Posted on 10/28/2002 1:50:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Edited on 04/12/2004 5:45:48 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Democratic Gov. Gray Davis is airing one now. His Republican challenger, Bill Simon, did it earlier this month: ads that acknowledge voters' lack of enthusiasm for them.
Neither candidate offers a point-blank apology for any specific defect. But both try to defuse voters' inclination to send them a message at the polls, by telling them they've already gotten the word.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
A friend of mine told me that conservative evangelical Christians don't think that Simon is conservative ... they don't really know him, and aren't engaged. So, to my Evangelical FReeper friends out there ... HELP! Talk to your churches and your pastor and tell them that Bill Simon IS a Christian, is HE a conservative, and he WILL be a great governor for us. Davis has outspent Simon more than five-to-one ... we need the grassroots to get out the word. It's going to be a low turnout, we need to get out OUR vote!!!
GO SIMON!
Well, that's a bit disingenuous, IMHO. He is not a (just plain) Christian. He is Roman Catholic. I assume he's proudly Roman Catholic. So why not just say so, in so many words, and risk no misunderstanding? Why say he's a Christian? That will mean something very different to an, as you say, conservative evangelical Christian than it does to a Roman Catholic.
I think a Biblically oriented Christian would react more negatively against being told that Simon was "also" a Christian, then finding out later that he is actually a Roman Catholic, than simply being told at the outset that Simon is Roman Catholic.
Now, let me be personally plain and blunt. To me, Roman Catholicism and Biblical Christianity are two starkly different religions, with only coincidental areas of overlap (as with Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism).
However, in this context, that consideration is irrelevant. In fact, the fact that he's Roman Catholic is if anything a plus, to me. It gives me a general values-grid, which happens to be close to my own.
I'm not, after all, electing a pastor. I'm not voting on Simon's spiritual state (about which I have no idea). I'm not voting him into or out of Heaven. I'm not voting for state church. I'm voting for a governor.
So that why, in spite of stark and epochl theological differences, I have given Simon money, expect to vote for him, and expect to work for the campaign.
Dan
I didn't mean to be confusing, and I wasn't intentionally doing so. BTW, Protestants and Catholics have more than "coincidental" overlaps. We all agree on the "big" truths, namely the Holy Trininy and life, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Yes we have differences, but we're all Christians first.
God bless.
It's a .pdf file, so you'll need Acrobat Reader... it's free, and chances are good you already have it on your computer. Try the link and see.
Print it using the printer-icon button in the Acrobat toolbar in your browser (not File|Print in your browser's menu). It's intended for double-sided printing using single pieces of paper-- no stapling needed if you do it that way, and saves trees! ;-) Print one side, then invert the paper and feed it through a second time for the second side. Fold, and sally forth to get out the vote!
Give this to friends, walk your neighborhood, take it to stores, give a wad of 'em to your school, hand some out at your house of worship, at clubs, at stores and small businesses...
Let's retire Gray Davis!
Let's show the media and RINOs that "It's the base, stupid!"
Let's show Gray Davis that money can't buy him love ...or re-election!
Freepers and RLC activists can claim considerable credit for nominating Bill Simon, so now let's elect him!
That was my point, my only point. Perhaps I made it poorly, being at work as I was. I hope this clarifies.
As to the rest of your posting, I guess you'll benefit by a gentlemanly step back on my part. You throw me a fat slow pitch about waist high, and I'm itching to swing... but I suppose I'll mostly pass on it as pointless — except to observe that Mormons will also tell you they believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit also; Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses alike will also tell you they believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and they also will tell you they believe in a host of other "common ground" issues as well. And they will tut-tut sadly at you if you say they are not, as they also insist they are, Christian.
It's the small print, the pluses and buts and howevers, that are damning.
Dan
For the record Bill Simon is proudly Roman Catholic and frequently identifies himself as such.
I guess that depends upon your perspective. As a lifelong Catholic I have always referred to myself as a Christian and a Catholic interchangeably. I have also referred to myself as Californian and an American interchangeably.
To use your reasoning every Christian must identify their denomination at all times "so there will be no misunderstanding"; Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Calvinists etc.
I worked on a campaign several years ago that required me to meet pastors (and attend services in many cases), of darn near every major church in Northern California. I believe that the Lord put me in that position to learn something useful in my political endeavors. The simple fact is that we as Christians -- all of us -- are far, far more alike in our faiths, and our beliefs and our love of The Lord. We are far more alike than we are different.
You can sit around like the pharisees and parse minutae always looking to find someone leading a life less favorably than yours, or following a faith that looks different from yours on the surface, but the simple fact is that when we come together in the name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when we do that in His name, then He is there.
Leave the judging to Him.
So here my unwillingness to let the truth be papered over with misrepresentations overcomes the reticence that had held my tongue towards GOPhack.
So you say "The simple fact is that we as Christians -- all of us [Roman Catholics and Biblically oriented Christians] -- are far, far more alike in our faiths, and our beliefs and our love of The Lord"? And you pronounce that "We are far more alike than we are different"? Really?
I'm really sorry you wouldn't just grant the simple point I initially made.
Dan
(What Is Biblical Christianity? lays it out plainly and simply)
Leave the judging to Him.
So you say that, and God says this:
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."
Matthew 7:15-20but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil
1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
Shall I obey you, and refuse to differentiate between the truth of God and error? Or shall I obey God?
You're a smart and really good guy on a lot of things. But I'm going to have to go with God on this one.
When God has declared His judgment, accept it.
Dan
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