The last several election cycles have had a recurring them
among the Christian community, a faith litmus test of sorts. Both sides of the political spectrum claim to
belong to the party of Jesus. You have
heard the arguments claiming that Jesus would be a Republican or a Democrat
depending on the particular issue that the self-proclaimed political expert is
trying to justify. Then after the
election is over both sides then deride the other with statements such as, “I
do not know how a professing Christian could vote or support”, you fill in the
blank with the most relevant and hated politician of the moment. For the record, these debates never convince
anyone to change their minds. They only
serve to create conflict between friends and deepen the divide between both
political persuasions.
I would hope that this is not news to anyone, but there is
no perfect candidate or politician. There
never has been nor will there ever will be a perfect politician. If you ever find one that you agree with on
each and every point and issue, then someone is lying. Our human egos love to be associated with a
winner. When our chosen politician
screws up we immediately switch to defense to defend and justify our chosen
winner and attack the “enemy” on the other side of the aisle. We lose sight of that which we claim to
believe and focus solely on defending our ”side” and attacking the other.
We want to hold our elected officials to “higher standard”
and believe that they should hold true to the Christian principles that which
the vast majority of elected officials claim to believe. When the official stumbles or does not back
our own pet issue when we believe they should, then we question their faith and
anyone who supports them. My question is
simply this, Who gave you the authority to question anyone’s Christian
faith? I am no theologian but I do
recall when Jesus admonished to remove the tree from your own eye before you
look at the speck in your neighbor’s eye.
Here is another earth-shattering truth, Donald Trump is not
a perfect Christian and neither was Barack Obama. In fact, if we honestly look back at all the
men who have served as President, every one of them were flawed men. I realize that his may shock you , but even I
have my own flaws. Look at your own
church, everyone sitting in the service on Sunday morning is a sinner, better
yet the pastor preaching the sermon is not perfect either. We love to sit in judgement of everyone
around us but often fail to see our own sins.
I do believe that we need to question our elected officials
and constantly hold them to which they claim to believe, but we need to also
remember that they, like us, are sinners and fallen short of the glory of
God. Another reminder is that political
debate is highly polarizing and very few, if any, politicians are worth losing
a friendship. Sometimes the biggest
sacrifices for a friendship come in the form of the Unfollow button on
Facebook.
