In response to the anti-Bible rant on MSNBC's “The Last Word” hosted by
Lawrence O’Donnell, I would like to mention a few important points that Mr.
O'Donnell seemed to have missed. Mr. O'Donnell's main point was that the Bible
has no role in the Inauguration Day ceremonies. He said and I quote:
“As I’ve pointed out in many previous episodes of the politics of
religion, no one accepts all of the teachings of the Bible. No one! There are no
literal followers, of, the word of God, as presented in the bible, left on
earth. if there were any, they would have to be burning people at the stake, all
day, everyday. For example, the Bible, orders that prostitutes be burned at the
stake, the bible, orders, that the penalty for adultery is death, the
bible orders that the penalty for not observing the Sabbath, is death! The bible
has more death penalties in it then Texas law, and there is no Bible thumping
church in, the, world, that follows the word of God, on all of those death
penalties. Not one! Still, the president, following one of our most
absurdist traditions in the government, that invented the separation of church
and state, will put his hand on this book filled with things he does not
believe, filled with things that no one in the United States of America
believes, and with his hand on this book he will recite the oath of office.”
When Christ died on the cross he took on himself the sins of man. With that
sacrifice there was a fundamental break from traditional Judaism. Meaning we
went from condemnation under the Law to sanctification by Grace, through faith.
Mr. O'Donnell we no longer kill prostitutes, sacrifice animals and we can
eat pork sandwiches everyday if we choose, while still being in perfect harmony
with our beliefs. You are correct in one thing, however, we as people could not,
and cannot, follow the "Law" as written in the bible but what you also failed to understand, and what
Google obviously did not explain to you, is that this was the very reason Christ
came in the first place. Christians do not live by the "law" we live by Grace
through faith. For me to explain this may be a waste of time, for the Bible also
says that people like you, Mr. O'Donnell, will not be able to discern the truth
anyway and it only strengthens my faith to see just how true that is.
Let me start by saying, it is the absolute height of hypocrisy to use select
quotes from the Bible in order to try and prove Christians to be hypocrites of
their own beliefs, especially when you have not bothered to actually read the
bible and more importantly do not grasp the most basic principles that it
contains. This is what my wife calls, a Google Bible Scholar. Mr. O'Donnell says
that no one accepts all of the teachings of the Bible. With this statement
alone, we know that Mr. O'Donnell has no idea of what he is talking about.
Putting aside the fact that excepting something and following something are
completely different, I will attempt to help correct Mr. O'Donnell of his
ignorance. There are two parts of the Bible. What O'Donnell quoted in Leviticus 18:22 is from the old testament, as is all of the parts that condone the killing of
sinners. During his anti-Bible rant It seems that Mr. O'Donnell completely left
out the part about Christ, and seeing that we call ourselves Christians, that
would seem to me, quite an omission, however, after watching O'Donnell, and MSNBC news in general, it is obvious that this is nothing new to their style of News.
O'Donnell's entire rant came about after Pastor Louie Giglio was removed from giving the benediction at President Obama's inauguration ceremony, for preaching a
sermon 15 years ago on what his faith, according to the Bible, dictated. The
question people like Mr. O'Donnell are constantly asking, is what parts of the
old testament do Christians follow and what parts have changed since the
sacrifice of Christ? This is usually the source of their arguments and is where
they always attempt to find select quotes in order to villainize Christians as
hypocrites. What these Google Bible scholars don't realize is that the Bible
actually requires that someone honestly seek the truth in order for
that person to find it.
I pondered how to explain this issue between the old and new testament
without writing out the Bible myself, because it explains things far better then
I could. But seeing that it is highly doubtful O'Donnell and those like him will
go to the trouble of actually reading the Bible, I will make a short attempt at
the basic idea. When asked what is the most important commandment in the Word of
God, Christ answered, "Love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your
soul, and Love your neighbor as your self." No Christian is perfect but millions
of us not only except the Bible, we actually follow the Bible
perfectly, even if we sin, and we all sin. Those two Laws now reside in our
hearts Mr. O'Donnell and really encompass all of the Biblical Laws we follow
today. Here is an example: "Thou shall not steal". You cannot love your neighbor
if you steal from him. We are now longer bound by the law in the old testament
because Jesus fulfilled the law.
Mr. O'Donnell slanders the Bible and a good pastor for his faith, because
they do not align with his own lack there of. He accuses Christians of using
parts of the Bible and disregarding the rest, while he does that very thing to
try and prove Christians as hypocrites. All the while, missing the most obvious
fact of all, being that there was no such thing as a Christian before Christ.
One of the most outlandish of O'Donnell's claims against the Bible, is that
because there are different interpretations of the Bible, it has changed. In
short, he is saying that because we change words to accommodate a more modern
vocabulary, the unchanging word of God has changed. Mr. O'Donnell, the Bible is
written in Hebrew and Greek and has not changed in over two thousands years. As
a news reporter (I use the term very loosely) I would think that you would know
that there are several words that can mean the same thing or express the same
idea, even if you do not know how to interrupt Hebrew and Greek. You see Mr.
O'Donnell, when a non-Christian holds up a Bible in condemnation of Christians,
he holds himself up as the absolute king of hypocrites,
because even Christians who use the law to judge, are judged themselves by that
measure.
This one-sided view of morality is also making MSNBC's grandstanding on gun
control just as hypocritical. While tearing down the Bible as a moral guide, it
then turns around and blames the inanimate gun for the moral
sickness of the man who shoots it. By not putting the two together, it allows
them never to face their own lack of morality. It gives them something else to
blame, that conveniently aligns it self with their political agenda. The reason
we put our hand on the Bible is because it is a moral standard far above man and
while we can never live up to that lofty standard, Christ made it possable for
us to receive the free gift of grace and with that gift, we find we
want to follow His higher standard and we repent, when we fall short.
If our greatest standard is only that of man, we will do just as man's nature
dictates and as we can see by the shooting at Sandy Hook, that standard has
major flaws. If a man has no faith, believes that once he dies there is nothing
else, then the decision to murder others, before killing himself, carries no
consequences past death.
O'Donnell had the audacity to say that "no one accepts all of the
teachings of the Bible. No one. ”
The fact that O'Donnell has deemed himself the spokesman for what Christians
believe is laughable, given the massive ignorance he displayed in his overtly
anti-Christian political rant
Mr. O'Donnell you are right about one other thing. Our president should not
use the Bible in the upcoming Inauguration. No one who is paying any attention
to what the President has done or said believes for a moment that Obama is a
Christian or that he believes in the Bible. Sadly Obama should be sworn in with his
hand on the Koran. With that thought in mind it begs the question, why haven't
we heard you ranting about the Islamic faith. You said, and I quote "there
is no Bible thumping church in, the, world, that follows the word of God on all
of those death penalties". While Muslims are Not Christians they do in fact
follow all of those death penalties and it's members, even now, are brutally
murdering woman and Christians. You don't seem to have a problem with that, in
fact it never even came up in your grossly inaccurate monologue.
I will leave you with a Bible verse that actually does apply Mr. O'Donnell,
it seems to have been written for you and MSNBC in general.
2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were also false prophets
among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign
Lord
who bought them—bringing
swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their
depraved conduct
and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed
these teachers will exploit you
with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and
their destruction has not been sleeping.
Joe Roy
twitter @TheLibertyJoe
Mandeville,
La
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ReplyDeleteAgain Joe, great article, well done. I finished it after all.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some great points. You also add humor to it 'we can eat pork sandwiches every day' made me laugh. A wonderfully written article. Also there is the point of the old and new testament. People also don't seem to realize that God gave man free will to decide where he should spend eternity.
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