Reply to Politics and your church

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Politics and your church"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a Minister.  I'm working for Hospice now, but was in a church before we moved.  It's not easy for church leaders right now.  Thankfully, my church was very tolerant and fairly liberal.  LGBTQ friendly, diverse, open to discussions on different faiths, etc.  We spent a lot of time trying to live like the Christ we claimed to follow.  So, while I know we had members who were Republicans and conservative, I really doubt we had anyone in our membership who would support Donald Trump.

That said, ministers avoid politics in the pulpit.  For one, we risk our tax exempt status.  More importantly, ministers in church leadership positions should not be politicians.

I'm not working in a church right now. I can be very active in my local political groups.  And I am.  I've spoken at several marches and Interfaith Prayer Breakfasts.  I think clergy should be pointing out the hypocrisy of Christians turning away refugees.  And frankly, [b]if you support Donald Trump, you may claim to be a Christian, but you are behaving nothing at all like your Christ.[/b][/quote]

And you're a troll. No true Christian minister would make a statement like this, even anonymously.

P.S.  He's not "my Christ." He saved us all.[/quote]

First, I'm not a troll just because I believe our actions demonstrate our faith.  Faith without action is dead. Meaningless.

Second, I am at Prayer Breakfasts once a month with ministers from many faiths.  The only ones who don't have the [b]balls[/b] to call out Trump's behavior are the evangelical Southern Baptists. And honesty, I think they know.  They are just too scared to say it.  Religious leaders, including Christians, all over the world are condemning Trump's actions.

Third, you realize his name wasn't Jesus (first name) Christ (last name), right?  He is " your Christ".  As a Christian, he is my Christ.  My way shower.   But not everyone on this great big planet follows your spiritual path. So no. Not everyone believes he "saved" them.

[/quote]

Nice language. Exactly what type of "minister" are you?[/quote]

One who despises hypocrisy.  Remember when Christ flipped over the tables?  At least I haven't thrown anything ....yet.[/quote]
But you're kind of a hypocrite yourself. You claim to love others, but you ascribe ill will to anyone who doesn't subscribe to your assessment of what is a complex situation that people of good will can approach from different perspectives. You have posted elsewhere that we all need to empathize and sympathize with others, but you refuse to do this when their politics don't align with yours.

As for Jesus turning over tables, that was something He did in the temple when people were profitting from the worship of God. He did this because He had the authority to, since He was God Himself. The allusion doesn't work so well applied to yourself. [/quote]

This is not a "complex situation".  It's very simple - The US is at least in part to blame for the crisis in the Middle East.  We are the ones that left a power vacuum that ISIS (and other terror groups) were happy to fill.  We have a moral obligation to help those suffering and fleeing war-torn countries.  I don't have an issue with vetting.  I'm even ok with a temporary ban on people coming from countries known to harbor terrorists.  If I remember correctly, all but one of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia - oddly absent from the list.  We are talking about people who were turned away who had green cards.  Translators that served alongside our military.  People who had already been granted entry.  There have been exactly 0 attacks in the US from refugees.  Zero.   Even Paul Ryan admitted the roll out was a disaster.

I have never "ascribed ill will towards anyone".  Pointing out hypocrisy is not the same as wishing bad things would happen to another human.  I would never in a million years do that.  I can say that the behavior is not in line with what Christ taught without wishing ill on another person.  What do you think I say when a church member comes to me confessing an affair, for example?  They are not "bad".  The behavior is.  It's really a very basic concept.  I believe all human beings are inherently good.  We just sometimes make bad decisions.  We depend on other humans to help us when we are not living our lives in alignment with our values.

Jesus flipped the tables over because he was angry about the hypocrisy he saw in the temple.  And yes, modeling (well, trying my best to model) my behavior after Christ is exactly what it means to be a Christian.  Being a Christian literally means seeking to live like our way-shower.  Like Christ.[/quote]
Who said you wished bad things on anyone? I said you credited other people's viewpoints to ill will on their part, that they vote due to hypocrisy and lack of Christian concern, rather than their own understanding of the issues that they might have come to completely honestly. I don't think any normal person looks at this situation and thinks there are easy answers. Yes, I agree with you that our government helped contribute greatly to this situation. Some people might have looked at the geopolitical landscape and concluded that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made a bad situation worse and that Hillary would have continued down a wrong path. It's possible to send aid to refugee organizations, or help feed widows and orphans, or any other number of good deeds, and still think some political solutions are better than others, even if they disagree with yours, and not be a hypocrite. But it reads from here like your self-appointed role to "call out hypocrisy" is self-righteousness and action and hypocritical of your own self. It's like Jesus's admonition to judge not lest you be judge is perfectly represented in what you are saying on here.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics