General Theology
Sin Redefined
by Clay Staggs
First off, I should say that I agree wholeheartedly with Jimmy’s earlier thoughts on the meaning of being an “Evangelical” in politics today. It is true, however, that (for lack of a better term) orthodox Christians do tend to rather overwhelmingly support the Republicans. Much ink and many pixels have been spilled over why this is. I think I can answer without reference to the endorsements of Hagee or Dobson or any other “Evangelical” power broker.
Perusing National Review’s blog The Corner today, I found a link to an interview with Obama done by the Chicago Sun Times religion reporter back in 2004. Though I commend the entire thing to everyone’s reading, let’s get right to the money quote:
GG:
Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA:
Yes.
GG:
What is sin?
OBAMA:
Being out of alignment with my values.
GG:
What happens if you have sin in your life?
OBAMA:
I think it’s the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I’m true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment.
Now, let that sink in for a minute. Sin is being out of alignment with one’s own values. In other words, whatever it is that you set as your values, if you aren’t living up to those self-set standards, then and only then are you in sin. Not exactly the same standard set forth by Jesus: “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Obama’s definition is post-modern relativism dressed up in Christian clothes.
Now, is there really any mystery why those voters who are traditional Christians generally won’t vote for Obama? He claims to be something that they (rightly) do not recognize. Moreover, it displays that Obama has a worldview where there is no absolute right and wrong.
Leaving politics aside for a moment, though, and more importantly anyway, if anyone truly believes such relativistic mush, why on earth bother to join a church? Why do you need that? In fact, you don’t need anybody but yourself. Just set your standards low enough, and you’ll have no problems.
Posted by Clay Staggs at June 2, 2008 04:57 PM
As the eminent Jerry Douglas said: “Christianity is really simple if you get the sin part right.”
If you get it wrong, however, it can really throw everything else out of kilter.
It continually amazes me at our capacity to set our own standards, continually miss our own mark, reset the bar lower and expect that God accepts our standards as His own.
This guy is dangerous. Not because he’s a Democrat and certainly not because of race or any other of the usual political labels. He is dangerous in a similar way to Joel Osteen or Benny Hinn. He preaches a vacuous, ear-tickling message that is so alluring and so opposite what Christ teaches, as you accurately pointed out.
Any chance such an interview has been done with McCain also (and is online somewhere to read)?
Not that I can find on a quick Google search. If anyone knows of it, please pass it along. I did find a couple of youtube videos, one where McCain says that he does not believe homosexuality to be a sin, and another where he says that he believes Christianity to be a preferable religion for our leaders because he finds it to be the best spiritual guide for this world. Perhaps one could infer that he believes in the concept of objective truth and objective evil, though his definition and mine of what that truth is may not coincide perfectly.
Please understand that I’m not advocating that we elect a priest instead of a president. The issue here is more of post-modernism and its insistence that there is no objective right and wrong (even in Christianity, which teaches the EXACT opposite). That relativistic world view is something that I believe to have direct bearing on how a candidate who subscribes to it will conduct himself in office.