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Right Battle, Wrong Battlefield (Abortion)
I was doing some reading last night on one of the blogs I frequent and came across a comment by the former worship pastor (Russ Ware) at my previous church that struck me. You can read his comment here. It was this comment that I found enlightening:
My point is that the life issue is the right battle, but the presidential election is the wrong battlefield.
He agrees that the life issue should be a major battle but he does not feel that politics or elections are the right place or the only place to fight it out. I have mentioned previously that this whole abortion issue seems to have been fought primarily at the political level. In my opinion, conservatives need to do a lot more than voice their concerns at the voting booth. We need a more expansive approach and I suggested that we possibly start funding projects that build more crisis pregnancy centers to offset the large number of abortion clinics in minority communities.
I have been feeling for some time that those who feel the abortion issue is the most important issue need to do something different. To change the law regarding abortion will take more than casting a vote. Abortion is the right battle but in my opinion, the election should not be the only battlefield.
Do you think we should do more to fight abortion or just focus on electing politicians who will overturn roe v. wade?
Obama Will Be The Next President: Now What?
When I went to the voting booth, I didn’t even flinch when it came down to who I was going to vote for. Being a black man, I felt no sense of temptation to cast my vote for Obama and I think I have explained why. I feel very strongly about my convictions which I think are based on my understanding of the Bible and how I feel it is best to vote. I did not and still do not feel Obama is the best candidate. But the bottom line is, he will be the next president of the United States. So what are Christians do next? I have some ideas.
1: Realize that Obama has been placed in his position by God
According to Romans 13:1 every authority is placed in their position by God.
“Romans 13:1 Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God."
We have to understand and accept the fact that regardless of whether or not our candidate(s) won, we have to respect the authority that God has in place. I know that some of you may wonder, “Well, what about evil people like Hitler?” Hitler was just as much under the authority of God as Caesar. Please do not take that as me calling Obama Hitler or comparing Caesar and Hitler. The point is that these are men who have been placed in their position by God, and therefore, they need to be respected accordingly. So we need to be careful what we say about them. It is okay to question their policies, but we need to exercise caution when questioning their character. We do not have to like them, but we do need to respect them.
2: Pray for him
1 Timothy 2:1-2 tells us to pray for our leaders. Praying for them is not an option. You do not just pray for the people you like. You have to pray for those you do not like as well. Praying for our leaders honors God (who put them there) as well as demonstrates sound Christian character. If you’re like me, this is a practice that you are not used to. Personally I am going to try to do this more than I have in the past. It will be difficult since this is a relatively new practice for me. I think this is one of those areas that we really need to take seriously.
Unless someone openly calls Obama a ‘nigger’, ‘coon’, ‘spook’ or some other racist word, you, I, or anyone else for that matter have no right to call someone who is simply questioning Obama’s policy or character a racist!
3: Consider a new approach to the abortion issue
I typically vote conservatively because I think killing innocent children is just plain wrong. Further, I also think that the Church should take care of the widows, and the poor. While I think those issues are important, I do not at all think they are the most important, especially abortion. One of the mistakes I believe conservative Christians made during the last three elections is they turned the Christian voice into a single-issue voice. I personally think that in addition to abortion and the sanctity of marriage, Christian conservatives should be more outspoken against poverty issues. Perhaps a different approach should be to continue fighting for abortion being made illegal as well as proactively reducing the number of abortions in the meantime. Conservative Christians churches and their pastors love to preach lengthy sermons on how abortion is evil, but where are the sermons about the church’s responsibility to take care of the poor instead of the government? How many churches are actually raising money to build crisis pregnancy centers next door to abortion clinics? Where are the ministries that actually try to befriend gay people and welcome them into the church instead of pushing them away with our angry rhetoric about how they are all going to hell?
