Today I got a forwarded email from somebody about a speech which George W. Bush is supposed to have made recently, wherein he flubbed a Bible passage, precisely while he was attempting to assure the audience of his dedication to the Christian faith.

The story goes that he was supposed to be saying that John 3:16 is his favorite passage in the Bible, but that he transposed the numbers, so that he said John 16:3 instead.

Of course, it turns out this never happened. This first developed on the internet as a forwarded email during the Gore campaign and was levelled against him. It has since been used on both Bush and Kerry. But none of them said it.

The two actual verses are, John 3:16… (this is the one people always have posters of at televised sporting events and crap - since it’s basically the message of Christianity in a nutshell)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Here is 16:2-3…

2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

The interesting part of this though is how much this verse actually seems to talk about Bush’s “Holy War on Terrorism.” It is about dangerous people who haven’t listened to the word of God, but who think they are doing God’s work (ie, Muslims). And you could interpret verse 3 as though it were a reference to his actual father, George H.W. Bush, and how together they form a Christian dynasty against the heathens.

Of course, this is just me reading into this. The forwarded email said nothing of the sort. It just wanted to show up Bush as not being a true Christian, because he mixed up his Bible. Bursting his Bible-bubble is certainly an admirable goal, but I think this whole other subtext is much more interesting. What if this really were his favorite verse of the Bible?

That whole thing about him and his father also reminds me of this other Bible quote, John 10:30…

I and the Father are one.

Of course, that was said by Jesus in reference to God in Heaven, supposedly. But it seems also to sum up W’s whole thing. It would be a fun little project to go through the Bible and pick out verses which could be interpreted either way like this. Then you could put together a website called “George W. Bush’s Favorite Bible Passages,” and have a bunch of stuff that highlights just how creepy he really is. If any intrepid soul wants to take that cause up as their own, feel free. I’ll almost certainly never get around to it.