It is most embarrassing, though probably shouldn't be, to Christians when a politician professes a profound "faith in God" and then proceeds pandering to the opposite, blatantly immoral side, exploiting both to win votes.
I say its embarrassing because to those voters (or mere onlookers) lost in the limbo of not knowing what to believe, it appears as though Christians, all of us, are hypocrites - or at least instead of standing for an ideal, we play hopscotch around it. Also, more so in the US than in other countries, "faith in God" to many means "faith in Jesus Christ." Not necessarily so.
I also add that we shouldn't be so embarrassed because what are we to expect? Honestly, we all do it on some level, why not particularly so when the stakes are so high? The more (potential) power you have, the higher the (potential) temptation. How much more power can you get in this world at this time than being President of the USA. Aside from that, just because one says they are faithful doesn't really prove anything. Lets see some of it in action, buddy. "So also, Faith without works is dead." (Jas 2:17)
The recent forum in Pennsylvania, a faith forum at that, offered Clinton and Obama both the opportunity to profess said "faith in God" and then answer questions offered up by leaders from several different faiths.
Go ahead and give that a read then pop back on over here and finish reading this.
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So? What do you think? If you are shocked, I will say you are naive. But what grabs my attention is that, even in the news was it seen as a blatant and shameless bid for votes. I would say that Clinton sounds like the tongue of Satan himself, except that the devil isn't usually so transparent or dumb. Potential for life? Obama had the stuffings to say that he didn't know. Maybe he doesn't, but it still sounds like a cop-out to me.
Lets get on the same page here. Are we all speaking American English or what? What do they mean by life? Potential for life? That egg cell is alive and that sperm certainly is as well. Those are alive. Ah, do you mean, is it capable of sustaining life on its own without help from another? No. But lets not be coy, neither are you.
Do they mean life in the sense of a soul "being made?" Is there a soul there? Ah, there is the big debate.
Remember these guys are saying they have "faith in God." If we say that a soul comes into being with the first breath of life, well, as plausible in some circles as that may be, we know it isn't true Biblically. King David says so humbly in Psalm 51:5 that he was a sinner from the moment his mother conceived him.
So we must insist that the soul is poured into our being at the onset, given by God at the melding of the love between our parents, or even, in the basest of circumstances, the rape of our mother. Well, should we then fall into the Catholic boat of all intercourse being sacred and no contraceptives allowed?
Who is to say it isn't? Of course it is! Everything we have should be taken as sacred! Eating, drinking, playing. Talking to your neighbor. God pronounced all of His creation, "good." As my favorite writer (whom I imagine you all know) once said, 'Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest thing presented to your senses.' Since we take all these too lightly, what is stopping us from taking this great moment 'as two become one' so? Was the Lord not angry when Onan spilled himself on the ground because he knew that any offspring born of his brother's widow would not carry his name? Read Gen. 38:9. Apparently the Lord finds it sacred.*
The act may be (thank you, good and wise Lord) pleasurable, but it's God who gives life, so even when done for "enjoyment," if He so deems to give life, then it is His deeming. When it is done with blatant disregard to the fruits that said action may bring, you are not only being flippant with life itself but disrespectful of God. Whether someone was raped or whether it was planned out to the last detail, who are we to take any life so capriciously? If I'm not mistaken, I think we have invaded countries because people have been capricious with life.
I won't be a hypocrite. I am guilty of this - terribly so. More so than even I, myself, am capable of knowing or understanding. I am a proud and foolishly thoughtless man guilty of every sin. Since then, if I trust my life to Christ, then it is His light that must shine, not mine, nor anyone else's.
On the other hand, I'm not running for office, and those who do so I hope will follow out their thoughts to the end of the line. For certain not all the voters will do so, but many will. Christians and non-Christians alike. So, come on folks, lets be clear where we stand, for one thing or another. Pandering to every whim only makes for blathering fools. You cannot serve two masters, and Christians should know that.
*I like Shane Claiborne's footnote to this issue of abortion from "The Irresistible Revolution": "...if I'm going to discourage abortion, I had better be ready to adopt some babies and care for some mothers." There is a lot to that, but not everything is contained within it. There are orphanages and care centers - most run by Christians. That doesn't mean that only the people who work there have a right to speak out on the subject, but it might be said we listened to them a bit more than to those of us who don't.
