From the Rev. Tony Auer, Senior Pastor of Hill Avenue Grace Lutheran Church in Pasadena, CA. Bob Jones’ original letter to George Bush is no longer available on the Bob Jones University website, but dailyKos has an excerpt here.
An Open Letter to Bob Jones III and like minded conservatives:
The President Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University sent a letter to President Bush reminding him that it was Evangelical Christians who kept him in the White House. Further, Bob Jones writes: “You owe liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ.”
I will not speak for evangelicals and attempt to define what “Jesus” they believe in, but since I am a flaming liberal, I would like to paint a picture of the Jesus I find in Holy Scripture, the Jesus loved by liberals like me.
First, the Jesus I find is a man full of unconditional love and forgiveness. So much so that Jesus said that love is the way to fulfill all the commandments. Further, the true followers of Jesus will be known by how much love they have for one another and how much love they show towards others, even those you disagree with. Jesus prayed that all would be one as he and the Father are one. God’s love brings people together, saints and sinners alike. Jesus was criticized by religious persons because he spent so much time with tax collectors and sinners. His words and deeds were expressions of love and forgiveness to all.
In Matthew’s Gospel even John the Baptist was puzzled by Jesus. Early in the gospel, John preaches that Jesus will bring fire on sinners and unbelievers. But when he finds Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors, preaching forgiveness and inclusiveness, John asks of Jesus: “Are you the Messiah or should we look for another?” Jesus’ response was to judge him by his deeds: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” It is not just a matter of miracles being performed, but because deformities were seen as God’s judgment on sinners, all these persons were outsiders. They were excluded from religious rituals and from acceptable society. Jesus welcomes all, even those who are rejected by faith communities and the culture.
We do find in the Gospels illustrations of Jesus’ judgment. I find it interesting that Jesus’ words are harshest when he addresses the faithful religious community. When Jesus entered the Temple grounds and overturned the tables of the money changers he was angry at those who profit by taking advantage of the poor and weak. In his parables he teaches us about divine forgiveness and the inability of humans to forgive (the father who forgives the Prodigal Son and the inability of the older brother who did everything right except find forgiveness for his brother and the grace of his father.) Then there is the parable about the man who begs the king to forgive his million dollar debt. The king pronounces the debt canceled. But then the man who was forgiven runs into one who owes him $100 dollars. He demands payment and when the debtor begs for forgiveness, the man refuses to forgive and has the debtor and his family thrown in jail. When the king hears about this, he has the man brought before him where a sentence worse than death is pronounced. What Jesus is saying is that since God has forgiven us our million dollar sins, sins beyond our ability to pay for, so we must forgive all who sin against us. You will know a true follower of Jesus by their ability to forgive others.
What does Jesus say about war and aggression? “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” How could Jesus be more specific? Well, maybe in another quote: “But love your enemies, do good to them. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Does the Jesus I believe in want us to beat up our enemies? Does he want us to condemn and judge? Does he want us to create divisions? Does he say that some people are less valuable in his eyes? No! The world is different since Jesus came to teach, die, and rise. Our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us is different. This is the Jesus I believe in. This is the Jesus I find in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. In Romans Paul asks: “What can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus?” And then he answers, “NOTHING!” I am a social liberal because I am a Biblical conservative. I take God at his word and liberally apply it to this world which belongs to God, not a government and not a religion, to God! My conservative approach to Scripture convinces me that we are all God’s guests here and it’s time for all Christians to begin to act like it.
Jesus told us not to judge one another. So I wonder, if you are passing judgment on liberals, if you feel that because of your faith God and the President owe you something, if you are angry and spiteful, if your goal is division rather than unity, if you neglect the poor and the disenfranchised, if your goal is power and control rather than submission and servanthood, then I can only wonder, what Jesus do you believe in?
The Rev. Anthony Auer
Pasadena, CA
[...] race, that everyone should experience. I like liturgy. As friend-of-the-blog Pastor Tony said so eloquently: I am a social liberal because I am a Biblical conservative. I take God at his wo [...]
The letter doesn’t seem to ooze out love and compassion for evangelical Christians
(what Jesus taught-especially love for fellow Christians), and doesn’t seem to ooze
respect for the authority that God placed in power (again, what Jesus taught).
Lastly, is The Reverend judging Bush??
