A few months back I had a heated discussion with a woman that attended the church I would eventually lead. The conversation was on Facebook messenger and started when she proudly stated her love for Fidel Castro and hatred of cops.
This got me to thinking about the rhetoric I see and hear in social media that is attributed to Christians. I refer here to Bible-believing believers, including the woman I just referred to. How do we get to the place where one gushes over a politician while the friend attacks the same person being gushed over? I think I have an answer to that question although I am sure there is more to it than I can come up with.
As a young boy I remember watching Walter Cronkite on the CBS evening news. Sitting with me was my dad who would quite often interject his opinions on anything remotely political. He didn't always agree with Walter's commentary and yet this was his channel of choice. My dad hated anything that even remotely smelled like communism. He came by this stance honestly. His father and three brothers were rounded up by the Russian army during WW2 in the middle of the night and taken to Siberia. Two of his brothers died when they were forced to join the Russian army. The other brother was executed in Siberia and his father died in an isolated boxcar during the long train ride from Estonia to Siberia. You can see why my dad might not have been too fond of communism.
A lot of that wore off on me over the years and that is why I have many of my political views. I do not however believe The Beatles and Martin Luther King Jr. were communists. Yes, my dad did. Now some of you may be laughing right now but sadly most of us are in the same boat when it comes to indoctrination. For example, how can a Jesus follower support Fidel Castro or his brother? For that matter, how can we support a Donald Trump or Justin Trudeau? I just stepped on about 100 sets of toes right there. I know that because I read your social media rants. Voting for these men is one thing but actually telling the world that you think they are great leaders...to me that is frightening.
Again I come back to the question: how did we get here? For many of you reading this, your liberal views may have come from your parents but more likely it came from your liberal left-leaning teachers over the years. Those who are right-leaning probably picked it up from parents like I did because there are very few in the educational systems in North America that support anything right of centre. Then there is the media which I believe has helped shape the minds of many. I use the Toronto Star as an example of how so many more people today don't trust our cops. This newspaper has single-handedly undermined the Toronto Police for years and more and more people have bought into the hype.
I use the term "lemmings" to describe those that follow blindly. You see it on our streets at a red light where 15 cars are lined up in one lane while the other two lanes are almost vacant. People far too often just follow the crowd and no longer think for themselves. So when the media tells you something, far too many people still take it as "gospel". From personal experience I can tell you that the media seldom if ever gets all the facts straight. Sometimes intentionally but often because of their ineptness. As Christians we seem to lack a gift that God has promised us and it is called discernment. We need to allow the Lord to show us things that we might not see with our natural eyes or hear with our natural ears.
I see myself as a social conservative. I also hate communism, including the type served up in Cuba but my right-leaning views also include social action. The church has stepped aside and allowed government to take over these programs but the church needs to remain active. I don't mean liberal-minded, pro everything left of centre active. I also don't mean a return to the Moral Majority of US politics. A friend of mine who happens to be a Liberal MP in Ottawa once scolded the church for not getting more believers involved in politics. His point was a valid one: how can you complain about the politicians when you are not willing to become a voice? It may very well be that one day soon Christians won't have a voice at all but that day is not here yet. As one of my teachers at Bible College taught: the Kingdom of God is present everywhere there is a believer present. That doesn't mean preaching at people but it does mean showing Jesus with your life. Being salt and light where there is darkness does make a difference.
As a chaplain I believe I have something called the "ministry of presence". I heard one Christian leader "poo-poo" that designation because they claim it is not in the Bible. In fact it is everywhere in the New Testament if you care to look. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says these words and I leave them with you: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your father who is in heaven".
This got me to thinking about the rhetoric I see and hear in social media that is attributed to Christians. I refer here to Bible-believing believers, including the woman I just referred to. How do we get to the place where one gushes over a politician while the friend attacks the same person being gushed over? I think I have an answer to that question although I am sure there is more to it than I can come up with.
As a young boy I remember watching Walter Cronkite on the CBS evening news. Sitting with me was my dad who would quite often interject his opinions on anything remotely political. He didn't always agree with Walter's commentary and yet this was his channel of choice. My dad hated anything that even remotely smelled like communism. He came by this stance honestly. His father and three brothers were rounded up by the Russian army during WW2 in the middle of the night and taken to Siberia. Two of his brothers died when they were forced to join the Russian army. The other brother was executed in Siberia and his father died in an isolated boxcar during the long train ride from Estonia to Siberia. You can see why my dad might not have been too fond of communism.
A lot of that wore off on me over the years and that is why I have many of my political views. I do not however believe The Beatles and Martin Luther King Jr. were communists. Yes, my dad did. Now some of you may be laughing right now but sadly most of us are in the same boat when it comes to indoctrination. For example, how can a Jesus follower support Fidel Castro or his brother? For that matter, how can we support a Donald Trump or Justin Trudeau? I just stepped on about 100 sets of toes right there. I know that because I read your social media rants. Voting for these men is one thing but actually telling the world that you think they are great leaders...to me that is frightening.
Again I come back to the question: how did we get here? For many of you reading this, your liberal views may have come from your parents but more likely it came from your liberal left-leaning teachers over the years. Those who are right-leaning probably picked it up from parents like I did because there are very few in the educational systems in North America that support anything right of centre. Then there is the media which I believe has helped shape the minds of many. I use the Toronto Star as an example of how so many more people today don't trust our cops. This newspaper has single-handedly undermined the Toronto Police for years and more and more people have bought into the hype.
I use the term "lemmings" to describe those that follow blindly. You see it on our streets at a red light where 15 cars are lined up in one lane while the other two lanes are almost vacant. People far too often just follow the crowd and no longer think for themselves. So when the media tells you something, far too many people still take it as "gospel". From personal experience I can tell you that the media seldom if ever gets all the facts straight. Sometimes intentionally but often because of their ineptness. As Christians we seem to lack a gift that God has promised us and it is called discernment. We need to allow the Lord to show us things that we might not see with our natural eyes or hear with our natural ears.
I see myself as a social conservative. I also hate communism, including the type served up in Cuba but my right-leaning views also include social action. The church has stepped aside and allowed government to take over these programs but the church needs to remain active. I don't mean liberal-minded, pro everything left of centre active. I also don't mean a return to the Moral Majority of US politics. A friend of mine who happens to be a Liberal MP in Ottawa once scolded the church for not getting more believers involved in politics. His point was a valid one: how can you complain about the politicians when you are not willing to become a voice? It may very well be that one day soon Christians won't have a voice at all but that day is not here yet. As one of my teachers at Bible College taught: the Kingdom of God is present everywhere there is a believer present. That doesn't mean preaching at people but it does mean showing Jesus with your life. Being salt and light where there is darkness does make a difference.
As a chaplain I believe I have something called the "ministry of presence". I heard one Christian leader "poo-poo" that designation because they claim it is not in the Bible. In fact it is everywhere in the New Testament if you care to look. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says these words and I leave them with you: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your father who is in heaven".
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