Defending The Faith…

 

“I felt God’s spirit beckoning me…I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth…What was intellectual and what was emotional joined, and the belief in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, that he died for our sins, that through him we could achieve eternal life – but also that, through good works we could find order and meaning here on Earth and transcend our limits and our flaws and our foibles–I found that powerful.”

A beautiful proclamation of faith.

As political season inches nearer and the potential candidates are positioning themselves, which seems very similar to a season of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette.

Multiple candidates willing to cut the other’s throat to be the last man or woman in the race for the rose, or office.

Not the best person…the last person.

As faith however, is woven into the fabric of this nation since it’s founding, it is not surprising that the subject of “faith” would come up.

The subject of faith is beginning already.

Today’s headline at www.drudgereport.com is entitled, “Is He Or Isn’t He?”

It is a story related to Governor Scott Walker of Ohio, seeming to question if President Obama is a Christian or not?

This seems to come up a lot.

I personally have had Pastors say to me, that they did not believe President Obama was a Christian.

They did not question it, they flat denounced the thought that he even might be.

First of all, I did not vote for President Obama, nor would I if he were to run for office again, which he can’t.

His overall views and my overall views are not aligned.

However, I do not judge a man’s faith, any man’s faith in Christ.

And I will also defend a man or woman’s Christian faith.

It may not look like mine, because it’s not.

It is there faith, their conversion experience, their acceptance of Christ, their walk with God, their sin, their repentance.

Not mine.

I can not always defend a man’s actions, but I can defend the Christian faith of which a man says he espouses.

I am not sure how any Christian can look at it any other way.

I do not align in thought with multiple issues that a middle income American would consider important in terms of their faith.

Does that make me not a Christian?

Obviously not.

Because one’s faith does not look like it was copied and pasted out of a, “This is the way Christians look in America” type of booklet certainly does not set them aside from the merciful hand of God.

All this to say, I am currently reading a very interesting book, The Presidents And Their Faith (From George Washington To Barack Obama), by Dr. Darrin Grinder and Dr. Steve Shaw.

Because I promised my oldest daughter, I would try to keep my writings leaning toward a positive outcome, which I am trying, I thought I would end with the very positive statement I began with in this entry.

A man’s declaration of their faith, as quoted from The Presidents And Their Faith.

“I felt God’s spirit beckoning me…I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth…What was intellectual and what was emotional joined, and the belief in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, that he died for our sins, that through him we could achieve eternal life–but also that, through good works we could find order and meaning here on Earth and transcend our limits and our flaws and our foibles–I found that powerful.”  President Barak Obama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and we as Americans are so visual…