A plea for understanding: The connection between Republicans and Christianity

Those are good verses, right? People should be following them because it will make society better. Right?

Now, I want to respect everyone's political alignment. It won over your allegiance for reasons that felt good and it shows that you care about how you are treated. There is definitely pros and cons to every political side. If I had my way I would get everyone just to pick Libertarian just to see how it feels for 4 years.

And to be fair, I am not putting down a political party. I legit have no idea where this disconnect is between Christian beliefs and Republican beliefs.

But there is a disconnect and it hurts my head trying to make it make sense. The Republican party has always been keen on siding with God and his laws. We love the tradition of church and ancient laws. I was raised to believe that the God fearing humans were red and the transgressors were blue.

But now it is 2024 and I can't follow that logic anymore. We have this book of Proverbs that instructs us to be gentle, forgiving, peace making, observant of those who are hurting, and integrity filled, but we have a party that absolutely celebrates the opposite of those things. We have a potential president that will not show these things.

I know you can defend the party and you can give me a quick list of things that show how smart and logical we are (it's my parent's favorite hobby). But can you really say "Yay Jesus" and be complicit with: 

Such hatred toward enemies (the president wants revenge on his enemies)
Such hatred toward the hurting (unauthorized immigrants are an enemy to party)
Such hatred toward humility ( The people think the future president will save them from all evil)
Such hatred toward laws (Even if the future president sins greatly he does not have to feel bad about it for a second)
Such demonization of the other side if they try to do something righteous (wait, the other side can be Christian?)
Things that get you fired from your job are smart tactics for political hopefuls

Now, I know that the argument turns into "What About-ism." I say something negative and you reply with, "have you seen what those other jerks are doing? It is way worse."

I am not looking for sin comparing. I am looking for a sub-culture of Christianity that can humbly say, "Wow, my party's beliefs are not being practiced and I wish they knew it." It feels like those are the people who are the minority in politics.

I have been to Twitter (which is my first mistake) and all I can yield from this political party is that hatred is strength, fear pushes us to a human savior, the enemy deserves to be brutally treated, and power is enforced through force.

It is unfair to sum up all Republicans as the Twitter stereotypes and that is my confusion. There are good people that love the right and do their best to follow God. My dad would never tweet like a future presidental candidate because he would lose his business ten times over. My mom would never tell bold faced lies to her Mary Kay group to get more sales because she loves doing the right thing. My best friends would never break the rules like people in power because they have such a good head on their shoulders. 

But, there is this invisible rule that says politics is exempt from the accountability that we hold to ourselves. We cannot show mourning or disparagement that the people who claim to love God and his people are making errors and bad judgements in government. We must save that critical spirit for our rivals, but never for the home team. Who made that rule?

I can totally understand a good hearted Republican being directly behind the right to life, charity through less taxes, and configuring the market to be in favor of those who provide businesses. There is nothing damning about any of those things and they carry with it some logic. But, I cannot see why we are obligated to protect Republicans who need to know that they are not inline with our beliefs.

The future leader of the world does not tell us how to behave. They have no right to get us to hurt anyone or convince us that sin is righteousness. But when it comes to American politics, the ability to mourn and show displeasure toward someone's actions is on the same level as treason.

I wish I didn't have to grow up in this culture. I always thought politics was supposed to be boring and over my head, but now I am trying to discern why the future leaders of my party are doing things my kids would never do.

Help me understand.

Weird Spiritual Dream

So I have some pretty bizarre dreams, but this one ranks as pretty weird. I was doing street ministry in NYC. I met a homeless guy and was taking him to a van. Suddenly the homeless guy puts a gun to my back and threatens me. Somehow I get the gun and shoot him back. He starts dying. I kneel beside him and say, "It can't end like this. I was supposed to give you Jesus. I was supposed to tell you that Jesus changed me for the better." I'm not sure if he accepted it, but it got me thinking.

There are 2 explanations for this dream:

1) I watched Bourne Identity, went to church, heard Lister's mugging story and went to a Bible study. Perhaps this dream is just an amalgamation of all those things.

