“The prescription for bringing the GOP back from the dead around here is daunting: Dump Trump. And dump God from politics.”
So opines Danny Westneat, November 9, 2018.
Westneat is a columnist for The Seattle Times.
Westneat is also a self-admitted atheist.
“Born-again Christians,” claims Westneat citing statistics, “now make up only 18 percent of the Washington electorate.”
A winning formula, per Westneat, is to jettison Jesus, if, that is, according to Westneat, what is dead is to be brought back to life.
Westneat has a point. God and politics mix about as well as gasoline and water. Which combination will certainly foul an outboard motor, even as a bible thumper will run afoul of a political machine.
So?
Interestingly today, November 13, the One Year Bible reading – for what it’s worth – continues in the ‘Hall of Faith’ chapter – Hebrews 11.
Ironically, Abraham – to borrow from Westneat’s ‘the GOP is dead’ no thanks to the party’s supposed identification with God – “accounted that God was able to raise from the dead” that which, without God, certainly did indeed look hopeless.
And what impact do you suppose that had on son Isaac of his dad’s faith?
And how did their story end?
Four verses later – and it’s been four days since Westneat’s pronouncement – Moses was hid three months by his parents despite the political pronouncement of the pharaoh.
His parents “were not afraid of the king’s commandment.”
Four verses after that – and some 40 years gone by – Moses defied the political powers-that-be, “not fearing the wrath of the king.”
And how did that story end?
And where do you suppose Moses had instilled upon him such political-defying principles?
His parents.
Far from tossing our faith when we toss our hat into the political ring because, after all, to hear some tell it ‘Christian conservative politics in Washington are dead’ or, ‘sometimes you have to sacrifice principle to get elected’, the elephant – not a reference to the Republican Party – in the room, to identify where we went wrong – to hear Isaac or Moses tell it – is not politics but parenting.
Where, pray tell, does the wherewithal come from to “obey the dictates of their heart and conscience not fearing the wrath of the king”?
Not pundits.
Not political aspirants or incumbents.
But parents.
And God, not necessarily, doesn’t have to have anything to do with it.
P.S. No sooner did I place the period to that above than this was just posted: “Teens record themselves throwing bottles at cars, post it on Snapchat.”
Good for the concerned mother who saw the video on her daughter’s phone and reported it.
And now?
The family of the mother who turned over to authorities what she saw on her daughter’s phone is receiving threats.
For doing the right thing.
So?
Without such parenting, said the mother, “‘If they went out again next weekend, and I had done nothing and maybe someone died – I would have lived with that forever,’ the mother told KFOR. ‘That would have been my fault because I could have said something.’”
But she did say something and for her daughter – God or no God, threats or no threats – parenting, that youngster would learn, is about doing the right thing.
The least Christian party is the GOP just because they CLAIM to be anti-abortion everyone thinks they are
Christians;however, the way they treat the poor, hungry and “the least of us” is truly anti-Jesus’s teachings. However, the party willing to treat those less than them better has always been the democrats (albeit in my opinion all parties are driving me crazy). I do feel should Jesus arrive today the GOP would cast him aside for being a “libtard” a word they are so proud to cast out. So no the GOP is far from a Christian party by any means. They don’t care a thing about the child once it is born and needs nurturing, food and shelter. Never have. They want war for their corporate donors to make money and control of people and by endorsing a psychopath these past two years they have gone off the deep end.
You really don’t know many conservative Christians or what they believe or how they contribute to charitable causes or take care of those who have less or need help. You are painting all Christians with a very broad brush. You’ve been reading and listening to too many liberal talking heads.
Wrong, I live and watch them daily and they scare the heck out of me with their hate. Yes, some are very loving but those are TRUE Christians and are rare.
I am sorry for whatever happened to you to make you so angry. I hope you can forgive whoever hurt you. With God’s help, we can.
Also, I imagine that just such type of things have happened. But, just like I wear a Seahawks jersey at the grocery store, it doesn’t make me a member of the team, right? Jesus said that His children would be known by their fruit in Matthew 12:33: https://biblehub.com/context/matthew/12-33.htm
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” ( https://biblehub.com/context/galatians/5-22.htm ) I praying that God will help us all to be the people that He wants us to be, with His love and wisdom. With love and compassion for all, we can help each other–one person at a time. God gives us all the ability to change our little corner of the world to help others in need, which we all are at different points in our lives.
As it is, I am learning to live with disability (I used to be so strong and capable, and I helped others all the time) and, it is actually surprising to me who understands this and who doesn’t. But, I will continue to love everyone and help others see how we all need to help each other. Blessings to you!
