What’s Wrong with the World

byzantine double eagle

About

What’s Wrong with the World is dedicated to the defense of what remains of Christendom, the civilization made by the men of the Cross of Christ. Athwart two hostile Powers we stand: the Jihad and Liberalism...read more

Website

Search


Recent Posts

Subscribe to this blog's feed
[What is this?]

Recent Comments

Authors

Categories

Archives

Blog Roll

Obama, Matthew 25, and Infanticide: A comment about the Saddleback Valley forum

by Francis Beckwith

Senator Barack Obama, from last night's Saddleback Valley Civil Forum on the Presidency:

"We still don't abide by that basic precept of Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me."

First, it's not Matthew's precept. It's Jesus' precept, which appears in the Gospel of Matthew (25: 40). Second, the context of Matthew 25 is the Last Judgment at which the Son of Man separates the sheep from the goats, with the latter going to eternal punishment and the former to eternal life. Third, it is telling what Christ in fact says about the goats (v. 41-43 - NIV):

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

When Senator Obama, while in the Illinois senate, had the opportunity to require by law that medical professionals provide nutrition (something to eat), hydration (drink), protection (clothes), and shelter (inviting them in) to the smallest and most vulnerable strangers of all, the true "least of these," newborns who had survived abortions, Senator Obama stood with the goats.

(Cross-posted)

Posted by Francis Beckwith on August 17, 2008 11:38 AM | Del.icio.us |

Comments (7)

This is why I made the point before that a Christian cannot vote for Obama unless that Christian hates Obama.

Posted by Zippy | August 17, 2008 1:08 PM

Precisely so.

Because Obama is absolutely wrong, Zippy is absolutely right.

I don't always say that about Zippy, but here I do, and whole-heartedly.

Posted by Michael Bauman | August 17, 2008 2:26 PM

Well, we can't disagree about everything Michael :~)

Posted by Zippy | August 17, 2008 3:40 PM

It astounds me that Obama was unable to draw the logical implication of Matthew 25 regarding newborns who have survived abortions. After all, Obama is an intelligent man.

Another point Obama made at the forum that I found extremely strange was the statement that he is pro-choice and supportive of Roe because, "ULTIMATELY I DON'T THINK WOMEN MAKE THESE DECISIONS CASUALLY. THEY WRESTLE WITH THESE THINGS IN PROFOUND WAYS." If the implication is that pro-lifers don't realize that a woman's decision to abort is non-casual, that's just silly. But most objectionable is Obama's implication that the non-casualness of the decision to abort somehow makes abortion morally justifiable. On that logic, taking innocent human life is okay so long as it's premeditated. Manslaughter, that's the real problem!

Posted by John G. | August 17, 2008 8:47 PM

Here's a comment from Jonah Goldberg that raises some issues discussed here at 4W.


As I said the other night, I think McCain won big in Saddleback. But there's at least one area where I think I liked Obama's answer better than McCain's, even if McCain's was better politics. When asked about evil, Obama gave a complex answer in which he said, basically, evil is everywhere including in us. McCain took it as a softball for talking about the war on terror. Good for McCain, but I think Obama's answer was more appropriate given that he was talking to a pastor and it was more accurate generally speaking. But Charles Krauthammer dismissed the answer on Fox News as "postmodern" and Bill Kristol today applauds McCain's answer essentially because it was tactically more advisable and because it confirmed that McCain is a war president, which is what Bill wants in a commander-in-chief. That's all good and fine. But Obama is right that evil is everywhere. It's not just a foreign policy category (recall David Frum and Richard Perle's oddly named foreign policy book, "An End to Evil"?).


Obama is right that evil is within all of us and sometimes our good intentions do advance evil. Obama said, “a lot of evil has been perpetrated based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil.” And: “just because we think our intentions are good doesn’t always mean that we’re going to be doing good.”


Personally, I seriously doubt Obama contemplates that his progressive good intentions can lead to evil. Rather, I think he was suggesting in somewhat coded terms that people who talk about evil are often the source of evil (take that moralists!). And, yes, I do think Obama is a postmodernist. But on the merits, I think Obama's answer was the better one.

Posted by KW | August 18, 2008 12:52 PM

Hi,

I'm currently researching various weight loss programs and courses.

So, if you don't mind please answer in this topic: What’s your single most important question about weight loss?

Cheers, JD

Posted by jdpolson | August 21, 2008 4:59 PM

How do people gain it? No matter how much I eat, my weight stays the same.

Posted by William Luse | August 21, 2008 8:02 PM

Post a comment


Bold Italic Underline Quote

Note: In order to limit duplicate comments, please submit a comment only once. A comment may take a few minutes to appear beneath the article.

Although this site does not actively hold comments for moderation, some comments are automatically held by the blog system. If your comment is held for any reason, please be patient and an author or administrator will approve it. Do not resubmit the same comment as subsequent submissions of the same comment will be held as well.