Posted on 11/07/2012 6:39:28 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our once and future President?
Many of us have some disagreements with the President. As a conservative Christian, I believe unborn children have certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, and I wish President Obama would work to protect them. I believe freedom of conscience is the preeminent right in a civil society, and the Administration's incursions on religious liberty are troubling. I don't plan to back down one bit on these matters, even as our forefathers Isaac Backus and John Leland relentlessly stood up to the founding generation of leaders on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity.
We are going to disagree with the President on some (important) things; there will be other areas where we can work with the President. But whether in agreement or disagreement, we can honor. Honor doesn't mean blanket endorsement.
I am always amazed by those Christians who will dispute the command to honor, arguing that "kings" in our system are the people, and therefore we're called to honor the Constitution but not elected officials. But the Scripture doesn't command honor simply for the ultimate authority (which is, of course, ultimately God, in any case).
Humanly speaking, the ultimate political authority in the New Testament context was the Emperor. And yet, the Apostle Peter specifically calls the people of Christ not only to show submission to the emperor "as supreme" but also to "governors" (1 Pet. 2:13-14). The Apostle Paul calls on the churches to pray and to show thanksgiving for "kings" (plural) and for "all who are in high positions" (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
Paul imitated this when he showed due respect to the governor Felix, referring to him with the honorific title "his Excellency, the governor" (Acts 23:26) and "most excellent Felix" (Acts 24:2), even as he appealed his way up through the political process of the Roman Empire of his time. Paul showed thanksgiving for Felix, despite his part in a system with which Paul disagreed at some important points, for his "reforms" for the common good (24:3).
Behind that is a more general command to "honor everyone" (1 Pet. 2:17), to pray for "all people" (1 Tim. 2:1). We are to not only pay our taxes but give "respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed" (Rom. 13:7).
Christians, above all people, should pray for and show respect for our President and all of our elected officials. After all, unlike those who see politics as ultimate, we recognize that our political structures are important, but temporal, before an inbreaking kingdom of Christ. We don't then need to be fomented into the kind of faux outrage that passes for much of contemporary political discourse. And, unlike those who see history as impersonal or capricious, we see behind everything a God who is sovereign over his universe.
So let's pray for President Obama. Let's not give ourselves to terms of disrespect, or every crazy conspiracy theory that floats across the Internet.
That doesn't mean slavish obedience. In a democratic republic, the President and the Congress govern by the consent of the governed. We appeal to our elected officials, and lobby them for the common good, expressing disagreement when we must. But we do this, as Paul does before Felix and Agrippa, with respect and honor, even as he seeks to persuade them of the need for religious liberty and as he preaches "righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment" (Acts 24:25).
However we voted in the election, let's pray for God to bless our President. We can pray for him to be granted wisdom and health. We can pray that God would prosper his good ideas, and change his mind on his bad ideas. Moreover, we can teach our children to respect our President, starting with referring to him as "President Obama" or "Our President," not as "Obama" or "the guy our parents voted against" or what have you.
There's a time to vote. There's a time to campaign. And there's a time to petition. But, through it all, let's be the people who, even as we speak with conviction, are marked by kindness and respect. When we have to differ with President Obama, let's do that, with backbone. But let's make sure we do all this with honor, with respect, with prayer, and, most of all, with love.
Let's render unto Caesar, as free people with natural rights. Because we know as believers that we will eternally say "Jesus is Lord," we can as citizens temporally say, "Hail to the chief."
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Dr. Russell D. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, where he ministers weekly at the congregation's Fegenbush location. Dr. Moore is the author of The Kingdom of Christ and Adopted for Life.
I don’t think the majority of America voted for the people that boooed God.
They certainly just did. Obama won a little more than 1/2 the voting population of which they were the ones booing.
As per a June 21st UPI poll, ten percent of Republicans indicated they would not vote for a Mormon. Romney only lost by 1% of the vote.
Your post is dead on.
I say do it. It's time to draw a line -- where we go to church, where we do business. This morning I'm looking for another place to buy my pet supplies because the local shop (which I like) is owned by a lefty. No more. No more of my support, no more of my time, no more of my money.
As a Christian, I have known for some time that today I would need to pray for the wisdom, strength and faith to accept with gratitude God’s will. Praise God. He will continue to guide us in our lives so long as we shall follow. He does know what is best for us. Today, I renew my pledge to trust our Lord.
No “zot” vote from me.
I second your opinion that the high and mighty, holier-than-thou, self-righteous “Christians” who, either stayed home or voted third party, can take a hike.
They gave their votes away to hussein because Romney is a Mormon. How ridiculous is that. “The One” who is on a path to FINISH destroying this country versus a Mormon and they picked IT. Unbelievable.
While I don’t agree with your sentiment, I know you have a kernel of truth in your comment. When Bush ran, our church was fired up. For Romney - I know in my church we had very tepid support. He was merely the best of two evils. As i phone banked for him, I heard from plenty of baptists who hated obama, but felt morally unable to vote for a cultist. I tried to encourage them to vote - but I know in my heart I too felt regret that we couldn’t get a christian to be the nominee.
Just curious, did you vote for Tom Hoefling?
And PROPAGANDA is simply the same message constantly repeated, and when the people NEVER hear a different viewpoint, then that message becomes 'Truth.'
I know many like her. Daily communicants who would crawl over broken glass to vote for the nearest pro-abortion Democrat. Absolutely brainless and wicked.
The United States ended on January 22, 1973. There were about three pro-life bishops in the U.S. at the time. We now have about 20.
I agree with your post. An unpopular message though.
The truth often is unpopular.
I will take a prayerful, charitable Mormon any day over a “Christian” who screams “God Damn America!”
