Our political & religious beliefs should not be separate

[Revmitchell]

Jeff Iorg
Posted on Oct 3, 2012

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) -- North Carolinians may be the deciding voters in selecting the next president of the United States. They are a swing state, with polls showing a virtual dead heat between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The election there may be influenced by the issue of gay marriage -- the state's voters affirmed the traditional definition of marriage in May by passing a marriage amendment.

In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle about voters in North Carolina, Alexandria Pitts, a 19-year-old elementary education major at a major university offered her opinion. She said, "My religion is Christian, but I'm still going to vote for Obama. My politics and religious beliefs are separate."

As a Christian, Ms. Pitts is certainly free to vote for either candidate -- Republican or Democrat. But it's troubling to hear her state that her "politics and religious beliefs are separate."

Too many Christians today live compartmentalized lives. They have religious beliefs -- but those beliefs are kept separate from what we decide about money, moral choices, relationships and ethical decisions. Too many Christians believe religious beliefs are private, with little impact on public behavior.

http://bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=38846

 

[billwald]

Obama is a Christian. Romney is a Mormon, not a Christian. You all, being good Christians, should trust God and vote for the Christian.

 

[annsni]

Just because one labels themselves a Christian doesn't mean they are one. President Obama does not follow the orthodox teachings of scripture so I believe we are looking to vote between two unregenerate men. However, one has beliefs in social issues similar to me so I will be voting for him.

 

[Zaac]

Obama is a Christian. Romney is a Mormon, not a Christian. You all, being good Christians, should trust God and vote for the Christian.

:laugh: You've fired a shot over the bow now. :laugh: Run for cover.

 

[Salty]

Obama is a Christian. Romney is a Mormon, not a Christian. You all, being good Christians, should trust God and vote for the Christian.

But Obama is not a Baptist like Clinton and Carter were.....

 

[annsni]

Oh, and as to the OP, if we can compartmentalize our faith and politics then I would say that we do not have faith in the truth. My becoming a new creation has affected every part of me. Not just the "What should I do on Sunday morning" part.

 

[Zaac]

Just because one labels themselves a Christian doesn't mean they are one. President Obama does not follow the orthodox teachings of scripture so I believe we are looking to vote between two unregenerate men. However, one has beliefs in social issues similar to me so I will be voting for him.

Justification for supporting that which is against Christ. The one also has a belief in a false god and that doesn't follow the orthodox teachings of Scripture either.

But in the modern day Christian world, the god they worship doesn't seem to bother folks as much as abortion and same-sex marriage.

 

[annsni]

Justification for supporting that which is against Christ. The one also has a belief in a false god and that doesn't follow the orthodox teachings of Scripture either.

But in the modern day Christian world, the god they worship doesn't seem to bother folks as much as abortion and same-sex marriage.

Neither one follows God. So what do you do, not vote?

 

[Zaac]

Neither one follows God. So what do you do, not vote?

We are under God's judgment. We were left with two anti-Christs from which to choose because we continue to choose everything but God first.

Write someone in.

In the words of Charles Spurgeon,

Of the lesser of two evils, choose neither.

One of the anti-Christs will win because God has deemed it to be so. But that doesn't mean that He wants us voting for that which is against Him.

 

[saturneptune]

Jeff Iorg
Posted on Oct 3, 2012

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) -- North Carolinians may be the deciding voters in selecting the next president of the United States. They are a swing state, with polls showing a virtual dead heat between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The election there may be influenced by the issue of gay marriage -- the state's voters affirmed the traditional definition of marriage in May by passing a marriage amendment.

In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle about voters in North Carolina, Alexandria Pitts, a 19-year-old elementary education major at a major university offered her opinion. She said, "My religion is Christian, but I'm still going to vote for Obama. My politics and religious beliefs are separate."

As a Christian, Ms. Pitts is certainly free to vote for either candidate -- Republican or Democrat. But it's troubling to hear her state that her "politics and religious beliefs are separate."

Too many Christians today live compartmentalized lives. They have religious beliefs -- but those beliefs are kept separate from what we decide about money, moral choices, relationships and ethical decisions. Too many Christians believe religious beliefs are private, with little impact on public behavior.

http://bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=38846

In your world, the usual logic. Up is down, down is up, the sky is pink, the birds are chirping, and...........they are coming to take me away ha, ha

 

[Arbo]

However, one has beliefs in social issues similar to me so I will be voting for him.

:thumbsup: As a practical matter, there are only two viable options.

 

[Arbo]

Obama is a Christian. Romney is a Mormon, not a Christian. You all, being good Christians, should trust God and vote for the Christian.

Most Mormons that I've met believe themselves to be christian.

 

[saturneptune]

:thumbsup: As a practical matter, there are only two viable options.

One would think as one got older, that choices would become clearer. We had a revival this week, and our speaker, Brother Larry Mulberry, a former associate pastor from the mid 70s, said "If I had gotten up here thirty years ago, and gave a sermon having to define a marriage as between a man and a woman, someone would have carted me away to an institution."

In years past, when we chose between Nixon-McGovern, Carter-Ford, or Reagan-Mondale, subjects like this were never a consideration. Such bizarre ideas as men marrying men never entered the realm of discussion. Are we going to debate twenty years from now humans marrying their pet Dalmations?