2) If you can learn anything from me it is that Jesus has changed my life. If you haven't gotten this impression from me yet then you are seriously getting ripped off. If you have gotten the impression that Jesus has only changed my ethics and values and put me into some urban-Amish commune, than I have sincerely ripped you off. I went from absolute worst, negative, deathly ill, pointlessness to fullness, life, purpose and destiny. As C.S. Lewis says, this [Christian life] is not teaching a horse to jump higher or run faster. This is teaching the horse to fly.

Building a Better Me

So I am no longer a youth director and I want to use the months of Summer to work on being a better person. I want to blog about it because it helps others see what is working inside me. Also by writing this publicly I can be held psuedo accountable.

1. I want to stop guarding my social self and start being more honest with who I am. That means letting God protect my character, image and heart, while I step out in interactions.

2. I want to give up on instantaneous pleasures (compulsive buying and feasting) so to build up more lasting things.

3. I want to be quiet before God more and see if he speaks.

4. I want to reinforce a healthy self image. One that is stable not based on how my friends see me.

5. I want to be more organized and focused

6. I want to strengthen my comic book/ writing creativity

7. I want to memorize the binary code for Facebook (not really, but I needed to end with lucky number 7)

Enough is enough

John 14:8
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
NIV


How much is enough? This question has plagued millionaires, hobbyists, and teenage boys since the dawn of currency. It is downright ironic to those that test that question because they will all come back with the same answer: "A little more is enough."

Enough is not a short term goal nor is it even a long term goal; enough is a state of present mind. Those that seek to fill up their tummy's with riches and wealth will find that it eventually evaporates and they will need more to get enough. I have bought myself everything and I have not found the state of enough. I don't have enough video games, I don't have enough music and I certainly don't have enough blessings from God.

Philip asks the same question from Jesus. "All I need is a view of God and I will have enough faith to believe forever." This was a man who traveled with Jesus and saw his great miracles. This was the same apostle who felt a confirmation of the spirit when Jesus spoke. Now he is standing in front of the living God asking for more.

The problem is we measure our hunger with quantity. We need the security of bigger and better in order to feel complete. Even spiritual experiences are measured in how much your brain releases serotonin. All the while Jesus is saying, "Philip, all you need is right here. Focus on me. I am enough." We tend to miss God's face if we stare too long at his hands.

Hebrews 6-13 (Faith)

Christianity is hard...that seems to be the resounding theme that scripture and life is telling me.

In Hebrews the greatest temptation was to go back to Judaism. It was a fallback religion for those who could not stand the heat in the kitchen. The writer condemns this (6:4-6). It is impossible to go back once you fall away.
My understanding comes from Houghton college, this verse was a warning against those that wanted to be saved by Judaism beliefs. The audience had tasted the salvation of Christ, but didn't want the death and agony that came with it so they went to Christianity's cousin, Judaism. The point stands that disowning Christ has consequences. It breaks God's heart when we leave for selfish reasons. This is not simple falling away, the term crucifying Christ all over again is considered apostasy. To crucify Christ again means to side with his enemies, declare him guilty in trial and sentence him to death. By siding with Judaism, the audience was sending Jesus the same message.

I've seen some authentic hatred for Christian believers, but nothing irritates me more than a pot shot at Jesus. In a way, I feel sorrow for those who pass him off as irrelevant. They may have Jesus preached to them on a daily basis, but their soul won't budge.

One of the greatest benefits of Christ's death and resurrection is that we can enter a relationship with God that only the Jewish high priest could officially enter once a year. We can get close enough for God to love us and we can return that love. This is the covenant that God had penned up since the beginning. The other rituals were shadows, mucked up by sin.

Therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the most holy
Place by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way opened up to US
through the curtain, that is, his body. let US draw near to God With a sincere
heart in full assurance that of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse
us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with
pure water.
10: 10-22

Therefore, give yourself over to Christ. Do not shrink back and be destroyed, but believe and be saved (10:39). This is a call to be persistent in your beliefs.