4: Be slow to call someone a racist just because they question Obama’s policy or character
For those of you who voted for Obama, this one’s for you. As Christians we need to be careful about judging someone’s actions when it is not clear what their motives are. When Clinton was president and the whole Monica thing happened, there were a lot of Christians saying that other Christians had no right to say that what Clinton did was wrong because judging others is wrong. They typically quoted Matthew 7:1, but this is true only if that person was currently sinning as Clinton was. John MacArthur in Reckless Faith explains, “What Jesus condemned was hypocritical judgment of those who held others to a higher standard than even they themselves were willing to live by. He was certainly not suggesting that all judgment is forbidden. In fact, Jesus indicated that taking a speck out of your brother’s eye is the right thing to do—if you first get the log out of you own eye.” The only other time Christians are forbidden to judge is when it comes to a person’s motives. Why? The reason is because, “we are not able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).” The implication here is that only God can judge the heart because he is the only one who can see it (1 Samuel 16:7, Psalm 44:21, Proverbs 16:2, Romans 2:16). Therefore we are forbidden to judge the thoughts and motives of others as well as hypocritical judging.
What type of judging is allowed? We are told to judge in matters of sound doctrine (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, 1 Corinthians 10:15). We are also told to judge one another concerning overt acts of sin (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).
What this means is this: unless someone openly calls Obama a ‘nigger’, ‘coon’, ‘spook’ or some other racist word, you, I, or anyone else for that matter have no right to call someone who is simply questioning Obama’s policy or character a racist! Some of you may not like that, but deal with it.
I have absolutely had it with people calling into radio shows telling the hosts that they are racist simply because the host has taken issue with Obama on policy issues. It’s simply not right. And I fear that this is only going to become a growing problem for my white friends who want to hold a conversation with a black Obama supporter in which they express their concerns about Obama as our president.
I was watching a Steve Harvey standup on DVD recently where he was explaining to the audience about his conversation with a guy on a flight. The guy was white. For those of you who do not know who Steve Harvey is, he is black. They talked about all sorts of things but the conversation eventually drifted over to politics and the election. The guy asked Steve who he was voting for and Steve told him he was voting for Obama. They said why? Steve said, because he’s black. I will give Steve all the credit in the world for that because there are still plenty of blacks out there who will not admit that the only reason they voted for the man was because of his skin color. Steve Harvey is the first I have heard to actually admit that. So the guy asked if there was anything other than skin color that Steve liked about him and Steve Harvey’s response was, “Is his skin color the reason you are NOT voting for him?” For this, the audience of mostly blacks applauded like crazy. I’m sorry. I think Steve’s response was uncalled for and characteristic of the type of attitude that will never allow this country to move past race.
Do not judge someone as a racist if they have not overtly made a racist comment. Just because someone questions his character or policy, does not make them racist. Following that logic, I, being a black man, would be racist against white people since I did not like some of the things Bush did while he was in office even though I voted for him.
Conclusion
Listen. The Bible says that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. To the same degree that we esteem ourselves, we need to consider others more highly. What this looks like is the following: (1) when someone questions Obama’s character, instead of assuming they are racist, how about assuming they are simply doing just that, questioning his character; (2) instead of focusing on the unborn alone, in addition to this lets put more emphasis on the poor, and providing better healthcare; and (3) instead of being overly critical of the president, spend more time praying for him and his family.
Obama is the president. Whether you like it or not, it is what it is.
Funny: Jesus is a Friend of Mine
I don’t know whether to be ashamed or angry. But this is really funny and at the same time sad that Christians come up with stuff like this.
This was written back in the 80s. But I cannot help but think that we have our own modern day equivalent of this type of music. I will not name names. This video made me think about the current state of Christian music today. What do you think about the current state of Christian music? Good or bad? Let me know in the comments.
About That Guy You Want To Date…
This is particularly directed at single women. One of the things I teach my guys about manhood is the importance of knowing the purpose God has for their lives. By that I generally mean the specific purpose that he has for an individual that explains how he is supposed to live out The Great Commission. My pastor echoed this same thing although his sermon was not specifically about this topic. The sermon was particularly directed at wives, but he had something to say to single women that I think is really important.
I have included the audio snippet below. For those of you who are not familiar with black slang, a “boo” is someone that you are romantically involved with such as a girlfriend/boyfriend or husband/wife.
