Grumpy Alice
Images can be deceptive!
Saturday 1 September 2012
Religion and Politics
Dear Editor,
Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the recent meeting in Kyogle to meet the council election candidates.
So I wasn’t able to ask some important questions of the few people who responded 'Yes' to the question "Are you a Christian?"
I want to know if they’re just like all my happily-atheist friends and family - good, honest, kind people who care about justice and equality - or whether they really have got that extra something that marks them out as real Christians.
You see, as a sometime student of the Bible I know about the tough (and sometimes quite weird) standards a genuine follower of Jesus must meet.
For instance they must have sold all they own and given the proceeds to the poor (Luke 18:22). They must pray in private and not in a public place like a church (Matthew 6:6). And, most importantly, they are commanded to take up serpents and drink poison without being harmed (Mark 16:18).
If there’s anything to be learned from the potboiler that’s the present Presidential campaign in the USA it's that when you mix politics with religion you get an outbreak of stupid. Let's not do it!
[Published in our local paper 1st September 2012]
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It's fantastic that you engage in democracy and question your political candidates. It's a good thing and more people should do it.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting the questions you chose to put to the councillors- not in terms of the subject matter, it's a good thing to question our politicians and what they believe in and how those beliefs (whether in a deity or nothing) influence their decision making. No, my query was more regarding the line of questioning you picked with specific reference to Luke 18 and Matthew 6.
Whilst it's important to not be hypocritical, it's also important to understand what it is your quoting and whether or not it's in context. I'm pretty sure the Bible has much to teach on the subject of prayer but by selecting just the one verse you miss out much of what is said. EG: you miss out Matthew 6:1 which helps to provide some critical context to the statement. Similarly, your quote from Luke 18 misses much of the teaching that the Bible provides when it comes to matters relating to the use of money in the Church and Christians lives.
Perhaps it would improve your ability to engage with Christian politicians if you actually fully understood the subject matter you're questioning about. Perhaps instead of being a 'sometime student' of the bible, you instead studied it a bit more in depth.
So it's great that you engage with our politicians and it's great that you want to engage with their beliefs. I hope you continue to do so from a position of strength rather than ignorance.
Regards,
Keg767