WWJD... What Would Jesus Decry...

… Or can political liberals be Christians?

The White House will have new tenants in January 2009. It appears that it will not be Ron Paul (or me for that matter). What are we to think of our two candidates? In what pleasant meadow should our thought frolic as we make our decision in November? This post has been in the hopper for awhile now. Let me post it up and get your reaction -

At our previous and lesser blog a commenter posted the following:

Despite being a liberal, I agree that reason and Biblical thought are not incompatible. I don’t think that my post went that far. A voter informed by their Bible, as well as other sources, is not a bad voter or an idiot. Nonetheless, one who merely votes for whomever their pastor/priest/minister endorses, well that’s another story. I’m sure that you know the type, the ones that go to church to be told what the Bible says, instead of reading It and discerning for themselves.

Now I pass it back to you…can one be politically liberal and Christian?

A couple of things here… First of all, let me point out this one pathetic straw-man.  He said that I know the type of person who goes to church to be told what the bible says instead of reading it for themselves.

Actually, I don’t know anyone like that. In theory I guess they exist, but I don’t know anyone that actually takes their Bible that way. The Christians I know are all fairly well read when it comes to the Bible and are more than capable of discerning for themsel ves what the Author intended. That is not the point of post, but I thought I would mention it.

Now on to his actual question. At first I read it as him asking whether one can be politically liberal and a Christian, putting the article “a” in front of Christian. If that was his question then I would be happy to report in the affirmative… Yes Virginia, you can be wrong on any of a number of political issues and remain ‘A’ Christian. You are saved by Grace through Faith and not of works (political or otherwise).

That was not his question though. I think he really wanted to know if politically liberal positions were Christian or not. On some issues that question is very easy to answer. Abortion, enshrinement of sexual deviance into law, property rights, the collectivization of the raising of children and others that go against clear biblical teaching are issues where the so called conservative in this country is in l ine with Christian thought.

 There are other issues that may be a bit more difficult to nail down. For example… There is on the left a great desire for social justice. They have put that desire into laws, preventing government and society from stepping over the poor to get to next level on the wealth ladder. That is something the bible talks about in great detail (read Micah 6; Is 56; Jer 22) and it is something the rulers of a nation should be concerned with.

So, can you be a Christian and vote as a liberal? On a few issues we might all be a little more liberal. Since we have said that all our candidates are sinners and their sins are going to take the form of political positions we have to ask ourselves are any of their sins are disqualifying. Does God want us to support a Presidential candidate who supports state sanctioned murder? If a candidate for Senate is a known drunkard, wanting vodka served before every meeti ng of Congress, should he get our vote? Can we vote for a pro-life guy who thinks that your neighbor has as much right to the dollars in your pocket as you do?

Always remember that Jesus hates and loves many things and we as Christians are to hate what He hates and love what He loves. Every pastor, husband, wife, child, owner of the local Sizzler, and candidate loves things that God hates. That is the nature of sin, loving what God hates.

 Here is the thing… Some sins disqualify you from being a pastor, husband, wife etc… There are some sins that disqualify you from being President. It will take bit of wisdom and biblical discernment to hash those out. Let’s do it together.

One more thing… given how we are to treat the stranger and visitor within our gates, what is the biblical position on border control and immigration? Conservatives may have this one wrong.
 
al sends