God is Not an Elephant

There is this notion in the Political realm that the Republicans are the party of Christian Americans. To the point now that Christians tell each other that you can't be a Christian and vote Democratic. My original intent as a Democrat was to outline the corruption, scandals, and hypocrisy in the Republican Party to illustrate how this notion is a total misrepresentation, but the Sunday before election day my pastor gave a sermon on this topic. Keep in mind I go to a fairly large predominantly White Evangelical Church. Our congrgation is agressively Republican to the point where McCain bumper stickers are outnumbered only by "NOBama" bumper stickers. There were a few bumper stickers that just said "Sarah!" I even saw one that said something about "Palintology" (which I thought was ironic given that her thinking does seem to be from a different universe). But I digress....

I felt the message that my Pastor presented is much more pragmatic and appropriate than what I planned to present so I am going to share those thoughts. I will post a separate blog post to include my own relatively objective, but of course Obama leaning commentary (which I would argue leans because of the facts not my personal opinion). I have also included a video of the sermon so that you may hear for yourelf and not be solely subjected to my summary of the message.

Before I start I must say, one has to wonder what prompted my Pastor to even do a Sermon like this one. There is talk how this topic is splitting up churches all over the country. So why even discuss such an emotionally charged topic. I presume he felt compelled for 1 of 2 reasons. 1) He was being pressed by the Congregation to come out and take a side on this issue, as his counterparts across the country had put out a rallying cry for White Evangelicals to get out to the polls and vote Republican. 2) He was so deeply disturbed from the type of chatter he was hearing full of hatred and devoid of any Biblical principles he felt some response was required.

the believer, the Bible, and the ballot box

I. Participate in the Process - 39% of Evangelicals do not vote, 50% say the Church has no place in Politics. The Separation of Church and State was not intended to keep Christians away from Politics. The intent was to protect citizens from the State (a.k.a the Goverment) imposing religious values

II. Vote Biblical Values - The Sanctity of Human Life, Justice for All, Peace on Earth, Moral Conviction

A) The Sanctity of Human Life breaks out into the follwing categories: Protection of unbornchildren; dignity and compassion for unwanted pregnancies; compassion for the elderly; how we deal with the handicapped or disabled; children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease; genocide; war; the dealth penalty

B) Justice For All breaks into the following categories: Candidate that will pay attention to the poor, focus on overcoming the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world; demonstrate compassionate treatment of Aliens promoting an immigration system with comprehensive reform in ways that are compassionate, fair, and just; no tolerance for crime; foreign policy that seeks to rid the world of injustice.

C) Peace on Earth breaks into the following categories: Peace is a God-centered quality, candidate that works across party lines, strives to establish equality, regards God's favor on those Nations who have blessed Israel.

D) Moral Conviction breaks into the following categories: Candidates character and background matter; accepts responsibility for mistakes; will best exemplify and articulate strong family values speaking of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values

III. Choose the Better Right - At the end of the day most candidates have the same goal, the difference is how they intend to get there. Choose the view that has the fewest difficulties.

IV. Ask for Wisdom - Vote based on a Christian World view, not a Traditional view (Proverbs 29:2)

V. Pray for our Leaders - All requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone. For kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

VI. God continues to Sit on the Throne - Our hope must remain in God, our leaders are never apart from the soverign hands of God (Daniel 12:20-21)