Pelosi’s Odd Bible
April 25th, 2008 at 03:58am Mark Noonan
As a Catholic, I’ll be kind and say that, just perhaps, Pelosi has missed out on the revitalisation of Catholic evangelisation over the past 10 years or so, and thus holds on to the sorrowful lack of biblical knowledge formerly prevalent amongst Catholics:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the Bible and is “fictional,” according to biblical scholars.
In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, “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.”
Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker’s office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded.
Distinguished biblical scholars, however, cast doubt on the existence of the passage.
John J. Collins, the Holmes professor of Old Testament criticism and interpretation at Yale Divinity School, said he is totally unfamiliar with Pelosi’s quotation.
“(It’s) not one that I recognize,” Collins told Cybercast News Service. “I assume that she means this is a paraphrase. But it wouldn’t be a close paraphrase to anything I know of.”
Claude Mariottini, a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Cybercast News Service the passage not only doesn’t exist - it’s “fictional.”
“It is not in the Bible,” Mariottini said. “There is nothing that even approximates that.”
A trip to RCIA would do wonders for the Speaker, I think. Aside from that, isn’t this the very sort of “imposition” of religion that liberals are always whining about? I mean, if a Republican were to quote a biblical injunction - especially one actually in the Bible - as support for a political action, the left would be shouting “theocracy” from the rooftops…
Entry Filed under: Democrats, Religion
31 Comments
1. Pelosi’s Odd Bible&hellip | April 25th, 2008 at 4:14 am
[...] John wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, “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. … [...]
2. congressive | April 25th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Sounds like she’s summarizing Old Testament ideology, not quoting it.
Sounds even more like Ben Franklin’s “Deist’ philosophy, also more Old Testament than new as Deism doesn’t really go for the Jesus thing.
Maybe she considers herself an enemy of children, as the Bible does teach us to give our enemies drink when they’re thirsty.
The astonishing thing to me is when I Googled her quote, there’s like HUNDREDS of right-wing attack blogs with this exact same story.
3. winnowhead | April 25th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Mark,
I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt when you trot out your religion incessantly.. but don’t you have any shame? There is nothing unchristian in the statement quoted of Pelosi, and while I’m not anything close to a biblical scholar, I went to Sunday school and know the sentiment isn’t any kind of perversion of the book of any sort. In fact, if you want to challenge the sentiment, then good luck.
What is it with you and your phony, partisan righteousness? Early morning boredom?
4. Danish Artist | April 25th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Here come the excuses by the liberal trolls.
With their religions of liberalism and environmentalism, they certainly try impose them on others and at the same time berate those discussing true religions to others.
“A trip to RCIA would do wonders for the Speaker…”
Nothing short of resigning would do wonders for the Speaker (an us too!).
What do you expect from someone who is going to pay millions of dollars to make the Capitol building “green” with a return that will take 40+ years to pay it off.
5. Robin Naismith Green | April 25th, 2008 at 6:25 am
That’s the truly funny thing the summary of conservative bloggers who all got the same talking point sheet last night. Since the notion that this is a paraphrase won’t satisfy the rabidly religious since Madame Speaker Pelosi has tread on your precious tome for political reasons, I think the only thing that can be said is she made it up.
I have to ask though which is more likely, that what she said is in the spirit of say the book of Isaiah or that every word attributed to the Almighty was actually the Word of the Almighty and not some mortal person who was told how it had to be written for their own political reasons?
But it’s all interpretation and generally the way your side interprets things is enough for you to think that you are right in all of these matters. She lied about a Bible passage to make a political point and now hundreds of Christian bloggers all right wing are pouring forth issue about the subject. Now can someone tell me about the separation of church and state and how that is important again?
Aren’t there millions of Americans being foreclosed upon and thousands of children being made homeless because of the housing crisis? This isn’t suicide which is a sin this is politics which should never have religion shoved down its throat in the first place.
6. Jeremiah | April 25th, 2008 at 8:49 am
This isn’t suicide which is a sin this is politics which should never have religion shoved down its throat in the first place.
What a foolish statement.
You can’t see it, but I can, as many, many people who are part of the family of God, that America is failing because of the peoples sin and failure to turn back to God, their hope.
7. Some Assembly Required | April 25th, 2008 at 8:58 am
“You can’t see it, but I can, as many, many people who are part of the family of God, that America is failing because of the peoples sin and failure to turn back to God, their hope.”
You mean like those people in Texas right?
8. Bigfoot | April 25th, 2008 at 9:01 am
There is nothing unchristian in the statement quoted of Pelosi
Mark isn’t saying that the statement is unchristian, only that is does not appear in the Bible.
The astonishing thing to me is when I Googled her quote, there’s like HUNDREDS of right-wing attack blogs with this exact same story.
Interesting how we on the right can’t criticize a lefty or point out what’s wrong with something a lefty says, without our reaction being called an “attack”. But when a lefty differs with us, that’s merely “dissent”.
As for Pelosi, she might want to open her bible to 2 Peter 3:15-16.
9. Robin Naismith Green | April 25th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Well Jeremiah it isn’t that big a deal it is a political lie uttered to make a political point. Nothing more. My point is if politics were not so tied to religion there wouldn’t be any need for such a discussion. it is when matters of faith are thrust into the public sphere that things go wrong. And by the way you have no right to demand that your religion become the religion of everyone in the US or that they be judged by your religious beliefs.
That is what you all say is what “Islamists” do.
10. Danish Artist | April 25th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I see we have another loser from the Daily Pitch Fork!
Go to their website and read their “theology” and just ignore the images.
If you can get past the Leviathan without going into spasms of laughter then you may be able to complete it.
A truly entertaining and revealing read. Entertaining as I mentioned. Revealing that these people are truly kooks!
11. Rana Quijotesca | April 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Isn’t this like what Pope John Paul the Second said before he died when he accepted global warming? I give this for your consideration…
12. Some Assembly Required | April 25th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Rana, haven’t you heard of the Doctrine of Infalibilty… the pope can be wrong and some of the posters on this blog are right… I mean sheesh, get the the times (sarcasim)
13. Robin Naismith Green | April 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Well Danish Artists if you actually took the time to read something other than CNS News or the World Net Daily or the daily chatter from TownHall then you might have a broader perspective on a vast number of issues.
The comical point of this is our “theology” is the same as yours. You Deity is the one true one, we know there is a Hell although it is very different from what you have been told. And we know that the world you live on was created and has evolved.
If there wasn’t a single image on our site the words would still stand head and shoulders above what gets displayed here as the One and Only Truth. I welcome debate civilly, both here and at the site where I work. And if there is one thing I know being passionate about your faith will never get you banned from commenting at The Dis Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork. Disagreeing with Christendom here in any of its forms will get you banned here even if that disagreement is honest and academic.
14. kimberly4victory | April 25th, 2008 at 10:42 am
You were banned once, weren’t you, Diane T, er … Robin.
“Interesting how we on the right can’t criticize a lefty or point out what’s wrong with something a lefty says, without our reaction being called an “attack”. But when a lefty differs with us, that’s merely “dissent”.”
Bigfoot is spot on.
The Bible is the word of God and if you’re going to quote something from it, you’d better not make it up. It was a foolish mistake on Pelosi’s part.
15. js | April 25th, 2008 at 10:44 am
wouldnt that make it worshiping the creation instead of the Creator if we “minister to the needs of God’s creation” as or (intended it to be) “is an act of worship”
its the same thing as idolatry
fundamentally, the old testament adamently restricted that….
16. Percy Beezer | April 25th, 2008 at 11:05 am
More surprises for San-Fran-Nan; Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not “Every man for himself.” And the London Underground is not a political movement. I looked them up.
17. SteaM | April 25th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Mark,
As a Christian do you or do you not love God’s creation?
Do you or do you not believe that the planet and all of its life is sacred as a creation of God and should be treated as so?
I actually don’t think you do believe this. But if you do I don’t think you actually practice what you preach.
18. js | April 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
nice little split on reality there steaM…outside the fact that pelosi does not know the bible….what she claimed is the same as worshiping nature…which is not Christian….I believe the zoroastarians cleaved to this nonsense…as did several gnostics from many centuries past…holding the creation to a level of worship is idolatry…no confusion…these are solidly rejected and not part of christian faith….only one is worthy of worship…and He is God.
19. Timothy Horrigan | April 25th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I didn’t have to look far to find Genesis I:25-30, which actually does say more or less what Pelosi said:
[23] And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
[24] And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
[25] And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
[26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
[28] And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
[29] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
[30] And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
[31] And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
20. SteaM | April 25th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
In terms of how humans interact with God’s creation love and respect does not have to mean “worship”.
21. js | April 25th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
19. Timothy Horrigan
so, where exactly does it say that since God created the plants and the animals and the earth that we are to minister to it all as a “act of worship”?
somehow you missed the main point….nobody disputes the creation on this issue
22. Mark Noonan | April 25th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
SteaM,
Depends on what you mean - we Christians are to be guided centrally by this:
Getting back to how RCIA would do wonders for Pelosi - we dicussed this very issue last night as part of a lecture on the first three commandments. Now, why would the command to love God be the greatest commandment? Not because God needs our love (he is complete in and of himself) but because if God isn’t central in our life, we’re bound to be side tracked on to all sorts of things that we shouldn’t be doing…and eventually we’ll wind up worshipping things other than God…money, fame, power, sex…or the earth. God made this world and called it good, so it is good and I am to have immense respect for it and be a good steward of God’s creation…but to hold that environmental protection is an act of worshipping the creator of the environment steps very close to idolatry. I worship God, not his creation.
