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{"id":12474,"date":"2013-01-21T19:31:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T00:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=12474"},"modified":"2013-01-21T19:31:39","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T00:31:39","slug":"celebrate-the-inauguration-pray-for-mark-driscoll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/01\/celebrate-the-inauguration-pray-for-mark-driscoll.html","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate the Inauguration, Pray for Mark Driscoll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

If Driscoll thinks that Obama doesn\u2019t believe the Bible<\/a>\u00a0but he does<\/em>, then Driscoll clearly has not read the Bible in full or carefully. I am sure that president Obama doesn\u2019t believe the entire Bible<\/a>, because no one who has read the whole thing carefully could do so, not only because it says things that no one today can accept, but also because its contents include different authors saying different things. But president Obama has shown himself to be aware of such issues related to the Bible\u2019s diverse contents, and inspired by some of its core principles \u2013 even if also failing to live up to others of them, as we all do.<\/p>\n

And so Driscoll\u2019s tweet<\/a> simply highlights the sad truth, namely that those who are most likely to accuse others of disregarding the Bible, with an implicit or explicit contrast with themselves, can only be those who are profoundly unfamiliar with the Bible\u2019s contents. And yet so many Christians who share that unfamiliarity with the Bible follow after those who praise the Bible and denounce others based on their own ignorance of its multifaceted contents.<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of listening to most of the presidential inaugural<\/a> address live while watching it on a big screen at the Indiana History Center. I was impressed by the vision<\/a> for progress<\/a>, the clarity, the stand for equality<\/a>, the appeal to core historic shared principles as a basis for that stand, and the passion with which president Obama appealed to the American public as part of \u201cwe the people,\u201d calling on us to overcome obstacles and seek to do away with persistent injustice and inequality<\/a> to the extent that we can. The challenge remains how to win over to a commitment to equality, love, respect, and consideration those who resist<\/a> those things, the most disturbing<\/a> and offensive of which, for me, are those who use a selective appeal to the Bible to justify selfishness<\/a>, bigotry<\/a>, racism<\/a> and<\/a> a variety of other<\/a> things.<\/p>\n

If you didn\u2019t hear it, here\u2019s the video:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hwqz2TPv3y8<\/a>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"