https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/08/16/christians-supporting-trump-arent-christians/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=John%20Pavlovitz
The distinction between actions and attitudes of Christians and non-Christians is spot on. I have read some of Mr. Pavlovitz's blog entries before. He offers a lot of self-reflective critique that the Christian church needs to sometimes examine. I can't say I always agree with all his assessments though. One point I would say regarding this piece- I hesitate at ever saying who is a Christian and who is not. Ultimately, only God knows people's hearts and if they have truly put faith in Jesus' death and Resurrection to pay for their sins and follow Him. It is not my place to judge that and so I will always give people the benefit of the doubt. However, that said, Jesus said that we will know His disciples by their fruit- good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. (Matthew 7:15-20) So I can often say of many professed Christians that I feel about 99% sure they're not who they claim to be.
The Bible actually exhorts Christians to examine ourselves and see if we're really in the faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5-8) So there is definitely a need to hold a mirror up to ourselves and make sure we're really reflecting Christ.
It is also worth noting that this pendulum swings both ways. As much as our works should be present to demonstrate our faith in Christ (Philippians 2:12-13, Ephesians 2:8-10, John 15:8, the entire book of James basically), our good works must be done out of our faith in Christ and because of that or they don't count for anything. Jeremiah 17:9 makes clear that no one naturally has a good heart. Rather, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked- who can know it? Isaiah 64:6 says that all our good deeds are like filthy rags before The Holy Lord God. Not only can we never do enough good works to please God (since His standard is absolute perfection- Matthew 5:48, Leviticus 11:45), we can't even truly do any good works apart from His righteousness working in us! In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus delivers some of the scariest words in The Bible. He clearly says that not everyone who says to Him 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of Heaven but only the one who does the will of His Father is in Heaven. On the last day, many will say to Him, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?' And then Jesus will tell them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.' (Some translations add, 'The things you did were unauthorized.') Chilling words indeed! Shortly before He said this, Jesus warned about wolves in sheep's clothing. There are numerous other warnings regarding this. (See Matthew 13 for Jesus' parable of the weeds and Matthew 25 for Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats.) In Acts 19:11-20, there is yet another example of this, when some guys went around trying to heal folks of demon possession by invoking Jesus' Name even though they didn't know Him and this one time the demon possessing a dude called them out on it, saying it knew Jesus and Paul, but who are those guys? The demon-possessed man overpowered the lot of them and beat them up, so that they fled naked and wounded. And thus, the Name of The Lord Jesus was extolled.
There are numerous other passages that speak to this as well (Romans 1-3 and Galatians 3 and the book of Hebrews all offer explanations of the balance and relationship between faith and works.)
I personally have decided that I am not going to judge someone's Christianity (and/or religiosity in general) based on their political choices alone. I have friends who are on very opposite ends politically (both some who vote Democrat or Republican or something else altogether) and I don't doubt their faith in Christ. Now I do think faith in Jesus should direct and influence our politics and voting, as it affects all of life. But I don't think the pastor should tell the church who to vote for. My advice on that is to vote for who you think God wants you to vote for. Thus, do research on all the candidates and pray and vote as you feel God leading you.
And this is where it's important to note a definition of terms. What does it even mean to support the President? By definition as American citizens, don't we all support the President regardless of our religious faith or lack thereof? I mean, surely we all want the President to do a good job of leading the country and hopefully make wise and morally right choices for the country. In some general sense, I support every President in the hope that he or she will perform the duties of the office to the best of their abilities, whether I voted for them or not. It should also be remembered that not everyone who voted for President Trump agrees with everything he says and does and only did so extremely reluctantly because they felt he was the best viable choice that might make some decisions that would honour Christ better than others. In the same way, some Christians may have voted for Mrs. Clinton extremely reluctantly only because they felt she might make some decisions that would better honour Christ than others. The same could be said for the other candidates. As I've already said, I'm not going to judge anyone on the basis of their political persuasions alone. Too often this leads to untenable assumptions and mischaracterizations made about people due to my own biases and stereotypes held about any particular political party and that is a large part of our problem in America, I believe.
Though I have voted in every presidential election since I've been old enough to do so, I certainly have not supported everything all the Presidents have done, even for ones that I voted for. For the last two presidencies, I have not voted for the candidate who became President. For the last two elections, I have not voted for the Republican or Democrat candidate (or the Libertarian or Green Party candidate, either for that matter- because there are more than two parties in America). Ultimately, unlike the joking comment Jamie Foxx once made about President Obama at the 2012 Soul Train Awards, my Lord and Saviour is Jesus Christ. I look to Him above any other human being. (Isaiah 2:22) He allows some to be in power and takes them down too. (See Daniel 4) I am eternally grateful that He is eternally in control and He is still on His throne and holding the whole world in His hands, no matter how crazy it gets. I pray for earthly leaders and support the policies I can agree with Biblically and other times I have to submit to ones I disagree with out of greater respect for The Lord and the human authorities He has established. (Romans 13 speaks to this point well.) However, when the policy in question puts me in a place of choosing between following the government or God, as Peter said in Acts 5:29, 'We must obey God rather than men.'
That is all I can do in the end. I stand for Jesus and the things He said to do and I try to let Him work in me more all the time so I can ever be more like Him and be the light of the world He called me to be. I do try to give credit where I can when it's due to any President and I also stand against things that are Biblically morally wrong, even if it is something the President is pushing and promoting. I take advantage of the freedom afforded me to make my views known through peaceful free speech, assembly and petition, freedom of the press and freedom of religion, and through voting in elections. And through it all, I ultimately look to The Lord Christ above all else because I know He is always in control and His kingdom always reigns above all- and I'm glad He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I just remember that I've got another King coming.
For another article to consider about this topic, check out this opinion piece from Rev. Timothy Keller.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/29/opinion/sunday/christians-politics-belief.html
Good thoughts, Nate!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kev. :-)
ReplyDelete