There has sure been a lot of people all rankled over the fact that President Obama was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Usually the Nobel prize is given to a person after they have done something rather remarkable in their given field. This year, for instance, three men each shared the nobel prize in Physics for their achievements in the capture and transmission of light particles. The award wasn't given to them because of some future achievement, it was a reward for hard work. In contrast Obama hasn't even finished a single year of his presidency, his stratospheric demeanor of hope has been seemingly brought back down by the realities of two ongoing wars, a shaky economy, and a democratic congress that is more concerned with re-election in conservative states than in effecting a rash of progressively liberal legislation.

So the question then is, why in the world does he deserve a Nobel Prize? The answer is, he doesn't. But then neither do the physicists, chemists, doctors, and authors that receive one. They did not receive the prize because they deserved it, they received it because the academy which judges the potential recipient's showed grace. All of the men and woman involved are all very talented in some way, and would continue to be so even if they had not been awarded; however they were each chosen for whatever reasons to be highlighted with gift of the award. There is no way to apply for the award, to fill in a series of check boxes that prove your merit and ensure that you will get one. The Nobel prize's are as close as we can get in our human systems to reflecting the nature of grace.

Grace ticks people off, especially when we live in a legalistic mindset that is always judging our position relative to those around us. The minute someone receives grace, that we don't believe should, we react in that sinful way that is called envy. People are furious because Obama is clearly the recipient of grace, and in their minds grace is not free, it must be earned at a price. This is the kind of thinking that kept the pharisees ignorant of Jesus' words. They were envious of the grace that God was enacting through Jesus and his followers upon a people that did not 'deserve' it.

So, if this whole Obama/Peace Prize thing has you so riled up, just ask yourself what you are so mad about. Grace is by it's nature seemingly unfair to those outside of it's bounds. That's what makes God's grace so wonderful for those that have accepted it's gift, and seemingly so foolish for those that would rather try and earn their way into heaven via some kind of bell-curve grading process.

Posted via email from David's posterous

Just in case you haven't read the torrent of emails flooding your inbox.  President Obama plans to speak to YOUR children via a televized speech next Tuesday.  I mean, what in the world!  Just look at the picture above, would you allow this man to speak to your children?  I would personally prefer my children be left alone in a room full of ravenous chihuahua's and basted in the juices of left over spam cans....

Just who does this guy think he is?  The leader of the free world or something??!!

Just look at that picture... Free candy! He probably got it by taxing all of the middle class kids when they left the candy shop...  And who knows what kind of horrors await our children with this guy just rolling around our schools all willy-nilly.  Like he actually had any authority over our public education system or something....

"Hey everybody!  Get on board my free candy express!  Free candy for all the poor kids!!!"  I mean really, this is enough to make general Jack Ripper roll over in his grave... It's probably flouridated candy too.

This guy is a menace to society!  It can't be said enough....

It's time for us all to pack our bags and move to the Holy Land of Alaska....

I am pretty sure that if Jesus had to come today he would have been an Alaskan.  And when the Alaska breaks from the U.S. we can institute the Bible as the constitution, just as the founders of our country intended to do if it wasn't for those Frenchy lobbyists...

Be vigilant!  He's coming for your Children!!!!

(in case you missed the point, this has been a work of satire.)

HT: (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

The legislation, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, would assist federal officials in their prosecution of hate crimes that target victims because of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity or disability.

Yet some conservative religious groups, such as the Liberty Council and Traditional Values Coalition, have labeled the act as “dangerous legislation” that will threaten freedom of speech and freedom of religion – even though the legislation is clear that to be prosecuted under this law the hate crime must involve acts of violence. They go further in their claims stating that the act, if passed, will punish people for what they think.

That isn’t true. Criminals will be punished for committing acts of violence and the Justice Department will have more authority to do their jobs. Isn’t this common ground that all of us – no matter our political persuasion and religious beliefs – can share

Why should Christians complain when the political system they have been seeking to influence and control turns in a way that (in their perception) threatens them?  Is democracy only democracy when the Christians get to decide the rules?  Since when do we oppose the protection of the least of these?  When will we finally let go of desiring to bind and control the powers of this world and simply get busy following the command of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us?

Could it finally be that the demon of racism has finally been purged from our public consciousness?  I guess I'll wait for my minority friends to tell me if it's true or not.  And does that mean that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson can finally stop assuming all white people are racist?

I heard Republicans saying that this shows they need to get back to their core principles.  My question is this, what if this elections shows that the majority of public rejected you precisely because of those core principles?  The Republican party needs to do more than put lipstick on a bulldog here, they need a new dog.  I for one left the republican party (registered as unaffiliated) due largely to the ineptitude, arrogance, and prideful disregard for facts shown by GWB and his neo-con administration that drove a war agenda down our throats.  I fundamentally disagree with republicans (and probably some democrats) on our violent approach to terrorism.  I have yet to see either political party put forward a comprehensive plan for dealing with terrorism, other than trying to kill or indefinitely incarcerate them all.  How do we re-humanize Muslims in our national and personal discourse?  I say let's drop the free and easy association of the word terrorist with everyone with a beard and fabric on his head.

Many evangelicals have spoken the truth, that a life affirming platform extends beyond abortion and encompasses issues such as war, death penalty, poverty, healthcare, international aid, etc.  This was the first time in history (since Roe V. Wade) that a Democratic presidential candidate spoke so clearly to the need of reducing abortions, especially as a method of convenience, and in return he was slandered by Christians in millions of unsubstantiated and theologically inept emails.  I have never been more saddened than in the gossip and slander slung around by the body of Christ at one of their own brothers.  Repent.

This election may very well have meant the death of the 'religious right'.  No longer do fundamentalist Christians have any clout with the public.  The culture wars are lost.  The question to my fellow Christians that were so long mired in this endeavor is not how you will keep up the fight, but rather how is it that we are authentically Christian in a world that is not under our thumb?