I IMAGINE MANY READING MY TAGLINE WILL THINK I HAVE LOST MY MIND. PREVIOUS EVIDENCE ALREADY POINTED TO THAT POSSIBILITY, BUT I DIGRESS…
NO, I DO NOT THINK OBAMACARE IS AWESOME BECAUSE NO ONE CAN KNOW FOR SURE HOW IT WILL EXACTLY WORK. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE DEFINITIVE STATEMENTS ABOUT FUTURE REALITIES BECAUSE EVENTS BY DEFINITION OF BEING IN THE FUTURE REMAIN UNKNOWN. AS OS GUINNESS ONCE TOLD ME, “FUTURISTS MAKE BAD HISTORIANS.”
WHAT I WANT TO DO IS TEST OUR COLLECTIVE ABILITY TO APPLY CHARITY TO THE PRESIDENT’S MOTIVE BEHIND HEALTHCARE FOR ALL AMERICANS.
HERE IS MY QUESTION: WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO MAKE YOU A BIT (EVEN A TAD OR SMIDGE WILL DO) MORE WILLING TO CUT THE PRESIDENT SOME SLACK AS TO HIS MOTIVE IN WANTING TO PUSH THROUGH NEW HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION?
I HAVE MY OWN THOUGHTS, BUT WILL WAIT TO FIRST HEAR FROM YOU.
Thanks for this post, Dave. To pile on…I wonder how much the lack of charity in areas like health care (and others) hurt’s the church’s credibility and message on areas like abortion. I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.
A recent survey in Christianity Today magazine came up with the interesting observation that the more time Christians spend reading the Bible, the more liberal they become in regard to social issues such as caring for the underprivileged.
This echoes what a good ol’ boy, retired minister friend of mine from Muleshoe, Texas has said several times from the pulpit in our church: “A Christian who is theologically conservative has no choice but to be socially liberal.”
If all this is true, why does it seem as if the opposite is the norm in the churches I have always attended?
Well, in light of the many who visited the past few days, the comments are all too few. However, it is time for me to offer my own brief response.
My purpose in this post was to encourage all of us to be a bit more slow in assessing the motives of others. Yes, I am keenly aware of the passages about “righteous judgment.” Those passages actually help me in making my point.
It is difficult for us to take the proverbial log out of our own eye before addressing the speck which resides in someone else. And note that Jesus gives us the larger issue to deal with. That is missed way too many times in practice!
I do not like many of the policies the president has promoted. And I have my doubts about his motives for doing so. The Bible reminds me at least to slow down and take inventory of my own life before casting aspersions.
Sorry I’m coming to this late (too busy to slow down, I guess). My first thought is that I really don’t know his motives, I can only guess from all that I know ABOUT him and what he has done thus far. Having said that, I believe that many of us Christians are quite ‘liberal’ in our giving to help others, but the key is that we give because we are lead by GOD not because we are FORCED to do so by the GOVERNMENT.
I tend to assume that President Obama’s motives are good–that is my tendency with most people. However, I disagree with the assumptions that inform his decision-making.
David McCoy: Thank you for your interesting comment. I have not heard anyone say that before. I tend to agree with Jeannie’s comment: that the issue is not giving but the government taking away so that it can give. Should I give? Yes. Should I expect my church to do charity? Yes. Should I use my vote to make sure that the government makes other people give? I have not found that in the Bible, but I do think that liberals have good motives by pushing forward that campaign.
Dave, I’m not so sure that ‘political liberals’ who approve and want legal permission to put the ‘giving’ on the shoulders of the government, are not aware that the common citizen then has no say as to where that money goes. Studying history (I am NO scholar by any stretch of anybody’s imagination), I believe we see that the ‘caring’ that happened was the result of various Christians seeing a need, meeting that need, and others VOLUNTARILY joining the ‘mission.’ We can’t know the motives of all ‘political liberals;’ however, studying other nations that ‘redistribute the wealth,’ we notice that it has NOT worked very well. Why would we think it would work for the USA? “Capitalism, anyone?”