Interesting item in light of the article posted yesterday (Christians Should Not Be Political Pacifists, Says Megachurch Pastor).
After Rick Santorum ignited controversy over the weekend by saying President Barack Obama has a “phony” and “different theology” that’s not “based on the Bible,” and amid ongoing discomfort among some politicians and religious figures over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, a coalition of major religious organizations is calling on presidential candidates to keep religion out of politics…
“Candidates do not have to check their religion at the door of the offices they seek. But they need to understand that they serve people of other faiths and of no faith. Resorting to religious language that sets people of faith against each other harms political discourse and sows religious discord,” said J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, in a statement….
The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance, said he has been “deeply disturbed by the disproportionate role religion has played during recent election cycles with some candidates seeming to be running for ‘pastor-in-chief’” and that “a line is crossed when a candidate implies that they should receive your vote because of their faith.” (full article here)
"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."
God is not the author of confusion. Could there be any more confusion than exists in politics?
What does that tell us, class?
Unfortunately, it also tells us something about much of the church these days.
They are telling the wrong people. Tell it to the church. The church needs to get out of politics not the other way around. As usual the so-called religious leadership has it completely backwards.
Politics is about forming different coalitions into a majority vote. So what if your religion is offended or excluded, tough. That’s democracy. Politicians can court whoever they choose. Look at the list of complainers, this kind of commentary is political in it’s purpose, not religious. This is a political objective in the guise of religious dialogue. It’s from HuffPo no less. They aren’t trying to defend religion as much as they are trying to stifle the evangelical conservative influence that is motivated by this type of rhetoric. Wake up you discernment/apologist, deliver us from all deception watchdogs!
How can I say I’m not into politics if all I do is complain all day about christians and politics? We need to start making the case to christians for why politics is the wrong direction instead of griping about it all the time.
Look, I’m as strict about most of these things as anybody. I don’t vote, I don’t sit on juries, I don’t swear oaths, I decry nationalism and patriotism for believers. I would never send my son to kill and die for our earthly freedom. Never! I believe the church of Jesus Christ is all about mercy and nothing about justice. Period. Judgment is coming, but for now it’s mercy until then. It’s all about peace and nothing about war and violence. I follow Christ and the Bible, not men and their human standards. That’s my goal.
BUT, I have to accept that most believers haven’t come to that level of conviction in regard to most of these things. So I look to contribute what I can, when I can. I also realize that there was a time that I was just like them and somehow God got through to me. How quickly I can turn the mercy God has shown me into an excuse to judge others.
We start to sound like pharisees, looking down our noses at the unenlightened, condemning men who are trying to do what they think is right. That’s right, condemning brothers who don’t see it quite like us. God didn’t teach me these things for me to judge others, He taught me these things to help others see the truth.
Good comment.
davo,
bravo!
Heb 6:3 And this we will do if God permits.
Some, maybe a lot, make the mistake thinking their level is the level everyone else needs to conform too!
Apparently the writer of the book of Hebrews sees it your way, or, rather, you tend to see it the way the writer of the book of Hebrews sees it?