So when the terribly lame Gerald Ford was opposed by this nice, idealistic man who boldly declared himself to be "born-again," as I recently had been, and asked "Why not the best?", I was persuaded.
Jimmy Carter.
Worst. Voting decision. Ever.
Now, the difference between my vote and that of professed Christians who trashed their distinctively Christian values to vote for their ideological enemy, Barack Obama, is that contrary information and thought-out Christian resources were not readily available. Those were the days of the monopoly of CBSNBCABC and the various Timeses. This hasn't been the case for years, and convincing information on Obama was readily available to every American.
Another difference is that it wasn't long before I began to realize my error, while Obamolaters continue in deep, defensive denial. (Another lesson: when you do something foolish and/or sinful, your choices are to repent and redeem, or dig in deeper and make it worse.)
Obama voters can't hide behind the unavailability of information.
So rose to power perhaps the most inept president ever, though that is a fairly rich field. Whatever his failings in office, his treacheries afterwards have sealed his legacy forever — barring a decisive and fruitful repentance soon.
Jimmy Carter is a man whose follies are visible and repeated globally. Worse, this is a man who has learned nothing, who has never been humbled, by his many failings, follies, and deserved thrashings. He is a living bad example, a warning sign in ancient flesh.
There is a book title that tells almost the whole story: The Real Jimmy Carter: How Our Worst Ex-President Undermines American Foreign Policy, Coddles Dictators and Created the Party of Clinton and Kerry. True, and amen.
But now Al Mohler adds a bit, and it's worth reading, if too polite.
So: Carter has betrayed his country, his denomination, and the Lord he professes to follow.
Who does that leave?
Posts
59 comments:
Born again eyes should have been opened back in the 70s when Carter referenced Paul Tillich as his favorite theologian, but as you say, information was harder to come by then. Carter made that statement in his infamous "Playboy" interview, and the media focused on the statement about him "lusting in his heart" after other women. His spiritual adultery went unnoticed.
I was 18 and newly-saved. My first eye-opener was when I saw a picture in Time magazine, captioned something like "President Carter receives the mark of a Hindu worshiper."
He was getting a red dot on his forehead in the picture.
I can proudly say that, in the first presidential election I was old enough to vote in, I helped put Ronald Reagan into office and make Jimmy Carter a one-term president.
And now he's announcing that he has left the Southern Baptists for the third time in the last three years... um... Leave, already!
~Squirrel
My eye-opener regarding Mr. Carter was during a campaign speech (or debate) I saw on TV. I was 12 years old at the time and after listening to Mr. Carter speak I turned to my partents and said "That man is lying."
I was scolded. My parents had their own eye-opening experience early in 1977. I don't remember what it was exactly.
Maybe the next convention can pass a resolution bidding him "loodle-oo."
On the positive side, he did manage to keep the Erie Canal.
Ok, I'm reaching a bit.
"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." - 2 Tim 4:3-4
It's not Obama's fault. Well, at least not entirely. We of the itching ears sought him out and built him up.
Obama would never have made it this far if he didn't couch all his rhetoric in quasi-Christian mumbo-jumbo.
I'm reminded of when Aaron built the golden calf (an act Jeroboam later repeated) under the impression that God wouldn't mind, so long as their intentions were 'good.' The saddest part is that the people not only went along with this idolatry, they were the ones rooting for it, no doubt proud of their great piety!
"Hey look, God, now that we're worshiping you our way, we're more devout than ever!"
My first awareness of who Jimmy Carter was, at that time, was an episode on the Jeffersons, in which George gave some rant against the inflation president. My dad made some comment about even the liberals hate the guy.
I have to chuckle grimly at Carter being one of "The Elders" also. Sounds like a shadowy group from an occult movie, doesn't it?
I'm even madder that Peter Gabriel is helping to fund the activities of "The Elders." I hope Phil Collins whacks him in the tush with a Paiste cymbal.
Jimmy Carter, LibProt, Egalitarianism and Women's Ordination, ... and part of the "Elders" (is that a facsimilie for a One World Order?).
Jimmy Carter is blessed. Blessed that Obama got elected. Who will then replace Carter as being the worst President ever.
I think you have a point; except Obama may well do more damage. He's got leverage Carter didn't. And the press hated Carter.
DJP: "I think you have a point; except Obama may well do more damage."
There's no "except". That was my point.
Oh, go easy on President Carter.
If it weren't for him, would we have ever had Billy to kick around?
On second thought... I think I could've done without Billy Beer.
"The Elders" just sounds really creepy.
