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The Spectacle Blog
I’ve had enough, more than enough, of Barack Obama saying that we should be “our brothers’ keepers.” All of us should utterly reject that notion. I explain why here.
Obama did it again during his official Thanksgiving proclamation. I explain why the claim is misguided both in terms of faith and of the American political tradition.
From the standpoint of faith:
In not a single place in the Bible is it ever written that we are indeed our brothers’ keepers. (Look it up!) And for good reason: To be a “keeper” of another person is not necessarily to help the other but instead to control him. An Internet site called “Cup of Wrath” explains it well: “No one is their brother’s or sister’s keeper, unless that person is incapable of taking care of him or herself … Loving thy neighbor as thyself doesn’t mean being your neighbor’s keeper or overseer. Instead it means taking his or her best interests to heart.”
Again, the command from Christ is not to act for others, but to serve others - to love the brother as an equal, not in loco parentis. To assert parental responsibility for a brother is to assume a role - to wrongly assume it - that God has reserved for Himself. Even if undertaken with the best intentions, to be a brother’s keeper is to commit a sin akin to vainglory by putting oneself above one’s proper station.
From the standpoint of American political theory and tradition:
…. to be a “brother’s keeper” is to tread dangerously close to the realm of George Orwell’s fictional “Big Brother” - an all-powerful state of the sort explicitly and rightfully rejected by our nation’s Founders and by large majorities of every succeeding American generation.
I read somewhere (I can’t find it now) that the “brother’s keeper” emphasis is a central tenet of the black liberation theology espoused by the infamous Rev. Wright. It is a Marxist bastardization of traditional Judeo-Christian tenets. I can’t vouch for that explanation myself, but it rings true. Either way, even if Obama’s intentions are laudable on this front — a respect I went way out of my way to afford him, although one can certainly argue he does not deserve such respect for his good intentions — those intentions are antithetical to traditional and valuable understandings. We should all love our brethren … but we should not “keep” them, lest we ourselves in turn become “kept.”
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More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/11/29/we-are-not-our-brothers-keeper
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Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.29.12 @ 3:42PM
A "Keeper" is the occupational title for the Warden of the zoo.
Tafuna| 11.29.12 @ 4:19PM
Never once in the Bible are we urged to be our "brother's keeper." The only time this term is used is in Genesis 4:9 when after murdering his brother and God asks where his brother is, Cain answers, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Occam's Tool| 11.29.12 @ 6:57PM
And Cain asked that to cover up a murder.
Stan Redmond| 11.29.12 @ 7:48PM
Don't expect to reach the ignorant masses that voted for Obama to understand the "brother's keeper" saying.
Everything exists for liberals to use as a tool to further liberalism. They hate the bible and christianity in general but when they can twist bible verses to cry for some new government program they'll do it. BUT, put the 10 commandments on a courthouse and there's hell to pay.
Tom Kyba| 11.30.12 @ 11:28AM
Bingo!
louey| 11.29.12 @ 11:01PM
You miss the point or the Presidents basis of use
Wesley Snipes made a movie and made
the saying "famous".
Many would understand it if knowing of the
culture and the film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9UK03yV8oM
louey| 11.29.12 @ 11:20PM
The idea of keeper is to guard, watch, protect, oversee; but it doesn’t mean that we take on ownership for what others should be taking ownership for.
We don’t enable people to continue doing wrong, cover for them by lying for them in order to keep them out of trouble.
We don’t do for people what they should be doing for themselves.
We don’t bail people out of situations time and time again.
Sometimes parents do not allow their children to grow up by keeping them dependent upon them -telling them what to do--making their decisions for them.
Some people think they are being their brother’s keeper by continually giving advice.
We are not our brother’s keeper in that sense.
Romans 14:12 says, “Each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
Marilyn Murphree
http://www.sermoncentral.com/c.....s-9554.asp
louey| 11.29.12 @ 11:25PM
I do not agree to the President's use
nor the Wesley Snipes use
I believe the President wants to be
the overbearing parent, and keep
a section of the population dependent.
I note the sermon use of Marilyn Murphree
the quotes above
as more akin to my belief.
Aaron Investigates | 11.30.12 @ 1:31AM
Each of us go to our reward alone, based completely on our own particular actions. This is the fundamental American premise which is why Freedom of Religion can be found in the very first amendment.
Oldefarte| 12.2.12 @ 11:27AM
Let me try and SPLAIN IT TO YA,okay? BROTHERS' KEEPERS is a euphemism for GOVERNMENTAL WELFARE AT THE EXPENSE OF INCOME PRODUCING TAXPAYERS. Okay, so there was a credible problem pre-1954 Brown vs. Bd. of Ed. SCOTUS decision disallowing seperate-but-equal public schools and facilitating their integration. Thereafter same schools, teachers, textbooks, computers, schoolrooms etc for all....ie EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. Then the inequality began to be comparable and demonstratable with test scores signifying same. Solution for Democrats and liberals? Manipulate the test scores, social promotion of non-qualifying students, unionized promotions of inept teachers/administrators. Result=uneducated minority students with worthless HS diplomas in their exited hands. Political agenda=BE YOUR BROTHERS KEEPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!