{"id":4967,"date":"2008-03-17T06:42:52","date_gmt":"2008-03-17T06:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/03\/obama-distancing-himself-from.html"},"modified":"2008-03-17T06:42:52","modified_gmt":"2008-03-17T06:42:52","slug":"obama-distancing-himself-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/03\/obama-distancing-himself-from.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama distancing himself from pastor’s remarks on the campaign trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making sure everyone knows<\/a> that he has nothing do with his pastor’s rhetoric:<\/p>\n

Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday decried “the forces of division” over race that he said are intruding into the Democratic presidential nomination contest.
\n“We have to come together,” he told a town-hall meeting at a high school.
\nHe cited videos of inflammatory sermons given by his pastor that are now being used as political ammunition against him\u2014remarks that Obama has denounced.
\n“If all I knew were those statements I saw on television, I would be shocked,” Obama said.
\nObama suggested that more and more is being made of racial divisions as his contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton heats up.
\n“I noticed over the last several weeks that the forces of division have started to raise their ugly heads again. And I’m not here to cast blame or point fingers because everybody, you know, senses that there’s been this shift,” Obama said.
\n“It reminds me: We’ve got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country. We’ve got a lot of pent-up anger and bitterness and misunderstanding. … This country wants to move beyond these kinds of things.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes we do have to move on but we won’t if pastors like Wright continue to foment hatred and bitterness instead of forgiveness. Preaching from a position of oppression and using that to rebuke your enemies and uplift your congregation by fellowshipping in the suffering of Christ could be constructive but if you left it there, you’d be preaching the law, not the gospel. Moving on to forgiveness is necessary for the good of the congregation because that’s the heart of the gospel. We are commanded to forgive those who have wronged us:<\/p>\n

Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
\nMatthew 18:21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
\nMark 11:25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
\nLuke 17:3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him
\nColossians 3:13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A number of denominations have asked for forgiveness for their denominations part in slavery, have they been forgiven? When can we move on? Not until there is forgiveness.
\nWright may have preached forgiveness but if he had, the rhetoric he used in the videos was not helpful and was a step backward. Forgiveness needs to be preached each time he touches on the theme of racism. He is doing a disservice the congregation if he does not. Forgiving those who have sinned against you in the past and continue to do so is hard, but Jesus understands what it means to forgive those who don’t deserve forgiveness since we are forgiven through his sacrifice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making sure everyone knows that he has nothing do with his pastor’s rhetoric: Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday decried “the forces of division” over race that he said are intruding into the Democratic presidential nomination contest. “We have to come together,” he told a town-hall meeting at a high school. He cited videos of inflammatory…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,399,402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-politics-2","category-religion-2"],"yoast_head":"\nObama distancing himself from pastor's remarks on the campaign trail - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2008\/03\/obama-distancing-himself-from.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama distancing himself from pastor's remarks on the campaign trail - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Making sure everyone knows that he has nothing do with his pastor’s rhetoric: Sen. 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