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I wish I could like this post 1,000 times. Right back at you my brother!
This week I will need to keep reminding myself – “It doesn’t matter who’s president, Jesus is King.”
Love the sinner – I get it. But sometimes voting to empower a party which will work to legalize abortion through all 9 months seems immoral. I’m not sure how someone could take that into account and decide that those innocent lives are worth higher spending on social programs.
BTW, in Oregon you can have your baby killed at any point as long as she’s inside the womb. That is what the democrat party supports. Sure ,they have to puncture he head and suck out her brains to get her out dead from the womb easily, but vote your conscience however it leads you.
I’m not saying that I am not friends with people of different views. I’m saying that there is a moral choice in this election and its stark.
Great post! I have to encourage and remind myself of this. At then end of the day we are still to called to (on purpose) love one another.
Do you think that this approach is Biblical?
With this attitude, would Paul have written Galatians? Would he have rebuked Peter?
Is it really true that all believers are spiritually mature? Can you think of any Scripture to the contrary?
So was Paul wrong when he wrote to the Corinthians, telling them to expel the immoral brother? Was Jesus wrong when He gave instructions for church discipline, ending with the instruction to treat the unrepentant like a pagan or tax collector?
Are these two points really mutually exclusive?
I don’t recall any modifiers in Jesus’ command to love our neighbors. Paul instructs us that we are not to judge another man’s soul. We are, however, enjoined to be discerning and to judge people’s actions. Only God knows where person is on their journey to know Him.
They aren’t mutually exclusive, but I need to remember that one is much more consequential than the other. I can’t give in to worry or fear if my candidate (Trump) loses, because God is sovereign.
As far as who you voted for, sure. But when your brother is kneeling before BLM banners and turning a blind eye to the evil practices of a very real demonic power it’s imperative that his brothers raise their hands and say, “Hey Bob, let’s get some coffee and talk about what the bible says about ____.”
Unfortunately, it seems to be the d supporters who are doing the “ex-communicating” within families.
Yeah, some try to act like being non-confrontational is somehow being loving. It is not. I would hope if a brother thought I was on the wrong path that they would say something to me. Maybe I would listen, maybe I wouldn’t, but if they say nothing because they don’t want to hurt my feeling, then they are not showing any love for me.
People can have different opinions about the election (or anything else for that matter) but they should be able to discuss and defend it. Recently a pastor put out an article about why he won’t vote for the president and another pastor wrote a reply disagreeing. Neither is accusing the other of straying from the faith but they both give their reasons. So, don’t cast aside a brother for how they vote, but don’t shy away from talking to each other about it.
Pastors are meant to be shepherding souls to heaven. If they’re not offering pastoral guidance on the imperative of avoiding cooperation with evil (the advice I gave to my first-time voting daughter), they’re not doing their job. And they’re not doing their brother any favors.
Abortion is intrinsically evil. No exceptions, no excuses. The Democrat party is fully on board and even says it out loud in the party platform. Christians should be forewarned. Neglecting to point this out isn’t “loving.” It’s indifference, at best.
I disagree. It is fortunate that the d supporters are doing the ‘ex-communicating’. Confirms that the R’s are better people.
Amen.
Well said.
The Michael Brown article makes a very salient point:
Living peaceably among all men requires us to return good for evil, but the command is also to resist evil. The freedoms Brown mentions, guaranteed Americans by our Bill of Rights, are based on thousands of years old Judeo Christian principles — our values.
IMO part of the reason our country is in its current condition is because we who are supposed to be salt and light in the world fell down on the job. Not strident activists, but, as private citizens, God’s hands to the world and voices illuminating/preserving the freedom He offers, including those in the US Constitution.
I’ll be blunt: I can see from things like today’s cancel culture and the willingness of some to report fellow Americans for not following overreaching Covid rules how following the John Piper rationale may eventually end up with those believing in free speech, religion, right to defend yourself, etc. as political prisoners or possibly even martyrs. There is no other earthly refuge powerful enough to protect freedom of religion if the USA becomes a totalitarian state. An America committed to protecting followers of Christ and innocent human life is an America Christians can and should be committed to preserving.
An article in conservative secular magazine American Greatness about a month ago expressed some of my thoughts on the election and candidates.
The job of a Christian is the opposite: to preserve family, faith, community; to seek wisdom (especially when discussing these things with fellow believers :-)
Very well put. Thanks.
Tell me again how he treated the tax collector? I think his name was Matthew?
Pope Benedict XVI wrote his first encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est, in order to restore truth to love.
Christianity has always placed veritas before caritas. The Gospel of John begins with this acknowledgement, just as we know that it was from the divine mouth of Christ that the breath of the Holy Spirit came, and not the other way around.
Without the correct ordering of these essences, we cannot truly love.
The peace, freedom, and love promised by Christ are the end that every man is supposed to attain, but they must be reached only after laying down the foundation of truth and raising the columns of the faith.
The Democrat Party actively works against this foundation of truth.
Matthew was a tax collector — not the tax collector. See the difference?
With respect, I intend to vote for the candidate who is least likely to make my religion illegal, and we all know who that is not:
Biden Pledges to Gut Religious Freedom Protections, Saying They Give ‘Hate’ a ‘Safe Harbor’
For those who vote Biden and who, on his election, find that their freedom to act according to their religious beliefs is lost due to him, you will still have my love and prayers. At the same time, though, I’ll have to ask, “What in Hell were you thinking??”
The goal was to bring the repentant into the fold.
Not to keep the unrepentant and corrupted in the fold.
Keep the corrupted in the body and it corrupts the rest of the body – like a single bit of yeast leavens the whole loaf, so one corrupted soul can corrupt the entire church.
Remove the corrupted from among you. Hebrews says that those who have tasted and seen and still reject Christ are lost to you.
There’s no reason to risk the repentant souls among you to give life support to one who has turned his back on Christ.
Unfortunately because of this fact the plea in the OP is being sent to the choir.
Last night @greggutfeld stated that whoever wins, even if its Biden, that he’s my president. It is a hard statement – we are to pray for out leadership. I felt the same way with Obama – it was a tough eight years. A house divided against itself cannot stand. I’m going to do a post on The Great Reset, and we will need to be a house united in the coming near future, no matter who is in the White House. Thank you for this post and the reminder that we are salt and light, in season and out and required to set an example.
I think Matthew gave up being a tax collector upon seeing Jesus.
This is true. I think about how they sell salted cod at the store. You have fish fillets that were caught weeks ago and they are sitting out there with no refrigeration but still very much edible. Now, without the salt, that would be a putrid mess. Our culture without the salt . . . that is what we are seeing.
And to treat someone like a tax collector is to continue to minister to them. Same with pagans. There aren’t exceptions to the royal law of love.
Ministering is an hard term. For example, it is often impossible to minister to someone who doesn’t want to be ministered to. You can love them, but that does not necessarily mean interacting with them closely or giving them full trust, or treating them like a brother.
Whatever term you use. The royal law is the same.