Confused about Obama's faith? So is he

By Dan Popp

Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? — Jesus (Luke 6:46 NASB)

Some people are confused about Barack Obama's religion. Other people are confused about why there is confusion. It would be confusing to me if there were not confusion about this issue, because the President seems to be the most muddled and befuddled of all.

Back in 2004, when he was running for the Senate, candidate Obama did an interview with a friendly reporter about his faith. In that chat he said: "So, I have a deep faith. I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place...."

It's true that Christians believe that many paths lead to the same place. We call that place, "hell."

Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." (Matt. 7:13,14)

If "many paths" lead to heaven, Jesus did not have to die on the cross — His death was meaningless. If Jesus said that the way to God is narrow when it is not, then Jesus is a liar. Someone who believes that Jesus taught falsehoods, and that His death was not the only possible propitiation for the sins of the world, is not a follower of the Way; he is not a Christian.

That's not me being all elitist and uppity about who gets in the club; that's just Aristotelian logic. You can't believe in someone you don't believe. You can't follow someone while you're making up your own directions.

To the question of whether everyone worships the same mush-god, Obama wants to parse Christ's clear, declarative statement, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." (John 14:6) In context, it's impossible to read this any other way than as a claim to be the exclusive mediator between God and humans (see also 1 Timothy 2:5).

But the Christian claim of uniqueness runs throughout the New Testament. For just a few examples in one chapter, consider:

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" John 3:3

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:14-18

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him." John 3:36

Acts 4:12 is unequivocal: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."

So Obama's Christ is an invention of his own mind (or someone's mind — perhaps the Right Reverend Wright's), not the real Savior.

But wait, there's more.

As the interviewer approvingly reported, "Obama doesn't believe he, or anyone else, will go to hell."

It's hard to grasp the utter absurdity of someone calling himself a Christian who doesn't believe in hell. What does he think the Savior came to save us from — low self esteem? Besides which, the would-be disciple is again branding Jesus a liar while claiming to believe in Him. Jesus preached often about hell — and about heaven. Once more, Obama confesses not his faith, but his disbelief:

I don't presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. When I tuck in my daughters at night, and I feel like I've been a good father to them, and I see in them that I am transferring values that I got from my mother and that they're kind people and that they're honest people, and they're curious people, that's a little piece of heaven.

Awwww. So cute. And so heretical. The New Testament is full of references to knowing that one has eternal life. "But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31)

The most disturbing thing about Barack Obama's Confusianity is that he is not alone. He seems to be farther along than some in the process of dissolving the light of the Gospel into the darkness of Humanism, Socialism and Gaia-worship, but he is walking the broad road, and he has many fellow travelers.

Who is Barack Obama's god?

"It's not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God.... I'm constantly asking myself questions about what I'm doing, why I am doing it."

I wonder: When he prays to himself, does he answer?

© Dan Popp