But apparently a large number of “Christians” in America prefer to be governed by a nominal, fake “Christian.”
“That girl at the Chick-Filet window showed us how we should respond to those who differ from us in thought. She changed his heart, in regards to her anyway, by her actions.”
I doubt that. He only apologized after he got hit in the pocketbook by the consequences of his actions. So, as far as we know, his “change of heart” was a self-serving put-on.
The time for these battles in in the primaries. The trouble, IMHO, with ‘values’ voters is that they let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This wasn’t a choice of the lesser of two evils. This was a choice between someone who would at least nod to the religious values of Christians vs. someone who will now now strive mightily to erase their influence from the public square, permanently and completely.
Romney wouldn’t do anything to hurt Christians. He likely would have been good for faith-based initiatives overall or at least neutral.
Obama now believes he has a mandate to ramp up the program he has had in mind all along.
We have effectuated the culture of depravity. For one example, think of the trajectory of homosexuality in your public schools. First, children were encouraged, then required, to be tolerant. Then they were encouraged,and then required to accept it. Then they were encouraged and are now required to celebrate it. They are now required to learn the mechanics of it and very soon will be required to practice it. The Folsom Street Fair is coming to just about every campus near you. Already on just about every college campus, it will work its way down the grade levels.
We have effectuated the culture of death. Abortion, no matter what the stage of gestation. Infanticide required for any who survive the procedure, who are fail to meet some eugenic standard upon birth or simply whose existence is inconvenient. Same for the other end of the age spectrum. Euthanasia for those whose care is expected to be too expensive according to some government panel or policy or who have otherwise become inconvenient.
Think Mormonism is a cult? How about the cult of government? We have swapped the culture of faith, of charity, of self-reliance, of family for the faith of government. We opt for the smothering embrace of omnipotent Leviathan. Doubt me? Look upon the rapturous faces of the Obama voters as they gaze upon their Messiah.
This was perhaps the last hope and chance to turn away from a very dark path. We have now entered upon it and it will accelerate to trans-Mach speed. Mark my words, your children are even now being taught by government actors to hate God, to to reject faith and to distrust you for attempting to instill it in them.
True religion will be co-opted or driven underground. What will remain is a rump of state-approved churches and persecuted minorities like the current situation in Red China. Welcome to the Falun Gong.
Take heart though, that situation won’t last forever. Soon, perhaps very soon, the uncontrolled welfare state will collapse under its own weight like a 700 pound bariatric basket case and fall under the only philosophy that seems to be gaining traction, expanding and uniting people across racial, linguist, economic and international boundaries - Islamism.
I hear tell in some of the more moderate Islamic countries, you can still be a Christian and live, for a while, so long as you don’t own property, and are willing to pay the Jizya.
But hey, we can’t support a Mormon, ‘cause they’re a cult.
Very well spoken. Truth in that statement in more ways than one...: )
The mathematics of the coming financial collapse would’ve been the same even if Romney won.
We’ve kicked the can down the road so many times with regards to entitlement spending and the deficiencies of our healthcare system. Each time made the potential pain that would occur when the market finally corrected itself even greater.
Eventually, the can goes over the cliff.
It’ll do so no matter who’s in office, because we’ve waited too long to do anything about it.
Obama and the Democratic Party will own it.
And quite frankly, given Mitt Romney’s record and his actions, I wouldn’t trust him to begin with. For so many years, he was dogged - and rightfully so - as a liberal masquerading as a ‘Republican’. It wasn’t that long ago - 2008 up to even this year - where we mocked him for talking out of both sides of his mouth. You expect us to forget that?
Since when is demanding truth and honesty from those who would lead too much ask for?
No to Romney. And no to Obama.
Nothing high and mighty or holier-than-thou about it. Just truth.
Something that this country needs more of.
Sophistry. Sorry, but I don’t accept the, “It makes no difference who we get because the choice is between a slower or faster bobsled to Perdition” argument.
We were faced with a choice between Romney -warts and all- and Obama. To me that choice is easy. On November 6th, there wasn’t a third option that had a snowball’s chance in Hades.
Yes, we are headed for a Category 4 or 5 fiscal hurricane regardless of who is in office. But which of the two would be better equipped to navigate those seas? The depth of Obama’s ignorance for matters fiscal is breathtaking, nearly perfect in its vacuity. The interstellar medium is more substantial. Yet he is a man on a mission and his mission just took a giant step towards accomplishment.
It appears that Obama and many here on this forum want the same thing: the ultimate collapse of the American system. Each side thinks they can contruct from its ashes the Utopia they seek. I would liken that train of thought to, ‘I am tired of tending the boilers and machinery of this ship of full of ingrates. Yes, let’s scuttle this old rusting tub out from under us out here in the Pacific. We have a well provisioned life raft, where we can exist in brutal, cramped and blistering hot conditions for days! Meanwhile or opponents go down to Davy Jones’ locker before we do. Then we shall be victorious!’
Dunno about you, but I’d rather man the pumps.
All over this forum I see calls for going Galt, for passive-aggressive resistance, for open warfare. I’ve lived long enough and traveled enough and seen enough to say that no sane person wants to live with the effects of these paths. Hastening the end isn’t the answer. What will arise form the ashes isn’t some shining city on a hill. The ruins will be occupied by some other power - be it an aggressor nation or Islamism, something will flow into the void. Nature abhors a vacuum. We must seek to avoid the end, not hasten it.
Already ready to compromise with evil!
This is why the nation is in such a state, the refusal of men in the pupit to preach absolute truth.
Already ready to compromise with evil!
This is why the nation is in such a state, the refusal of men in the pulpit to preach absolute truth.
“The power of Christ compels you...the power of Christ compels you...the power of Christ compels you...”
Viva Cristo Rey!!!!
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