I believe that a single man should have a purpose before he begins the dating process. This is critical, because I do not think that there is anything more risky in romantic relationships than to enter into one with a guy who has no clue what he is supposed to do with his life. So where do I get this idea, from Genesis 2. God gave Adam a purpose in putting him in the garden to cultivate it (Gen 2:15). Adam does not meet Eve until Gen. 2:23. The point is, Adam had a purpose before he met the woman. Missions should come before marriage. But I suspect some will say, “I did not know what I was going to do before I met my girlfriend/boyfriend and we discovered it together!” In other words, it works for them so why bother with such menial points in the Bible? But that misses the point. I understand that people don’t follow what I am suggesting and things turn out just fine. Again, that’s not the point. It’s not about what works but about following the design that God laid out. And I really believe that we save ourselves a lot of unnecessary headaches down the road if we make missions a greater priority than finding a wife/husband.
I strongly suggest that if the guy you’re interested in is not participating in the Great Commission, leave him alone. It is not your responsibility to help him figure that out.
Bottom line is that the only requirement the Bible has for Christians who marry is that they do not marry someone who is not a Christian (2 Cor. 6:14). Some are so desperate to be in a relationship they don’t care if they’re a Christian or not they just want them to be male. So why make such a hubbub about a man having a purpose before he finds the woman? Well, because its wise. Ladies, as someone who has discipled many young men between 18 and 24, I strongly suggest that if the guy you’re interested in is not participating in the Great Commission, leave him alone. It is not your responsibility to help him figure that out. If you date him, you will only distract him. Therefore the best thing you can do for him is to love him enough to let him go.
So ladies, “No purpose, no boo.”
You Will Not Grow Theologically If…
So I was visiting a blog that I recently started reading and found this great post titled "Top Ten Ways To Not Grow Theologically" and I had to share it with the 7 or so people who actually read this site. Ha!
I’m kidding. There’s at least 10 of you. Hope on over to the blog and read it because it is a prettty good list. I am going to share it with the guys I disciple because for those of you who know me understand that knowing theology is something that I feel is really important. Lives change as people grow in their theological understanding of God. This is why this site exists. Ok. So I’ve said enough. Go make sure you are not comitting any of the "ways" on this list.
The Struggle for Contentment
I think one of the reasons why it is so difficult for us to find true contentment in life has a lot to do with our rapid adoption of technology without considering how it is impacting us. I really do believe that technology has had a negative impact on our ability to live out the essence of what it means to be a Christian, to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). This requires selflessness. But technology focuses on exactly the opposite. Consider Apple’s obsession with naming their products. Most of them start with “I” something: iPhone, iPod, iLife, iEverything else. Much of technology is focused on “us”. And it speaks to the narcissism that is running amok in our culture. So over the next few weeks I will be focusing on a series of blogs and articles about the impact of technology on the lives of Christians. Don’t get me wrong. Technology in and of itself is not bad. Technology is not really the problem as much as the fact that we don’t know how to properly use it.
This is an area that I have been studying for the past year and it has resulted in my making some changes in my life with regard to how I use technology. So as an introduction, I would like to direct your attention to a series of podcasts that my friend John Dyer was invited to speak on about the impact of technology on our lives. I have provided direct links to these podcasts below. Enjoy and I can’t wait to start conversing with you on this very important topic. I will leave you with the following quote from Marva Dawn who wrote “Unfettered Hope” which is a book that takes a look at how technology has turned the focus of Christianity from the poor towards ourselves.
“Do we see how the advertising world bluffs us into thinking that more technology or more implementation of the wired worlds possibilities is the only solution to the world problems in economics and politics; to such church problems as the decline in worship attendance, the reduction of membership numbers, or the lack of interest in “church”; and to personal or family problems? . . .
Meanwhile, we ignore the real situation in the world. While one small part of the world eases its pain by producing and consuming more…commodities, the rest of the world suffers the opposite kind of hopelessness—when persons are not able to secure the nourishment necessary to live.”
Here are the links to the podcasts that will introduce you to this issue: