**UPDATE**
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has apologized for comments he made in his inauguration day remarks:
Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.
He then apologized…sort of:
If anyone from other religions felt disenfranchised by the language, I want to say I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended anyone in any way.
So he’s not apologizing for the language, but rather seems sorry that some took offense to it.
Beck has decided to weigh on this:
I completely disagree with Beck on this. If I could add two words to the Governor’s comments above, it would be ‘in Christ’:
you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister [in Christ]
Gov. Bentley basically says ‘in Christ’ already in the way he leads off with the statement “Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior”. But my addition makes it crystal clear. What he’s basically saying is that those who aren’t Christians aren’t his brothers and sisters in Christ. Now I can understand why someone who isn’t saved and has no familiarity with Christianity might misunderstand this; and the Governor’s phrasing doesn’t help much either. It might sound to those who aren’t Christians that the Governor doesn’t care as much about those who he doesn’t consider to be his brothers and sisters. But I can assure you it wasn’t a derogatory remark although he did say it in a negative way. It was just a statement of fact and a very awkward call for salvation without actually inviting people to accept Jesus in their hearts. That’s really all it was.
But where I disagree with Beck is that, in Christ, my brothers and sisters are those who, to quote Jesus (Mark 3:35), “does God’s will.” If you reject making a covenant with Jesus then you aren’t my brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s that simple. It isn’t a statement of love or hate, it’s a statement of fact. It’s like me trying to walk into a Mormon temple, not being a Mormon and all. They won’t let me in. Now Beck can say over and over that everyone is his brother and sister and blah blah blah but you ain’t getting in to a Mormon temple unless you are his Mormon brother or sister. It’s that simple. By the way, it’s not this way in Evangelical Christian churches as there is no place that we consider too ‘holy’ (or whatever) to disallow someone entrance. But I digress.
Now if you want to question whether the Governor should have made that statement at all, that’s certainly up for debate. Personally I do like the fact that it gets people thinking and talking about salvation. But regardless of whether he should have stated it, his statement is accurate and Beck should understand this as he purports to be a Christian. Jesus was certainly pretty clear on the matter.
To the point about political correctness that Beck made, I sorta agree with him. But I took the Governor’s statement of choosing his words more carefully to mean that he would be more clear about what he means so that he leaves less room for doubt. Now maybe he means that he’ll sacrifice his principles in the future for political good, and if so then I agree with Beck. But I’m not sure that’s what he meant. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned to find out.
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UPDATE: Ironically, right after I posted this, a guy called in to Beck’s show with the exact complaint that I had with him. Beck did clarify that if the Governor said ‘in Christ’ that his statement would have been different. However Beck is taking on the more generic meaning of ‘brothers and sisters’ per his interpretation of what the Gov said. It was obvious to me as soon as I heard it what he meant, as it was to the caller. Why Beck didn’t get that I don’t know. It was a somewhat clumsy statement by the Gov however I would only expect those who aren’t Christians to really misunderstand it.