Yesterday, during his radio show, James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family) said this…
Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I’m not talking politically, I’m not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.
I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn’t exist, or he’s irrelevant to me and we have killed fifty-four million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences too.
And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that’s what’s going on. SOURCE
And nobody’s surprised…
I honestly no longer know how to respond to things like this. I could write a snarky post, but what good does that do? It makes a few people laugh and takes time away from my writing/work. Oh trust me, if I cared or believed that Mr. Dobson’s message was anything new or somehow relevant to the conversation, I might invest time. But it’s not. It’s the same message that he’s be spewing for decades. I think it’s mean, thoughtless, and lacks compassion. And not to mention, really poorly timed.
So I guess I lied. I do know how to respond to things like this.
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Huckabee, Dobson, Fisher, Piper… they’ve all proven themselves to be nothing more than Westboro Baptist without the signs.
I think there is an element of truth to what he’s saying, only in that when we as people intentionally walk away from God (life) we find ourselves headed towards death. I wouldn’t use the word judgement, but I would say that God does give us over to our own desires; and sin is death and pain, for ourselves but also for those around us.
Andrew, I don’t even know what that means. If you turn away from God, you will suffer. In this life? I dunno. Seems like plenty of people do just fine without God. And I’m not being irreverent, I’m saying just what Job says. In this life, you don’t always get what you deserve. Bad people prosper, good people suffer. And so it has always been.
It is lousy theology which has tried to find “evidence” in this life. God “blesses” the successful, God “cursed” the suffering. I vote we have a moratorium on that kind of thinking..
so Andrew, what do you do with the verse which states–“where much sin is, that much more grace abounds”? Yes, when we ignore God we often experience consequences but that is no more the judgment of God than when you fall to the ground, it is the judgment of gravity.And God does not run from our pain or sin. God is present with us bringing healing and salvation.
It would seem to me that when the church decided that it could achieve its goals through political means rather than through social, that is when the communities turned their backs from God. What happened to the church being the communities, school, clinic, refuge, and place where comfort and healing occurred? Now the church is viewed as nothing more than a Super PAC.
Again and again I go… “And this is why I struggle to label myself an evangelical.” These older, desperate “leaders” cling to the past. They wonder where their audiences have gone. And someone in a board room is telling them, “Just be faithful to what worked back in the day.”
Meanwhile, the real Christian leaders are in the trenches, representing Jesus away from the cameras/blogs/BS.
This is the best damn response I have read yet to all this. So spot on.
Westboro Baptist does not resemble the church; if anything they are the reason I consider folks to walk about from God. Be careful to lump Dobson, Piper, and others into that same category. Although what Dobson has said is something he’s been saying for a long time, as well as others, it’s true. This ain’t new news that America, and the world, have turned their back on God. It’s been like that since the fall of mankind. I do hope to see the church become a place of refuge and comfort again or else, please return quickly Jesus.
I guess we got what we deserved then, right? Why mourn at that point? We can just start pointing fingers at people who say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.
These people are leaving no room for God the Comforter. Their false God is vindictive and petty. It’s the same bullshit as the Westboro Baptist Church just with slick PR.
Wouldn’t Dobson and these other wahoos say Europe turned its back on God long ago? Then why were there only 39 murders by firearms in the UK last year, and over 9,000 in the US? (Calculated per capita, it’s still a stark contrast.) Political policies play a part in the violence we see, alright, but not the policies they say. It’s interesting how enforcing the First Amendment is considered anti-Christian, but taking the Second Amendment to an extreme is considered a basic freedom.
Genius! Thanks for posting this!
Bravo, Jessica Kelley. Perfect response, thank you.
He fails the pastor litmus test for identifying spiritual abuse according to No Longer Qivering: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nolongerquivering/2012/12/indentifying-spiritual-abuse-the-pastor-litmus-test-the-newtown-ct-shooting/
His comment would at least make some sense if his brand of evangelical Christianity had vigorously opposed the gun lobby. Oh, wait a minute …
Over and Over and Over again I keep wanting people to read Bradley Wright’s book Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World. Wright is a Christian sociologist. The reality is that the world in most ways is not getting worse. It is actually getting much better. Yes there are areas that are getting worse, but in large mesure people’s short term, ‘the world is going to hell’ is just flat wrong.
Wright spends some time talking about why people have bad memories for bad things and so tend to forget historic problems like racism, lynchings, extreme poverty and instead focus on good things and assume that the whole world was like Leave it to Beaver.
I really wish more people would read it and then start telling all their friends that the world isn’t getting worse.
