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Episode 17--Jesus and The Vote

The notjustanotherreligionandpoliticspod's Podcast

Release Date: 10/19/2020

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Episode intro:

Hello, Civilla Morgan here! Welcome to episode 17 of the Not Just Another Religion and Politics Podcast! Thank you for tuning in! So here’s the deal: 

I want this podcast to speak to people, not yell at people. Whether you are a Believer or not, a Christian or not, I want this podcast to be so plain in its language, that even if you have never stepped into a church, you will get this. You will get who Jesus is, and you will get what relationship with Him could be like, despite what people--Christians and non-Christians, try to do to get you to turn your back. Come along with me. I promise it will be a really cool experience! 

 

Body of episode:

As soon as I started research for this episode I came across ‘Christian’ sites that were calling left-leaning beliefs on racial equality ‘critical race theory’. I will put all links in the show notes. 

 

IF you know me or follow me on social media, you have heard me say or post about the lens we humans use to see and judge the world. We look through that lens, outward,  but we are using the results and residue of our life experiences, those experiences we keep buried in our brains and our hearts; to make decisions. Most of these decisions are split second. 

 

Others use a little more time to consider. But either way, that decision is based on our experiences or the experiences we learn from our elders, our cultural upbringing, what we believe about what we see on TV.    

Here’s the thing. What I am about to say will be said through the lens of a three dimensional, or maybe multidimensional human being who is a woman, a black woman, a black woman raised in America, a black woman raised in America but of Caribbean extraction. A black woman raised in America of Caribbean extraction who recognizes that every day split-second decisions or assumptions are being made about her. And hey, maybe she, I, am making split decisions and judgments about others, about you, as well, right? Everything I just listed about myself, the things that make me Civilla, can also be considered lenses. My lenses. The lenses I view you through. The lenses I view the world through.

 

What are your lenses? Do you lead with your lenses? Do you make decisions with your lenses? Would you call your lenses biases? If you are a Christian, do you lead with your lenses or with what the Word says? What does the Word say about race? What does race have to do with voting? Should Christians vote? What is critical theory? What is critical race theory?  Is being a single-issue voter a copout? Is there really such a thing as a single-issue voter? How do you vote when we are of the opinion that both candidates have really bad ideas, policies, personalities?

 

I have to admit, I was upset when I started my research and the first thing I happened on was articles about critical race theory. I was like here we go again, weaponizing my skin color is not cool. I don’t think that is what God had in mind when he created me. When he created any of us. Why are humans so small-minded? Yes, I was upset. My skin color has been debated since the beginning of time. Why? 

As far as I’m concerned, Jesus’ take on critical race theory was to remind us that he created us all. He ate and drank with us all: regardless of race, creed, color, or sin. That was His take on critical race theory, not to be critical of races.  Yet here we are. One article talked about critical race theory infiltrating the church! I dug around for anything I could find on critical theory and critical race theory. There was so much to read, but then I asked Google what he thought, and this is what I found on critical theory:

 

Critical theory is a social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole. ... Critical theories aim to dig beneath the surface of social life and uncover the assumptions that keep human beings from a full and true understanding of how the world works. Oct 15, 2019.

 

And here is the definition of critical race theory, in a nutshell: 

 

Critical Race Theory rejects all potential alternatives, like colorblindness, as forms of racism. Critical Race Theory is completely against the common-sense idea that race becomes less socially relevant and racism is therefore diminished by not focusing on race all the time. Jun 12, 2020. 

 

Well, while I agree we should stop focusing on race so much, the fact is it is one of the first things we see about each other when we see each other. 

I mean that’s why we have eyes.  It is the decisions we make, you know those split-second decisions, judgments, that come next, that make all the difference in the world. It’s what we do next. And what has been done next for hundreds of years is why we are here today. 

 

In fact, if we look back a couple of hundred years, or 50, we will find that the focus on race is what caused some to think it was OK for one race to treat another as subhuman. And furthermore, to use the Bible to make slavery legitimate. If we twist anything into a pretzel we can make it believable, we can make it work; and that is what slave owners did with The Word of God. We do the craziest things and then use the Bible to make it ‘true’. 

 

‘God does not call us to execute judgment on others. Citing Noah’s curse to justify the slavery of African people is abusing a Bible text for your own advantage. The fact that European Christians have done this, is a terrible stain upon European church history.’--Biblword.net.

