Christians For Obama

I stumbled across a group on facebook with the title, “Christians for Obama”. As a Libertarian, I found my interest being peaked. I had to see what this group was all about. Here is a quote from their group information that I found rather interesting and mostly flawed.

” It is time that we as Christians got in touch with the True Gospel of Christ. God cares about the poor and the disenfranchised. God cares about the smallest, the most humble, and the weak. God is calling for a generation of people who will hear His call to “Feed His sheep!” Republicans have mobilized the middle and upper classes against the poor. They have perpetuated the utterly non-Christian notion of “every man for himself.” It is time that our country adopts or readopts policies that keep the Christian principles of “the least of these” in mind. Barack Obama seems to me to be the only candidate for the upcoming Presidential election who gets this.”

There are several things in this short paragraph that is flawed. I’d like to take a moment and address just some of the errors I see.

“It is time that we as Christians got in touch with the True Gospel of Christ. God cares about the poor and the disenfranchised. God cares about the smallest, the most humble, and the weak. God is calling for a generation of people who will hear His call to ‘Feed His sheep!'”

Now I want to be very clear. I don’t believe that God DOESN’T care about the poor. However, this is not the true gospel of Christ. The true gospel of Christ is that man is inherently sinful, that man is incapable of doing anything that can earn merit with God, and that Christ came as a perfect sacrifice to reconcile His people (the Church) to Himself. The Gospel (or good news) of Christ is that Christ made living what was dead (the regenerated soul). That there is a path away from damnation and that path is in Christ Jesus. This Christianity is 101 here. How seriously should we take a group of professing Christians if they can’t even get the Gospel right? If they can’t even identify what the true Gospel is? The true Gospel is not social justice rather it is salvation “In Christ Alone!”

I also find it ironic that they would quote “feed my sheep”. Who are Christ’s sheep? Only the Church can claim Christ as its shepherd. Christ is not commanding that we feed the world. He is commanding that we feed His sheep. How do we know who His sheep are? I would say that we need only look to our local Church congregation. If we see members of our church who are in need, it’s that church’s responsibility to feed Christ’s sheep. Perhaps these Christians would claim that all the world is Christ’s sheep? Possibly. However, their view ceases to be “Christian” and becomes “Universalism”. A good argument against the idea that all the world is Christ’s sheep are the words of Christ himself. Did he not say, “My sheep hear my voice”? Does the unregenerate person hear the voice of Christ and say, “you are my shepherd, I will follow you”?

It is time that our country adopts or readopts policies that keep the Christian principles of “the least of these” in mind.

Again another reference to a verse that is specifically referencing the care of God’s Church. Let’s take a look at the Scripture in its entire context. It comes from Matt. 25. The parable of the sheep and the goats (again support that Christ’s sheep are His Church, not the world universal). This line comes from Matt. 25:40:”The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Unless you are willing to abandon orthodox Christianity and adopt a Universalistic view on who God’s people are, who Christ’s brothers are, then you must admit that this verse is again in reference to the Church and caring for God’s people in need.

One would be very far stretched to find a reference in Scripture where we are commanded to take care of the poor of the World. Surely no one will find a reference where we are to put the needs of society over the needs of the Church. It would appear as if this group would advocate a much larger and stronger centralized Government. One that they could even use to push a “Christian agenda” on the nation (why else bring up the “non Christian idea” of every man for themselves that Republicans supposedly push?). Their own pope as it were.

Can we as Christians take such groups seriously? They don’t understand what the “True Gospel of Jesus Christ” is. They don’t understand the very Scriptures they quote to support their views. How can we as the Church even consider the validity of such political groups as this group? Unfortunately, many many people are being misled by such teachings on “social justice”.

The State Wide Smoking Ban

Disclaimer: This thread has nothing to do with theology and everything to do with politics.

There is a trend sweeping the nation; the trend of passing state wide smoking bans. Here in Pennsylvania, they just passed such a ban. Now, I don’t smoke (other than a pipe, which is required of all true Presbyterian men to smoke, right?). I don’t like being around cigarette smoke, I don’t like to smell cigarettes, I don’t like to breathe in second hand smoke.

