Caffeinated Thoughts |
- Author’s Preface: With Christ in the Voting Booth
- Has Living in a Pluralistic Society Prevented Violence?
- Bobby Jindal Stumps for Mitt Romney in West Des Moines
| Author’s Preface: With Christ in the Voting Booth Posted: 27 Jul 2012 03:57 AM PDT Dan Frye, host of a Rebel’s Cause, hesitated to read my new book, With Christ in the Voting Booth, because he thought it might be a typical partisan book outlining all the reasons the U.S. Constitution supported my political views. After reading the following preface, he was convinced to view the book differently. Author's Preface
I have tried to abide by this principle in this book. I believe every word in the Bible is infallible, and that none of the words that have come from my own imagination are infallible. Readers should examine each of my claims against the Scriptures, chewing on the meat and throwing away the bones. I have quoted or cited many sources. This does not mean I endorse the viewpoints of those sources. Some of them are professing unbelievers (even some of our nation's founders), so I won't try to make them into something they consciously rejected. On the other hand, just because I have major differences with Christians on some issues, does not mean I think they are not Christians. The exemplary lives of many have put mine to shame. I never try to prove to others the Bible is true. I simply assert that it is. The Christian agrees and already believes it to be so. The unbeliever never will be convinced by logic alone that the Bible is true; that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is also very clear that every man knows God exists, and was born with a conscience sufficient to prove to him that he is a sinner. For those that insist upon labels, that makes me a presuppositionalist. Of course, this does not mean that I do not marshal other arguments to support my ideas, but that they are primarily used to illustrate my points, not prove them. If you do not know Christ, I hope you will get a glimpse of Him here. I've tried not to hide the truth nor play games with serious matters, but I have also tried to make the book non-partisan. The issues here are more spiritual than political. Without any apologies, this book is written for the Christian. My hope is that this book will be fodder for further discussion among them, and result in better understanding of what it means to be With Christ in the Voting Booth.        |
| Has Living in a Pluralistic Society Prevented Violence? Posted: 27 Jul 2012 02:49 AM PDT  Image by Sage Chimera Fellow contributor to Caffeinated Thoughts, Adam Graham, has issued a challenge to my recent post about whether Christians should vote for unbelievers such as Mitt Romney, and whether principled pluralism is a good thing. I appreciate a good volley, and Adam is a worthy opponent, but I must reject his arguments on several grounds. Mr. Graham spends a considerable amount of time attempting to make the argument that the experiment of principled pluralism has proven to be an unassailable victory for mankind over inter-Christian warfare, as if that kind of "warfare" has been the predominant kind of war in history. He even seems to paint the Protestant Reformation as the key turning point leading to what he calls fratricide:
This Readers Micro-Digest version of history ignores the fact that persecution has always been the plight of the church and that early Protestant pre-reformers such as John Hus, John Wycliffe and William Tyndale all suffered under Catholic persecution prior to the Reformation. The record of secular or atheistic governments has been much worse. The 20th Century was long history of bloodshed by the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and Vietnam, to name just a few. We have not avoided that bloodshed in spite of what Graham says. If the practical results of having a Constitution devoid of Christianity were the most important argument, I would simply point out that this godless document has not prevented the murder of millions of unborn children and perhaps has sustained it. If Christian lawyers had been able to appeal to a document truly based upon Christianity, perhaps the killing would have been stopped in its tracks years ago. (The same will be true when the high court eventually upholds homosexual "marriage" as it will likely do). But the practical results are not all that Graham proffers in order to defend his plan to vote for Romney.
I don't recall lamenting that the church could not survive a Mormon presidency, nor did I say the church is weak, as Graham intimates. In my book, I instead suggested that "I'd rather sit under a thousand Mormon presidents than hear one more minister deny the gospel by affirming that Mormonism is a Christian religion." Indeed Christians have thrived under the most pagan of rulers. It is not the power of a Romney presidency and Mormonism that bother me. It is the rank disregard of any Biblical guidance in voting by professing Christians that is so disturbing. Graham does not deny that Psalm 2 gives us the qualifications of kings; he only implies that we voters are allowed to vote for kings that do not qualify. He also seems to limit these qualifications to "pagan" kings in Communist or Islamic countries, as if unbelieving kings in a Western culture are okay. He by extension seems to imply that Obama and Romney are not pagans, though the one believes that all "gods" are equally god, and the other believes he shall become a god, like he believes many others shall. There are many passages which deal with qualifications besides Psalm 2:
Graham says that Christians must live peaceably with whomever God places in office, which I agree with wholeheartedly. But this is similar to the command to live peaceably with the unbelieving spouse that a new believer finds him or herself living with:
But the Scriptures teach that they are not allowed to seek such an unbeliever as a husband or wife, for it is wrong to be "unequally yoked". How much less should believers seek to be bound to an unbelieving civil magistrate? If Romney becomes president, I will honor him in that position. I will not mock him any more than I did Barack Obama. But I cannot ask God to place over me a pagan king.      |
| Bobby Jindal Stumps for Mitt Romney in West Des Moines Posted: 26 Jul 2012 09:00 PM PDT Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was in Iowa stumping for Mitt Romney today. He spoke to a group of approximately 100 people gathered at the Kum & Go headquarters in West Des Moines after a stop in Newton later in the afternoon. He said that President Obama will try to distract Iowans by attacking Mitt Romney rather than running on his own record or policies. He said that we can tell what the President thinks by listening to his public statements.
He said that people in Louisiana actually took that as a complement that in Louisiana they make no apologies for clinging to their guns and religion. He said the Obama administration is "one of the most incompetent administration that we've seen in this last four years than we have seen since Jimmy Carter." You can watch his speech below: Jindal visited Iowa today along with Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is scheduled to campaign for Romney in Iowa on Saturday. The location has yet to be determined.      |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Caffeinated Thoughts To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu