Wow. A lot has been written here in the past few hours while I was away from my desk.
Somebody asked, "What part of the Bible?"
Answer: ALL of it. That's one of the things that I want to put into my book. Interpreting the Bible is not mysterious and hard, but it isn't as simple as opening to a random verse and reading what it says out loud. There are some basic rules for interpreting Scripture that actually do make sense, but which many people who call themselves "Bible-believing" don't seem to have been taught. For example, you don't just take a verse from the Old Testament and assume it's for the church. Things changed when Jesus came along. If they hadn't, then Christians would still not be allowed to eat pork (or shrimp, or catfish, or rabbit. . .); they would still have to offer animal sacrifices; they would still be allowed to take a rebellious and disobedient son and have him executed by stoning. . .you get my drift. The Law of Moses is not binding on Christians. But it does reveal many things about God's character that help us to understand general principles of godly behavior. More later.
As far as thinking that it is impossible to support the Democratic party. . .some good points have been raised, but by that reasoning, it is just as impossible to support the Republican party, which advances policies which are just as hateful to God, but for different reasons. Frankly, the easiest course of action is to condemn both parties and refuse to have anything to do with politics at all. In fact, that’s exactly what a lot of Fundamentalists did back in the 1920’s and 30’s.
If you want a snapshot of what I see wrong with each party, let's begin with Jesus' teaching that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and might, and the other commandment like it is to love your neighbor as yourself. You could say, with some fairness, that Republicans are more likely to focus on loving God, but they really lack when it comes to loving one's neighbor. Democrats are big on loving one's neighbor, but they don't want to be bothered with loving God. That's a 50% score for both sides, which is an F for each. But now there's a catch: the Apostle John writes very emphatically that anybody who says he loves God but does not love his brother is a liar, and does not in fact love God. So the Republicans forfeit their 1 point, and get a zero.
OK, that's a little bit of an oversimplification. But I do want to establish that for a Christian to decide how to deal with the world (which, yes, is said to be Satan's dominion, as one person pointed out above) takes some real thought and prayer. It's not only about abortion. Yes, abortion is an important issue, but I maintain that it is not necessarily murder. And I believe I can support that from the Bible, not just from human emotion. Then we can get into the part about favoring the rich over the poor as the Republicans do, but which James absolutely condemns.
So, let's continue the discussion here. Let's do some real thinking (using the Bible with faith, and yet carefully and with reverence). And let's allow people to express opposing opinions without going all Pharisee on them. Let’s speak what we believe to be the truth, but let’s do it in love. Christians are allowed to have different opinions and still love each other. The Apostle Paul said so.
Evan
