TheCypressTimes : POLITICS, RELIGION AND MONEY, OH MY!

We’re not Dorothy walking down the yellow brick road and, Toto, we’re definitely not in Kansas any more! When I was growing up, I was taught that these are three topics that you simply don’t discuss. You don’t tell people how much money you make, you don’t tell people who you voted for, and religion, well, that’s just too personal.

One little problem about keeping our mouths shut: a specific instruction from Jesus called The Great Commission. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20.

As Christians, we are commanded to let others know about the path to salvation, and it is our responsibility to spread the Good News of Jesus. We can’t just be Christians in church or put God in a box only to be opened on Sundays. So if you’re living like you believe, you can see that money, politics and faith are actually not separate issues at all.

Money was a topic that Jesus spoke about a lot. Here are some very well-known verses straight from the Bible:

“Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.” – Matthew 6:19

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” – Matthew 6:24

“For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” – 1 Timothy 6:10

I still don’t think you should sit around the water cooler discussing each others' salary, but that’s not what the Bible is talking about. The Bible is telling us that loving money above loving God, above loving other people, is wrong because it takes our dependence off of God and gives us a false sense of security, thinking we are more important and powerful than we really are. We are to love people, to love God, and to use money, not the other way around. We need to keep money in its worldly place and pursue the things that are eternal. We are to use Biblical principals when it comes to handling our money, from being good stewards of what God has given us, to tithing, to debt management, to saving, and most importantly, in taking care of others. “God loves a cheerful giver.”

As far as politics go, the days of keeping our opinions to ourselves have gone right out the window. It has become such a controversial topic. I’ve noticed the polarizing effect it is having on families, friends, co-workers and fellow citizens. Now that certainly is not what God wants, is it?

Obviously tolerance is taught in the Bible, too. Are we to choose between “an eye for an eye” and “turn the other cheek”? Are we to try to convince people to become a liberal or a conservative through persuasive rhetoric? It seems like a losing proposition to me because most people’s minds are made up on the fundamental issues. I doubt someone could persuade me away from the truth. That’s why we aren’t supposed to put our faith in man or in government; we are to put our faith in God, even if it means persecution.

We live in a country whose citizens, by and large, have not suffered from religious persecution, but that seems to be changing. There are more and more agendas that are anti-Christian. If we stand up for our faith, we are likely to be ridiculed and persecuted for it. We may get called “right wing extremists” or “Bible thumpers”. The Bible gives us encouragement in this circumstance, too, when Jesus said, “God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven, And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.” - Matthew 5: 10-12

I have one final question for you: P.C. or J.C.?

Are you going to spend your life being politically correct and afraid of offending people? Or will you stand for the truth in Jesus Christ? Will you have the courage to be the light in the darkness, the beacon on the hill? It won’t always be popular because people that are doing the wrong thing hate the people that expose them for the wrong they are doing, including Christians. It’s easier to surround themselves with other evil doers who never hold them accountable for their actions. You can’t stay on the fence. You have to make a decision. If you choose to make no decision, that IS your decision. Jesus addressed this as well when he was speaking to the church in Laodicea, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!” – Revelation 3:15

In conclusion, I hope you will see that money, politics and faith are not separate issues at all. I hope you will let the love of Christ give you the courage to stand for all that is honest and pure and good. I hope I haven’t offended you, but I also hope you understand that if I have, I can’t worry about that because the only approval any of us needs comes from God.

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Added: September 14, 2009. 06:54 AM CST

Looks like my reply got lost. Sorry for getting the chapter and verse wrong: I was tired when writing it.

I should have begun with the question: what is the "overt persecution of southern evangelical Christians" to which Stacey, and you, are referring?

Zander

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Added: September 10, 2009. 05:01 PM CST

I quoted John 4:16

Not John 3:14. If you're going to tell me that what I believe is wrong, or not my right to believe, at least get what I said right. My favorite color is blue, Zander. Rip me up. Explain why that's wrong. It makes as much sense as what you're doing in trying to explain away Stacey's beliefs.

Also, she is not referring to you in anyway in terms of persecution. And, unless you're living in the United States as a Southern Evangelical Christian you have no idea what types of persecution both overt and covert to which Stacey refers.

John G. Winder, Publisher - The Cypress Times

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Added: September 10, 2009. 01:57 PM CST

I would never assert that the First Amendment was written to enable freedom from religion, John.

It was written to enable all people freely to exercise their religion; to prevent people being disabled from public office by virtue of holding one belief over another; and to prevent government sponsorship or endorsement of one religion over another, or none.