However, I believe I have a realistic view on this issue. I realize that if I’m in a public place and am around smoke, it’s because I chose to go into an establishment that allows it. In other words, it’s my choice as to if I want to eat at a restaurant that allows smoking. It’s my choice as to if I want to be in a smoke filled bar, be it to work (with my band) or to just hang out. Everyone who is in a public place and is exposed to smoke made that decision for themselves. If I or someone else doesn’t like it, I have choices. I can go somewhere else to eat that doesn’t allow smoking. I can book shows for my band in places that don’t allow smoking. The way the current laws stand now, everyone has a choice as to what they want to do. Non smokers, be they customers or employees, aren’t having their right to “clean air” violated or having their health put in jeopardy unfairly because ultimately, it was their choice to eat or work or drink in a business that allows smoking. No one is forced to be in a smoke filled room. No one is in there against their will.

However, this freedom of choice is not good enough for people. They’ve decided that instead of having a free and open society where everyone is free to do as they please concerning this issue, they’d rather take away the rights of business owners and their patrons. That is exactly what is being done. Instead of leaving a free society well enough alone, these pro-smoking ban people have essentially said, “I want to be able to eat and drink wherever I want to and I shouldn’t have to be around smoke!” Instead of putting in complaints with business owners concerning their desires for smoke free environments, instead of just going somewhere else for dinner or working at a different restaurant, they went to Mommy Government and whined until they got their way. Now a bunch of whiney cry babies have forced their desires on everyone else, taking away the rights of businesses and patrons state wide.

I recently saw an episode of South Park where certain citizens were trying to pass such a ban on smoking. Leave it to a crass and crude animated series to really get to the heart of this issue. I’ll quote the episode’s final lines as best I remember.

“You’ve just decided that you don’t like smoking so you want to take away the rights of all these other people just because you don’t like it. That’s called Fascism you fat f$#k!”

That’s called Fascism indeed.

More on the Federal Vision/New Perspectives on Paul

Most of my time in the mountains were spent nose deep in studying the issues of the Federal Vision and the New Perspectives on Paul. I feel as if I have a much greater understanding on these issues and how they relate to each other and how they relate to our dear Presbyterian Church.

I’d like to recommend some resources on this important issue. The first the PCA’s Ad Interim Study Committee report on the FV, NPP, and AAT (Auburn Avenue Theologies).

I’ve been most encouraged by this report. I had feared that the PCA either didn’t have a grip on the situation or they were keeping quite and hoping it would go away. Never the less, the report showed that the leadership in the PCA is fully aware AND has a strong grasp on this issue. You can read the report here.

The second source I’d like to recommend is the book entitled “Justification and the New Perspectives on Paul” by Guy Prentiss Waters, (link) published by P&R Publishing. The first part of the book is a historical study on the NPP. The second part of the book is a critique of the NPP. I found this part particularly helpful in that it lays out the major issues in the NPP and the stark differences in the NPP and orthodox covenant theology. It gets to the heart of the issue and because the author takes his time in giving the historical background on the NPP, his arguments in the second part are both validated and convincing. The third part of the book discusses what’s at stake for Reformed Christianity. This is where the author touches on AAT and the FV. The author takes the time to discuss these movements inside Presbyterianism and shows why it’s important for us to be well read and prepared for this debate. I was particularly glad for this section. The Presbyterians have always risen to the challenges to orthodoxy be it Rome, modernism/liberalism, post-modernism, and we must be ready to take up arms again to preserve the Church once more. As the author reminds us, all of Christianity is on the road to one of two cities. Rome or Geneva.

Christians in the Military

“There are those who think that these two things, faith in a sovereign, loving, all-powerful God and military service, are in some way mutually exclusive, or others who have never seriously considered their relationship or deeper implications. However, I would propose to you that these can not only be practiced together, but in a number of ways also support each other quite well…”

The above is an excerpt from an article written by the Right Reverend Bass’ son John just before he left for West Point. The complete article can be read here.