastor [Jeremiah Wright] is certainly someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for. I have a number of friends who are ministers. Reverend [James] Meeks is a close friend and colleague of mine in the state Senate. Father Michael Pfleger is a dear friend, and somebody I interact with closely.”

On the existence of hell: “I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell. I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That’s just not part of my religious makeup.”

On doctrine: “I think that each of us when we walk into our church or mosque or synagogue are interpreting that experience in different ways, are reading scriptures in different ways and are arriving at our own understanding at different ways and in different phases. I don’t know a healthy congregation or an effective minister who doesn’t recognize that. If all it took was someone proclaiming I believe Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins, and that was all there was to it, people wouldn’t have to keep coming to church, would they.”

On the existence of heaven: “What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.”

On what sin is: “Being out of alignment with my values.”

On being aligned spiritually: “It’s when I’m being true to myself.”

(boldface mine)

(An aside: This is post #300 since I started blogging on the first of the year. Wish the topic could have been brighter. Thanks for the encouragement from those who've tripped through these musings with me)