Cal Thomas declares – “Obama is no Christian” Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement.
Cal Thomas declares – “Obama is no Christian”
– July 2, 2008
Cal Thomas declares – “Obama is no Christian” Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement.
About the Author
Bill Reichart is a husband, daddy of two daughters and a pastor at Big Creek Church (pca) in North Atlanta. Bill received his Masters of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando. Before pastoring a church, he worked with college students in the northeast for over 16 years. He really enjoys movies, science fiction/fantasy writing (yes he’s been to a Star-Trek convention!), the Simpsons and theology books - not necessarily in that order. He has always been fascinated with the intersection of culture and his faith. 
Wow, Cal Thomas is kind of a jerk and kind of says things that just come out of nowhere. It might have been helpful if he ever explained what that “clear requirement” actually was. I had been under the impression that it probably had something to do with faith in Christ’s salvific work, but apparently it has more to do with agreeing with Cal Thomas—who demonstrates ineptitude when dealing with English terms such as false prophet.
I don’t know if Obama is a Christian (as if it mattered for the purpose at hand), but Cal Thomas doesn’t know either. At least one of us admits it.
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@Dane I agree with you that Cal was way out of bounds by making a judgment on his faith. I have met Cal and have respected his writing in the past, esp his book with Ed Dobson, but Cal’s pronouncement upon Obama’s faith is not going to set well with young “evangelicals” who are tired of people narrowly defining what “faith” looks and sounds like.
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@Bill – I think you’re right about the young quote-unquotes. Add to that the fact that our life in Christ has never been contingent upon the level to which we understand our faith and we have to come to the place where we remember that it’s God who judges the soul, not we. And unless, the elders of the church try Obama, find him unrepentant of sin (bad theology isn’t not yet a tryable sin), and excommunicate him for the good of his soul, it is our place to take him at his word.
True, his theology is messy, so we shouldn’t put him in a position of spiritual authority, but he’s only trying to be president, not something as important as a Sunday School teacher.
The Danes last blog post..20080612
Before you accuse someone of not being a Christian, you need to understand what Jesus stood for yourself.
Perhaps Cal Thomas should take the Jesus Test at http://www.sentforlife.com/jesus.html . He may be surprised by the results.
Dave, you can’t be serious about that Jesus Test.
Why don’t you check out a book on logic and do a special study of strawman fallacies and begging the question.
Oh, and then go to the Bible and read up on bearing false witness.
@Dane- What leads you to believe that Cal Thomas didn’t explain what the requirement was?
He writes:
Evangelicals and serious Catholics might ask if this is so, why did Jesus waste His time coming to Earth, suffering pain, rejection and crucifixion? If there are many ways to God, He might have sent down a spiritual version of table manners and avoided the rest.
And:
Any first-year seminary student could deconstruct such “works salvation” and wishful thinking. Obama either hasn’t read the Bible, or if he has, doesn’t believe it if he embraces such thin theological wisps.
And:
Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement. One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian.
I’ll grant you that the “false prophet” comment was weird, but I think that Thomas has explained what the requirements are. Whatever else you might think about the article he’s explained his point.
@David – Well, he does seem to hint at what he believes are, quote-unquote, clear requirements, but he doesn’t ever come right out and say it. This allowed me to give Cal Thomas the benefit of the doubt—allowed me to believe that he couldn’t possibly mean what it sounded like he was saying. Because really, all those statements, while not stating so explicitly, do seem to imply that salvation rests upon the proper single-filing of one’s theological ducks.
All Thomas’s statements are beratements of Obama’s lack of theological clarity. Of his apparent syncretism of a Christianity that has absorbed the American culture of wishful thinking. I truly deeply wanted to believe that Thomas had a better understanding of the gospel than what his text seemed to imply—by the measure with which he apparently measures Obama, Thomas too ought to exclude himself from the kingdom of God (whether God will exclude him or not being an entirely different story)—for if what you present really is Thomas’s measure by which we determine Christian or Not Christian, than his theological ducks are every bit as squirrelly as Obama’s.
Since when has theological tidiness been the key by which individuals unlock the gate of heaven? Since when has God required even a perfect understanding of the gospel in order to make a people his own? Since when is the abandonment of “works salvation” in any way related to one’s salvation? (If such legalism is a barrier to salvation, then we’ve just exclude—at minimum—98% of members in good standing of conservative, Bible-believing churches.)
So thanks for pointing out that Cal Thomas was more clear about his criteria than I gave him credit for. Now I’m just more depressed about that article.
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Incidentally, by that first statement, Thomas ought to call into question C.S. Lewis’s own salvation—as Lewis allowed for the possibility that God would permit salvation apart from express faith in the Son.
And maybe Thomas would.
The Danes last blog post..20080612