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To: Alex Murphy; Marysecretary; HarleyD; Gamecock; Dr. Eckleburg; Forest Keeper; RJR_fan; Frumanchu; ...
Note that a majority of people who worship weekly, both Catholics and Protestants, all fell in support of McCain over Obama, with the glaring exception of blacks and hispanics.

A good point. The challenge is to convert the "Sunday go to meeting Christians" into "7 day a week Christians", as well as evangelize the unsaved.

The problem is how do you counter the pop culture, media and schools. Conservatism is a belief based on reason and restraint. Liberalism is a belief based on emotion and no restraint. We can try to segregate ourselves from the outside influences of the overall culture, but then we become an oddity like the Amish.

75 posted on 11/09/2008 7:18:26 AM PST by wmfights (Elections have Consequences!)
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To: wmfights; Marysecretary; HarleyD; Gamecock; Dr. Eckleburg; Forest Keeper; RJR_fan; Frumanchu; ...
A good point. The challenge is to convert the "Sunday go to meeting Christians" into "7 day a week Christians", as well as evangelize the unsaved. The problem is how do you counter the pop culture, media and schools.

IMO the answer begins with creating a (counter-)culture for ourselves. The Christians in the first century had their own courts, their own "welfare system", their own traditions and customs. When Rome collapsed, the Christians didn't go with it because they were capable of governing themselves (and others). They'd already learned not to look to the State to meet their needs.

Your "7-day-a-week" comment is a start to doing this. Christians need to rediscover the idea that Jesus Christ is Lord over all of His creation, including politics and government. There is no "neutral area" that the Gospel does not apply to. I'm not talking about ecclesiocracy here. I'm talking about families and businesses and governments being subject to Christ's rule, not subject to a church's rule. There should be a common Lord and a common ethic shared between them all. This country was created and settled by Protestants who held similar ideas. if we want to take our country back from the liberals and the Godless who are turning it into a Nanny Police State, then we Christians better get educated on where that "back" is. Otherwise, we'll just go off in another direction again.

The king went up to the house of the LORD and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
- 2 Kings 23:2-3
We can try to segregate ourselves from the outside influences of the overall culture, but then we become an oddity like the Amish.

The problem with the Amish is that they do not attempt to evangelize or disciple outsiders. They are not spreading (what they think is) the Gospel. They do not seek to "turn the world upside-down" (Acts 17:6). They are enclavish. If Christians are to be faithful to the Great Commission, they must push back against the overall culture. In military terms, they must seek to gain territory. The Amish, by contrast, only seek to hold onto existing territory, meaning they have willingly forfeited the remaining terrain to their enemies. That's an admission of pessimism and failure if I ever saw one. We are commanded to go, not to stay.

76 posted on 11/09/2008 8:14:53 AM PST by Alex Murphy ( "Every country has the government it deserves" - Joseph Marie de Maistre)
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