James Dobson is learning this the hard way:
I'll bet that prosperity gospel stuff had great appeal for the head of Trump University and Trump Steaks.Last week, the highly respected Dr. James Dobson made an absolute sucker of himself by uncritically passing along his belief that Donald Trump was a recent born-again Christian. Dobson's remarks were widely ridiculed as the statement of an uncritical partisan dupe, and Dobson does not seem to have taken it too well.As Erick notes, Dobson is now walking back his original remarks, which I guess is a good thing, but the bad thing is that Dobson revealed the source that initially led him to believe Trump's conversion story in the first place. And, as you might have guessed, it isn't pretty:Dobson now says he does not know for sure and, more importantly, he claims that the person who supposedly led Donald Trump to the Lord is noted prosperity gospel heretic Paula White.White, you may recall, was under investigation by the IRS and was also accused of having an inappropriate relationship with fellow charlatan Benny Hinn.Why in the world would James Dobson have uncritically passed along information from such a widely known fraud as Paula White about Trump's alleged conversion to Christianity? This makes him look like even more of a sucker. If Paula White approached me and said the sun rises in the east, I would not repeat that in public without performing an independent verification first. And nobody should be more aware of this than James Dobson.
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ReplyDeleteI realize it has been an issue in many previous presidential and other elections but, doesn't the Constitution which you often thump fundamentally provide that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States?" I'm not so sure it's not Dobson who wants Trump to be a Christian (and of course President of these United States) more than Trump cares to be, although it certainly works for a certain demographic. I'm telling you, the Moral Majority and others on the Christian right have done more damage to Christianity in this country than any other group has or could begin to do, even if it wanted to. Shut up and live good lives. That's what people see and what influences them, not loud adversarial carrying-on. As St. Francis is said to have said (although a lot of the sayings and prayers attributed to him have been revealed not to have been said by him, including his alleged Peace Prayer): Preach the Gospel always and if necessary use words."
ReplyDeleteIf, Heaven forbid, Trump should become President, he could be one of the last to proclaim a Christian pedigree, but for Paul Ryan who is staunchly Catholic and who I admire a lot. He's so Kennedyesque without wearing his sin on his shirt (which the Kennedys always managed to change before the law got involved, lol).
ReplyDeleteThe biography of faith, such as it is, of the Republican presidential candidate who has led the polls for six months starts with First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens. That is the church Donald Trump's parents attended and in which he was baptized. Trump, who is 69 and a self-described Presbyterian, characterizes Presbyterianism as "down the middle of the road," even though there are several Presbyterian denominations, with theologies that critically differ, and the Jamaica church is a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), for decades one of the most liberal ecclesiastical bodies in the country.
It's unclear how long the Trumps went to Jamaica Presbyterian before they started taking their family to Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. Founded by the Dutch in 1628, Marble is a member of the Reformed Church in America, a small, theologically liberal denomination. When Trump attended, however, Marble was not a typical RCA church, mainly because of the influence of its head pastor, Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking (1952), a New York Times bestseller for three consecutive years.
More at http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-religion-of-trump/article/2000601
No , it's important for Christians to be at the forefront of combatting cultural rot and the institutionalization of perversion
ReplyDeleteWe shall know you are Christians by your combat, I guess, and, for me, that's the problem, not the solution. That and the many obvious examples of hypocrisy that we all come across far too often. Paul was not Jesus who claimed he was God and there was not a word written down by Jesus that condemned anything more than adultery, about which he said he who is without sin can cast the first stone. STFU!!!
ReplyDeleteMy read is the main things Jesus condemned are the self-righteous aka pretentious aka hypocritical. Look up the definition of pharisaic. In other words, be kind, and I know you are.
ReplyDeleteYou can have whatever "read" you like. The Gospel and the Truth revealed by Paul are the Gospel and the Truth revealed by Paul.
ReplyDeletePer the other comment thread in which I said I didn't think there was a label for your worldview, whatever it would be, it would certainly encompass as part of its definition "an utter apathy toward the death of Western civilization."
ReplyDeleteBull Crap again!
ReplyDeleteSo ya think I'm all for Sharia law in America, huh?
ReplyDeletePeruse the posts at this blog under the title "How Advanced Is The Rot?" or those entitled "They Smell Weakness." We live in an age in which the CIA and FBI are preoccupying themselves with inclusiveness training and implicit bias exercises while major jihadist attacks in the world are occurring weekly now. Our own government -through agencies such as the EPA and the IRS, and departments such as Justice, Education and Health and Human Services - is imposing tyranny, spying on citizens in a way that would do the old East German Stasi proud. Christianity has been marginalized. The despot with his grip on the nation's throat is making a point of alienating our allies. The Supreme Court decides cases without bothering to find a Constitutional basis. Our culture is rotten through and through. There is no more literature, music, visual art or cinema worthy of consumption by dignified human beings.
ReplyDeleteAnd you don't seem to be bothered by any of this in the least.
Jihadist attacks and other attacks by just plain crazies bother all but the crazies, I think. My heart always sinks to see these headlines. I think they bother all the cattle, don't u? Moo.
ReplyDeleteMake Christianity Great Again! Onward Christian soldier....
ReplyDeleteCareful, his bowtie is really a camera.
ReplyDeleteCome on people now, smile on your brother, get together, try to love one another, right now, right now, right now!
ReplyDeletePractically speaking, as the largest loophole in the Posse Comitatus Act was the “drug law” exception. In 1981 Congress, at the behest of President Reagan, created a broad exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, and in 1988 Congress expanded the exception even further, as part of an omnibus drug bill.
ReplyDeleteThe new exceptions allow broad military assistance for the drug war. Soldiers may assist drug law enforcement agencies in surveillance and similar activities, although soldiers are still not supposed to confront civilians directly. Military equipment may be loaned to law enforcement agencies, and the military may train law enforcement agencies. The equipment and training may be for any purpose. If the purpose is drug enforcement, then the equipment and training are free; if not for drug war purposes, the civilian agency must merely reimburse the military for the training and the equipment.
http://www.davekopel.com/CJ/chap/AfterProhibition.htm
Who gives a shit about drug policy at a time like this?
ReplyDeleteAnd, once again, the citing of rock lyrics in response to a serious invitation to consider the gravity of our cultural, security and economic situation, is a strong indication of an utterly frivolous worldview.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that invasions of our privacy have been increasingly occurring all our lives and you're just now getting upset about it?
ReplyDeleteYour hero of freedom even sicked the dogs of war on us.
ReplyDeleteAgain, no serious, mature person is preoccupied with Reagan-era drug policy.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I realize it's not at all the time of the season for loving here.
ReplyDeleteReagan was complicit in spying on us so I don't quite understand why you're freaking out now.
ReplyDeleteI never felt spied on during the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteWell you were spies on. Since I have to spell it out for you, the reference to cameras in bow ties was made, not to demonstrate immaturity but that we all were hip to the dastardly governmental spying even as teens in the 60s. The love one another right now citation merely points to the ludicrousness of that meme. Both then and now but it is a very Christian meme . I don't worry about Christianity being marginaliZed. That's nothing new either in Mammon. Hope u understand a bit better why I'm not freaking out now to your level of current freak. I thought you knew like I do.
ReplyDeleteDastardly government spying in the 60s! You can take off the tinfoil hat now.
ReplyDelete