Kudo's to Raymond Bailey, pastor of Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, Texas for his guest editorial on "Would Jesus Win an Election?" It deserves wide circulation. Here are some quotes and a link to the entire editorial:
Could Jesus win a national election in a nation so many like to identify as “Christian”? I suspect he would have trouble being elected mayor of our fair city, let alone president of these sovereign United States.
Can you imagine a platform with a point calling us to love our enemies, or for some cheek-turning to insults, let alone slaps across the proud jaw of Uncle Sam? What would Cal Thomas, the voice of Christian conservatives, who recently defended the humiliation and torture of prisoners, have to say about this “loving,” “blessing” and “turning the cheek” business?
The doctrine that the end justifies any means has been used to justify cruel and inhuman actions by Christians for a thousand years. One would be hard put to find in the New Testament any words or actions of Jesus to justify pre-emptive strikes or barbaric treatment of prisoners of war. Jesus might not be committed enough to a philosophy of "America, right or wrong.”
Maybe we could get Jesus to do what the disciples couldn’t — to rain down fire on Samaritans, Iraqis or whomever. A promise to put the Left Behind guys in charge of the military might overcome the concessionary policies expressed in the Sermon of the Mount. Perhaps they could persuade Jesus to get the Armageddon thing going to get the big war on and over.
. . .
The truth is that those who want to wed church and state prefer Old Testament warrior kings to the Prince of Peace. They want “Christian values” to influence certain policies but not those with regard to the expenditure of public funds for health, education or the relief of poverty.
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