Ann Coulter and Being “Perfected” « Braden’s Thoughts on Christianity

Ann Coulter and Being “Perfected”

October 14, 2007 at 4:18 am | In Ann Coulter, Christ, Christianity, Church of Christ, Conservative, God, Judaism, Liberal, Politics, Racism, Religion, Republican, The Bible, The Gospel, Theology, Word of God, faith | 4 Comments

As a Christian that takes an avid interest in current events and the political scene, it probably wouldn’t be all that surprising for me to write a blog concerning the recent statements that Ann Coulter made on “The Big Idea” with Donnie Deutsch. So I did. I wrote a post on my more political blog concerning my take on that particular situation.

Now, the blogosphere, which isn’t short of any liberal or shall I say, left-leaning blogs, was quick to pounce on her statements, labelling her everything from racist to anti-Semitic. This came as no surprise to me considering that most people of a liberal mindset absolutely abhor Ann Coulter anyway. For them, this was only fuel to the flame.

And frankly, I can’t say I condone every statement she’s made in the past. I think she has crossed the line on more than one occasion. But from watching the video of the interview and reading the transcript, I couldn’t say I saw much that I considered to be remotely defamatory, racist, or even anti-Semitic.

Let’s note a few things about the interview.

First of all, Donnie Deutsch led the discussion to cover what Ann Coulter thought an idealistic society would be. She responded that it would look like the New York City during the Republican National Convention. That shouldn’t come as any shock at all because Ann Coulter is a Republican.

The conversation eventually turned to the concept of an “ideal society” full of Christians. And naturally, I would say that most religious people feel that the world would be better off if the world were full of people that subscribed to their particular religious beliefs.

Let’s make one more thing clear: Ann Coulter was not talking about race, she was talking about religion. Jewish nationality had absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. It was all about Christianity versus Judaism.

Donnie Deutsch clearly thought otherwise however, when he compared Ann Coulter to the head of Iran who wishes to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. To that, Coulter responded, and I quote: “No, we think — we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.”

Now the headlines of mainstream media took that statement and ran with it. Some even misquoted her (actually if you read the transcript, Donnie Deutsch misquotes her too) as saying “Jews need to be perfected,” which is altogether different.

What Ann Coulter was saying is that as Christians, we want Jews to be perfected. We would love for Jews to become Christians. Is that bad? Certainly nothing about that necessarily implies that Christians should force Jews to become Christians, but rather we simply want them to.

Now let me cut to the spiritual chase on this discussion. What does it mean for someone to be “perfected” in Christianity? That is the heart of the matter.

In Matthew 5:48, Christ says “you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” What a daunting task! How is it possible to be as perfect as God Himself?

Hebrews 12:2 speaks of Christ as the “perfecter of our faith.” Christ is the one who can make our faith perfect. But still, how does Christ do that?

Hebrews 10:14 says that by Christ’s offering, he has “perfected for all time those who are being sanctificed.” By Jesus Christ dying on the cross, He is able to “perfect” us.

And these verses only scratch the surface of the concept of perfection in the Bible. Humanity is anything but perfect. Christ is perfect. He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. By being that perfect sacrifice, He in turn, makes us perfect.

Do I want to be perfect? Absolutely. Can I be perfect? No, I cannot be perfect on my own. But can I be perfected? Yes and I thank God I can!

And I think that’s what Ann Coulter was trying to get across. The Bible is full of Jews being “perfected.” It talks about it quite a bit actually. Not to mention the fact that Jesus Christ Himself, Peter the apostle, Paul the apostle, and most of the writers of the Bible were Jews themselves!

So do Ann Coulter’s statements in that interview make her racist or anti-Semitic? I hardly think so. If anything, she wants Jews to be saved. And if that’s anti-Semitic, then I’m just as guilty as she is.

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I think Christians need to work on perfecting themselves first before they start worrying about perfecting others. Christians never seem to understand why Jews get so upset when they hear Ann Coulter’s comments or see Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ celebrated. No matter what an individual Jew may believe or not believe about Jesus and his teachings, there is one thing that almost all Jews are in agreement. To Jews, Jesus is not the Prince of Peace even if his followers proclaim him as such. For Two thousand years, Christians in the name of Jesus have thrown out the Ten Commandments when dealing with Jews. An early Christian Church leader by the name of Chrysostom denounced Jews as ‘most miserable of all men’ — ‘lustful, rapacious, greedy, perfidious bandits’ — ‘inveterate murderer, destroyers, men possessed by the devil’ — ‘debauchery and drunkenness have given them the manners of the pig and the lusty goat’ — ‘pests of the universe’ — ‘they have surpassed the ferocity of wild beasts, for they murder their offspring.’ It did not take long for words like this to incite Christians to torment and kill their Jewish neighbors. Historians report that the First Crusade led to the death of one quarter to one third of the Jewish population of Germany before the Crusaders ever placed one boot on the soil of the Holy Land. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed because Christian leaders blamed Jews for poisoning the wells and starting the Black Plague. Jews soon learned to greatly fear the performance of a local passion play. Nothing incited rape, looting and mass murder better then the call for revenge on the Jews for killing their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The death count is believed to be in the thousands for some towns and villages and over a hundred thousand in certain regions of Europe. The same year Columbus sailed the ocean blue, Christian rulers came up with the first of several solution to the Jewish Problem. Their solution was for the Jews to convert to Christianity or be expelled from their kingdoms. The Spanish Inquisition used torture and murder to make sure the Jews who remained were sincere in their desire to worship Jesus. While almost every country in Western Europe made it illegal to be Jewish, those Jews who fled with only the clothes on their backs eventually found homes in Eastern Europe. These “unperfected” Jews did not find the peace and quiet they desired more than anything else. The Final solution to the Jewish Question that lead to many indiscrimate killings and eventually led to the mass murder of Six million Jews, was first proposed not by Hitler but by another famous German. Martin Luther in his treatise titled The Jews and Their Lies wrote that it “not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death. My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire… Second, that all their books– their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible– be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted…Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country…Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it…” When Christians talk about a perfect world where everyone in it professes a belief in the divinity of Jesus, the first thing that Jews always wonder about is how far will Christians be willing to go this time to make their dreams come to fruition Many Jews believe that constant vigilance is the only thing preventing the horrors of the past from happening today. Even in a “Christian Nation” dedicated to religious freedom such as the United States of America.

Comment by Eric — October 14, 2007 #

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Who goes to Ann Coulter for theological accuracy in the first place. She’s a show Catholic, demeaning, shock value and quite frankly not all that with it. I’d have avoided the subject myself and left her where she belonged: the parking lot.

Comment by rudywatcher — October 15, 2007 #

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Eric, you bring up some valid points but I certainly would not claim what some so-called Christians did back then. Nor would I begin to defend such things. In the first century A.D., you also have to keep in mind that Christians were persecuted by Jews including people like the apostle Paul. For you to say that all “Christians” carried out these things against Jews is like saying that all Muslims attacked the U.S. on 9/11. Christians have been persecuted worldwide throughout the ages too, even today in places like China and Africa. I do understand where you’re coming from, but Ann Coulter had no intention of offending any Jew or of oppressing them in any way, which I think is quite clear from the transcript.

Rudywatcher: Well I certainly would not GO to her for theological accuracy. But in this case, she was in fact, theologically accurate from a generic Christian standpoint.

Comment by Braden — October 15, 2007 #

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Have you ever paused to think why Jews don’t want for Christians to become Jews?

Comment by Al — March 15, 2009 #

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