Many of the Founders had heterodox opinions on religion; many had personally experienced government persecution. They wanted a government that would leave them alone to believe what they wanted.

Stacey is not simply calling for "John 3:14 Christians" to participate fully in public life. She is arguing that as things stand, such Christians are persecuted by people who have the kind of opinions, politically and religiously, that I hold.

I do want her, you, and other John 3:14 Christians to understand that most liberals are entirely comfortable with you exercising your right to believe, preach and proselytize peacefully as you see fit, criticizing and attempting to undermine secular people's beliefs.

Likewise, those who believe differently from you are free peacefully to criticize, analyze and attempt to undermine your beliefs.

None of this is persecution: it is the nature of free speech in a free society. Thankfully, this is the kind of society in which we all live.

Zander

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Added: September 10, 2009. 11:22 AM CST

John 14:6

Zander - I know you're earnest in your positions and opinions and I respect that. Here's what you need to understand; Stacey and I, and many of our readers, are Evangelical Christians and we believe John 14:6, "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

People, even those who call themselves Christian, either believe that or they don't. End of topic. We believe it and that forms the basis for how we see the rest of this world and eternity. You can write as many well-intentioned paragraphs to the contrary as you wish, but the Word of God trumps the word of man, and of Zander.

As to the political stuff: We do not have Freedom from Religion in the U.S.. We have Freedom of Religion. It was written to protect the church from the state, not the other way around.

I urge all Muslims, Hindus, even ahtiests to participate in our political process, society, their jobs, every aspect of their lives as their faith and beliefs guide them. Stacey's article was not - and you know this - a constitutional argument it was about living what you believe in every aspect of your life, and it was specifically about Christians - those John 14:6 Christians - living their lives in that context regardless of where they are or who they're with. We believe that in living that way our world would be better off than any ideology, political party or public office holder could ever make it. Thanks, Zander.

John G. Winder, Publisher - The Cypress Times

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Added: September 10, 2009. 11:04 AM CST

I believe part of the reason politics is dividing our country is specifically because of Christianity. It’s not about being Republican, Democrat, conservative or liberal. It has to do with whether or not you believe the Bible is the infallible, living word of God.

True, Stacey: that is a very important divide. I would go even further, and say that what divides us is whether it is OK for people in public life to believe in any religion they want to, or whether everyone has to pay lip service to the particular view of what the Bible is and who Jesus was that you support.

I grew up in a country that lacked a strict separation of church and state (the United Kingdom). Daily school prayer of a "broadly Christian" nature was mandatory in schools. Episcopalian bishops served by right in the upper house of the legislature. They were, and are still, appointed by the Prime Minister. Blasphemy was explicitly against the law.

None of it, none of it, made people any more likely to be Christian.

In fact, the very fact that Episcopalian Christianity in particular enjoyed government approval made it the very last thing young people were interested in believing in. The Church of England would have fared much better as an independent, disestablished church, able freely to compete with other faiths for believers. It is now a sad shell of its former self.

There is no question in my mind that Christians in the United States benefit greatly from the US not being a country that sponsors one kind of religion over another. The Founders were wise when in Article VI, section 3 of the Constitution, they forbade religious tests for office. They wanted to avoid exactly the kind of lip service in religion that people were forced into in Britain.

I have one final question for you: P.C. or J.C.?

One can admire Jesus, and not believe about him precisely the things that you believe. For Muslims, Jesus is one of the greatest prophets who has ever lived.

You are saying in effect, "Believe in my specific interpretation of Jesus, my specific interpretation of the Bible, or I will view you as putting money before God."

Liberals do not generally consider themselves to be "politically correct". I will vigorously defend the notion that we should be courteous to one another, and I have often observed rude people to defend their rudeness by vaingloriously declaring that they are not "P.C."

Nor do we generally think of ourselves as putting "money before God." Liberals vary widely in their faith, from evangelical Christianity to atheism, but those of us who believe in God simply interpret our religious obligations differently to how conservatives do it.

For example, we might consider the provision of universal, affordable healthcare to be a moral imperative, and not doing so to be the kind of act of contempt for the poor that Jesus so compellingly preaches against.

Let us all, then, Christian and non-Christian, deal with one another honestly, kindly and courteously. We can unite around such ethical codes of behavior without necessarily agreeing in our theology. We must resist the urge so deep within the human heart to demonize those whose views we do not share.

Zander

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