----- Original Message -----
Sent: October 29, 2004 06:20
Subject: [TruthTalk] Bush and
Christianity
One or two more points from this piece of 'trash
journalism'
Question: Why would George W. have a home church in
Dallas TX?
When he was the Governor he lived in Austin TX and
his Ranch was then and is now in Crawford TX - not anywhere
near Dallas. And where would she get the idea that John Wesley
abandoned a fortune to live righteously with the poor? (like being poor makes
one righteous and holy or something). John Wesley never had a fortune. He was
the son of a preacher and one of 18 children. But God met his needs and he
wasn't too poor to travel from the UK to Georgia. Jesus told one person
with a problem to sell everything and this lady has made it a rule for all
"real Christians" - Those who don't conform are then branded "Dalmations" who
only keep the spots they like. How ludicrous, as if the President is
supposed to be some preacher or something. Why put him down for being
smart enough to make a fortune?
I don't believe her charge that Karl Rove spread
filthy stories about Ann Richards either, these would have had the George W's
OK but they are ugly and mean spirited and I don't see that kind of
behavior now. I remember Ann Richards mocking him when he ran for
her job, calling him "the shrub" and saying he was born with a silver spoon in
his mouth but I've yet to see George W. ridicule anyone's person. Their
voting record and their job performance - yes.
She writes:
If
he is anything at all, Bush is nominally Methodist, the denomination of his
home church in Dallas. John Wesley, Methodism�s founder, emphasized an
emotional �warming of the heart� to Christ as fundamental to conversion. (That
self-help ethos is evident in the resident�s �compassionate conservatism.�)
But Wesley was equal part freedom fighter: As a pastor in 17th-century
England, he was barred from the pulpit for crusading against the abhorrent
evils of slavery. Wesley died a poor man, his life a
testament to Christ�s exhortation of charity in the Gospel of Mark: �Sell
everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven.� Bush,
on the other hand, is no ascetic firebrand. The president
has a net worth of nearly $20 million, and there is no indication that he is
on the brink of abandoning his fortune to live righteously with the
poor. And unlike Wesley, Bush has never compromised his political
standing to challenge the conservative status quo -- regardless of its
Christian righteousness. The president is, safe to say, a �Dalmatian� Methodist.
