Obama 'Making Stuff Up' on Reticence to Defend America

The public debate between Barack Obama and Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has made for hot headlines over the past couple of days.

In the latest round, Obama says Dobson "making stuff up" when he criticized Obama's contention that the Bible can't be relied on for moral guidance in public policy.

Obama would himself have to "make stuff up" to justify his support of killing babies that survive attempts to abort them, as was recently reported about a baby in Kansas. Or to justify killing unborn children in general. Or in justifying homosexual behavior on a Biblical basis. Because there is no justification for such behavior in the Bible...but there is considerable condemnation of it.

But on another topic, Obama once again displays his fundamental lack of understanding of both the Bible and the responsibility of government to protect it's citizens from evil.

CNN quotes from Obama's June 2006 speech to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal, which was the subject of James Dobson's response, and says:

He also called Jesus' Sermon on the Mount "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application."

From Obama's apparent interpretation, he either doesn't believe he should follow the Bible, or he doesn't believe the United States should defend itself from threats.

If Obama spent less time trying to twist Scripture into a prescription for hating white people and more time trying to understand the Bible, he might understand that while individuals are commanded to love their enemies in the Sermon on the Mount, governments have a responsibility to protect citizens from harm, both from evildoers within the country and those who would do harm to the citizens from outside.

Romans 13:4 says government has the power of the sword (or deadly force) to accomplish this. Jesus said in Matthew 26:52-54 that people who commit violence can expect to be met with retaliation and die violently, a truth which also comes into play with capital punishment which God delegated to human government in Genesis 9:6 and has never rescinded. Jesus also states in Luke 14:31-33 that in a world under the curse of sin where some nations are going to threaten others for evil purposes, war and defense are an unfortunate but acceptable reality.

The Bible has always recognized the right of self defense, both for individuals and for governments to protect the citizens under it's charge. This doctrine has been further fleshed out by the respected theologians Augustine and Thomas Aquinas; I would suggest reading up on what they have to say about "just war" for more information.

Barack Obama's talk of talk "without precondition" with men and nations who have no interest in peace is another illustration of his lack of understanding of the nature of evil. As is his pledge on video to slash military spending--even defensive missile systems--and allow hostile nations to surpass in both development of new military systems and the deployment of those systems. This, in a time when America probably has more enemies than ever: Iran, Syria, North Korea, and communist China, to name a few of the more notable ones.

America has stood against so many evil nations in the world for so long, there are a lot of bloodthirsty nations out there just waiting for us to show some weakness. When we do, as terrible as 911 was, it may look like an opening insult in a bloodbath.

And based on Barack Obama's own words, he's just the man to make such a thing possible.