Witnessing On the street near a local university, one of the first questions asked (by am obviously tormented young man in all black) was “Who did you vote for?”
How tragic that our society is so polarized. And that politics is the lens that first is used in human interactions.
I told him I’m not telling anyone for 4 years, which is pretty close to what I did 4 years ago.
old lady thots follow 🙂
something that weighs heavily on me these days is the condition of our nation …
it seems we’re being brainwashed to run from hard times, there’s an agency for every sorrow:
run from harsh words, there’s a lawyer who’ll sue over that
children should never go hungry – the ad on TV shows a lad rummaging for an after school snack (whatever happened to “wait until supper?”), my grandmother could and did on occasion feed a table full of people with a pound of hamburger and lots of mashed potatoes – i was there contributing to the very first food bank in our state and i do believe in watching out for one’s neighbor, but a little privation can be endured
heartaches and sorrows? here’s a trained counselor and a pill for that
and pain? never a pain, here’s a pill for that and if your doctor won’t give it to you, then report him (yes, the government – in this state, at least – has a form for the patient to fill out after every hospital visit and if you report that you had pain you felt was left untreated? your medical care people will hear from the government … and fined (there is a school of thought that has something to do with the oxycodone abuse and does contribute to the street drugs/heroin epidemic)
if any problem in your world isn’t being solved by the government, take to the streets in protest
when did freedom become a beach?
does anyone in their right mind think that this can be sustained?
do we Christians really believe in a Utopian USA? i don’t care if i’m accused of doom and gloom, i’ve read the Book and i do believe – real sorrows should receive compassion and prayer, but i don’t think we can sanitize this planet, nor should that be our focus
at least that’s how it seems to me today… but maybe that’s because i’m sitting in the midst of two feet of beautiful white powder snow turning to ugly, muddy ice and slush – dunno
I think we’re moving beyond polarized to being outright enemies.
It’s one thing to acknowledge differences and divisions, it’s another to decide that those we are dividing from are the enemies of good.
We are moving towards something apocalyptic, toward a time when those who would silence or harm you would believe they are doing so in the service of God.
The challenge for me at this point is to stay and speak when everything in me desires to retreat.
I do not believe we will be able to communicate until we suffer the unintended consequences of this path…
Sounds to me that the one making the division and judgment is the unbeliever. I doubt that if JTK had given the guy in black the right answer of who he voted for that he would have would have been anymore open to accept the gospel.
Sin in his life that totally depraved ones spirit is his problem – NOT who any of us voted for.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking to a lot of unbelievers and marginal Christians over the last few weeks.
You can choose to decide on your own whether politics is an issue to these people, but I can tell you that it is with a majority of those I engage with.
I’m beyond caring about blog battles…I’m seeing it first hand here.
Theologically speaking, election is not determined by such things.
Salvation is of the Lord.
However, it can create real barriers to people being willing to hear the Gospel.
My last comment so I don’t ruin a good Sunday. These folks weren’t Christians before Trump ruined the world. What was the excuse back then? And later when their candidate gets elected there is a good chance they won’t change.
so many pontifications come to mind, but i suspect that those still in their right minds already know…
what we are witnessing is definitely a major shift in the national outlook…
in WW2 we all hated the Japanese and the Nazis with a pure hatred … in spite of that we all had German neighbors and many of us knew Japanese that we genuinely liked and respected and were stunned to see them rounded up and interred for the duration of the war (BTW – we found the opportunists who looted their stuff disgusting)
there is something very disturbing about the need to have an enemy
If you’re sharing the gospel with someone, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, why would the discussion of politics come into the discussion? Keep your politics, left, right or neutral out of it.
It comes into it because the perception, true or not, is that American Christians follow a Jesus that doesn’t like gays, Muslims, or the poor.
That Jesus isn’t very attractive to a lot of people. They do like the aforementioned groups of people, and think that they are being asked not to if they become Christian.
You’re right London. I have 3 teenagers being raised in a generation that “picks” their gender. I’m afraid that most of this generation makes the associations with Christianity you point out. I think one of our jobs as the Body of Christ is to get out of the Christian bubble and into our local communities with the whole Gospel that’s more than just words, but acts of unconditional love, however that looks, even with smallest of things.
Scooter, most people have a general idea of what Jesus taught (“love your enemies.”) They will not listen to someone proclaiming an (forgive me) “Alt-Jesus” who seems to hate large swathes of the population. Should politics enter in? One’s theology is made manifest in one’s political views and frankly, much of it transcends politics. Shall I love my neighbor, even if he’s a homosexual or a Muslim? This doesn’t really have anything to do w/ politics, it’s how one interprets the words of Jesus- that is, how many loop-holes one uses to avoid doing what Jesus actually said- and how seriously one desires to pick up their cross and follow Jesus. People see our lives.
If one can explain away everything Jesus said, if one has a systematic theology that says the Sermon on the Mount doesn’t apply to Christians or that one has developed for themselves the view that say “politics” can be kept separate from one’s life in Christ…. well, don’t be surprised if no one takes us too seriously when we try to preach at them.
It’s all yours today…
https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2017/02/17/take-an-entirely-free-video-course-with-carl-trueman-on-the-reformation/
Thanks, Tim.
I watched it and enjoyed it…more about Luther than the broader Reformation,but still very valuable.
Still praying for you Michael. Have a wonderful weekend!
You too, Dusty!
