Reading the Bible While Listening to State of the Union (ie, Bible vs W)

[bobbieinok]

http://www.baptists4ethics.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=6889

EDITORIAL
Reading the Bible While Listening to State of the Union

Robert Parham
01-27-06

If a biblical prophet gave the 2006 State of the Union address, what would the message be?

....

Without a teleprompter and rehearsed applause lines, Amos would tell the White House and Congress that God expects them to stop trampling on the poor in order to build expensive homes, to stop taking bribes in the form of golf trips, to stop rigging the system to enrich their friends and to stop turning justice into wormwood.

Amos would surely look at the Supreme Court justices, one or two in particular, and condemn their corporate-sponsored hunting trips and posh vacations at private resorts.

"Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream," he would say.

Still another prophet, Zechariah, would repeat the message of care for the poor, the weak, the powerless and even the aliens in the land.

....

When people of faith listen to the State of the Union, we need to listen with the words of Nathan, Amos, Zechariah and the other prophets. They spoke for God, and people of faith across the ages codified their messages into the sacred text called the Bible.

Those of us who treasure the bedrock of our faith need to assess the president's words against the moral agenda of the Bible.



Robert Parham is executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics.

[fasttense]

1. If you take out all the parts of the new testament

where Jesus talks about helping the needy, there would be nothing left of it. I guess the wacko religious right and brush just skip over those parts.

Remember that when Jesus said the poor will always be with us, he was talking to Judas.