23. Timothy Horrigan | April 25th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Well, Pelosi doesn’t share the belief that God is a Republican. She doesn’t even share the belief that God is an American, even she herself is from a city which is surrounded on 3 sides by America and where many Americans live. She takes the position that God doesn’t belong to any party or any nation… which seems to be true if you look at scripture… but that is only because in Biblical times, America as we know it today and the Republican Party had not been created yet!
But now America and the Republican Party DO exist and they have given rise to George W. Bush & Dick Cheney…. and like John McCain, God is a strongly pro-Cheney/Bush Republican. VP Cheney has decided that the environment is a low priority… and God, being a loyal Republican, follows Cheney’s priorities. Pelosi calls herself a religious person and yet she take a position which flatly contradicts Cheney’s clearly stated values. If she was truly religious, she would choose to follow God’s will, just as God (and now that he has seen the light, John McCain) choose to follow Dick Cheney’s will!
24. SteaM | April 25th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Mark,
You are blind.
God’s creation is God.
If you worship God but actively take a dump on his creation then that’s a cop out.
25. Mark Noonan | April 25th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
SteaM,
Ummm, no…creation is not the Creator. We are extraordinarily distinct from God - while God is, indeed, everywhere and in everything this in the sense that God continually, lovingly wills all things into existence…but what is made by God isn’t God.
26. SteaM | April 25th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Mark,
Can you clarify? I spent 18 years as a Christian and what you just said makes no sense to me even drawing on what I know of Christianity.
Well, that and it kind of looks like you are stumbling over yourself trying to justfiy why its ok to disrespect and have no care for God’s creation. Just God and nothing else.
Seems like a weak argument to me.
27. Mark Noonan | April 25th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
SteaM,
If you were to worship God by worshipping his creation then, amongst other things, you’d be worshipping me. We show our love for God by respecting his creation, and loving our brothers and sisters…but we can only bend the knee, as it were, to God and not to any created thing.
28. phnx | April 25th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
You claim to have been a christian for 18 years. However, as you descibe it, your belief was akin to animism or pantheism, not christianity.
Christianity call for worship of the creator, not the creation.
29. Jeremiah | April 25th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
26. SteaM | April 25th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
SteaM,
You don’t understand, friend.
God created this earth as a place of inhabitance for us, a temporary home of great grandeur and splendor, as we stand in awe of majestic, towering, snow-capped, Rocky Mountain peaks. The lush greenery of the lowlands, teeming with wetland creatures. A crystal-clear stream in the brilliant color shades of autumn in the hardwoods of New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and on down the Appalachain mountian chain. Some of the finest watersheds in the country for your fly-fishing dreams. With Beautiful wildflower displays in spring to boot.
You see? God has created so much for us to enjoy. Yet, He created it, not so that we would take advantage of it, pillage it, and use it wrecklessly, taking it all for grantit, but He created it so that we would look to Him and thank Him for the Awesome, Wonder-Working Hands.
But you know what? This ain’t nothin’ compared to Heaven … Heaven is going to be beyond our imaginations …. and all it takes to get there is to have faith that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
I want to be there, don’t you?
I sure hope so, and I’ll be praying for you, that you’ll see it in your heart to accept Christ into your life.
30. SteaM | April 27th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Pfft. No. You don’t.
I promise you that if you focused on this statement and compared it to what you do on a daily basis you would know that you do not respect God’s creation.
The following is the flaw in the organized and political version of Christian beliefs that you subscribe to:
We love God. God created ourselves and everything on Earth. We must love and respect one another and all of His Creation. However, we are not perfect beings and God knows this. Disrespecting God’s creation is immoral and a sin in my view however as imperfect beings one could comfortably state that we are going to make mistakes and give in to temptation from time-to-time. One must simply ask for forgiveness. Trust in God and all will be well.
But can we simply pray and watch our environment go to hell? Do we say to God, “we are sorry for our sins now please, God, bless us by undoing what we have done to your Creation.” We say “thanks” and go on continueing to burn fossil fuels and be wateful. We go back to ignoring our own disrespectful attitude toward our environment. As time passes we fall back on our comfort of prayer to God, ask for forgiveness and a return of the Messiah before everything really hits the fan.
I just don’t get it. You love God but you disrespect his Creation. You love his Creation yet you ignore it’s destruction by your own willingly destructive behaviors. You may ask for forgivingness of those sins but what are you going to do about the consequences of them? Why should God even reverse the damage you have done to His Creation and give you a do-over?
And yes, I spent 18 years as a Christian. I spent 7 more years after that painfully withdrawing myself from that fantasy and that brainwashing. I now am very content with being Atheist yet also being aware of my place in this world in terms of how I relate to my planet, it’s atmosphere (which we dwell in) and the rest of the environments and their inhabitants. The ground, the sky, and the ocean. Even if I did believe in God I would believe that the “God” Jesus Christ spoke of was actually a reference to ALL that there is. Heaven is what we have come to know as a sustainable environment. Hell is where we are headed soon if we don’t find an energy alternative.
31. SteaM | April 28th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
So… any thoughts?