Norma McCorvey has died.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/politics/norma-mccorvey-roe-v-wade-figure-dies/index.html
Witnessing On the street near a local university, one of the first questions asked (by am obviously tormented young man in all black) was “Who did you vote for?”
How tragic that our society is so polarized. And that politics is the lens that first is used in human interactions.
I told him I’m not telling anyone for 4 years, which is pretty close to what I did 4 years ago.
old lady thots follow 🙂
something that weighs heavily on me these days is the condition of our nation …
it seems we’re being brainwashed to run from hard times, there’s an agency for every sorrow:
run from harsh words, there’s a lawyer who’ll sue over that
children should never go hungry – the ad on TV shows a lad rummaging for an after school snack (whatever happened to “wait until supper?”), my grandmother could and did on occasion feed a table full of people with a pound of hamburger and lots of mashed potatoes – i was there contributing to the very first food bank in our state and i do believe in watching out for one’s neighbor, but a little privation can be endured
heartaches and sorrows? here’s a trained counselor and a pill for that
and pain? never a pain, here’s a pill for that and if your doctor won’t give it to you, then report him (yes, the government – in this state, at least – has a form for the patient to fill out after every hospital visit and if you report that you had pain you felt was left untreated? your medical care people will hear from the government … and fined (there is a school of thought that has something to do with the oxycodone abuse and does contribute to the street drugs/heroin epidemic)
if any problem in your world isn’t being solved by the government, take to the streets in protest
when did freedom become a beach?
does anyone in their right mind think that this can be sustained?
do we Christians really believe in a Utopian USA? i don’t care if i’m accused of doom and gloom, i’ve read the Book and i do believe – real sorrows should receive compassion and prayer, but i don’t think we can sanitize this planet, nor should that be our focus
at least that’s how it seems to me today… but maybe that’s because i’m sitting in the midst of two feet of beautiful white powder snow turning to ugly, muddy ice and slush – dunno
I think we’re moving beyond polarized to being outright enemies.
It’s one thing to acknowledge differences and divisions, it’s another to decide that those we are dividing from are the enemies of good.
We are moving towards something apocalyptic, toward a time when those who would silence or harm you would believe they are doing so in the service of God.
The challenge for me at this point is to stay and speak when everything in me desires to retreat.
I do not believe we will be able to communicate until we suffer the unintended consequences of this path…
Sounds to me that the one making the division and judgment is the unbeliever. I doubt that if JTK had given the guy in black the right answer of who he voted for that he would have would have been anymore open to accept the gospel.
Sin in his life that totally depraved ones spirit is his problem – NOT who any of us voted for.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking to a lot of unbelievers and marginal Christians over the last few weeks.
You can choose to decide on your own whether politics is an issue to these people, but I can tell you that it is with a majority of those I engage with.
I’m beyond caring about blog battles…I’m seeing it first hand here.
I am sure it may be important to them but the way one person voted has no bearing on another person being or becoming a Christian.
Theologically speaking, election is not determined by such things.
Salvation is of the Lord.
However, it can create real barriers to people being willing to hear the Gospel.
My last comment so I don’t ruin a good Sunday. These folks weren’t Christians before Trump ruined the world. What was the excuse back then? And later when their candidate gets elected there is a good chance they won’t change.
so many pontifications come to mind, but i suspect that those still in their right minds already know…
what we are witnessing is definitely a major shift in the national outlook…
in WW2 we all hated the Japanese and the Nazis with a pure hatred … in spite of that we all had German neighbors and many of us knew Japanese that we genuinely liked and respected and were stunned to see them rounded up and interred for the duration of the war (BTW – we found the opportunists who looted their stuff disgusting)
there is something very disturbing about the need to have an enemy
btw – I am at Chuck E Cheese and I forgot my flask.
If faith comes by hearing, we have to be the kind of person that people will listen to.
Yes, amen, Xenia.
Paul did things, such as work a trade, to distinguish himself from other evangelists, in the service of the Gospel.
It is noteworthy that a tax collector and a zealot were both one of the original 12.
If you’re sharing the gospel with someone, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, why would the discussion of politics come into the discussion? Keep your politics, left, right or neutral out of it.
It comes into it because the perception, true or not, is that American Christians follow a Jesus that doesn’t like gays, Muslims, or the poor.
That Jesus isn’t very attractive to a lot of people. They do like the aforementioned groups of people, and think that they are being asked not to if they become Christian.
You’re right London. I have 3 teenagers being raised in a generation that “picks” their gender. I’m afraid that most of this generation makes the associations with Christianity you point out. I think one of our jobs as the Body of Christ is to get out of the Christian bubble and into our local communities with the whole Gospel that’s more than just words, but acts of unconditional love, however that looks, even with smallest of things.
Scooter, most people have a general idea of what Jesus taught (“love your enemies.”) They will not listen to someone proclaiming an (forgive me) “Alt-Jesus” who seems to hate large swathes of the population. Should politics enter in? One’s theology is made manifest in one’s political views and frankly, much of it transcends politics. Shall I love my neighbor, even if he’s a homosexual or a Muslim? This doesn’t really have anything to do w/ politics, it’s how one interprets the words of Jesus- that is, how many loop-holes one uses to avoid doing what Jesus actually said- and how seriously one desires to pick up their cross and follow Jesus. People see our lives.
If one can explain away everything Jesus said, if one has a systematic theology that says the Sermon on the Mount doesn’t apply to Christians or that one has developed for themselves the view that say “politics” can be kept separate from one’s life in Christ…. well, don’t be surprised if no one takes us too seriously when we try to preach at them.