YouTube allows people to respond to videos with their own video. I just finished watching a video response to Donald Miller’s prayer.

The guy in the video points out ways in which the Democratic Party often acts more like Jesus than the Republican Party. I found it quite interesting.

Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihh0YBk9ODQ

I have nothing but the greatest respect for Don Miller’s gift as a writer. And as a buyer of multiple copies of his books, I have certainly contributed to giving him the stature that now makes him the Christian worth courting by the DNC. But having said that, I take issue with at least one comment in his interview: “There are Democratic politicians who are not using us.” I am sorry, Don, name one…

We are facing the alarming prospect of electing a Democrat whose legislative record is nothing short of extremist when it comes to a disregard for the sanctity of life. Who believes that it’s the bitter, provincial and ignorant who cling to their religion. Whose idea of Christianity is to spend 20 years under the teachings of a racist crackpot and then tell us: “Oops, I didn’t know he was like this.” (Dude if you can’t figure that out in 20 years, what are you going to get in 4 years?). And knowing that “he was like that” sticking around anyway, until it became absolutely impossible not to jump ship.

All of a sudden the Dem. party falls all over itself in courting Christians. Why is that? Well, the answer is obvious. The wolves are getting fitted for sheep’s clothes, pretending to move to the right as they are getting more of the limelight, and figuring out that they may have a hard time making it in their own divided party situation without pulling in at least some Christian support. “If it worked for W, it should work for us too…”

The problem is not just abortion. Despite Don’s plea these are the people who have consistently mocked us Christians, marginalized us, ridiculed us. If they had their way, they would gladly legislate us out of existence (if you don’t believe this, check out what is happening to free Christian speech in Canada. Don’t think it can’t happen to us!).

These same people don’t think twice when it comes to insulting folks of most faiths (not just the “Christian right”) by promoting “gay marriage” or (in Obama’s tuned down version) “gay unions.” Their corrosive influence on our educational system and their effort to make sure that no kid may escape from it is equally upsetting. And, in the name of pluralism, rest assured that Christian freedoms of speech will be the first to go, particularly when Christians have the temerity to express some of Christ’s moral demands (although as Christians we need to show more compassion, realizing that non-Christians are in no way equipped to live up to those–and we aren’t doing that hot either).

This election year, the Democratic party obviously found it unnecessary to present even one moderate candidate who would be sympathetic to Christian concerns. Intoxicated by their own exuberance that they will win this thing one way or the other (not due to their own strength but due to the weakness and unpopularity of the current regime), they gave us Obama and Hillary. When all the other voter demographics were tapped, Christians became an afterthought. Thus the phony outreach to us. Once these people achieve the “absolute power” that they are hoping for, both houses of Congress and the White House with a possible Supreme Court nomination or two thrown in for good measure, are we really naive enough to believe that they will remember Don Miller or any of the other Christians who fell for their scam? Be prepared to become the Democratic laughing stock at that point!

TES,

We’ve been the Republican Party’s laughing stock for quite awhile now. As I’ve mentioned before, Republican’s made Roe V Wade possible to begin with (read this), yet they use that issue to control the Christian vote. And even if we someday are able to get Roe v Wade overturned, all that does is make it so that the states will be able to decide their own abortion policies. Here in California, there is no way abortion will ever go away.

I’m going to tell you, at the moment I plan to vote for Obama. Should McCain choose Mitt Romney as his running mate I might reconsider. But I’m tired of being a laughing stock for the elephants.

im sorry i am so not down with this. i think mostly what hell do is give them street cred now in the eyes of most people. im not saying go jump ship back to the rep’s either.

Gosh i am so sick of the dems, i hate how they come off in the media as the righteous party, the peoples party…EVERY ROCK BAND hangs out at their conventions. its such a blind sheep thing. NOONE questions them

basically old rich people go for republicans and young heartfelt hip people hang out with dems.

i just dont think they represent me either. and what does donald mean by making abortion illegal isnt working?

when was the last time it was illegal? 1972?

N-O!

John, You MUST start using punctuation!!!! I got stumped with “I think mostly what hell do is give them…” !!!! Communication must be clear and your lack of use of proper punc. is NOT clear!

Sorry, but I’m tired of trying to figure out what you’re trying to say!

Donny: I checked out the Glass Priest and think he should stick with his self-taught violin lessons rather than go into the correct teachings of Jesus Christ. It isn’t cool to think studying the Gospels is “f**king cool”. Any truth he might have had just got dumped, for me. Call me old-fashioned, if you want.

Also, as for voting for Obama just because you’re pissed at the Reps for not fixing abortion (in your opinion!) is cutting your nose off in spite of your face. They’ll not only keep it alive and well, but will proceed to murder “almost-newborns” with a clear conscience, led by Obama himself. Besides, I thought you didn’t want the election decided just upon the abortion issue. The Dems are far worse in more than abortion issues than the Reps, as bad as they are already – as stated by TES.

McCain is far from perfect, but the lessor of the two evils. Too bad we have these choices this election.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Mr. Miller used “prayer” as a platform to express his political beliefs, which he obviously read so as to not forget them all.  Sorry, lost me again.  I thought prayer was communication with our Almighty God….silly me!Was the 10-second “blip” censorship???

Jean,

It’s not uncommon to have one’s prayer written out if it’s to be read in public.

As for voting Democrat, besides the abortion and same-sex marriage issues, their party goals align more to what Jesus spoke than those of the Republicans. And since the Republicans don’t really practice what they preach anyway…

I’ll take a benevolent dictatorship under God rather than a socialist one under man any day. And the dems do practice what they preach? Come on, Donny!

Reminds me of the Pharisee praying in the square….

I’m in trouble, I know it…..

Oh, you’re definitely in trouble.

Can you tell me the reasons you vote Republican?

Donny,

I don’t disagree with your idea that Rep’s have coopted Christians and ultimately failed to deliver on many issues. At the same time, “other than abortion and same-sex marriage” (other than the systematic murder of the unborn and the total undermining and perversion of the first institution God created in the scriptures)… those are some pretty huge exceptions.

Furthermore, I fail to see where those issues are where they really line up with Jesus. “Social justice”, some say. I fail to see that. Jesus asked us to show kindness, generosity and charity. He never suggested that it was the elimination of poverty was ever possible in this life. Nor that it should be delegated to the gov’t. Nor that it should become an underwriting of entitlements, more than the occasional laziness (I know, not all…) and professional indigence, bankrolled by the middle-class while generously administered by rich , privileged Obama and his rich friends. It’s become entitlement traded for votes. How corrupt! How uncharitable to those who actually work for a living!

The environment? I find most environmentalist views quite suspicious. They seem more pagan (mother earth) than truly respectful of the “crown of creation” whom this earth is supposed to serve and who will be responsible to account to their Creator for it. Furthermore, I find it hard to look to politicians here either. Who? A hypocrite like Al Gore who makes up environemntal alarmist data and then retreats to his environmental disaster of a mansion?

I am deeply concerned how more and more gov’t continually erodes our liberties. Political correctness, multi-culturalism, liberalism–all at the expense of our freedoms. I agree there is a ton of selfishness and corruption in any political party. But that does not mean I have to climb in bed with the worst, most ungodly and most hypocritical of them all.

Put simply, I’d rather go with the party that is more for the people and less government, than more government at the expense of some (as TES said – those who actually work for a living!). BTW – amen again to TES!

I’ve lived long enough to see that the Repulican party is very much like the Democratic one when JFK was president. Not good seeing that means they BOTH have slid even further toward socialism. Scary.

Jean,

Don’t tell me that you think social services are only for those who don’t work…

Republicans for the people? Huh?

I wasn’t going to comment but I’ll just say one thing.
I agree with Jean and TES.
Well, two things- Donny I’m kind of stunned that you’re voting for Obama.

Donny, please, I didn’t say Reps are for the people, I said they are more for the people than the Dems. Big difference! None of the parties are very good today. Don’t you read all that I put down?????

Social services? What are those? Aren’t we all to be responsible for ourselves??? My “social services” now is paying tons of taxes!! And we’ve never been beholden to anyone else for our health insurance, nor university fees, nor education (except taxes) and my children went to private schools, neither was I paid by the baby….. and we have had periods of unemployment, too, with only help from our families, not the government. I praise God for the blessings He’s poured on our family, but we trust Him and not the social services our govenment bestows on just about everyone asking!

Tons of your taxes are funding a war, the funding of which could easily make health care for everyone a reality.

The Republicans are definitely not more “for the people” as you suggest. You’re simply buying into the lie they’ve convinced the churches to believe. It’s garbage. I’d highly recommend reading both sides with an open mind. Turn off the Rush Limbaugh and pick up books written by “Liberals”. You don’t have to swallow what they’re saying, but at least get an idea of where they’re coming from. You just might find yourself more in the “middle” than you’d previously believed possible.

Hey Donny, thanks for your comment over on my blog. That interview was great. Also, as a side note, my wife and I were married in Arcade Baptist Church, and my in-laws attend church there (I saw in your “about” section that you did an interview there with Jake).

Peace,
Brian

Brian,

Besides being the Lead Pastor at Arcade, Jake is on the board of XXXChurch. Did you listen to that interview? I was really glad Jake invited me to speak there.

Some interesting quotes… this first one was posted in response to the YouTube video of Don’s Prayer:

Jesus Christ would not be an advocate in a very earthly self-serving foundation like politics which just proves my point. Out of both sides, the conservative right uses Christianity as a tool more so than any other party. I don’t measure person’s loyalty to Christian principles by how they vote for social programs, I measure a person’s loyalty to how they adhere to the teachings and principles of Jesus Christ. Both sides fall short; but the right wing truly warp the message of Christ.

This next quote is from Cameron Strang, the founder and CEO of Relevant magazine. He had been asked to give that prayer and ended up backing out and recommending Don. Here are his reasons for doing so:

“As a pro-life voter, I never intended my participation to imply unequivocal endorsement, and the DNC knew that and were fine with that. I viewed it simply as an opportunity to continue positive dialogue, show support for a continuing emphasis on faith issues, and pray in a forum where faith isn’t typically thought to be emphasized. I wanted to show that this generation of values voters doesn’t necessarily need to draw battle lines politically the way previous generations have, that we can work through areas of disagreement to further the common good.

“However, the reality is, through RELEVANT I reach a demographic that has strong faith, morals and passions, but disagreements politically. It wouldn’t be wise for me to pick a political side, when I’ve consistently said both sides are right in some areas and both sides are wrong in some areas. My desire is to keep an open dialogue with both campaigns and talk about the issues that matter to my generation of Christians. If my praying at the DNC was perceived as showing favoritism and incorrectly labeling me as endorsing one candidate over the other, then I needed to have pause. And that’s what was happening.

“So I brought that concern up to the DNC, and they understood. I recommended bestselling author Don Miller as a much better representative of our audience than I am, and they were glad to invite him to give the invocation in my place. I think this will ultimately be much better for the DNC. The campaign and I still have positive dialogue, and I’m thankful for that.

“Like I mentioned, they’ve invited me to participate in a “Faith in the ’08 Election” panel on Thursday, which seems to be a perfect fit. It allows me to continue a positive conversation with the DNC and be involved a bit more behind the scenes. I want to make sure our generation of Christians has a place at the table, so to speak, and this will afford us that chance — even moreso than if I was to give a prayer onstage.

“As an aside, in a “put your money where your mouth is” move this week, I changed my party affiliation from Republican to Independent. I want to vote because of values and convictions, not party affiliations. To me, that’s an important part of being a thinking, values-minded Christian.”

I think I’ll follow suit and change my own party affiliation from Republican to Independent as well…

Wow, I must say this is a very good/interesting discussion. I am not going to put a lot of my two cents in right now, maybe in the future, but I did want to say it is nice to see people actually talking about these issues (hopefully opened -mindedly). The funny thing to me is, this is pretty much what Miller wanted people to do, talk about the issues. I feel many people have lost sight of that in this discussion. Am I wrong in this view?

Jean, you talk about choosing the “lesser of two evils” in this election year and are disappointed in our choices. I want to put out there that there are multiple parties to choose from, but unfortunately we only hear about the major two. Looking into some of the third parties. Some people may see this as throwing a vote away, but in reality, it is a call from a minority that they are dissatisfied with the status quo that is set up. If there is enough of this, things could change and, though it is slim, third parties could have a chance in the future.

Donny. I have been reading you faithfully for a while. I appreciate your openness to question things and to get people into discussions. Again, I think this is part of what Miller was talking about. It is refreshing to me to see that evangelicals are looking to something other than the Republican Party, (as much as I feel that abortion and gay marriage issues are important, I despise that they are the litmus test for voting among the so called “religious right”) As someone who is changing thinking on things as I grow up and mature as well as taking a broader look at things, it is always good to see people that you agree and respect saying the same things you think, I.E. you and Miller.

Nancy,

What I find stunning is that Christians consistently vote Republican. This current administration is grotesque. It really changed my mind entirely about the party. I registered Republican when I turned 18 in 1991. I have voted every time the polls were opened. And until GWBs re-election campaign I always voted the Party lines. Always.

But that first term of his… wow! And the second term is even worse than the first!

The actions of this administration opened my eyes. We’ve been lied to for a very long time. I am planning to vote Obama, quite honestly, simply because I feel the Republican Party has betrayed my trust.

But as I mentioned before, should McCain choose Mitt Romney as his running mate I might reconsider. I have a lot of respect for the things Romney has accomplished.

In our country we have a system of checks and balances. I don’t believe Obama wants to make abortion more widespread than it already is. I choose to believe him when he says he thinks it should be rare. And while I don’t believe it should happen at all, I am confident that (1) Obama isn’t going to do much of anything on this issue – the same can be said for his opponent and (2) even if he were to try to “loosen the strings” I don’t think our system of checks and balances will allow it.

Since Roe v Wade became law we’ve had the following REPUBLICAN Presidents: Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr. Add up all the years they severed and tell me which one overturned Roe v Wade (it happened on Nixon’s watch!) ? So if McCain were actually to do something the last 5 Republicans we’ve had have not done, abortion would STILL not go away… it would go back to a state by state basis. I’m not sure how many states would outlaw the practice, but I’d guess it wouldn’t be many.

The point is that abortion won’t be an issue if we work on EDUCATING people, changing their hearts, and providing better options. Legislating morality won’t work. Hearts have got to change. And if we change them, it won’t matter if abortion is legal or not… it won’t be an issue!

As for gay marriage and civil unions… at this point it doesn’t really matter what the President thinks of such things, because the States still have the power to decide for themselves on the matter.

So what it boils down to is that Obama has contradictory views to my own on two issues that he likely won’t influence in any way should he become President and it is my opinion that anyone who says otherwise is either scare-mongering or believing a scare monger.

But he’ll likely have a lot of influence over an issue that bothers me greatly: Iraq. We’ve killed a whole lot of innocent Iraqi civilians, and that needs to stop ASAP. And we need a President who is not going to be so quick to go to war with yet another country during his years of service. The amounts of dollars spent on killing Iraqi civilians for their country’s oil could have medically insured all of us. Or it could have been put to other good uses.

John McCain is a war hero. I love him. I am very happy he is able to afford 7 houses. He deserves it, most likely. But I don’t want him to be my President. He agrees with George W Bush way too much of the time for my tastes, and I am (almost) convinced “Dubya” is the worst President in our country’s history.

Donald Miller has a new blog, and the first entry includes his thoughts on praying at the end of the DNC’s opening day, as well as emails between he and Barack Obama (hee hee). Check it out here:

http://donmilleris.com/2008/08/27/donald-miller-barack-obama/

Joe Biden gave a pretty good speech tonight. Bill Clinton did “okay” too. You can see both on this page:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/dnc.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories#cnnSTCVideo

TES –

You REALLY need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid, kiddo. Your foaming at the mouth anti-Dem rants are, well, great material for late night comedy routines.

For example you write: “… professional indigence, bankrolled by the middle-class while generously administered by rich , privileged Obama and his rich friends. It’s become entitlement traded for votes.”

What the…?? Just what kind of bank accounts do you think the silver spoon in the mouth Bushes and Cheneys and plundering rich oil men have? These, and their corporate fat cat buddies, are the ones raping the economy. It’s CORPORATE welfare that is dragging the country into the economic pit of hell. In the 70′s the ratio of CEO pay to the average worker was 20 to 1… today, thanks to Bush and the a string of GOP handouts, that rate is 200 to 1!!

Obama, rich? Compared to the average household salary, yes. Rich compared to the GOP leadership? Not even close. McCain is so stinking rich he can’t even remember how many houses he has.

Your pathetic, empty headed ramblings are a great example of why the GOP will continue to be party with its head up its…

Do you REALIZE that the GOP leadership LAUGH at supporters like you? Yes, they do. They think you’re all mindless idiots; you continue to support them, they grow rich and powerful and you… well, you troll obscure blogs and waste what little intellectual power you have trying to convince others that the GOP isn’t just “right” it’s RIGHT.

Tes-

You cannot have it both ways. If you want to assign Christian beliefs to government policy (i.e. the systematic murder of the unborn and the total undermining and perversion of the first institution God created in the scriptures), then do not do it half heartedly. James says this, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” So why are you so against welfare, helping those in need? If you want us to be a Christian nation with laws guided by the Bible, then we need to stop judging the single girl who gets an abortion and try to help her.

Let’s stop harping on the abortion issue, until we address the thousands of adoptable children that are within foster care right now. It’s easy to protest thousands of innocent white babies that are being aborted, but its a lot harder to look at a dark-skinned child who has experienced more hurt and abandonment in his five years of life than you can imagine and say that he is wanted.

Marriage? I have a hard time looking a gay person in the eye and telling him that he will destroy the sanctity of marriage when today 2 out of 3 marriages end in divorce. If you were not aware, the divorce rate for Christian couples is just as high as the national average. Apparently, even a legal union is bad in your eyes.