I don't want my senator quoting the bible from the political stage; it is manipulative to those who are Christians and alienating to those who are not. I want bible quoting from my preacher/teacher/minister but not my senator or other political representative. I want biblical interpretation that is historical and contextual not coercive or situational. I hold that a senator can be a Christian but he can't be a Christian senator. Would I want a Muslim senator or a senator that happens to be Muslim? I like the latter better. When the church is connected directly to the state it is the church that gets harmed. When the state is connected directly to the church it is the church that gets harmed; it's lose-lose for the church when it comes to union with the state. Political power isn't the churches goal; we don't rely on political power but God's power.
What is this great fear Christians have with the statement: "America is not a Christian nation but a nation of Christians"? Why does that stir up such a passionate tumultuous response? Is America our heavenly home? Does our American citizenship precede our heavenly one? No - then why such a need to label it "Christian"? I can call goat a chicken all day but it’s never going to lay an egg. (That is a really country kinda reference and I'm really sorry.) Look at America, I mean really look at it, from coast to coast, household to household, TV to internet - then go read the Gospels and the New Testament. Are the commandments of Jesus followed, upheld, loved and treasured? Do people believe in His actual existence and completed work? Do we see the sacrificing servant attitude of Christ in American action and rhetoric? I think the answer is you see it either not at all or with great compromise. Where the Christian message is compromised it is diminished; you can't hide a light under a bucket and expect it to illuminate the room. (Luke 8:16) Christians can't negotiate the principles of their faith; the commandments to follow aren't selective or individually interpretive. Politics however is all about negotiation, interpretation and compromise; the agenda is man centered not God centered.
What is hard to accept about God is also what I most respect about him; he lets mankind go its own way even when it's the wrong way. (Mark 10:22-23, Matthew 23:37) Is forced morality what God wants? We Christians are so preoccupied with the tepid and cold temperature of the world’s morality we aren't focused on the temperature of our own devotion to God. I am not saying we should let the lost sheep (the unbelieving world) drown because they willfully went into the gleaming river with the deadly undertow; No, we should as Christians seek to be true salt, preserving and enhancing, speaking the truth and acting in love being aware we too were once drowning in that same river. What I am saying is we can't let people think they are "Christians" because they live under the false prescribed banner "Christian nation" just as a child of Abraham is not one born of genealogy but born spiritually by God. (Luke 3:8) It is not the governments job to create or adhere people to faith in Jesus Christ nor should it be. A religious litmus test contradicts the whole freedom founding principles of America thing, ya know what I mean.
In conclusion, it is because I love America and think it is the best government established by flawed mankind that I write all the above. I wouldn't want to be a citizen of any other country but of course I have never lived anywhere else either so my opinion is rather sheltered. May our allegiance be ever to God more than it is to country; may we to the glory of God seek the spiritual salvation of our fellow man in countries everywhere and anywhere through the Spirit's means not political means. What are your thoughts?
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