Each successive election becomes more and more like an episode from the SyFy Channel. So this year, we have had countless threads about Christians not voting for an incumbent that stands for moral stances that stagger the human imagination. Our moral indignation forces us to consider the "third party" route for a season, until one realizes that options like the Constitution Party are not a serious change, but a "lets have another party gathering," or a Libertarian stance that is for legalized drugs and prostitution.

The end conclusion is, and Arbo is correct, that one is boxed into a corner, if one feels duty bound to vote as I do, that we vote for a candidate that has a similance, or surface belief in morals as Christians do, although the candidate is not a Christian.

In the end, one casts a vote for someone that causes us to hang our heads in shame. As was said in another thread, up is down and down is up.

 

[annsni]

Most Mormons that I've met believe themselves to be christian.

However, unfortunately, their "Christ" is not the Jesus Christ of Scripture.

 

[annsni]

One would think as one got older, that choices would become clearer. We had a revival this week, and our speaker, Brother Larry Mulberry, a former associate pastor from the mid 70s, said "If I had gotten up here thirty years ago, and gave a sermon having to define a marriage as between a man and a woman, someone would have carted me away to an institution."

In years past, when we chose between Nixon-McGovern, Carter-Ford, or Reagan-Mondale, subjects like this were never a consideration. Such bizarre ideas as men marrying men never entered the realm of discussion. Are we going to debate twenty years from now humans marrying their pet Dalmations?

Each successive election becomes more and more like an episode from the SyFy Channel. So this year, we have had countless threads about Christians not voting for an incumbent that stands for moral stances that stagger the human imagination. Our moral indignation forces us to consider the "third party" route for a season, until one realizes that options like the Constitution Party are not a serious change, but a "lets have another party gathering," or a Libertarian stance that is for legalized drugs and prostitution.

The end conclusion is, and Arbo is correct, that one is boxed into a corner, if one feels duty bound to vote as I do, that we vote for a candidate that has a similance, or surface belief in morals as Christians do, although the candidate is not a Christian.

In the end, one casts a vote for someone that causes us to hang our heads in shame. As was said in another thread, up is down and down is up.

Unfortunately, VERY true words.

 

[Arbo]

However, unfortunately, their "Christ" is not the Jesus Christ of Scripture.

Of course we recognize that truth.:thumbsup:

 

[Nevada]

Jeff Iorg
Posted on Oct 3, 2012

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP) -- North Carolinians may be the deciding voters in selecting the next president of the United States. They are a swing state, with polls showing a virtual dead heat between President Obama and Mitt Romney. The election there may be influenced by the issue of gay marriage -- the state's voters affirmed the traditional definition of marriage in May by passing a marriage amendment.

In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle about voters in North Carolina, Alexandria Pitts, a 19-year-old elementary education major at a major university offered her opinion. She said, "My religion is Christian, but I'm still going to vote for Obama. My politics and religious beliefs are separate."

As a Christian, Ms. Pitts is certainly free to vote for either candidate -- Republican or Democrat. But it's troubling to hear her state that her "politics and religious beliefs are separate."

Too many Christians today live compartmentalized lives. They have religious beliefs -- but those beliefs are kept separate from what we decide about money, moral choices, relationships and ethical decisions. Too many Christians believe religious beliefs are private, with little impact on public behavior.

http://bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=38846

Personally, I worry that large corporations, some actually more multinational than American, and international banks, will make such contributions to politicians that the poiticians will become dependent upon them. Then, the politicians will do favors for religious groups, making them dependent upon them. Who will be in -your- chain of command? Favors might include:

refurbishing a centuries old Catholic Mission in the South West, at taxpayer expense

funding religious schools (Called "parochaid" in the 1960's; "Vouchers", today.)

Allowing public hospitals to be partially owned by Catholic Health Care systems, such that the new board of directors abide by Papal pronouncements.

Islam. Catholicism. Judaism. Every faith under the sun can be co-opted.

You see, once the dependency runs from neighborhood pulpit, up to politician, and onward to corporate boardroom, the little pulpit is no longer independent. If evil folks come to control the government, the pastors will have to remain mute. They will in effect have been bought.

Reminds me of how German clergy kept their mouths shut in the 1930's.

 

[LadyEagle]

Right now, our government is using tax money to refurbish mosques in muslim countries under the guise of "heritage" or some such nonsense.

As I posted in another thread, right now, the "one" who claims to be a christian (notice the little "c") sat under the tutelage of Jeremiah Wright for over 20 years under the core belief system of Black Liberation Theology, based on the theological beliefs of founder James Cone.

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community … Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

(Quoted in William R Jones, “Divine Racism: The Unacknowledged Threshold Issue for Black Theology”, in African-American Religious Thought: An Anthology, ed Cornel West and Eddie Glaube.)

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/010141.html


To get back to the OP:

As a Christian, my political beliefs (meaning my world view) and Biblical Christian beliefs are intwined and cannot be separated. It is part of the core of who I am.

For someone who says they can separate their political (or world view) beliefs from their Christian beliefs, I would have to wonder if they are really a Christian or if it is merely a label as in the OP.

BTW, most of the people I personally know in NC, who are Christians, would never consider voting for a baby murderer or promoter of homosexuality. (They happen to be Baptists.)