Reply #15: My guess is that his flippant answers to the press are the issue. [View All]

[jbnow]

It doesn't sound like that man is "who he was last year and 5,10,15 years ago" Several journalists who went to that church and/or had friends and family who did were really shocked by that press session. Many had never heard him talk the way he did in those clips either even though they attended pretty regularly and they talked about how his usual sermons went. He always has that style but not the topics or language.

Anyway the Q&A shocked them, both in some of the things he said and how rude he was. They didn't know him that way.
Wright had a very good reputation in Chicago, the church wasn't considered fringe he he was well respected.
But he was so disrespectful in that press conference. I understand he'd be angry at the skewed image he'd been given by the media and the horrible consequences (threats and hate mail to him and to the church) but he either shouldn't have done one yet or he should have used it to bridge some of the barriers. He knew the type of question he'd get.

Maybe he should have followed his own advice from that 9/11 sermon they asked about. He responded by saying they hadn't seen the whole thing and that Obama had no right to say he should have tried to bring peace, he hadn't seen the whole thing either, he did bring in peace. And he did. But instead of being angry when he answered he could have explained the sermon better and people would have it understood much better. Because after he talks about how horrible 9/11 was and asking God what the reaction should be and the horrid bible verse about revenge and the infamous crescendo part we heard in clip where he's talking about what that ambassador said on Fox about what we've done coming back to us...
He talked about asking God again and about reacting to violence with violence
God showed me that this was a time for me to examine my relationship with God, not time to examine others. Talk to God privately, spend time getting right with God- not trying to set others right. Make sure what you are doing is for the sake of eternity, not for the sake of the public. All of us need to start by setting right our relationship to God as our first step.

I'm thinking he forgot that and what he did was for the public, not for the sake of eternity. He was reacting to his own hurt, getting that revenge he warns against. To those who have known him 5,10,15 years ago that was not the man they knew.

Whoever we support I think it would have been nice had he replied more thoughtfully and patiently. This country needs a lot of healing.