Is President Obama a Christian? How you answer that question sheds light on how you deal with people. When Rev. Franklin Graham appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe, he was asked if he thought President Obama is a Christian. Graham said, “You have to ask him… He has said he’s a Christian, so I just have to assume that he is.”
Having myself been a minister for almost 40 years, his answer did not raise my eyebrows. We were taught if someone presents himself to you as a Christian, you take him/her at face value. Now if something in that person’s conduct is really, really inconsistent with the Bible, you should talk that through but the inconsistency doesn’t mean the person is not a Christian.
Later on CNN Rev. Graham was pressed. “The president has said he’s a Christian,” he repeated, “and we’ll just leave it at that. Only God knows the heart of all these candidates.” (Jonathon Moorman, Christian Post, February 23) There’s the mystery of how God works. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Might that be a reason Jesus gave us the wisdom of the Golden Rule?
No Minutes next week. Diane and I will be taking some time off.
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