Erick Erickson Just Got Even Nuttier Somehow

Bear in mind that Erick Erickson is an actual elected official in Macon, GA.

By Faith: I Am Proud of Franklin Graham

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Sunday, August 22nd at 9:00AM EDT

Okay, so you know this is going to be nutty. He's going to be sticking up for Graham's jerk-off comments about Barack Obama being "born Muslim." But first, he starts off with a strange verse from the book of Hebrews:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

— Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIV)

I'm not sure what that verse means. Apparently, if you get to Heaven and decide "ehh, this is not for me," you get the opportunity to return to earth? I don't know. Maybe it will make sense in the context of the article. But I wouldn't bet on it!

Much has been made this week of Franklin Graham’s comments both about the Ground Zero Mosque and Barack Obama’s religion. It has been more than hilarious to watch all the news networks, newspapers, and pundits try to explain Graham’s comments.

I know my sides were splitting!

All of those who have been talking about his comments have talked about them from a political point of view.

Franklin Graham could care less. I could care less. What Franklin Graham said is dead on.

Okay, I think what you mean to say is that you could NOT care less. If you could care less, then you do in fact care, at least a little bit. Like I could probably care less about NASCAR, but it's hard to imagine how.

Specifically, this week Graham noted that Barack Obama was born a muslim.

“I think the president’s problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name,” Graham told CNN’s John King in a televised interview that aired Thursday night.

So, apparently, Franklin Graham thinks that there is some sort of "Muslim gene" or some type of Muslim pathogen that is transmitted from generation to generation. That even though little Barack never really knew his father, he still inherited the Muslim pre-disposition through genetics? Or something?

Also, is Graham saying that Obama's mother was Jewish, or that just generally, the Jewish gene is passed from the distaff side of the family tree? There's no Jewish gene on the y chromosome?

Likewise, Graham said if the State Department paid him or another Christian to do outreach, there’d be all sorts of outcry. But, due to double standards, there was no outcry over the State Department putting the Ground Zero mosque imam on the payroll.

Maybe because that was done by George W. Bush's administration? And maybe because we don't have any need to convince the world that we are not at war with Christendom, so it would be extremely silly to hire Frank Graham to do outreach to Christians?

First, about Barack Obama’s faith — it is clear when he was enrolled in school in Indonesia his parents listed his faith as Islam. The New York Times, in 2008, buttressed that. One is not born into Islam (Rev. Graham got that point technically wrong), but as Streiff has pointed out, at one time his parents listed his religion as “Islam.”

Oh, he got that "technically wrong" did he? He came thiiiis close to being right on that one? Just a technicality. Technically, he was dead fucking wrong in a pretty insane, stupid, and ignorant way. Technically.

Also, not to nitpick, but listing his religion as "Islam" was the only way to get him accepted into the better school, but sure, let's just go ahead and assume that that was a binding legal document which cemented his Musliminess.

Barack Obama says he converted to Christianity. Just like Hillary Clinton, we will take him at his word. If he claims he converted and has taken advantage of the gifts of the spirit without a true conversion, that is between him and God.

Yeah, I suspect that he may have converted without having a conversion. Which is like taking a walk without walking, or having dinner without eating. Very sad, I pity him.

I pity him if his conversion is insincere. “For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Heb. 2:2-3a)

Wha??? I don't get it. What does that have to do with. . . you know what, forget it. I don't want to know.

I await calls from the birthers for the baptismal certificate.

Ha! I mock the crazy birthers to make myself look relatively sane by comparison! I'm not crazy, just because I think that Barack Obama might be lying about his religious beliefs in order to, um, to do something. Something bad, probably?

In any event, it is beside the point. Franklin Graham does not speak as a man of the political world, but a man of faith.

A man of faith who goes on a political TV show to talk about political things. Obviously he cares nothing for your silly politics!

His view, and mine, is a reliance, by faith, on the Hope of ages past and yet to come — that is Christ against the world.

I thought Christ loved the world. Hence his coming down to it to save it. When did he turn against it?

We live by faith as pilgrims in an alien world headed home to eternity. There are too many people in this world who, when confronted with questions of faith, opt for the polite answer instead of the real answer. By faith and history, Franklin Graham understands that there is only one way, one Truth, and one life. No one goes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. No one.

Powerful words. You know what would really have a strong impact now? A jarring non-sequitur!
Aaaand, in 3. . . 2. . 1. .

That is what our faith teaches us. Shame on the media for dwelling more on Franklin Graham’s words than on the imam of the Ground Zero Mosque. But there is a reason for that too.

Well done. I have whiplash!

Shame on the media for dwelling more on Franklin Graham’s words than on the imam of the Ground Zero Mosque. But there is a reason for that too. The political elites in this world view Islam as, frankly, primitive.

Woah! You may have accidentally said something true there. Just the part about people thinking of Islam as primitive, not the other parts.

The political elites in this world view Islam as, frankly, primitive. “Well of course those crazy guys would believe in something like Sharia,” think the secular political elites. After all, they are several hundred years behind Christianity. Christians have evolved — go to any Episcopalian church and you’ll see a gay priest, a female priest, or what have you.

I'm not sure that anyone really thinks Christians have "evolved." I've never heard anyone say that.

Christians like Graham, and me, are viewed with the same suspicion as muslim clerics who defend their faith, but Graham and you and me. . .

Hey! Leave me out of this!

Christians like Graham, and me, are viewed with the same suspicion as muslim clerics who defend their faith, but Graham and you and me will be questioned because, after all, Christianity is supposed to be more evolved. Therefore, for us to hold true to our faith means there must be something wrong with us individually, not with the religion. (This, of course, is at a superficial level. Theologically, and I’m not going to explore the depths of this here, it is because the world persecutes Christians because the world is against Christ.)

The world persecutes Christians. Yeah, that's so true. The world is totally anti-Christian. You know, except for most of Europe, the USA, Latin America. . . but hey, China, Sudan and parts of the Middle East is pretty much the whole world.

By faith we believe, we persevere, and we know that there will be a last day and a final judgment. On that day we who persevere win because Christ wins against this world. It is that simple. It is that offensive. It is precisely that which our secular media and political elites do not understand and cannot grasp. That is why they dwell on Franklin Graham and the political impact of his words. These people live for the now.

Franklin Graham and all those who follow Christ live for eternity.

So why is Franklin Graham putting his nose into earthly affairs? Why should it matter to him who builds what where or what faith the President is if these temporal issues are only important to the secular media and political elites? And if he doesn't want the secular media dwelling on his words, why speak those words on a secular TV show? Also, I still don't get the Hebrews thing from the beginning of the article. But then, I'm guessing neither do you.