The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.
- Nancy Pelosi, Earth Day 2008 Press Release
Evidently it's not the first time she's done this.
The Tabletalk is now offering a reward to anyone who can find this "quoted" passage in the Old Testament. Or the entire Bible, for that matter. Don't bother - it's not in there.
This passage, on the other hand, is:
"A false witness will not go unpunished, and [she] who pours out lies will not go free." Proverbs 19:5Oh yeah, and it warns about this too:
[T]hey exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the [creation] rather than the Creator . . .Keep up the good work, Professor P. With this kind of track record, we certainly trust you with our Congress.
3 comments:
I don’t think Ms. Pelosi was going for a Bushism…but she should have made it clear that she was paraphrasing…because she would be condemned if she tried to make us think the Bible actually says that.
Believe me, I was all lined up to throw the first stone, but after actually looking at some verses, I find that what Ms. Pelosi paraphrased is actually quite correct and can be found in the Holy Bible.
Peace,
http://lavrai.com/blogs/2008/04/26/nancy-pelosi-got-the-bible-verse-right/
Lavrai is correct, the Bible certainly discusses clearly the concept of Stewardship, and stewarding the earth and its resources.
But let's be clear - the earth was created for man, not man for the earth. And while the Scriptures require mankind to be wise in our dominion of creation, they never equate "ministering to the needs of God's creation" with "worship" of God Himself. Stewardship is not equal to Worship.
Pelosi's statement was not a misquote - it was a fabrication. Keep in mind this was a press release; a written statement that was (presumably) drafted and edited and checked for errors. The quotation marks mean something - they aren't "paraphrase marks." And the source she claims as her authority doesn't say what she claims it says. This type of thing will get you in serious trouble in the academy, but we suppose is just a tool of the trade for politicians.
Furthermore, Pelosi uses the quote as a way to Divinely authenticate Earth Day and all it stands for. Translation: if you don't support Earth Day (and the global warming hysteria), you stand in opposition to the Almighty. That's a powerful claim, especially considering she's attributing words to the Almighty that he never actually said.
Perhaps most problematic, however, is what her carefully chosen language reveals. The language of "ministering" is used in Scripture to refer to that which we do for the less fortunate - the orphans, widows, aliens, oppressed, etc. By using this language, she is anthropomorphizing the earth, thereby placing Earth Day's agenda on par with the traditional ministries of the Church.
By using the language of worship, expressed in ideas generally reserved for the Church, she reveals the true nature of "earth worshipers" and the global warming fanatics - it is a religion.
We're not sure what Lavrai meant about "Bushisms", but it looks a lot like some sort of red herring/straw man. We fail to see any relevance at all to bringing Bush into this conversation. It does nothing for our view of Bush, and it certainly doesn't add any credibility to your defense of Pelosi.
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