I have no illusions about one of my liberal friends. He is a believer who happens to be on the left politically. Yes, fellow Xians on the right who dittohead and think Mormons do a good job commenting on the political scene, there are lefties who are believers. Tonight, I was told that I was too good to be a conservative, and to step into the light.
I thought about this, because I have had friends take political philosophies and superimpose them on the Scriptures.
And that got me to reply with the following, about which I felt good enough that I thought it worth reposting here.
We can get into all sorts of back and forth over presidential reputations. It’s the political philosophy of liberalism, abortion rights, gay marriage, gun control, public union collective bargaining, Kennedy-Clinton philandering, cure of all social ills and do it better than the church, thrill up my leg, New Deal/Great Society/Planned Parenthood/Car Company/Banks too big to fail mentality, IRS taxation, preserve the Union mentality invasion of states’ rights that started with Lincoln and manifested in liberal political philosophy such as the following
http://zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/the-road-to-perdition/
http://zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/and-before-long-churches-too-you-watch/
that make my stomach turn.
And ___ is right you know.
And with my work within the church, and my incapacity to make a case for one political philosophy against another, or find arguments for either-or infallibly in Scripture, instead of just letting Scripture be Scripture, and letting it weigh the hearts of men wherever they be found.
And how people on both sides of the aisle want to tell us that Scripture means one thing or another and thus supports their philosophy, that irks me. They treat Jesus like the whore of their political party.
:Jesus was a conservative”-he’d prevent murders of the innocent, and tell you to be a good steward of your finances, even if you did not care for the poor in their various needs
“Jesus was a socialist”-he’d care for all the poor, and spread the wealth, even if it meant you were a crappy steward, and make sure the poor were provided for.
Romans 13 is, of course, true. But we lean to heavily on that for our caring for the poor, and don’t get ourselves jobs (as guilty as I am of this, I have never taken one single handout from the government) to care for the poor as individuals in the body of the church, the only redemptive organization, besides families of believers, and we wonder where the judgment will start. Hint: it’s not with the governments.
And when a government is more broke than many of its citizens…
I have no illusions about the commentators on both sides. I know the major flaws of those on the right, as well as the candidates, but judging from their actions, they all, adulterers and witches (Clinton and Reagan, et al.,) malicious vitriolic hatemongers on the right (Limbaugh with his arrogance, Beck with his LDS, ) and patronizing tweedjackets on the left (Matthews-thrill up my leg, Beck is a hatemonger) and the verbal attacks leveled on women on the right, which I don’t think Jesus would engage. I think He is so far removed from the political discourse honestly with its two-facedness, that I have very little to say, except when it comes to issues.
Even if you disagree with Palin and Bachmann’s rhetoric…what would Jesus have the left say? Do our comments reflect the Father’s heart?
Seriously folks, the truth about political rhetoric is, we cannot assert Jesus would side with left or right wholly, and everything that came out of every talking head’s mouth. But here is the real question that demands asking as we “step into the Light.”
It’s all about the Light of Christ, as non-fun as that is.
What would He have us say to the left and the right? What would he have us say to our own political party as well as the opposition? Sometimes I think God is using Glenn Beck, even if he is LDS. Others are welcome to disagree, and I can handle that. Sometimes I think Glenn is just talking out of his butt. But the bottom line is, it does not matter what Beck and others on the right say, and what Matthews and others on the Left say. What really matters is what Jesus is saying to us? And are our thoughts and words aligning with the heart of God the Father, the Father of Lights, before whom we will all stand and give an account for “every thoughtless word.” I cannot worry about Beck and Limbaugh and Matthews. Right now, I can only worry about David McNelley, and whether or not his actions and words reflect the Light of the World.
Are you ready to step into the light.
If we are in the light as He is in the light. We have true fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sins.
1 John 1:7.
David, personally, I am just as tired as you are of putting our political realities upon Christ. I want to take the mind of Christ upon me, not put mine up him.
Excellent post. You should cross post it!
Superb analysis.
Or, should I say, “Ditto”?