Forum: The Pastor and Politics
— Friday, October 26th, 2012 —
The forum “The Pastor and Politics,” held on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, was designed to help students think through the relationship between ministry and politics in light of the upcoming presidential election. Dr. Moore was interviewed by Andrew Walker, from the Heritage Foundation.
The Heritage Foundation? Dr. Moore and others, please stop so willingly giving into the stereotype of Evangelical Christians as right-wing pawns. Conservative think tanks (or liberal ones) should not be involved in these types of discussions. They limit the potential for such events.
Wow, your comments concerning Romney were pretty inappropriate; would you mind explaining that a little further? I noticed you didn’t make any derogatory comments about Obama. It sounds like you are supporting him. Also wondering, do you instruct your children to refer to Mitt Romney as Governor Romney? I noticed all throughout the forum that you continually referred to him only as “Mitt Romney,” up until your closing prayer. Why is that?
While I agree with praying for the President, I know that the Bible tells us that blessings are given to all, but that those who fear the Lord will receive special blessings. So I think it would be more appropriate to pray that the President seeks God’s will and comes to fear Him, and it will be evident by God’s blessings if he is doing so. It is God’s decision concerning whom He will bless, not ours, so I believe we can pray all we want, but God makes the final decision. This is akin to praying for God’s will be done; we can pray for whatever we want, but it will be His will that is done, not ours.
You also quoted the verse concerning turning the other cheek. Along that same section of verse, that should also mean that, since I am unemployed and I am asking you for $2000 to pay my bills next month that you should give it to me. Jesus expects us to use discernment, would you not agree? The same goes for turning the other cheek. We are not expected to stand and take abuse from others continually! You are taking verses out of context. You can’t say, “Yes, that is true,” of one section and say, “No, I should not give you money,” when the very next few verses say you should. The Bible is not a “pick out what you want to believe,” book. If you are going to say that I should turn the other cheek, then I expect a check in the mail from you next week, because I AM unemployed, and have been for over 11 months! On top of that, I am a single mother, but no one from the church I attend has stepped up to be a father to my fatherless child, but that is beside the point I’m trying to make here.
And lastly, how are we to choose whom we should vote for? As a friend of mine stated not too long ago, I believe that we need to vote for those that stand for the three things that God Himself has told us in Scripture are important to Him: 1. For those that will stand in support of Israel; 2. For those that will oppose all legislation that tries to kill the innocent (yes, abortion); and 3. For those that will oppose all legislation to promote homosexual marriage, when the Bible clearly defines marriage as between one man and one woman. There is no in-between on these 3 key issues concerning Christians. I do not believe that a pastor of a church should support any certain party or candidate publicly, which includes making derogatory comments about them, but I do believe he/she should preach and teach on these three key issues. I do not want to see the non-support of Israel, abortion or homosexuality to be one of those things we see as normal.
Once again, I’m concerned with the emphasis on “not having fear.” There’s a place for fear. It’s altogether right to fear that more babies will continue to be murdered. It’s altogether right to fear that more innocent souls will be led to Hell through the liberal agenda. Yes, the kingdom of God will march on regardless. But in the meanwhile, we can’t ignore the fact that there are actual souls hanging in the balance, and that one party more than the other is committed to activities that will destroy those souls.
As for praying for the President, actually James Dobson nailed it after Obama was elected. He prayed that God would give him uneasiness in the night. The best thing we could pray for Obama is for his soul to be saved. Unfortunately, he is an evil man, and there’s no getting around it. But if we want to discuss what is in his own best interests, the only thing that can save him is repentance. And the only way he can repent is if his conscience bothers him so much he can’t go on ignoring it.
Wow. I wasn’t expecting such a reasonable discussion. Really. This was just excellent. I will share it with others. Thank you so much Dr. Moore. Kudos.