political christian?

All right, all right, I know people don't really want to think about politics anymore, but I'm posting anyway!

FIRST, I recommend Jesus for President for anyone who calls himself a follower of Christ. It is a thought-provoking, amazing book. We are NOT called to put our country first, we are called to put God and his commands first. We are called OUT of the empire into a new world, a third way of love, a revolutionary way of thinking and living. I really don't think Christians should be endorsing a political party. Democrats and Republicans are creations of man, and God does not favor one over the other or call you to be one over the other. I do not think we should be depending on the government to solve the problems of our sin-ridden world. I don't think that should be an excuse for letting a dictatorship rule or anything like that - I do think it should be for the benefit of humans in general.

Let's face it, the majority of Christians who claim to be Republican do so on a few key issues: Abortion, Gay Marriage, Stem Cell Research, The Protestant Work Ethic, and a few others. But how many of us will take in a baby a teenage girl doesn't want? How many of us mentor teenagers to help them understand the consequences of sex? How many of us actually know gay people? I have to admit I don't know too many. And who is working against some of the situations that give people gay tendancies - abuse or single-parent families? How many adult men who are Republicans are mentoring young men to make sure they know what it means to be a man?

Evangelical Christians are usually against socialism or 'spreading the wealth' because they think it keeps the poor poor and yet they testify that they follow a man who told the rich man to sell ALL of his possessions and give to the poor. The man that they follow had no place to lay his head. The bible that they read (every now and then) commands farmer's to let the poor glean from their fields, a practice which leaves the edges of fields for the poor and the alien. This command is placed with such important commands as 'Do not steal', and 'Do not turn to idols.' I know plenty of 'religious right', as we call them, who have more than one car, possibly more than one house, a couple computers (I too am guilty of this). Do they also tithe? Or do they feed the hungry themselves. Jesus didn't mention giving to charities. He said when I was thirsty, YOU gave me something to drink, not you helped The Salvation Army give me something to drink.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe all men should try to make a living from his own work, not the work of others. So did Paul. But we fail to recognize that sometimes this isn't possible, or sometimes, when we help people, we aren't condoning their lifestyle. It should be a sign of us loving people as God loves us, regardless of failures, with no strings attached, and with mercy and grace.

I think that before we point to politicians and point out what they're doing wrong, we each need to look at our own lives. We are members of a society who see the solutions coming from the few in power when the God we profess to serve "chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him" (1 Cor. 1:27-29).