As you probably know Wisconsin governor and possible Republican presidential candidate, Scott Walker, was asked by a Washington Post reporter his opinion on President Obama's salvation. Governor Walker replied that he had never talked with President Obama about this nor had read any comments by the president on the subject, so he didn't know.
Several prominent news sources have responded that since Governor Walker punted on such an easy question, that he was not ready for national leadership. Speeches where President Obama quoted Scripture or claimed benefits from his Christian faith have been cited as proof that the right and easy answer was "Yes, the President is a Christian!"
Besides the obvious response of "if this is such an easy question, then why did you ask it?" this whole tempest points to a deeper issue in our society. What does it really mean to be a Christian almost 2000 years since Jesus walked among us?
For these reporters Christianity revolves around a personal declaration of faith. Obama has stated he is a Christian. He uses Scripture in speeches and he attends church. Frankly, all that puts him ahead of the Christmas-Easter folks of my church. Is that what it means to be a Christian?
Others would tell us that the President is not a Christian. He supports Gay Rights, which the Bible compares to supporting adulterer rights. He supports partial birth abortion, where babies' heads are born then destroyed, killing the baby. He makes more statements that would support Islam than Christianity, others complain. His public policy lifestyle looks anti-Christian in some circles.
For Christians reading this, I would ask a few questions. "What would the public display of your faith look like after it was filtered through United States media?" You and I likely wouldn't recognize ourselves after the media finished with us.
"How would your faith be stretched by sitting in the Oval Office?" Intense fame, world shaking decision power, no win situations of immense ramifications and more deluge a president daily. On top of this you are a family man with a wife and two kids. President is 24/7. It is not a job, but a calling. "How would you balance the calling to follow Christ and the calling to lead the free world?" You and I who have never done that have no way to even begin to answer that question, but President Obama faces that dilemma every day.
They only way Jesus gives to tell if someone is a Christian is by their fruits. With a fruit tree buds pop and fruit forms until months later the apples or cherries are ready to harvest. As a pastor, I watch someone's life. I don't believe that President Obama's evolution of homosexual relationships is what the Bible teaches. How many of us have wandered off the straight and narrow and needed help back? I don't believe that the God who condemned child sacrifice in the Old Testament and welcomed children in the New is anything but angered by the millions of unborn children who die each year. President Obama's support of that does not square with the book of Christians, the Bible. Perhaps those bad apples mean the whole tree is bad. How much of the rest of the tree do we know besides those fruits?
If you asked me, I would have to agree with Governor Walker. I don't know enough about the day to day of the President's life to say one way or another about how living his faith is. I do know I would challenge him about the two issues I have raised. Ultimately, only those who know him best could have any opinion worth hearing about the President's spiritual life and growth, just like any other Christian. Only those standing close enough to see a person's development and change over time can make any sort of judgment. These are also the same people who have the right to speak that judgment into your life and mine, those closest to us.
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