Rush Limbaugh: Obama twisting Holy Scripture

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Is President Obama, who once demeaned Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as "radical," actively trying to socialize Jesus and corrupt Christianity?

Rush Limbaugh

The answer is yes, according to conservative radio giant Rush Limbaugh, who is claiming the commander in chief is not only trying to socialize America, but also the Christian religion by twisting Scripture.

The top-rated host made the allegation today during discussion of Obama's profession of faith yesterday in Albuquerque, N.M.

Limbaugh focused in on Obama's statement of "being my brother's and sister's keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

"The reason why this is important is there's an effort by the Left to say that Jesus was a socialist," said Limbaugh, "and they are using this to turn many evangelical people into global-warming people. We are the stewards of the planet and so forth. There's an ongoing effort here to corrupt Christianity."

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During yesterday's backyard town-hall meeting in Albuquerque, Obama had explained:

I'm a Christian, uh, by choice. Um, you know, my family didn't – frankly, they weren't, uh, folks who went to church every – every week. Um, my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't, uh, raise me in the church. Uh, so I came to, to, uh, my Christian faith later in life, uh, and it was because the, the, the, precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead – being my brother's and sister's keeper, treating others as they would treat me ... also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we're sinful, and we're flawed, and we make mistakes, and that we achieve salvation through the grace of God.

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people and do our best to help them find their own grace. So that's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day. I think my public service is a part of that effort to express my Christian faith.

The video was posted online by Christian Broadcasting Network and also is embedded:

Stressing he was not disputing the president's profession of Christianity, Limbaugh went into a detailed analysis of Obama's remarks, noting:

There's a lot of people who do not know details of their own religious belief. But the Golden Rule is not a precept of Christianity. I hate to point this out, but the Golden Rule does not emanate, originate, from Christianity. And this brother's keeper business? That's not Jesus. I hate to say this, but Jesus Christ did not talk about brother's keeper. That is from the story of Cain and Abel, and even that story is misunderstood. The story of Cain and Abel – my brother's keeper does not mean, "I'm going to take care of my brother or take care of my sister." The story of Cain and Abel, Cain killed Abel, and then he said he had no idea. He denied it. He denied killing Abel, and then said to God, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Meaning, "What, is he my responsibility? He's not my responsibility, I didn't kill my brother." Now, a lot of people misunderstand all this, but the Golden Rule doesn't come from Christianity, and Cain and Abel is not, "I'm going to take care of my brother and I'm going to take care of my sister," and Jesus Christ has nothing to do with either one of them.

The Bible actually does talk about the principle of reciprocal care for others, with Jesus Himself stating, "Do for others what you would like them to do for you." (Matthew 7:12, New Living Translation)

Even in the Old Testament, the command is given to "love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18, NLT)

But Limbaugh said similar ideas had been circulated in ancient Babylon long before biblical Scripture is thought to have been written.

"The early incarnations of the Golden Rule are found in the Code of Hammurabi: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," he noted.

Limbaugh said Obama's voicing of the "brother's keeper" concept is a distortion of Christianity:

"This is where Obama now says that public service is part of an effort to express his Christian faith, that Christianity is socialism, that Jesus Christ was a socialist. Jesus Christ was apolitical. He got involved in no political ideology whatsoever."

Limbaugh took issue with Obama's governing style, suggesting it might not be Christlike.

"How is his Christian faith guiding the way he's dealing with Republicans? I mean he's urging everybody not to listen to Republicans, don't make arrangements with Republicans."

And saying he was reluctant to point it out, Limbaugh also wondered about Obama's perceived lack of compassion for his own relatives in Africa.

"Obama's brother is still living in a hut – a 6-by-9-foot, unair-conditioned, no-running-water, no-electricity hut in Kenya, outside Nairobi, somewhere over there. Twenty dollars. Guy lives on a dollar a year. Twenty bucks would be the equivalent of winning the lottery. And Obama has not reached out to keep his brother."

This is not the first time Obama's referencing of the Bible has caused controversy. On June 28, 2006, Obama addressed a conference in Washington, D.C., finding fault with both Old Testament instructions as well as Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount in the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew:

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every
non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we
teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which
passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with
Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is
abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he
strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a
passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department
would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our
Bibles. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles.

Clips of the speech were later made into commercials during the 2008 presidential campaign.

As WND reported two years ago, in the wake of repeated comments from Democrats comparing then-Sen. Obama to Jesus and Gov. Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate, Limbaugh blasted the Democrats' strategy as "pathological"
and "insane."

"I know Jesus Christ. I pray to Jesus Christ all the time,"
said Limbaugh. "I study what Jesus Christ did and said all the time, and let me
tell you something, Barack Obama, you are no Jesus Christ."

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