Huckabee is the clear winner last night November 29, 2007
Posted by Paul Edwards in CNN, CNN/YouTube Debates, Huckabee, Huckabee for President.trackback
The candidates were asked by a YouTube questioner whether or not they believed the Bible to be the word of God, whether or not they believed “every word of this book” as he held a copy of the Bible to the camera. No genuine Christian should be able to continue supporting Giuliani and Romney given their extremely humanistic answers to this question:
Giuliani: The reality is, I believe it, but I don’t believe it’s necessarily literally true in every single respect. I think there are parts of the Bible that are interpretive. I think there are parts of the Bible that are allegorical. I think there are parts of the Bible that are meant to be interpreted in a modern context.
So, yes, I believe it. I think it’s the great book ever written. I read it frequently. I read it very frequently when I’ve gone through the bigger crises in my life, and I find great wisdom in it, and it does define to a very large extent my faith. But I don’t believe every single thing in the literal sense of Jonah being in the belly of the whale, or, you know, there are some things in it that I think were put there as allegorical.
Romney: believe the Bible is the word of God, absolutely. And I try…
(Applause)
… I try to live by it as well as I can, but I miss in a lot of ways. But it’s a guide for my life and for hundreds of millions, billions of people around the world. I believe in the Bible.
Anderson Cooper (Debate host): Does that mean you believe every word?
Romney: You know — yes, I believe it’s the word of God, the Bible is the word of God.
The Bible is the word of God. I mean, I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God. I don’t disagree with the Bible. I try to live by it.
Huckabee: Sure. I believe the Bible is exactly what it is. It’s the word of revelation to us from God himself.
(Applause)
And the fact is that when people ask do we believe all of it, you either believe it or you don’t believe it. But in the greater sense, I think what the question tried to make us feel like was that, well, if you believe the part that says “Go and pluck out your eye,” well, none of us believe that we ought to go pluck out our eye. That obviously is allegorical.
But the Bible has some messages that nobody really can confuse and really not left up to interpretation. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “In as much as you’ve done it to the least of these brethren, you’ve done it unto me.” Until we get those simple, real easy things right, I’m not sure we ought to spend a whole lot of time fighting over the other parts that are a little bit complicated.
And as the only person here, probably, on this stage with a theology degree, there are parts of it I don’t fully comprehend and understand, but I’m not supposed to because the Bible is a revelation of an infinite God, and no finite person is ever going to fully understand it. If they do, their God is too small.
I have to admit, I was impressed with Huckabee last night, I only wished they had given a few more solid questions to Ron Paul. Although he handled himself great when that uninformed person tried to “get” him on the North American Union reality. They also need to stop giving Fred Thompson so much attention, the race is between, Romney, Huckabee, McCain and Guliani with Ron Paul being a major dark horse.Thompson, Tancrado and Hunter need to step aside.
Huckabee was definitely the winner on the issue of believing every word of the Bible; However I was VERY disappointed in Huckabee’s response to his spending tax payer dollars on ILLEGAL alien education. Romney was hands down the winner on that issue.
Schuyler,
This is why liberals seem to like Huckabee, he is socially conservative but seems to be liberal on the fiscal side of things. Big Government, immigration etc. Chuck Baldwin has a lot to say about Huckabee. Too many christians are backing him because of 2 issues, abortion and Gay marriage. There is more to vote for than these issues, espeically since Presidents do not make laws…..
Paul,
Do you believe every story in the Bible is literal? Example: Do you believe as the lineage in Genesis reveals that the earth is 6000 years old when God created Adam and Eve? Better yet, do you feel man has only been on the earth 6000 years? Do you believe in the flood story literally? How about the number those that exited from Egypt do you believe the number of 600,000 plus woman and children? Do you believe the Jonah story literally? Finally, is it imperative to ones salvation to take all these stories literally?
Yes.
Hmmm, are you sure that the answer to this question is yes, Paul?
Iggy said: Do you believe as the lineage in Genesis reveals that the earth is 6000 years old when God created Adam and Eve?
Was the earth 6000 years old when God created Adam and Eve?
Maybe the question Iggy had in mind was: Is it 6000 years ago that Adam and Eve were created?
Anyway, there is no verse in the Bible about how old the Earth is. If you use the lineage you can know how long ago were Adam and Eve created. But for the creation of the Universe and Earth, there is no clear cut age. There are many interpretations for Genesis 1. And to be honest, if someone does not believe that the earth is 6000 years + 6 days I don’t think that in itself is enough to not to be saved.
But there is no doubt that if, for example, one denies that Jesus was physically resurrected from death, he/she are not saved.
This is something that I have been dealing with is the idea that many of the stories were written in other cultures many hundreds of years before the Bible was written. How do I reconcile that Science is revealing that Man has been around for much longer than we thought? And I guess by your response, for me to think of myself as a christian and question some of the Biblical stories then I am deceiving myself? I surely hope that God is more gracious than that.
One other thing, and I am sure that Pixelmaster will agree from looking at his posts on Huckabee is he said “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “In as much as you’ve done it to the least of these brethren, you’ve done it unto me.” Yet, Huckabee won’t even discuss a plan to pull out of Iraq or going against a preemptive attack on Iran. Seems like somewhat of an oxymoron to me. Much suffering has been inflicted since we invaded Iraq and instead of apologizing this Administration wants to go further and attack Iran.
That is an great point, Iggy, Love your neighbor, but let’s bomb the innocent in the middle east. Hmmmmm, the more I think about it the more I think about it the more I think Jesus would be a liberal speaking out against the pharisees in the Christian right….
Pixel,
I just posted on the Rick Warren post on this blog the same thing about what is going on in the religious right. It is an issue that Christians need to open their eyes to and address head on….