You Can Be Christian and Vote For A Democrat - PART 1
Posted: Monday, November 03, 2008
by Dan Bimrose
Liberal Fix
I have never experienced this level of personal attack regarding the vote I will cast for President. Perhaps the reason is because I have always voted Republican in the past. I will be extremely happy when the Republican Party submits a candidate worthy of my vote and trust. I am writing this article because my heart is heavy. My heart is heavy not as my wife says because I am plagued with guilt but because I am faced with the condemnation and judgment of people I trust and love.
My heart is heavy for those families whose breadwinners have just lost their jobs or have just had an illness or an accident which somehow they have got to pay for because they have no insurance. These people are walking into church looking for hope and looking for salvation but instead find politics.
They learn that the path to heaven now contains three steps, no longer is it just confessing your sins, accepting Christ in your heart but you must also vote for John McCain. That is your ticket to Heaven.
My heart is heavy because many of those people will never enter a church again. They will have difficulty trusting someone because instead of offering hope they offered their condemnation. Hope and condemnation are both free but in my opinion one is far superior to the other.
"How can you call yourself a Christian?" The pastor asked. With all due respect sir, I do. You know not what is in my heart so I can not and will not allow you to condemn my soul.
My path to Christianity has taken a varied and winding path. I walked away from Christ because at one point in my life I asked myself why I believed in God and Christ. The only answer I could come up with was because I was raised that way. That was not good enough for me.
Because of this my journey back to Christ has left me in a place where my faith in Christ is much stronger than before. I am no expert certainly. My behavior many times is not Christ-like. I am not well read. I do not spend hours studying the word. But I do know God's message for me. He is a positive God. He is rooting for us. He offers hope. He offers peace, and yes he does offer prosperity for many who follow his word.
Someone has told me that I must believe and follow this particular man of God because he is closer to him, he speaks with him and thus he knows far better than me. Perhaps it is my trust in my own judgment but I will accept no man's words at face value. I must believe that at some times I can have insight into what is right and wrong. I believe that at times in my life I have shown excellent judgment and chosen the right path or the just path when the wrong path was much more attractive. The problem with following completely any "man of God" is not the "God" part but the "man" part. They are just a man.
I pointed out to this person that there are many other scholars of god. In fact leaders of giant churches that support the democratic ticket in this election. If one of those men were to visit this church would you then tell me that you believe him because he knows more than you and that you must trust in his superior knowledge of what God wants. The reply was "Well I would tell you that they are wrong."
Being learned in the bible does not make you infallible. Every pastor possesses differences in opinion.
Perhaps I should argue that I should never pray or meditate on issues with the intent of discovering what God wants from me. There would be no need for prayer I could simply call my pastor and he will tell me what to do.
I will promise to not condemn or think that you are going against God's will for not following one man's words, please do not condemn me as going against God's will for not putting faith in every word that comes out of any one man's mouth. Please do not condemn me because I do not put faith in every e-mail that goes through my in-box.
It appears that over half of Christians or I guess I should say those who call themselves Christians will be voting for Barack Obama. Are they all mistaken? Are they all in denial? Are they all confused as to the truth? Are they all being led by the Devil? Many "real" Christians would lead you to believe this.
While some churches stood up and said we will put our tax-exempt status at risk and preach politics from the pulpit and that they will endorse one candidate over another, other church leaders have stated how tragic it is that those pastors will use politics to divide their congregation down the middle. They bring some into the fold and leave the others as outsiders. They say this because they must reveal God's will at the risk of turning some away from the Lord.
God's will is certainly clear. The law is already on the books. It is found in Exodus and needs little elaboration and is difficult to interpret in more than one way. I will tell you what God tells me. He says that it does not matter what man's laws are. If a person does not know and respect God's laws he will certainly be no respecter of man's laws.
The path to reducing abortions and saving lives is in revealing the will of God within your family and your community. How much resources and time have been wasted focusing on changing man's laws when that time could have been spent focused on God's and spreading his word.
I am certainly pro-life. I do regard all life as sacred. I do believe abortion is a sin against God. I do think we must do everything in our power to reduce the amount of abortions.
I assure you that if you are questioning your Christianity it is possible to vote for the Democratic ticket and be pro-life. You can live without guilt and declare proudly your Christianity.
The pastor's will argue that these casualties that they lose because they stood up for righteousness are necessary. I feel that even one sinner lost from God because of a lack of understanding or compassion for their trials is not right or just and is in fact a tragic loss.
This is the first of a series of articles designed for those people who have been chased away from the church because of what vote they may cast in this election. I promise you if you go back to church that one day soon this election will be over and the pastors can once again go back to preaching the word of God in a way that will offer you hope and peace.
I for one can not wait for that day.
Dan Bimrose is the creator of coffeeandprozac.com which features daily Opinions, Editorials, and Stories and the website tuesdaysreleases.com which is devoted to recently released DVD movies.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Dan, I wish you lived in Houston. I would like to buy you a cup of coffee.Please log in to respond to this comment.
"The path to reducing abortions and saving lives is in revealing the will of God within your family and your community. How much resources and time have been wasted focusing on changing man's laws when that time could have been spent focused on God's and spreading his word.
I am certainly pro-life. I do regard all life as sacred. I do believe abortion is a sin against God. I do think we must do everything in our power to reduce the amount of abortions."
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Not every word that comes from my mouth is about my faith all the time but just about. Now, that's not to say I cannot walk into a meeting or have a conversation and not talk about my faith. My actions and behavior will speak for me. My faith makes me who I am.
Dan, I pray your heart is lifted. Like you, the burden I carry is for lost souls to know Jesus Christ. I do not carry the burden of anyone's choice opposing mine for whatever reasons, in electing the next President of the United States. I and only I will stand at the judgment for Avis Ward.
You expressed yourself very well. My banker said she wasn't voting for Obama because He wasn't a Christian. She said he was Pro-Choice. I gave her my point of view. She is a devout Catholic and you know, after I explained it to her, she said, "Avis that's how I feel." I then said to her, it's not Pro-Choice or Pro-Life then. Labels! I tire of them! I've also come to the defense of McCain and Palin to family members.
While I respect SearchWarp for this latest assignment, I do not feel the need to explain my reasons for who I have cast my vote for and why. I couldn't express myself as clearly as you have and for that reason, I will not risk sharing myself and breaking my personal code of ethics. This is the most I have ever discussed politics in my life! I read and stay informed but do not typically discuss it. You did great, Dan. Thanks!
PS I am a Republican. But I know some Democrats will make it to heaven! *smile*Please log in to respond to this comment.
Dan,I loved your article. Let's pray that those who have been disenfranchised from church because of pastors the use the pulpit to pimp politics will read your article and take it to heart.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Great article Dan. It saddens me greatly that people are attacked so viciously for making a reasoned decision to vote for a candidate their peers (social group, religious group etc) don't approve of.People should not turn on their peers when they disagree on who to vote for - everyone should use their hearts and (importantly) their best reasoned judgement when making their decision on who to vote for, and they shouldn't be afraid to vote in a different way to their peers. Free speech is useless if people are pressured out of using it!Although the Republicans use "pro-life" to gain votes, the policies they promote seem far from genuinely "pro-life" in the general or practical sense - abortion isn't the only part of being "pro-life" (and abortion rates are unlikely to drop under the Republicans anyway)...a genuine pro-life outlook also comes to the fore when thinking about issues such as capital punishment, illegal wars, underequipped troops and lack of affordable healthcare.On many of these issues, the Democrats seem to offer the more pro-life policies.Please log in to respond to this comment.
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