Tone it down...Please.
By Mark R. Schneider
Like most Republicans, I breathed a long sigh of relief when it became clear, very late on election night, that George W. Bush had wrested Ohio from the Democrats securing him a second term. As a Christian, the Presidents' values and world view align with my own much more than the Democratic Parties' and Mr. Kerrys'.
But the terms Christian and Republican are not synonyms. And the shrill tone heard increasingly on conservative talk radio and network TV disturbes me. The fact that evangelicals helped Bush win is true; but the loud gloating over the ascendency of "Christian values" only further ingrains deep seated prejudices and alienates the very people God calls us to try and reach. Even on Christian talk radio, one gets the sense that evangelicals form a adjunct political wing of the Republican party. May it never be!
We are Christs' Ambassadors, called to represent the King in a foreign land. Just because the King's interests happen to align, temporarily, more with one group than another does not mean we ignore, let alone deliberately alienate, people in need of Truth. This is fools play, and will undoubtedly work against our greater mission.
We must never lose our salt, yet our aim should always be to win over the lost with humility and love. Jesus avoided entrusting Himself to men, even those who praised him. For as the Scriptures record: "He knew all men (John 2:24)". We ought, therefore, to be wary about aligning ourselves too much with one political party. Christians are not called to be Republicans, but servants.
Like most Republicans, I breathed a long sigh of relief when it became clear, very late on election night, that George W. Bush had wrested Ohio from the Democrats securing him a second term. As a Christian, the Presidents' values and world view align with my own much more than the Democratic Parties' and Mr. Kerrys'.
But the terms Christian and Republican are not synonyms. And the shrill tone heard increasingly on conservative talk radio and network TV disturbes me. The fact that evangelicals helped Bush win is true; but the loud gloating over the ascendency of "Christian values" only further ingrains deep seated prejudices and alienates the very people God calls us to try and reach. Even on Christian talk radio, one gets the sense that evangelicals form a adjunct political wing of the Republican party. May it never be!
We are Christs' Ambassadors, called to represent the King in a foreign land. Just because the King's interests happen to align, temporarily, more with one group than another does not mean we ignore, let alone deliberately alienate, people in need of Truth. This is fools play, and will undoubtedly work against our greater mission.
We must never lose our salt, yet our aim should always be to win over the lost with humility and love. Jesus avoided entrusting Himself to men, even those who praised him. For as the Scriptures record: "He knew all men (John 2:24)". We ought, therefore, to be wary about aligning ourselves too much with one political party. Christians are not called to be Republicans, but servants.
posted by Publius @ 11:06 PM
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