Christianity and Current Politics

I wrote this 2 years ago at just about this time of year.  Things have only gotten worse as far as I can see.

Sometimes it feels that I am too old to live in the current climate of hate and violence actually being propagated by Christians.  Jesus didn’t talk about either abortion or homosexuality. He did talk about love. And, yet, someone with whom I’m close said that he had to vote for Trump because he couldn’t abide abortion.  Do we accept the unacceptable in order to block one act? Do we accept the unacceptable to block love? How can we say, “Yes, I am a Christian. I follow Christ” and then say to the gays and lesbians that they have no right to the kind of love the straight people experience?    Jesus was so clear! He said in 1John 4:20-21 “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Jesus also said, in Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”   Does this mean the Conservative Christians wish that a gay person would block his right to marriage? I don’t think so. Does it mean Conservative Christians are ok with having someone else decide what happens with their bodies?  I would hate to live in a society where there was forced abortion after a certain number of children and I’m certain they would too and yet they feel comfortable forcing pregnancy on some. Between 25,000 and 32,000 pregnancies a year are as a result of rape.  Those women didn’t choose the sex and they didn’t choose the resultant pregnancy. Who is anyone to make that choice for them? It’s between the woman, her doctor and her God.

It was Jesus who talked to us about judgment in several passages in my bible.  The best known passage is found in Luke 6:37 and states, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.”  

He backs this up in Matthew 7:3 when he says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

Are any of the Conservative Christians without sin?   Then, how can they cast so many stones? It was Jesus who said in John 8:7 “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

And, something else Jesus passed along was that we are not to force others to our own way of thinking.  In Matthew 10:14, he tells us, “If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.”   He does not tell us to stay and make the household or the town believe what we tell them to believe.

Jesus gave us a job to do.  In Matthew 6:33 He said “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Jesus also said in Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

.And my favorite thing Jesus said is found in John 13: 34-35

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

By Jesus’ own words I must conclude that if one doesn’t believe abortion is right, one should not have one but one should not make that decision for another.  I also much conclude that if one doesn’t believe God loves those who love others of the same sex, then one mustn’t marry within his own gender, but he must not block others from being allowed to marry.  I must conclude from the words of Jesus that more important than anything else is to love one another and to let that love shine forth so everyone can see it.

I’ve tried to keep my quotes strictly from Christ because I am a Christian, however, Paul defines love in a way that expresses the way I feel about it.   In 1 Corinthians 13, he says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

I’m looking for the love, the shining light in these people who feel they have to vote for Trump because the are Christians and I am having a very tough time finding it.   I do find an amazing amount of hate and judgement. In fact, what I find when I look at the Conservative Christians who are most vocal is a picture of the Pharisees for whom Jesus had nothing but disdain