Growing up as a Southern Baptist, I remember my mom being so impressed that Carter taught Sunday School while governor of GA (I think that's what she said.) As I got older and learned more about him, my question was, "But what was he teaching?" Just the fact that he taught SS isn't nearly as important as WHAT he was teaching and how he was influencing people. If he didn't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, it couldn't have been a good thing.
On a more personal note, I met Jimmy Carter when he was governor of Georgia. I was 8 or 9. My grandfather was part of the Georgia Botanical Society, and they tended the flower beds on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion in Atlanta.
I was spending the day with my grandfather, and "helping" him with the work (let's face it, I was probably more in the way then helpful) when Gov. Carter came by. He stopped to chat, he knew my grandfather's name (who was not a political supporter of Carter's,) and was very gracious to me when I was introduced.
From all reports, this is a way in which Carter differs from both of the last two presidents of his party, who see the "little people" as little more then furniture.
~Squirrel
...[Carter] knew my grandfather's name (who was not a political supporter of Carter's,)....
Then you may continue commenting here.
(Joke! Joke!)
Oh, and the church that Gov. Carter taught Sunday School at? While it was affiliated with the SBC, it was also a hive of neo-orthodoxy and was one of the most liberal churches in Atlanta (my Aunt and Uncle still go there.) I understand that the church has since left the Southern Baptists and become some sort of neo-episcopal thing...
~Squirrel
Carter and Obama make Clinton look very-nearly conservative! I scare myself sometimes wistfully longing for the good old Clinton days.
Glenn Beck just said, "They're building a giant exoskeleton and it's feasting on the Republic.
@Mesa Mike: That "Billy Beer" can did help raise the value of my brother's beer can collection. Point taken.
"Jimmy Carter.
Worst. Voting decision. Ever."
< nelson>Ha! Ha!< /nelson>
I'm right about your age, and did not make that particular mistake. Others, yeah, but not that one.
So, Jimmy's leaving the SBC. Bets on where he lands? I'm guessing ECUSA -- no dunk tank, but everything else an aging leftist would find appealing.
I just wish I could see someone go after Carter in a public forum on theology and pin his ears back. Let him reveal to the world his expertise on Scripture and Christian doctrine. He makes most of his ridiculous statements on theology to an ignorant media or fellow liberals, and never (from what I have seen) in a forum where he could get depantsed.
I was born in 1975 so I didn't get to vote until Clinton's second term.
Right. Whatever you say, wing nut. Let's see...
- 911 occurs on his watch while he's asleep at the wheel (how long did he read that children's book before he left). How many White House briefings didn't he read?!!
- Katrina?! You're doing a heck of a job Brownie. Asleep at the wheel again.
- Iraq. Let me guess... you think there are still WMDs and that Saddam hastily gets them out of Iraq (under our noses that we don't see... yet we know they were there when he was hiding them. $12B monthly cost (that you supply side morons don't even put on the budget). 4000+ Americans dead. Iraqi civilians dead: 100K to 1M depending on source (but we can go with 100K since I know you feel better about that). 2M Iraqis displaced from their homes.
- Afghanistan: By the end of '08 that war has turned into a disaster. And this is the one address al Qaeda. But you wing nuts fail to get that.
- Big government: Hmmm... Lets see... This seems to be a big issue to you. Yet you are conspicuously absent when it comes to Dick "Deficits don't matter" Cheney. But please, you DO know about Bush's largest government health care plan (Part D? Hello?!!!). And don't even get me started about the largest government department build up of Homeland Security. Hmmm.. CIA and FBI broken. Answer? Create another department. Nice.
- Economy: Asleep again at the wheel. Bear Sterns collapses and yet "we have a strong economy." He has presided over one of the worse economies since the Great Depression. And here are a few more little factoids for you, wing nut:
"President Bush has presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades, according to an analysis of key data, and economists across the ideological spectrum increasingly view his two terms as a time of little progress on the nation's thorniest fiscal challenges.
The number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush's tenure, the most tepid growth over any eight-year span since data collection began seven decades ago. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration. And Americans' incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush's father."
So go ahead, Phil. I know you won't let this be posted. But I can give a rip. You've read to this point. I know this blog is something your therapist or spouse asked you to use to deal with your anger issues. But hey... it's all good. You're a Christian. Just add water and you can be the biggest hypocritical jerk there is. You're a Christian. I'm sure you can use that Bible software you found from your online seminar school to find an out of context quote to back you up.
