Above is a pic of my youngest daughter and me.
My Husband, My brother in Christ
Passion for Politics at the Expense of the Gospel? God forbid.
I was defriended on Facebook recently by someone who went to the same Christian college as I did, around the same time. He became an Obama fan and I somewhat jokingly wrote that I would be praying that he would come to his senses. :-)
His response: "Lisa, I'll take that to mean you are a Republican. Give me 3 educated reasons why you'd vote for McCain. If faith/abortion is one of them, then I will just tell you that abortions increase during Republican administrations."
I responded with about a 100 reasons why I would not vote for Obama, addressing that I do not think McCain is spotless. Only Christ is! But as a Christian, not a Republican, I must vote according to who best lines up with Scripture... and it is not just because of abortion, though that should be one of the top reasons Biblically speaking.
After that, he defriended me and responded with not only a horrid cuss word, but he also wrote "[Bush] is clearly committed to white christian supremacy" and "If Bush and McCain are believers in the one true god, then I am not. I really would rather burn in hell trying to prove them wrong."
I engaged in conversation with this fellow JBU alumni thinking we could have a reasonable conversation. My heart aches deeply over his angry response. He also included some stats about NW Arkansas that allude to us being a bunch of uneducated idiots... even though he went to college in NW Arkansas.
The last thing I wrote to him before the "defriending" was "I have prayerfully done my homework. Even though I am a blond with 6 children, I am not a bimbo that follows the crowd as I am tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. I am a concerned citizen of the US... but by far more important, I have to answer to God and stand up for what I believe and why I believe it for the glory of God."
Okay, so I am passionate. But God-willing it will never be at the expense of the Gospel. And if I have offended this person in a way that does not glorify God, for that I sincerely repent. I would much rather this person live with all his heart for the glory of the One True God as he humbles himself professing the truth of the Gospel in his life than to, as he wrote, "burn in hell trying to prove [Bush and McCain] wrong."
"Our models for living in the New Testament era are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They worked in the civil service of one of the most ruthless governments the world has ever known, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, a civilization that was ultimately cursed by God and destroyed. They were there doing their jobs with exemplary faithfulness, praised even by their worldly superiors. Yet when loyalty to the civil authority was pitted against loyalty to the Lord, they respectfully stood their ground even though they faced the death penalty. (Daniel 1:8, 19, 20; 3:12, 16-18.) When Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, and Daniel found himself serving under a kinder and gentler new world order, he still faced life and death decisions about his loyalty to the Lord. But he stood the test (Daniel 6:10.), as must we.The Christian in politics is first and foremost an agent of the Lord Jesus Christ, as is every true Christian. That means that every enterprise and every relationship must be evaluated by how it impacts our exclusive allegiance to him. Jesus Christ is Lord; he is our King. For the believer, public service, as every other service, is ultimately to Christ alone.
...may we never forget that we cannot serve two masters. We are never Christians and Americans, much less Christians and Republicans or Democrats. We are Christians period, but Christians who serve Christ by serving others, including our nation..."--BV
