Though the vast majority of evangelicals consider themselves to be part of the political 'right', it seems a growing number are switching sides. I have no desire to debate political issues with this post, but I want to speak against the motivations we sometimes have when we change views.
MOTIVATION #1
It seems more and more that it's becoming 'cool' for evangelicals to describe themselves as political leftists. There's something about being in the minority that makes us feel special (like we've figured something out that few others have). If cool guys like Drury are on the left, I wanna be too! It's a pride issue. I catch myself in it sometimes (I've had to be very careful as of late that my partial-preterist beliefs are Biblically motivated and not pridefully motivated).
MOTIVATION #2
First there were 'right' minded people blowing up abortion clinics, now there are 'right' minded people trying to find verses in Revelation that apply to their daily decisions. Truth be told...some people on the right ARE wackos! But some have migrated to the left for that reason. This makes no sense! There are wackos all over. (Once again, I am dealing with this as I transition to partial-preterism...Am I changing b/c it is right or b/c dispensationalists are often crazy?).
You can....
Hold the wrong view for the wrong reason
Hold the wrong view for the right reason
Hold the right view for the wrong reason
Hold the right view for the right reason
Let's be careful
6 comments:
This is the undilluted democrat in me talking so bear with. I think that if the WWJD factor were to be added to politics (completely against what most lefties go for) I think J.C. would be a liberal. Liberals are more likely to accept people for being people much like Jesus stories go in the Bible. Jesus wasn't after the hard-core of spirituality, he was after the lame, the outcasts, the undevoted. He found it easy to embrace that which was different.
Republican, eh, not so much. I would go as far as to say that I would need to gross another 20g's a year to even qualify for a GOP point of view. And my lack of gay paranoia would surely raise an eyebrow in a Southern Baptist church. Nonetheless, I think that I am right for being left, and you should too. Even Jesus was persecuted...
I think Jesus was a political liberal during His time on earth because the center was way too far to the political right.
There are certainly republicans with un-christ-like attitudes like you have mentioned (un-accepting, paranoid, etc), but it is hardly an epidemic.
Maybe instead of switching sides (or caring about which side we're on) we should simply speak out against un-christ-like attitudes.
Plus, I don't buy all the propaganda that democrats care more about the lame & outcasts. I think there stands on issues have more to do with control than with helping people.
In all fairness, republican stands often have more to do with money than helping people.
Some want money, some want power. You lose either way if you put your eggs in a political baskets.
We should be persecuted for being obedient, not for being in a certain political party.
your in a "thinking blogging mode" right now. You writing a lot of deeper stuff. I will have to come and read what you wrote later. To tired to write more.
Some weeks I'm thoughtful, some weeks I'm thoughtless...what can I say :)
The question is: are the atheist chicken hawks (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bolton, Pearle, Kristol and so on) using Evangelicals for their own political motives which are in affect anti-Christian?
If the answer is yes, which many including myself believe to be the case (though I am not an evangelical,) it seems that you are the one guilty of the fallacy you are attempting to attribute to those who have switched political parties.
Assume:
1.Central leaders of the party in power are anti- Christian.
2.Christians should oppose political leaders who are anti-Christian.
3.Certain members of the Left are anti-Christian.
It is just as fallacious to claim that a switch to the left makes one anti-Christian as it is to claim that Christians on the right are anti- Christian because of a central group on the right who are.
Further, if assumption 2 is correct, the only logical conclusion for Evangelicals is to oppose whatever anti- Christian group is in power. Therefore, a switch that supports Christian political power on the left is the only logical conclusion.
I have no problem with any of your logic JKIG (thanks for checking out my blog by the way), although I pry disagree with a few of your opinions.
You start off with a few assumptions about some of our neoconservative (as you'd call them) leaders which may or may not be true. I don't have a clue if they are.
But I think you may have missed my argument. I'm not saying it's wrong to switch from the right to the left (or the reverse). I'm saying sometimes people switch sides for stupid reasons. I think some evangelicals are doing this currently.
They may be right to switch to the left. I don't know. But I know they shouldn't switch based on the 2 motives I mentioned.
I disagree with your final statement though. Why wouldn't supporting republicans that aren't at the 'top' currently be a valid action. Some of the republicans in office are simply doing there job by listening to their elected leader (as the dems are doing too by and large). That doesn't mean they are supportive of every decision leadership makes.
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