They have plenty of help; there are loads of people ready to misquote and send viral emails and videos around full of slanderous postulating.
In Matthew, the Pharisees try to trap Jesus into talking against Caesar, the King of the time, Emperor, what have you... Matthew 22:15-...
15Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.16So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?19Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.20Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
In Romans 13:1-... Paul writes:
13Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; 4for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. 6For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing.7Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due.
Now... After reminding these people of these passages, they were quick to add, "Well, I don't like him, but I pray for him..."
For me, I find this a bit contradictory... no we don't like everyone, and I'm not going to say we "don't like him but love him" cause that's also BS, but like and respect are very different.
I respect police officers, elected officials, etc., because they deserve respect. Still, when I hear people say this comment "I don't like him, actually, I despise him a little bit and I think he's ruining our country, but I pray for him," I'm inclined to think they aren't praying for him to succeed, but praying for retribution and failure and ultimately removal from office... I'm not sure that's what Jesus and Paul meant in the above passages.
I'm not saying that Obama's or anyone else's approval rating should automatically go through the roof, or that we have to love everyone, but that we do need to recognize that hating and despising people isn't what God has for us, and that praying for the failure of someone leads to failure in our own hearts.
Prayerfully thinking about government and politics can be a bit edgy because they are so emotionally skewed, regardless of how much we try not to make them emotional. But allowing some space for what we don't know and what God does would probably lower some raised fists and unclench some jaws, and probably heal our hearts enough so we can get off the defensive and solve some bipartisan issues that our country needs resolved.
So jump down from your seats of judgment and gather around the committee table with open minds and hearts and lets get these issues resolved.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.