Just remember: Matt 7:1
I know, I know, it breaks a number of rules. But it's just so funny. You can't pay someone to parody himself like this!
So just this once, I'll invoke host's privilege and leave it up for a group chuckle and marvel at his reading-comprehension skills.
"Phil"
My initial response is still the same as the last time he announced this. "Don't let the door hit your..er..backside on the way out". And now I add, "WIll you please just LEAVE already!!"
As I marvel at your grasp of coherence.
Bye-bye, Filop
Of course, as is typical, you click the guy's profile and it is conveniently not found. Why am I not surprised? I am only amazed he used no cuss words.
My favorite,
- Katrina?! You're doing a heck of a job Brownie. Asleep at the wheel again.
How exactly can a person be asleep at the wheel when only an act of God can predict and control a hurricane? And what more could the man possibly have done that would not have violated a whole slew of federal and state jurisdiction laws? Would the commenter liked for Bush to have declared marshal law and placed all LA state authorities under the power of the military? We would have heard no end to the conspiracy grieving.
"Phil,"
Thanks for leaving that up. I needed the smile
~Squirrel
Apparently he registered lyingly using my email address, then changed it to what I'd wager is a false address, so he could come here and lecture us about Christianity and intelligence.
If forced to wager, I'd say it's an oft-banned poster with a very guilty conscience trying to make himself feel better at our expense, and failing.
I was out flying in a training formation the night Carter was whipped by Reagan. We all had a news station tuned in listening to the election results. When Carter conceded, our commander called the flight off and we went and partied for the rest of the night. Best training flight I ever had.
On a complete tangent, I just went through Hurricane Ike. There were a lot of complaints about aid, etc.
Everyone had a lot of notice. Yet two days after the hurricane people were demanding food, water, and ice. There were long lines within three days with some people getting out of sorts because they could only get one bag of ice.
I'm peeved because there is any aid at all. First of all, they should have prepared. I did. Secondly, my guess is that most adults around here could actually stand to go a day or two without a meal. Thirdly, even if I completely emptied my cupboard, I could probably go a few days or even weeks (with small portions) without additional food. So I find it ridiculous that people expect government to take care of them.
There's only one problem with urawingnut. He leaves behind too much spittle on my computer screen.
Thanks for not zapping him into cyberoblivion yet, Dan. That was a true exercise in raving. For a moment, I had the mental image of Inspector Clouseau's boss, Commisioner Dreyfus, in his padded cell writing "Kill Clouseau" on the wall with a crayon in his toes.
OSWingnut,
Wow. I really need to thank you.
See, today my dear husband sent me for a day of relaxing and pampering while he watched the kids and worked from home. I've had a really rough couple of weeks, and tomorrow morning I head off to a radiologist to have a fine needle biopsy on a possibly cancerous lump. So today was my day to unwind and then, tonight, we were going to go out for a quiet dinner alone (our first in at least a month). It was going to be great.
Instead, I came home from my relaxing day to discover that we didn't have a babysitter and my husband's boss had thrown some last minute thing at him just after I left. So, the house was a diaster, the kids were going crazy and needed dinner and baths, and my husband was locked in his office muttering and pounding on his laptop.
I was really tempted to cry.
Instead, I took a deep breath, prayed for grace, and went back into Mommy mode. Then I sat down to eat some leftover chicken soup and catch up at Dan's blog, and I read your ... comment.
And I laughed like I haven't in quite a while. It was great. Usually I get quite the giggle when Dan "translates" your little offerings, but reading it in the original language was just too good.
So, again, thanks. You really ministered to me.
And I actually hope Dan takes that into consideration should you decide to unleash your brilliance on us yet again, like some deranged Tasmanian Devil. There are quite a few regulars here who are going through far worse trials than me, and I just think laughter is so helpful sometimes.
"For a moment, I had the mental image of Inspector Clouseau's boss, Commisioner Dreyfus, in his padded cell writing "Kill Clouseau" on the wall with a crayon in his toes.
See? Laughing again. Such a ministry.
I don't think it's the guilty-conscienced sin-till-I-feel-better frequently-banned person you think it is. It's another guilty-conscienced sin-till-I-feel-better frequently-banned person, I am educatedly guessing.
Heh heh, urawingnut, LOL..
Well, we sure wouldn't want to use Matt 7:1 out of context, would we?
'Specially not when we're in the process of violating it ourselves.
Praying for you, Rachael. :)
(And, o, now I know who OSO is! No wonder....)
(On second thought, my own reading comprehension isn't so hot [I do admit that]. Just read Dan's comment and realized that perhaps it's not OSO after all....)
