{"id":159,"date":"2011-02-03T13:21:32","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T18:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=159"},"modified":"2015-03-13T23:16:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T03:16:31","slug":"the-president-at-the-prayer-breakfast-on-his-christian-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2011\/02\/03\/the-president-at-the-prayer-breakfast-on-his-christian-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"The President at the Prayer Breakfast on his Christian Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a> There have been many Christians, sadly, who have violated the basic Christian rule of \u2018in all things charity\u2019\u00a0 when it comes to evaluating the Christian faith of our President.\u00a0\u00a0 It continues to be questioned,\u00a0 unfairly, again and again, perhaps because of his name, perhaps because of his race, perhaps because of who his father was.\u00a0 Whatever the reason,\u00a0 any person who self-identifies persistently as a Christian,\u00a0 and at personal cost to him with various audiences (there were actually protests against his going to this prayer breakfast),\u00a0 needs to be taken seriously and at his word, giving that person the benefit of the doubt.\u00a0 We, unlike God, do not look upon a person\u2019s heart, nor see what is in it.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some of the things the President said at the National Prayer Breakfast today as reported by Lucy Madison,\u00a0 Julie Pace, and others.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nThe president spoke about his own experience with faith, which he said his experience as president had strengthened.<\/p>\n\u201cThe presidency has a funny way of making a person feel the need to pray,\u201d Mr. Obama quipped. \u201cAbe Lincoln said, as many of you know, \u2018I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.'\u201d<\/p>\nHe also opened up about his experience finding his faith, which he called a \u201csustaining force\u201d in his life.<\/p>\nNoting that he \u201cdid not come from a particularly religious family,\u201d Mr. Obama said it was faith leaders of the civil rights movement who had initially inspired his life of service \u2013 but that his experience as a community organizer in Chicago inspired his Christian faith.<\/p>\n\u201cA call rooted in faith is what led me, just a few years out of college, to sign up as a community organizer for a group of churches on the south side of Chicago,\u201d Mr. Obama said. \u201cIt was through that experience, working with pastors and laypeople, trying to heal the wounds of hurting neighborhoods, that I came to know Jesus Christ for myself and embrace him as my lord and savior.\u201d<\/p>\nHe added that one of the major themes among his prayers was humility \u2013 a prayer which he said God had answered early on \u201cby having me marry Michelle.\u201d<\/p>\nObama said he had prayed for God\u2019s intervention on any number or occasions, not always on the weightiest issues of the day.<\/p>\nAt one point, the president said he has prayed, \u201cLord, give me patience as I watch Malia go to her first dance, where there will be boys. Lord, let her skirt get longer as she travels to that place.\u201d Twelve-year-old Malia is the older of his two daughters. Sasha is 9.<\/p>\nSpeaking more seriously, Mr. Obama said that as a politician, it was sometimes helpful to \u201cgo back to scripture to remind ourselves that none of us has all the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThe challenge I find, then, is to balance this uncertainty, this humility with the need to fight for deeply held convictions, to be open to other points of view, but firm in our core principles,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd I pray for this wisdom every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There have been many Christians, sadly, who have violated the basic Christian rule of \u2018in all things charity\u2019\u00a0 when it comes to evaluating the Christian faith of our President.\u00a0\u00a0 It continues to be questioned,\u00a0 unfairly, again and again, perhaps because of his name, perhaps because of his race, perhaps because of who his father was.\u00a0 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