Friday, February 04, 2005

Hillary spoke on how she is a “praying person.”

Source: Time Magazine, February 7th, 2005 issue, page 30. And? What does she view as the “higher power” where she forwards her requests? While it is a matter of personal conviction, once she has made herself a “public official,” we rightly can ask questions to ascertain how suited she is to represent us. I say this, not as a New York voting resident (but since I live in Florida, maybe I can vote there, too), but as someone who anticipates being around to vote for president in the next election. I’m sorry, the rush to the nearest churches by Democrats causes me to think hypocrisy. On the other hand, I’m hopeful that those who elect to work their way into the social circles of the segment of society they label “evangelicals,” will find there is more the fabric of the Church than they have been led to believe by the media, their po1ls, and Saturday Night Live skits. As they come to cultivate their relationships with those church attendees, they will see the "warts" and hypocrites, but they will see those that are humble and graced with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Then lives will he forever changed. If their experiences are anything like mine, they will see those who will welcome a gay person into their midst, and lovingly care for them. They will see support for the poor at levels they never knew existed. They will witness divorces being prevented, and strong, emotionally healthy families as the outcome. They will find out that almost all of the support, whether it is a helping hand, cash, food, a listening ear, or a prayer partner, is done without any PR campaign and therefore invisible to those who aren’t so blessed to be present to see the work done by so many, in the true modeling of the life of Christ. That brings up another point: Jesus often performed miracles, and many times, instructed the recipient of the miracle to not tell anyone. As we are human, and therefore imperfect, in each of these cases, the people exercised free will and were disobedient to the direction of the Lord, and they ran right off to tell others. Just as much as I dislike statements being attributed to Christians, in particular to the Bible, using out of context meaning from without, I equally dislike it when Christians throw out a single verse, that seems to fit, but is out of context as well. The Bible is an intricate document, full of wisdom, in single verses, and larger pieces, but should always be studied before flippantly quoting single verses. If you need to share it, be mindful of being faithful to “the Source,” just as any of us who have had to write a paper in school were. I certainly don’t mean to imply one in their “newness” shouldn’t learn scriptures hang on to. Why should we not apply the same rules in these circumstances? If you led and so inclined, I’d ask for your prayers for these politicians seeking to find out more about “evangelicals" that God will send the messages they need to hear, or things they need to experience. Romans 8:28 comes to mind as an underpinning for this time.

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