Amen. And the people who say things are getting worse are mostly the people on the top — not the people on the bottom who, for example, don’t have to stay with their abusive husbands anymore. Girls who can be taught how to read. People who aren’t thrown into debtors prisons because they fell behind in their bills.
Sure, there is plenty wrong, but its always good to ask who is making the judgments.
Not to be a jerk, but it would be more newsworthy if Dr Dobson remained silent on this issue rather than saying what he did. Reporting that Dr Dobson said something negative about our culture and judgement is like reporting that dogs bark.
After I learned what he said, I lost every ounce of respect I had left for him. No, the views of him, Piper, and other evangelicals aren’t as extreme as those of Westboro, but they’re just as callous and unchristian. They worship a cruel, petty, vengeful, very small God. Something’s wrong when you can say “this is God’s punishment” and not bat an eye. They clearly have no compassion and only care about correct theology and keeping America a fascist theocracy. They couldn’t care less about those who are suffering and mourning.
The Incarnation has spoken to this entire thought that humanity can walk away from God and God will respond with human type anger and judgment.
The Incarnation declares that God does not walk away from our pain, suffering or brokenness. Instead God runs to it and brings healing. the Incarnation shouts that no matter how humanity tries to escort God out, keep God out, legislate God out, God will not remain out. God does not require our permission to be among us.
The Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection declares God does not run from our pain and brokenness and evil but overcomes our evil.
I fear for Mr. Dobson, Mr. Huckabee and those who are willing to declare this as the judgment of God or the fact God has been left out–they have had the opportunity to declare the Gospel–Emmanuel–God with us in the very midst of our mess–and have chosen to offer something far less than the Gospel.
Exactly, Leanne! No one can truly turn their backs on God, or run from him. He is the indwelling God who never leaves us. He was with Jonah in the bottom of the sea and with King David though he made his bed in Sheol. He’s with us in China and with us in Sandy Hook. He’s always with us.
[…] his radio program Monday, Dobson offered his explanation for the massacre Friday at a Connecticut elementary […]
I have two thoughts on Dobson’s argument. The first is that Dobson’is making a simple “X results in Y” argument, with X being secularization and liberalization, and Y being horrible massacres and tragedies. If he’s right, then we should see similar consequences in other nations , especially countries who have experienced a recent declines in belief. To my knowledge, that’s not happening. Most nations with a Judeo-Christian foundation are more gay-friendly than us, more secular than us, and allow easier access to abortion, yet they aren’t suffering from massacres to the degree we are. Now perhaps God is saving up a big wallop of Judgement on them, but if you’re going to approach this “scientifically ,” then the lack of similar tragedies elsewhere would require a new hypothesis.
My second thought is that, as others have said, this really starts to feel like a Westboro-like “God is a Tyrant” argument. Is Dobson arguing that we can reach a point where God will be pleased enough with us to make the massacres stop? Is he saying that God is holding our kids for ransom until we as a nation go back to hating gay people? That doesn’t sound like the God I worship.
Oh, but I’m so glad you did post. It at least makes me feel like there are other Christians out there who are just as baffled as me in these moments.
And the other side of the debate needs to speak up and be heard. Living in San Francisco, I often feel like Dobson and his ilk are the only Christians my friends and coworkers encounter.
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I do see great potential for damage and folly in Dr. Dobson’s statement. And though I do not agree with him, on many accounts, I do recognize his age, wisdom, and greater experience in this world than you or I.
I think there is a a time to make a stand against “old Christianity,” but I think this may lack respect and comments (definitely) lack integrity when it comes to taking a stand for what everyone is saying is absurd.
The irony is that the love we are claiming to want our fellow believers to have for the world, isn’t even evident amongst ourselves. How many of you would say these to Dr. Dobson’s face? Or does cyber courage come into play here?
I agree, there is a time and place for confronting damaging conversations and statements, however, respect, especially when speaking of the body of Christ, is more than necessary.
Shorter Julianna: If someone is old, you shouldn’t criticize them, even if they say ridiculous things!
Conservative political idolatry is exhausting.
[…] commented previously on some of the conservative Christian reactions to the Newtown school shooting, including in particular the attempt to connect it with the removal […]
Once of the reasons I am so glad I’m not a christian anymore. I don’t have to try and justify god when tragedies happen or listen to pastors fall over themselves trying to give a tragedy meaning.
In your own home, with your own Children, do you say whatever you want to do do it, there wont be consequences? If your child decided to have an abortion, by deciding to have premarital sex, you would still love her but there would be long term consequences. She would suffer by her own actions. Depression remorse etc. Thats what I think Dobson is saying. God loves us and wants us to have his best, do our best, have an abundant life and certain principals work. He isnt the author of disaster we cause it with our own behaviour. He wept.