[...] In Our Endangered Values, Jimmy Carter writes the way he speaks: in a calm, measured tone, building his case against Bush and the Republicans brick by brick without ever raising his voice. This style makes Carter’s criticisms all the more compelling. In How the Republicans Stole Christmas, Bill Press also writes the way he speaks, and his tone is anything but measured and calm. You can hear him raising his voice, sighing and shaking his head on every page, but without ever being shrill. Press’s style is as effective for Press as Carter’s is for Carter, but fasten your seat belts! For example, when talking about Bob Jones’s letter to Bush after his “election” to the presidency in 2000, Press says: I don’t know about you, but that letter ticks me off. I’m a liberal. I’m a Christian. I didn’t vote for George W. Bush. How dare that small-time college president—who got his job only because he inherited it—tell me I despise Jesus Christ? From what I read in his letter, he wouldn’t know Jesus Christ if he fell over Him. [...]
I’d like to address Lucinda Price’s reply.
First of all, this letter, as I see it, is both a confirmation of faith and loyalty to Jesus Christ, as well as a rebuke to those Christians who have seemingly “lost their way.” We can love the sinner, but still hate the behavior. How much love and compassion oozed out of Jesus when he overturned the vendor’s tables in the temple? He rebuked them for their unseemly behavior, just as the fundamentalist, right-wing evangelicals should be rebuked for their behavior. Moreover, they are putting stumbling blocks in the way of other believers, which we are exhorted not to do.
Second, the Reverend doesn’t really talk about “those in authority”, but I will say to you, should we have respect for ANYONE who is put in a position of authority, whether put there by God or by another? If someone is in authority, who abuses that authority, or who is in authority by questionable means, calling into consideration whether that authority is even legitimate, do we still owe that person or persons respect? Do we obey the tyrant, who is unquestionably in authority, but is also immoral and abusive? I think not. When a leader or leaders do not serve the greater good, as is written in both our constitution and the Bible, when our leader or leaders commit unspeakable acts in the name of power and greed, when our leader or leaders lie, deceive, and manipulate for the betterment of the few, at the expense of the many, do we still owe them our allegience, let alone our respect? Only a fool would bow down before such a master.
Furthermore, considering who has dominion over this earth, which the Bible says is Satan, do we respect his authority? Or do we do as much as possible to refute that authority, and align ourselves with a higher authority? It is no different when we speak of monarchs, prime ministers, and presidents. Certainly you cannot say that God placed G.W. Bush in power, but not Saddam Hussein. Or that he placed Queen Victoria in power, but not Henry VIII!
God may have intended another individual to be in power, but since He gives us all free will, and since we know that bad things happen to good people, and life is not all rosey and apple pie, but that bad things happen – volcanoes erupt, tsunamis wipe out villages, hurricanes and earthquakes devastate entire cities, and famine and drought kill thousands every year – we also know that sometimes evil men take what is not theirs, whether it be a cadillac, a company, or a country. God gave us all free will. He does not have a hand in everything that everyone does, or there would be no bad people, no bad deeds, nothing bad would befall any one of us. But these things do happen, and they happen all the time. Therefore, if an evil man be more powerful than a righteous man, the evil man may prevail a little while, or even a long while, here on earth, but eventually, he will pay for his sins. “‘Vengeance is mine, I shall repay,’ saith the Lord.”
Perhaps the best analogy I could give would be Hitler. Germany was a country full of Christians, and good people. They gave their respect to the one in authority, who happened to be Hitler. Did Hitler lie, manipulate, and deceive the German people? Certainly. In fact, he even had a friend in G.W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, who helped to finance Hitler’s war early on, before being pressured to withdraw his support by prominent American businessmen and politicians. That’s a matter of history, but it is unsettling to me that Bush’s family supported Nazism. Considering the way this country seems to be headed, I don’t doubt that both G.W. Bush and his father both learned at the father’s/grandfather’s knee, respectively. Bush the Elder’s loyalty to the New World Order, which he spoke of in his inaugural address, is chilling, especially when you read what’s on the website of the Project for the New American Century. And like Hitler and his regime, this regime is also very adept at fooling the people, who want to be fooled, because they want things to be simple. They want to be told what to think, what to feel, because it is simpler than having to figure things out for oneself.
And that is how men in authority, whether legitimate or not, command power and counterfeit respect.
I have no doubt whatsoever that God will judge Bush accordingly.
pastor we pray for u
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> We believe in One God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and in One Church – the Body of Christ: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
* We believe in Holy Spirit gifts and Ministries. “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
* We share one objective: “until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.. according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
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>pastor A bhatti
>Name: pastor A Bhatti Address: house no 191 secter C street no 5
>akhter colony karachi 75500 pakistan City: karachi Zip: 75500 Phone:
>03003678257 E-mail: rashid_pk191@yahoo
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