The 2020 Election Will Permanently Break Relationships

Albert Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. As you would expect he argues for why he thinks endorsing all manner of immortality, corruption and injustice (traits he openly admits Trump brings to the table) is the most Christian thing to do because it’s necessary to preserving “conservative values.” By that he means primarily maintaining opposition to abortion and gay rights.

All that is to be expected. He says regarding we Christians who disagree with him,

We each have a vote. Both of us will answer to God for that vote. We earnestly seek to persuade the other. We will likely vote differently in the end. We remain brothers and sisters in Christ.

https://albertmohler.com/2020/10/26/christians-conscience-and-the-looming-2020-election

But then he says,

I quickly lose respect for those who now endorse Joe Biden

There’s the bottom line. We are still brothers and sisters, but we are brothers and sisters who have no respect for one another and no desire to be in each other’s company.

I identify personally with the marginalized. The asylum seekers and refugees being tear gassed and turned away are my son’s and daughters, my brothers and sisters. Our black citizens being killed in our streets, that’s my daughter, my brother. I don’t just oppose these racist and oppressive policies ideologically. I’m hurt and angry. I’m personally offended. Trump couldn’t be enforcing these brutal policies without you empowering him and approving these policies with your vote. We don’t just disagree. You are murdering my family, and I don’t think I can ever forgive you for that.

What if Christianity were, well, more Christian?

I ran across one of the better articles I’ve ever read on evangelical Christianity today.  Forget the evangelical label, it’s an article about what how Christianity should be defined and displayed in our world.  Emphasis on should, because this picture is a far cry from the version of Christianity that most Americans have come to see.

I want to share this one small excerpt from his segment on the beauty of Christian love.  This could be an exposition or commentary on 1 Corinthians 13.  Actually, it is, whether the author intended it or not.  I wonder how it would change our thinking if we use the ideas he shares here as the colored glasses through which we view all our social differences — immigrants and foreigners, people of other races, languages, or skin colors, people of other religions (Judaism, Islam, Atheism), and so on.  What if LOVE, as the author describes it below, dictated how we think about, feel about, and interact with every human being we meet.  It would be revolutionary! World-changing!

Love allows us to regard the brother in a foreign land as more than someone for whom things must be done but as one from whom wisdom can be learned. In other words, can we say, “I see that you are different from me” without feeling a need to say, “You must become like me”? Love delights that we can. Love allows us to look past labels and see the “other” and to recognize in them someone very much like myself. In other words, might we say, “You and I are from different tribes” while simultaneously celebrating that people from every tribe will one day be gathered before the throne of God? Love admits that we may.

The author goes on to say,

I am not suggesting that our differences do not matter. Nor am I suggesting that all beliefs, practices, or understandings are equally valid. They are not. There is truth and there is falsehood, and all sorts of shades in between. But we cannot with credibility proclaim a gospel of love and grace if we are not people of love and grace. We dare not offer a God of reconciliation and peace if we are persistently unwilling to be agents of reconciliation and makers of peace. My own beliefs likely do not align perfectly with truth as God understands it. But he loves me anyway, and continually invites me into deeper truth. And he asks me to offer the same grace to others.

Read the full article here:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/february-web-only/better-way-to-be-evangelical.html

God and the Poor and Suffering

I discovered this devotional on bible.com and, though I’m a staunch verbal advocate for the poor and oppressed, I was convicted by it.  I feel that my own actions don’t measure up to the bar set by my own words.

This devotional is the day 3 excerpt from 14 day devotional study.  It is based on Matthew 25:34-46 which follows:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.  –Matthew 25:34-46

At eight-years-old, Hernando has never been to school because his mother simply can’t afford to send him. A product of a broken home, he lives in a dilapidated shack in a rural region of the Philippines where poverty and hunger are widespread.

Hunger and unsanitary living conditions have taken a toll on Hernando’s body. His frame is tiny and he suffers from a skin disease that is common among children in the Philippines who are living in extreme poverty.

But Hernando has recently found a glimmer of hope after being enrolled in Convoy of Hope’s children’s feeding program in his neighborhood. When he first came to the program, he was literally starving to death. Now, Hernando receives a meal everyday through Convoy of Hope and its supporters and sometimes is able to bring home food to his family.

“My dream is to someday have three meals a day,” Hernando says.

What you and I consider normal, this little boy dreams of.  He is one of millions. Jesus commented in Matthew 25 that when we serve people like Hernando, we are serving him. What we do or don’t do for others in need is a reflection of how we treat Christ.

In order to grow in the area of compassion, it is important to see why it is that God cares for the poor. He cares because Jesus relates to the poor. He takes it both seriously and personally how we treat the suffering around us. God insists that if we do not imitate his concern for the poor we are not really his people—no matter how frequent our worship or how orthodox our creeds.

Christ represents himself to us in a special way in the hungry, the naked, the sick and the prisoner. He is among us in the outcasts and the oppressed of our age. Their cry for justice is Christ’s cry for justice.

The next time you have an opportunity to serve someone, take a moment to see them as Christ does before you walk away. Be aware that Jesus is the Poor One among us.

It doesn’t matter if we are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or something else, if we neglect the poor and suffering, our religion (according to the Christian apostle James) is pretty much worthless.

Does Your Facebook Rant “Honor Everyone?” – Trevin Wax

The question before us is this: Will we be known for honor? … For the Christian, it’s not about winning a culture war. We win through how we engage our neighbors. Our honor should be on full display… even on Facebook.

Read the full article here: Does Your Facebook Rant “Honor Everyone?” – Trevin Wax.