Faith is powerful considering the hope and promises in Jesus Christ. It seems to be the fuel that makes the relationship with God work. The writer speaks of bold moves in faith through the Old Testament. Faith pleases God like Abel did, faith helps you listen to God's command to leave your land, faith let's you build an Ark when there is no rain, faith helps see the invisible God. Faith gets you through the hard times. Christianity is not a religion meant for strong willed souls, crazy lunatics, hermit shut-ins or heroes that love danger, but it is a world built on faith. This faith can turn any man into someone who sees God and acts in relationship with him. We may not have the miracles of the Old Testament, but we certainly can have the faith.

What can we learn from this?

The term that comes to mind is "buck up!" Christianity is hard, persecution sucks and no one likes discipline, BUT a life away from God's redemptive plan through Christ is far more terrible. That would mean you are denying the truth. Instead, we as believers should come boldly to Christ asking for help, rely on our brothers for encouragement and ask for heaping bowls of faith to get us through the hard times.

13: 11The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹²And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Hebrews

Hebrews

An unknown writer explains that the recently converted Jews should not abandon their Christianity in favor of Judaism. Even if Judaism was a legal religion at the time it does not change the truth in Christ.

Jesus was fully a man, but he was fully God's appointed son. He consisted of %100 human and God flesh. We're not talking Two Face; we're talking both at the same time. The author is battling two fronts in this letter 1) that Jewish beliefs are enough for salvation and 2) that persecution is too hard to keep a faith going.

1) Hebrews 2:9 (New International Version) 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

2) Hebrews 3 1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

4:15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

Hebrews 3:12-13 (New International Version) 12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness

Hebrews has two ways to avoid the temptation of falling away. 1) Think about Jesus and his sufferings. He went through everything first. He was tempted and perfected in his suffering. Jesus had to face every single pain a Christian must face and therefore we should come to him knowing he can handle anything.

2) Go to your brothers to be part of the community of encouragement.

Hebrews 4:2 (New International Version) 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.[a]

Nothing is concrete to the five senses. For every visible, testable conclusion there is a doubt waiting. Not because God's truth is not truthy enough, but because of sin and its habit of making things mirky. In the end, its the strength of our faith that truly tells us to hold on.

The author argues that because of the Hebrew's decision to fall away they won't be recieving the rest, which is a metaphor for the promised prize at the end of life. Similar to that is the Old Testament rebellion of the stagnate generation that complained in the wilderness. I think we fall into the same folly when we believe that a certain president will make everything better or a system of thinking like Going Green will help everything. That is not the goal. Only Christ is the goal for us sinners.

The writer urges his audience to trust in scripture which is sharper than a two edged sword, able to cut through the crap of deception and reveal the heart and attitude of a person. This audience had total fear of commitment and we're using the option to run back to Judaism as an excuse. Scripture had chewed them out and revealed this nasty lie.

4:13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Finally, the lack of commitment from the Hebrews caused them to be weak at their faith. The writer calls them on it and says that they were still on the Baby Formula of scripture and couldn't even handle Solid Food. A Christian must always train up in their relationship with God. You can't stay in the same place with God, just like you can't stay in the Honeymoon forever with your wife. You need to grow and get wise in your relationship.
Stay tuned for more.

Philemon and Hebrews

Philemon is a short letter concerning Paul's love for a slave and their spiritual relationship. Only one verse stuck out in my reading.

Philemon 1:6 "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."

I wonder what the full breadth of this verse means. Does that mean sharing our faith reminds us of how good we have it in Christ? Or does it mean that you can't have the full enjoyment of a relationship with God without sharing your faith? One thing is certain, God won't let a Christian leave this Earth without being a witness of who he is. The light of Christ must shine and the salt of his word must be in our actions or we are only using half of him.

I don't usually associate sharing my faith with others as a joy. It's definately something God enjoys and if people listen than they enjoy it, but I am the one who has to get nervous and wonder if I will be accepted. Maybe I am missing a point.