 

Notably, this story is “the mark of Cain” narrative that has served (in tandem with the “curse of Ham” story) as the most prominent theological justification of white supremacy. When Cain complains that his punishment is too harsh and that he will be killed if he is driven from his homeland, God agrees to mark him in some way as a visible sign of God’s protection, even while he remains under the curse. For generations, white Christians have interpreted this passage to describe the origins of dark-skinned humans, whom they understood as a race created not from the nobility of divine breath but from human acts of jealousy, murder, and deception.’--Baptist News.

 

What does this have to do with Christians and Government? Well, the United States spent the summer of 2020 in a time of racial reckoning. Those marching in the streets were protesting for change, systemic change. Unfortunately, those in the seat of governmental power and some in church leadership were calling those cries for justice and equality ‘radical left’, socialist, extremist, liberal, even dare I say progressive.  Using all of the above in their thoughts on so-called critical race theory, never really asking their darker-skinned brothers and sisters how they felt about wanting the same freedoms as anyone else without being used as agenda items. 

Black people never asked to be an agenda item. We are asking to be treated like human beings.   

 

‘Want to make the Bible say welfare policies are bad? Find a proverb on laziness leading to poverty (Prov. 10:4). Want to say the opposite? Find another calling people to “defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Prov. 31:8–9).

The point is not that Proverbs contradicts itself. All these passages say something true. But we lack clear rules for knowing how any one of them should guide today’s public policy. Further, we too often witness people and parties exploiting the Bible for their purposes.’--Christianity Today, see link in the show notes.

I read an article in research for this episode. It upset me, but I read it to the end, hoping to ask some questions of the author. Unfortunately, they had not allowed for comments. I wonder why? The link to that article is in the show notes.

Before I get into voting, I want to talk about the Biblical worldview and World View.  

‘A worldview is how you look at the world, how you think it operates, why things happen the way they do, what your purpose is. ... For example, a worldview of atheism, which is a belief that God does not exist, explains the creation of the universe and of life as randomness acting over a very long time.’

AKA The Big Bang Theory? 

‘Christian worldview affirms that God is the sovereign and almighty Lord of all existence. Such an affirmation rejects any form of dualism, that matter has eternally existed, or that matter must, therefore, be evil since it is in principle opposed to God, the Source of all good.’

Dualism by the way is ‘the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects or the state of being so divided.’

Now I’m not going to get too deep in the weeds in this, but it is probably obvious to most of you that World view veers towards the Big Bang Theory while the Christian Worldview has us relying completely on God for everything from how we got here when we got here, and what will happen to us, i.e. where we’re going.

I’m bringing these views up because they help some people, usually, Believers, decide how and whom to vote for.  So it is something to consider no matter which view you hold.

Now, as a Christian, I completely believe and trust, that there is a God. I believe he created us and all of the natural things we see around us. The trees, the skies, the planets, outer space, the universe, the solar systems, etc. It says so in the Bible, and I trust the Bible. But I do not think the Bible tells us everything. It does not answer all of our questions. Did I say that out loud? I believe the Bible is doing what it was created to do. It was created to tell us who our Creator is, to bring us into relationship with our Creator, and to teach us to trust our Creator. The Bible does not veer off-topic to tell us about dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex, etc, etc, etc. It just doesn't. But God gave us the wisdom and knowledge to recognize these animals existed and in fact how long ago they existed.  

Now we have really smart scientists, astronomers, astrophysicists to tell us about outer space, black holes, light years, the Kuiper Belt, the heliosphere, the event horizon.  I mean they do exist. And there are scriptures as I said earlier, that makes attribution to the heavens and the stars, etc. But God told us through the Bible what he thought we needed to know. I believe the rest of the information will come when we see Him face to face. 

That in a nutshell is my take on the whole world view and Christian worldview.   