> Just read Dan's comment and
> realized that perhaps it's not OSO
> after all....
Yes. That was One Salient Oversight, wasn't it?
That book on Jimmy Carter reminded me of this book, "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality". I remember skimming through it at a local bookstore a few months before Obama became president. I started to worry...
Christianity is a demoniac false religion that was created simply to control society and keep everyone brainwashed. Christianity amounts to nothing more than a mind control system. Jesus's true teachings were edited out of the Bible thousands of years ago, and replaced with dogma. Those who follow the modern dogma version of Christianity are all going to hell. Wake up now, you slaves, or else you will all go to hell!
Hare Krishna Diary says, "Jesus's true teachings were edited out of the Bible thousands of years ago, and replaced with dogma."
Pics or it didn't happen!
P.S.: Let this be a reminder to you Dan, post about Carter and Obama at the same time and the crazies start coming out!
LOL, Jon. It's like you try worms, you try salmon eggs, and then you put on power bait and BAM!
HKD, interesting you pick a screen name that is internationally emblematic of brainwashed robots. So, actually, no, as long as we're talking about Carter and Obama (?!), we have a rich treasure-trove of original-language manuscripts reaching back to within decades of the apostles. Unparalleled in all ancient literature. Believe it or don't believe it, but what we have is what was taught from the start.
The first troll actually provides a great service (besides laughter). A little thought experiment: accept everything it says in its post without discernment, nuance, context, etc. Just pretend for the moment that it's all inarguably true.
Now with that in mind, answer this: Is that worse than Carter?
I don't think it is. At the very worst, it's debatable. Which illustrates just how awful Carter is. You take the worst batch of lies, slander, half-truths, misrepresentations, and biased slants on controversial issues you can imagine, accept them undiscerningly - and it's still better than Carter.
Wow. Thanks, troll. I had always known Carter was horrible. But without your help, his craptacularity wouldn't have been so clearly defined.
Wow, Phil. You get all the best nutcases...
~Squirrel
Rachel,
With a sister going through a cancer battle right now, we will be interceding for you all and praying for a good biopsy report.
As to the couple of trolls, including the latest one who thinks he's possessed by George Harrison's shade, don't trolls normally live under bridges? Blow the bridge, no more trolls.
Sorry. That's what I get for watching "Bridge Over the River Kwai."
Whenever someone says "Matt 7:1" I like to respond with "Matt 7:2-27."
Here's how bad it's getting.
My dear wife just wrote me — and called me "Phil."
I was in 6th grade when Carter was elected, aware of the election but I didn't really know enough to have an opinion either way. My dad, who normally voted Republican, voted for Carter, thinking he would be a good president -- and I remember how angry my parents were at Ford because he had pardoned Nixon. However, our state (Colorado) voted for Ford. The morning after the election, when I arrived at school I saw a group of girls my age (about 5 or 6 of them) standing in a circle, stomping their feet up and down in a regular pattern, chanting "Carter makes us croak" over and over!
My parents long since changed their minds about Carter's abilities as a president, and my dad was among the many who was very excited about Reagan-- and my first time to vote, I voted for Reagan in his second term. However, my parents continue (to this day) to believe that Carter was a good man, and a few years ago in their travels made a point about going to Carter's Sunday School class. It rather speaks for their own messed-up pseudo-Christian church-going beliefs, that they would still think so well of someone, when so much is known of the truth of Carter's views.
Could be worse, you could be 'Don'. Or 'Frank' :-D
As you may recall, Libbie, I have been all those things — and more.
Don't forget John Malkovich.
((Running away))
:D
You know, now that you bring that up....
So dear wife and I are watching... what? Let's see... oh, "The Changeleing." And I say, "Oh see, that's John Malkovich, who everyone and his dog says I look like."
Dear wife studies closely, says "No way."
"Can you even see why they say that?"
"No."
For the record, I never said that Dan looked like John Malkovich, I said Dan sounded like John Malkovich.
But, when your wife starts calling you "Phil," there is a problem...
~Squirrel
I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me you can call me Al.
I think this meta is losing it, or I am losing it. Probably the latter.
I look at that last pic of Jimmy Carter, and I wonder if that's the look he'll have after "talking" with Jesus right after he dies?
Or is that too judgmental?
To all sarah palin fans: Jimmy carter is a perfect example of why a professing Christian does not necessarily mean good leader.
All righty.
Jimmy carter is a perfect example of why a professing Christian does not necessarily mean a non-apostate Christian.
Post a Comment