Politics: How Christians are reacting is NOT how God wants us to.
My Mom always told me that if you want to keep your friends, you don't discuss religion or politics, in this post I was I plan to break that rule. First, I am confident that if my readers are my friends, they will still be my friends after reading this. Second, I feel this really really needs to be addressed. You see every time elections roll around, I am often at a loss to explain why my fellow believers are behaving as they are. We, who have chosen to follow the example of Christ, to remove ourselves from the behavior of a sinful world, are behaving as badly as the "liberals" we so claim to dislike. Politics has the ability to bring out the worst in us and make enemies of friends. It is the sadly reality of the "them vs. us" type of mentality that many of my fellow believers have yet it is not the example that Christ gave us.
Politics has existed since man first established societies and people have been drawing a line in the sand just as long. And there have always been differences of opinion about future and current leaders. The Bible is riddled with historical tales of hated and loved rules. For every person who loved a ruler there were just as many people who despised that same ruler. Sound familiar, because it should. Even in Christ's time we saw a divided people, angry that though they had their own laws and traditions, were forced to abide by the laws and traditions of others. But it is not the differences of opinion that bother me. God made all men with free will including the freedom to have one's own opinion. These opposing viewpoints and opinions are so valuable that America's founding fathers made laws defending them, as long as they are expressed peacefully and that is where the problem lies. We are not expressing those view points in a peaceful manner. We may not be going around punching people in the face or throwing rocks at those who disagree with them (though some people may be) but we are not behaving peacefully. Nor are we acting rationally.
First, let me discuss how our behavior is at odds with Christ's example of how we are to treat others. Jesus is very clear on the point of how we are to treat our "enemies"; in this case, those who do not agree with our political views. No where does it say we are suppose to hate anyone. In fact, Jesus demands we do the opposite. I have provided scripture below to back this statement up:
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you; love your enemies bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.
The rest of the above verse goes on to tell us that we should do this because even the "enemy" at the time loved those who loved them. Christ is asking us to go beyond what the rest of the world does to show love, even when we are not loved.
Luke 6:28 Bless those who curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you.
And of course we have one of the verses even unbelievers are familiar with:
Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
I don't know about you, but I do not see anywhere in there that Jesus wants us to treat anyone hatefully. The exact opposite is apparent. No matter what our perceived enemies do, no matter the hateful words they use, or hateful actions they may take; we are to PRAY for them and LOVE them. Yet many Christians in self-righteous indignation refuse to do that because we allow our "human" heart to override what our godly heart know we should do.
Second, I must say I am shocked when I hear Christians using one person sin to excuse the sins of others. And it happens all the time. Donald Trump says something vulgar (and he has many times) and you hear "Well in _____ Hilary said __________." As if what Mrs. Clinton did or said, excuses what Mr. Trump said or did. That is tantamount to when my kids say "But he hit me first!" Diverting one's attention to another person's failures to overlook the person you supports failures is illogical, irrational, and unbiblical. All men are accountable for their actions in God's eyes, and no sin is overlooked. We all are capable of receiving forgiveness but such forgiveness is not received at the cost of pointing the finger at someone else. The opposite is true; what Mrs. Clinton said 10 years ago is not excused by what Mr. Trump said yesterday or the day before. Both are equally wrong and should be held equally accountable.
So the next time my Christian friends are tempted to make a post speaking hatefully about Democrats, Liberals, or Mrs. Clinton I would ask you to stop and pray about. Consider if this is truly how God wants you to approach the situation. Is what you are posting only going to fuel a fire of hate and disparity? Will the post likely help change anyone's mind or is it simply going to give the unbelieving world reason to despise us more than they already do? If your post is hateful and disparaging, then do the godly thing and DON'T post it! Instead pray for our nation, pray for our "enemies", and pray for our nation! That is far more powerful than anything you could post of Facebook.
Politics has existed since man first established societies and people have been drawing a line in the sand just as long. And there have always been differences of opinion about future and current leaders. The Bible is riddled with historical tales of hated and loved rules. For every person who loved a ruler there were just as many people who despised that same ruler. Sound familiar, because it should. Even in Christ's time we saw a divided people, angry that though they had their own laws and traditions, were forced to abide by the laws and traditions of others. But it is not the differences of opinion that bother me. God made all men with free will including the freedom to have one's own opinion. These opposing viewpoints and opinions are so valuable that America's founding fathers made laws defending them, as long as they are expressed peacefully and that is where the problem lies. We are not expressing those view points in a peaceful manner. We may not be going around punching people in the face or throwing rocks at those who disagree with them (though some people may be) but we are not behaving peacefully. Nor are we acting rationally.
First, let me discuss how our behavior is at odds with Christ's example of how we are to treat others. Jesus is very clear on the point of how we are to treat our "enemies"; in this case, those who do not agree with our political views. No where does it say we are suppose to hate anyone. In fact, Jesus demands we do the opposite. I have provided scripture below to back this statement up:
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you; love your enemies bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.
The rest of the above verse goes on to tell us that we should do this because even the "enemy" at the time loved those who loved them. Christ is asking us to go beyond what the rest of the world does to show love, even when we are not loved.
Luke 6:28 Bless those who curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you.
And of course we have one of the verses even unbelievers are familiar with:
Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
I don't know about you, but I do not see anywhere in there that Jesus wants us to treat anyone hatefully. The exact opposite is apparent. No matter what our perceived enemies do, no matter the hateful words they use, or hateful actions they may take; we are to PRAY for them and LOVE them. Yet many Christians in self-righteous indignation refuse to do that because we allow our "human" heart to override what our godly heart know we should do.
Second, I must say I am shocked when I hear Christians using one person sin to excuse the sins of others. And it happens all the time. Donald Trump says something vulgar (and he has many times) and you hear "Well in _____ Hilary said __________." As if what Mrs. Clinton did or said, excuses what Mr. Trump said or did. That is tantamount to when my kids say "But he hit me first!" Diverting one's attention to another person's failures to overlook the person you supports failures is illogical, irrational, and unbiblical. All men are accountable for their actions in God's eyes, and no sin is overlooked. We all are capable of receiving forgiveness but such forgiveness is not received at the cost of pointing the finger at someone else. The opposite is true; what Mrs. Clinton said 10 years ago is not excused by what Mr. Trump said yesterday or the day before. Both are equally wrong and should be held equally accountable.
So the next time my Christian friends are tempted to make a post speaking hatefully about Democrats, Liberals, or Mrs. Clinton I would ask you to stop and pray about. Consider if this is truly how God wants you to approach the situation. Is what you are posting only going to fuel a fire of hate and disparity? Will the post likely help change anyone's mind or is it simply going to give the unbelieving world reason to despise us more than they already do? If your post is hateful and disparaging, then do the godly thing and DON'T post it! Instead pray for our nation, pray for our "enemies", and pray for our nation! That is far more powerful than anything you could post of Facebook.
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