VOTING     

  • Single issues voter--there will probably be a lot of this going on and the subject matter will usually be abortion rights, Roe v. Wade.  Some will overlook everything else on a candidate's agenda, good or bad; and vote for the candidate that is for or against this one issue.  
  • The abortion vote-Speaking of abortion? Why is there a divide amongst Christians about the abortion issue? Why are some Christians OK with abortion if the conception was based on rape or if the abortion is very early in the pregnancy?  Why do some Christians believe that even contraception is bad? Why aren’t all Christians on the same page with the entire abortion issue? Psalm 139:13, ‘You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.’ Jeremiah 1:4-5 says ‘Then the word of The Lord came to me saying “before you were born I knew you…’   

In our current voting cycle, some are voting against a possible second civil war while others are voting against someone who says he is a practicing Catholic but believes in a woman’s right to manage her own body.  These are difficult choices for those who are not single-issue voters. But would we have this dilemma as Christians, if we were praying the right prayers all along, instead of praying our agendas?  What if Christians were on the same page with who to vote for, on the same page with praying for our president no matter what he looked like or what policies he held? If we prayed like that, like the Bible said to pray, we might not be in the dilemma we are now.  Remember, what I am saying right now does not pertain to the single-issue voter. That person has already made up his or her mind. I’m talking to the person who is weighing multiple issues and policies to see who to vote for. This person is currently or has prayed and asked for God’s help in advising them who to vote for. Remember, if we had all been praying to God instead of praying past Him, agenda in hand; we might not have candidates that some of us find it hard to choose between.  

Look, I can go on about the multiple issues that each candidate has on their own agenda. We can talk about Black Lives Matter, Defunding the Police, The Voting Rights Act, which I continue to wonder why it is still an issue. Why does the voting rights act have to be voted on and renewed every so often? Why is it not permanent? Anyway, the list goes on. And everything on the list is important to someone or some group. And remember when I mentioned being three-dimensional earlier? Well, as much as our society tends to like to put everyone in a neat little box, that’s not how it works. Humans are too three dimensional to fit into a neat little box.  If you are a white man listening to this episode, you may find certain items on the agenda more or less important, and I, as a black woman, may find different things important.  But what if we are both Believers? We should have more in common as Believers than we do not right? The Bible says ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.;--2 Corinthians 5:17. 

  • Who to vote for? So, who do we vote for? I would never suggest to anyone who they should vote for. I believe the vote is deeply personal. That is also the reason I would not tell anyone who I am voting for. And beware, never assume you know who someone is voting for. I’ll leave that right there. 

So, I’ve said a lot. Quite a bit. I did not come here to convince you one way or the other. I came to give you information and ask you to think. To pray on your vote. To remember that just because people talk about who they will vote for does not mean that is who they are going to vote for. The bottom line is this, what kind of country do you want to live in? Do you want to be afraid of your neighbor? Do you want to mistrust people who are a different color and race than you? Do you like the tribalism that you see right now? Do you like the mistrust of the government and governmental agencies? How does it feel to live divided in a country rich with beautiful diversity? Diversity of thought, of people, of skin colors, of foods, of so much! The unborn baby's life matters. My life matters. Your life matters. Life matters.  

Maybe as Christians, we should be praying like the Bible says to pray. I mentioned that earlier. Maybe we should pray like all life matters so we can vote that way.         

Scriptures mentioned:

  • ‘Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.’--Deuteronomy 1:13.
 
  • Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; …--Psalm 146:3-10.

Episode Takeaways:

Maybe we should pray like all life matters so we can vote that way.         

 

Links used for research:

 

https://www.drjamesdobson.org/

 

https://www.ligonier.org/blog/christians-and-government/

 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/topics/g/government/

 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march/tremper-longman-bible-ballot-politics.html

 

https://www.openbible.info/topics/voting

 

https://www.biblword.net/why-did-noah-curse-his-son-ham/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwwuD7BRDBARIsAK_5YhXDFPPemalE4YyNJ3egBCWefylDdjhXneRFLFohl2iXfa3pIEyUVB8aAvsbEALw_wcB

 

https://answersingenesis.org/racism/critical-race-theory-church/

 

https://kingdomeducationministries.com/2018/10/the-key-component-of-a-biblical-worldview/

 

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/incompatibility-critical-theory-christianity/

 

https://www.religion-online.org/article/the-morality-of-single-issue-voting/

 

https://baptistnews.com/article/we-are-cain-owning-up-to-the-reality-of-racism-in-america/#.X4pAEtBKjIU

Closing commentary:

 

Don’t forget, I would love to hear from you on the question: 

‘Who is God?’ 

 

Episode outro:

 

Well, thank you for tuning in. Let me know via social media or by email if you have feedback. I would love to hear from you! You may email me at [email protected]. Please give me 24to 48 hours to respond. And don’t forget to check the show notes for the sources used for this episode. Until next time! 

Episode quote:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."--Abraham Lincoln.