Behaving like a child by misquoting scripture
For someone using his inaugural address to basically tell America that it’s time to grow up, Barack Obama didn’t seem to learn the grade school lesson of doing one’s homework.
From his speech today:
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
The verse Obama paraphrased is I Corinthians 13:11. He used it to reinforce his message that we need to “proclaim an end to petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
The problem here is that I Corinthians 13:11 has absolutely nothing do with childish bickering and behavior. Here’s the passage in context (I Corinthians 13:8-12):
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, Ithought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
First, the entire chapter of I Corinthians 13 is about love (or charity in the King James Version), and how it is above all other gifts.
Second, the reference to childish things is about how our knowledge of the things of God will seem childish once we’re face to face with God.
It has nothing to do with being childish or engaging in partisan squabbles.
Sources:
The New York Times, Jan. 20, 2009
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
The Bible, King James Version
