Obama's View on Bible

Ok, I just posted an anti-McCain YouTube video, so here is one where the editor takes a speech Barak Obama gave where he said that the Bible could not be used to set policy. In the speech Obama is trying to make the point that a separation of church and state must be maintained. Unfortunately, he tried to bolster his points by using Bible verses out of context, managing to offend a lot of people (like me) who have high view of scripture.



Here is the original unedited video. The speech is "Call to Renewal" from June 28, 2006.

An Opinion on John McCain

I found this video on YouTube. This is the testimony of a man who has a lot in common with John McCain. He too graduated from the Naval Academy (except he was in the top 25 % of his graduating class and McCain was 5th from the bottom), highly decorated Naval aviator, served in Vietnam, also was shot down, and also spent several years as a prisoner of war also enduring its horrors. Look at what he has to say about John McCain.



The one thing that bothers me the most is that this man said that when he knew McCain during the war, McCain was agnostic and now McCain says he is deeply religious. I'd like to know more about McCain's faith journey. It's possible that his wartime experiences drove him to Christ but it does not explain how he came to leave his first wife. Oh well.

Biblical Basics - The Deity of Christ - Redux

This post is a follow up to my posts on Jesus' Humanity and Deity and a response to the comments made by Adam Pastor. Brother Pastor agrees with me and all Christians that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that He is the one through whom we are saved when we put our faith in Him. He disagreed with me on my statements on Jesus' deity. So I will restrict my post to only consider his comments against the deity of Jesus Christ.

Brother Pastor wrote:

Jesus Christ isn't just any man;
he is GOD's only-begotten Son, who died for our sins, who was raised by Almighty GOD;
the man whom Almighty GOD made both Lord & Christ, and set him at His own right hand;
making Jesus of Nazareth,
the most exalted human being,
second only to GOD Himself!
[Acts 2.32-36]

Let's look at what Acts 2:32-36 says. Keep in mind that this is part of Peter's first sermon on the day of Pentecost.

"God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ' "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

I agree that Peter is not denying Jesus' humanity and he is saying that Jesus is glorified and that he is better than David. It's interesting to me that Peter quoted Psalm 110:1 and said that David was a prophet (verse 30). Why is this important? Jesus used this very same scripture to establish his identity. In Luke 20:41-44 Jesus says:

Then Jesus said to them, "How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ' David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?"

Jesus used this to show the people who he is. If you deny that Jesus claim to be God, then you have to explain How the messiah can be David's son and David's Lord at the same time. Think of it this way if you look at two "Lords" in Psalm 110:1 they are not the same words. In Hebrew it reads "Yahweh said to my 'adown". "Yahweh" also known as "Jehovah" is the proper name of God. It is the name that God identified himself to Moses. "'Adown" means "lord" or "master". The New Testament quotations of these verse use the Septuagint translations. In that translation the same word is used for "Lord". The word is "Kurios". It was considered a title given to God and to the Messiah.

Brother Pastor also said:

And nowhere does Jesus ever claim to be Almighty GOD!
No rather, Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living GOD

Yet Brother Pastor never gave any response to the verse I raised that show that Jesus did claim to be God such as John 8:48-59.

Brother Pastor further wrote:

Hence, yet another proof that Jesus cannot possibly be Almighty GOD;
because GOD ALMIGHTY CANNOT DIE!!

This struck me because it is the same line of argument that Muslims use against Christians. The best way to argue is to use the same argument you would use against a Muslim making the same assertion. One of the best scholars that I have ever heard deal with this issue is James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. Please view the following clips of him responding to Ahmed Deedat.
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


I agree with Brother Pastor on his point that Paul taught that there is only one God. So did the apostle John. I would have liked him to respond to my raising of Colossians 1:15,16. It says:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Paul taught that was pre-existed everything. That He created everything. I'll cover how the Bible could say the Father is God and Jesus is God and yet there be only one God when I cover the Trinity in a separate post. At this point, I just want to establish that the Bible declares Jesus' deity.

Another assertion that Brother Pastor made was when he wrote:

John, a monotheistic Jew does not present Jesus as "God" in his Gospel at all.
Not only does he call Jesus "a man" more than the other Gospel writers; John must be allowed to state exactly why he wrote his Gospel, which he indeed does:
(John 20:31) But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

No argument that John is being correctly presented, but He does also talk about Jesus' deity. How would Brother Pastor explain John 1:1-5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

We know John was talking about Jesus and calls him the Word - the LOGOS. And the LOGOS was God and through him all things were made. Paul said the same thing. And what about Philippians 2:6:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

Paul said that Jesus was in nature God and that He was equal with God. What else can we do with this scripture along with all the other scriptures that teach about his humanity but conclude that Jesus is both God and man.

As for the Film Brother Pastor suggested I watch I could not get it to play. I think that there is something wrong with the file but I will try again later. One last scripture I want to discuss in this post was also brought up by Brother Pastor 1st Corinthians 8:4 and 6. Verses 4-6 state:

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Nowhere in this text does it say that Jesus is not God. It's a parallel construction describing God as the Father and Jesus. As I understand Greek grammar I am convinced that the verse s are making a comparison to our God verses the idols and false gods of the world. There is one God. The Father "from whom all things came and for whom we live", Jesus "through whom all things came and through whom we live", and the Holy Spirit by whom all things came and by whom we live. The Holy Spirit keeps us.