My shock is the so-called that think trump is a Christian what a joke! The political garbage is a joke.. I’ve said for years I never left the republican party they left me! The phony “chrisitans” in that party now are a disgrace to my parents (members of the greatest generation) and my husband’s 7 tours in viet nam. I just thank God daily my dad is not here to see the disgrace in his white house today
Regardless if a person is an atheist, or Buddhist, or Muslim, or Jew, or Hindu, or Christian, or whatever, can we agree that there are values and principles that are good to hold:
“Honor your father and your mother…
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet… ”
Pretty much every law is based on those values (Exodus 20). It all begins with honoring our Creator. So, this isn’t about God in politics, it is about loving our Creator and our neighbor as our self–“The Golden Rule”. Laws are for those who break them, not for those who respect life. Even so, without love for our Creator, we are all lost! http://www.stephenneufeld.com/christian.html
Religion is religion, Government is secular. End of story.
Actually, government is neither religious nor secular. Government is, though, found in the Bible at least as far back as Moses, about 3,500 years ago. In Exodus 18:25: “Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.” If you read the whole chapter, you will see that the purpose of the various designations was to judge/rule over the people of Israel, with each larger group designation taking on the more difficult cases to determine what is the best (most just) decision for the parties involved. Only the most difficult circumstances would eventually be brought to Moses, the supreme Law Giver. The United States government is based on this model. Of course, America also has a three-branch system to create checks and balances, including various “Rights”. This is also modeled on the Bible.
http://www2.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/constitution-day-bible-founding-documents-church-and-state-20180917.html
https://wallbuilders.com/founding-fathers-jesus-christianity-bible/
For a slightly different approach to the discussion, consider reading this helpful explanation for Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-government.html
Once we allow God to be a center figure in politics, it becomes a very quick step to blurring the line separating church and state. (See the Middle East….) Freedom of religion is a central tenet in our Constitution, and once the government is involved that freedom is jeopardized. The far right is very supportive of freedom of religion, but in some cases only as long as that religion is Christianity, and usually their brand of it.
On another note, being an atheist and doing the right thing, or good things, are not mutually exclusive. Some atheists have much better “Christian” values than self-described Christians.
Amen, Gary I have noticed that, especially of late. So-called Christians have been very hateful lately and not very Christ-like
Susan,
I agree, but would qualify your statement by saying “some” Christians. Most religious people are very caring, kind, and understanding – be they Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, etc. I like to think I’m one of them, but I don’t get to judge that. The problems start when a small faction of any religion start thinking they are the “only” valid religion and try to force their beliefs on others. Like a friend once told me, it’s hard to believe a billion Hindus are gonna be wrong in the end…..
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
It is so ‘Christian’ to “save a child, stop abortion”, but where are all the Christians when that young mother is facing a pregnancy due to rape (or worse, incest rape) . “Saving the child” should include saving the mother with support from the community, including counseling, financial assistance, child care, schooling, and living accommodations. No matter how lovable the child is, that mother has to live with him/her and face, every day, the reminder of what happened to cause that child. Give that mother an alternative.
A common argument, rape and incest are known to be a very small percentage of abortions. The vast majority of abortions (~90-95%) are neither rape nor incest. Most statistics on this issue vary only slightly but, bear out the general idea. Please, take some time to look it up for yourself. Even so, many women have shared stories of how God healed them through the birth and raising of their child, out of rape or incest. Killing an innocent baby is not the right response. That only victimizes the mother again!
As well, a significantly disproportionate percentage of abortions are committed on minorities and people of color, which is interesting since the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, created the organization to cull the population of blacks and the “unfit” through abortion. Her Eugenics movement was the impetus for creating “choice”, especially in the inner cities. As well, Planned Parenthood’s policy is NOT to give sonograms to expectant mothers before performing an abortion. Do you know why? Because the woman might change her mind when she sees her baby; and, Planned Parenthood doesn’t make money on birthing babies, only poisoning and dismembering babies In Utero.
https://www.liveaction.org/research/margaret-sanger-quotes-history-and-biography
A baby is the most innocent victim of the violence of abortion. Of course, why punish a developing human baby for others’ choices? And, many, many individuals, families, churches, and non-profit organizations do provide all levels of support to unwed mothers, victims of rape/incest, etc.
https://www.crisispregnancyoutreach.org/
https://crisispregnancy.com/
https://catholicadoptionministry.org/crisis-pregnancy-help/
Would you be surprised to learn that the largest proportions of abortions are actually working women in their 20s, not victims of rape or incest? 85% of abortions are women who choose abortion as “birth control”: https://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/
It would seem that our society has so much to learn about the immeasurable value of every human life–regardless of color, size, age, disability or any other factors!
Psalm 119:13 ” For you [God] formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”
I disagree the more common abortions is susie christian sitting in the church pew who will continue to get them when they are illegal as she did when they were illegal before as the pastor helped daddy talk the doctor in the church to do it to “save face” for the “good christian” so they didn’t have a daughter that got pregnant. Most minorities have their babies which is why their is never any assistance for them as the “good christians” don’t want them having their babies.
It would be nice to meet with others of similar convictions. Believers have church, others should have conversations. Coffee anyone?