OBAMA AND THE PULPIT

There is so much about this that disturbs me that I hardly know where to begin. But here are some quick thoughts:

1. Obama in the pulpit. That's just too, too close to the GWB "pastor-in-chief" meme. Is that what we're voting for?
2. His too-absolute identification with Christianity. Are Jews, Muslims, Mormons, atheists and agnostics going to feel as if he's their president too?
3. The quote about "doing the Lord's work." So, like Bush, he believes he's anointed by God for the presidency? I'd like to know what "Lord's work" he's done in the past, or is this just another promise we're supposed to hope he keeps?
4. The whole flyer is so staged and pretentious, it's embarrassing. It's an insult to people of faith. Just how stupid does he think the people of Kentucky are? Does he think they don't know a giant pander when they see one?
5. This lines up perfectly and bizarrely with the religious/cult/messianic flavor of Obama's campaign. It's one thing for one's supporters to develop true-believer-itis on their own, it's another to actively encourage it.

Holy smoke (pun clearly intended), can you imagine if Hillary had put out something similar? They'd be mocking her on MSNBC and in the blogs till the cows come home.

FAITH VS. HOPE

Just wow. I'm just now catching up on the news of last night's extraordinary victory for Hillary in West Virginia.

Last night I slipped on some oil in the parking garage at work and strained my already-suffering back and knees (long story involving past surgeries), but dragged myself into the car and drove home as quickly as I could, intending to drown my pain in lots of Tylenol and lots and lots of election results and commentary. It was certainly one of those days. I arrived home to find the electricity off (rainstorms in Dallas), including my digital cable. So no TV, no Internet. I just wrapped both knees in heating pads, put one behind my back, and settled in with a good book instead and went to bed early.

So everything's back on this morning, and I awaken to the news that Hillary beat Barry by 41%, but it doesn't matter. WWTSBQ? is the anthem of the media and the Obama campaign. Right-wing talk radio is full of "she's toast, let's get on with it" commentary -- you can almost hear them salivating over the radio, they're so anxious to get her out of it and take on BO.

It's not over till it's over. I've given far more money to Hillary's campaign than I have ever before donated to a candidate, yet yesterday I sent another $50 just on faith. What a return!

And that reminds me. I've been thinking of posting on the difference between faith and hope for some time now. This will be a quickie.

Faith as defined in the Bible is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," while the dictionary defines hope as the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; to believe, desire, or trust; to feel that something desired may happen.

Notice the difference between the two -- faith requires evidence, hope is a feeling or desire. We have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow because IT ALWAYS HAS (evidence). We hope our team will win (desire).

I have faith in Hillary because I have the evidence of her past record, her behavior, her character as demonstrated in the public domain for decades, and her explicit promises as outlined in her policy positions and issues papers. Barack's supporters have hope that he'll live up to his rhetoric, but they cannot have faith because there is no evidence that he ever has.

What's the intelligent, mature perspective?