Happy Birthday, President Lincoln
Lincoln is one of the smallish number of presidents who can truly be called “great.” For me, his greatness isn’t confined to what he accomplished as president, or to his formal speeches, which were as brilliant as Churchill’s although in a different tone. He also was an incredible human being, a self-made man who spoke with wit, humor, poetry, and wisdom.
I recommend two pieces at Powerline by Scott Johnson that pay tribute to Lincoln: here and here.
I was curious about Lincoln’s religion recently. I had read in Rodney Stark’s “How the West Won” about how Catholic France in centuries past, had tamed slavery with prohibitions against beatings and other regulations. For example, slaves could not be forced to work on weekends, and could work for cash on those days. If they saved enough, they could buy their freedom. That’s nice, but of course still accommodates slavery.
So was Lincoln a hard core Protestant? If I have it straight, Lincoln was raised in a bible thumping Baptist family and his childhood was harsh (by his accounting) as a result. It was not clear what his religious activities were before he married, but after he followed his wife’s wishes concerning worship. She alternated (switched?) between Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. So I’d surmise Protestant yes, but perhaps not hard core.
Lincoln’s speeches “. . . were as brilliant as Churchill’s although in a different tone . . .”
I agree completely To me Lincoln’s work seems somehow more philosophically oriented (i.e, reflective) while Churchill oftentimes seems to want to inspire action (never give up, Britain’s finest hour, blood soil sweat and tears) Then again, Churchill was oftentimes speaking directly to a mass audience through radio whereas Lincoln only ever spoke to immediate crowds, no matter how much his work would be disseminated after the fact
Lincoln’s best read like poetry divine. How could anyone write so inspired? The House Divided speech, the first and second inaugural, and Gettysburg are truly of the best America has ever offered. The House Divided defined American slavery, the inaugural addresses are of such gift that others should just pause before they even attempt to give theirs. With Gettysburg he redefined the Civil War in one short address.
I often ponder by what grace we as a county deserved Lincoln to lead us through our original sin into the place where we are now, still dealing with the problems slavery caused 150 years on. Indeed, a just God gave us a second chance to be touched again by the better angles of our nature.
PowerLine has been running those posts annually for a long time, but they should do it every year in perpetuity.
Maybe someday they will actually influence a sitting politician into doing something right.
I love Lincoln, and the USA, and am so glad he won the Civil War, rather than accepting a split. He was, and the North was, fighting both to save the Union and to end Slavery.
Yet, today I support splitting countries rather than killing a large number of citizens in order to avoid a split.
In supporting Lincoln, I often wonder — How many would have to die before one claims “it was too many”? (Meaning, he’s NOT great, because so many died, and he could have avoided fighting.)
1) in my 3:02 post above, ” . . . blood toil sweat and tears” (don’t know how I missed that typo, but my OCD is nagging at me now)
2)“I often ponder by what grace we as a county deserved Lincoln to lead us through our original sin . . .” [bdh @ 1:50]
Just remember Otto von Bismark’s observation: God protects children, drunkards, and the United States of America. Furthermore, while the jury is still out on the following, Trump’s presidency may well prove to be another example of this observation.
Lincoln repented of his toleration for Southern eugenics and slavery by the time of the Gettsyburg address.
The language used goes back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the Torah of his forefathers. Only blood can be used to wipe away the sins and transgressions of humanity, and that blood was what sanctified the field, to rectify the mistake through the trial of blood and terror of war.
No matter how Lincoln or Radical Republicans wanted a compromise, the God he purported to follow would not allow such a compromise. Either the entire nation will kill each other, leaving a few remnants to repent, or the US will exterminate Slavery 2.0, the insult by Christians to Christians that they were serving the Will of God.
Unfortunately, that didn’t end slavery 3.0, anymore than the Declaration of Independence ended slavery of man by man.
If the god of a group orders them to use slavery 1.0 on the nephiliim, they are honor and duty bound to obey it. However, only one faction of elohim ordered the US to institute Slavery 2.0 and 3.0.
bdh: “I often ponder by what grace we as a county deserved Lincoln to lead us through our original sin into the place where we are now, still dealing with the problems slavery caused 150 years on. ”
What?
Geez. I just realized the Smithsonian unveiled those official, controversial portraits of Obama and his wife on Lincoln’s Birthday. I rather doubt this was a coincidence.
Kehinde Wiley painted Pres. Obama. However, Wiley’s website (http://kehindewiley.com) has been down with a server error for a while now. I looked at it last night. One’s first view is an enormous shot of Wiley in an impeccable suit and coiffed hair sneering down at the viewer.
Either the server is overwhelmed or the powers that be realized what a PR disaster it was for normal Americans to see Wiley’s arrogance and his paintings of black women holding the decapitated heads of white women by the hair!
Unbelievable.
Perhaps Wiley was the right artist to do Obama’s portrait after all.
there is good info that Lincoln, while believing in God had his doubts regarding the divinity of Christ. ALso there is speculation that Lincoln may have been Gay. If you google, Sexuality if Abraham Lincoln, wiki comes up with some info.
He had a lawyer friend Joshua Speed who he was quite close to, all speculation but interesting.
@Huxley, black ladies despise white ladies their hair, that is why using extensions, Indian hair dyed & glued onto the scalp are so popular.
otherwise most black ladies wear wigs since their natural hair is curly and close to the scalp.
MollyNH:
Actually, there’s a popular movement among black women for natural hair. I doubt it’s the majority, but it’s sizeable. Along with natural hair there’s a trend towards more traditional ways of doing black hair. There are a gazillion videos on YouTube showing how to do it, including how to grow out your relaxed hair and how to style it during the transition.
“Judith and Holofernes is from Wiley’s most recent body of work and his first series of paintings to feature female subjects,” a 2012 explanation of the work from the North Carolina Museum of Art foundation reads. “Wiley translates this image of a courageous, powerful woman into a contemporary version that resonates with fury and righteousness.”
In a New York Magazine piece also from 2012, Wiley explained that the impetus for the work came from the renditions of the Biblical scene by Renaissance artists Caravaggio and Gentileschi.
In keeping with his long-running style of painting black subjects in poses based on classic imagery from Western art and iconography, Wiley depicted Judith as a powerful black woman. His reasons for keeping Holofernes white and changing the general into a woman remain less clear.
https://www.thewrap.com/obama-portrait-artist-kehinde-wiley-black-women-decapitating-white-women/
Again: two white women. Ooh, how transgressive!
As Billy Joel might have sang, “It’s still racial hatred to me.”
yes, neo and back in the 70s that trend existed too, angela davis comes to mind, but overall there is unjustified resentment to *white hair*.
The Wayback Machine comes through if you wish to see the Kehinde Wiley page:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180211223429/http://kehindewiley.com
Note Wiley features the severed head of a white woman prominently just next to his left shoulder.
What in the world was Obama and his advisors thinking when they pulled this doofus artist into the limelight with a severed white female head at the top of said artist’s home web page?
It reminds me of Obama’s masterstroke when he brought Bowe Bergdahl and Bergdahl’s father, who looked like a Taliban terrorist, into the Rose Garden for a photo-op, then Bergdahl Sr. started jabbering praises to Allah in Arabic.
Huxley. He does that stuff online purpose
mollyNH: I’m sure Wiley does.
However, my question is why no one was on deck in the Obama camp to realize ahead of time how poorly a severed white female head on Wiley’s home page would play to normal Americans and thereby be associated with Obama’s grand legacy and portrait.
“Oh Obama, yeah, he chose a portrait artist whose signature image is a decapitated white woman’s head. That’s the kinda thing Obama is into and doesn’t mind anyone knowing.”
Yep, that’s a good look for the black messiah who was supposed to unify America.
Judging by the fact that Wiley’s site is still having server problems, I presume the Obama/Wiley folks have noticed they have a serious PR problem and are scrambling for damage control.
I await further developments with interest.
On purpose, not online
Yes Huxley. Agree 100%
In an interview with New York Magazine, Wiley said one of the controversial portraits was based on a stay-at-home mom he found at the mall and the woman’s head she was holding was based on one of his assistants.
“It’s sort of a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing,” Wiley told NYMag.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obamas-portrait-artist-painted-black-women-with-severed-heads-of-white-women/article/2648935
Of course, some of us simpler types see it as a straightforward “kill whitey” thing.
I’m sticking with that unless blacks want to go all postmodern and get down with white artists doing images of black lynchings as an ironic “kill negroes” thing.
@huxley they are cool with *violence against women* what a stink we would hear if it were a black woman’s head
mollyNH: Kehinde Wiley’s site is still down with server error. Apparently there is some price to be paid, albeit minor.
If this were a computer or network error or denial of service attack, his website would be fixed by now.
mollyNH Says:
There is a pseudo pro African movement amongst inner city blacks.
That is why Hussein was nostalgic towards the Hood, even though he wasn’t in the Hood or Ghetto. His half brother from Kenya, though, would be in a Hood or Ghetto.
The pro African movement means that African culture > US white Culture.
In the same sense that Southerners thought the plantation culture > black animals.
I don’t think it ended in the 60s or 70s. Just that in the 90s and later, the individual blacks had to go underground if they liked straight hair, or at least live in white or middle class neighborhoods.
As for Lincoln, I’ve heard the same rumors, but I consider them Leftist Gaystapo fantasy and slasher fiction. If the Divine Counsel wants to reveal the truth to me, I’m listening, and if humans want to throw out their sources and information, I might have some time for it.
Lincoln, like many of the previous generation Founders, were closer to Deists and Agnostics, than what the Religious Right thinks of Protestant Bible (thumping) Word of God followers.
Btw, people thump on their bibles because theologians, in a debate, will often challenge with public declarations such as “Show me where it says that in the KJBible” while thumping it physically. It’s a rhetorical method for “Word of God” smiths.
Personally, if I want to hear the words of the elohim, I’ll ask them. Although that some times requires being in the presence of Lucifer or Yehovah’s throne, which can be risky.
And now the Wiley site is back up as before. Dunno.