“THE GOP (God’s Only Party)”
Not only is that theologically abhorrent, but it aged like milk.

Well done sir. Even though I am more of a minarchism proponent, I do try to be principled and consistent regardless what political team is in charge. I have enjoyed our discussions and enjoy standing with you on in other posts and forums.

I am so sorry.

I am against abortion and my favorite use of my tax dollars is supporting needy people, especially children. I’m glad to make it easier for those kids to be taken care of. (Also, WTF is with the migrant kids in cages? How can someone who opposes abortion for rape/incest possibly support this brutality against innocent children?)

There are others like me, but we are sadly too sparse.

He’s still regularly posting back at Patheos, on a wide range of evangelical platitudes (such as “will our pets be in heaven”).

Agree. This is how I feel about climate change too. The science is 100% clear, and, even if it weren’t, what are the consequences of trying to reduce greenhouse emissions? Less polluted air? Like, how could it be a bad thing even if scientists were being alarmist?

Eventually, I realized that because Democrats are “for it”, Republicans must be “against it”. The well is so thoroughly poisoned that many Republicans feel like anything a Democrats supports must be evil. Even if it doesn’t seem evil, it must be a trick. Then the “logic” works backwards from there. Like, “Why do they want cars to be more efficient? I know, they must be trying to destroy the auto industry!!! And since some car companies are American, that must also mean they hate America.”

I don’t know how you solve this problem, especially since they live in a bubble which tells them to only trust information from inside the bubble.

On the subject of misogyny, any updates on the fraud Mark Driscoll?

This is still true. The anti-abortion guys formerly at the church near to me (they moved 40 miles away during the pandemic because their landlord, another church, wouldn’t let them continue to hold services), they think regular pro-lifers are just wimps. These guys, including “apologist” James White, believe women who have abortions should be executed.

Yeah, the anti-abortion people I’ve talked to are also against making life better for the children already here. You can’t convince them that making sure kids have enough to eat and a roof over their heads is a good thing. You just can’t.

Some very good thoughts here. I think of myself as a political independent because it doesn’t seem to me as a Christian that I should be beholden to a particular political party or group of politicians. I should be politically engaged (“IN the world”) but should not be pledged to a particular party (“OF the world”). And I tend to be “a la carte” on political issues, where neither main American political party (or minor party for that matter) exactly represents what I think would be my best response a set of issues. On various issues I may be left of center, right of center, etc. I lean left of center more often than right of center, but not always. The complete identification of many evangelicals with a specific political party and political ideology, up and down through its whole platform, and automatically following everything a given politician says and does, is utterly baffling and infuriating to me. They immediately take up and promote and defend whatever position the Republican Party (or, more specifically, President Trump) espouses, as if it is infallible Scripture. And whatever the Democrat Party says or does, they automatically take the opposing view. And so I see Christians demanding strong partisan stances on issues where I would say there is not one single “Christian” response, and also adopting many strong partisan stances that I would argue are anti-Christian. There are segments of the evangelical church that I would argue are no longer a church, but are in fact merely a political action committee using religious language as window dressing.

I’ve included here a short statement about my beliefs as a Christian and being a Social Democrat. I’ve copied and pasted this on a number of different forums, including Reddit:

—

I am an evangelical/reformed Christian and would describe myself as a
Social Democrat.

This means I support policies like: Universal health care, public
education, free university tuition, unemployment benefits, disability
and aged pensions. And I also support increased taxes to pay for these.

I do not follow “the social gospel”. No one gets to heaven by Social
Democratic policies. The only way to heaven is through repentance and
faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Moreover, I do not see
Social Democratic policies as attempting to build “Heaven on Earth. I
do, however, see these policies as making life on earth better. Not
perfect, not a utopia, but just better.

Social Democratic policies are not prescribed in the Bible. But neither
are they proscribed.

Minarchism (the opposite of social democracy) is not prescribed or
proscribed in the Bible either.

The best Bible passages to support Social Democracy are the gleaning
passages in the OT (Leviticus 19.9-10 and Deuteronomy 24.19-22). In
both these passages, Israel’s farmers were commanded to leave the sides
of their fields unreaped so that the poor can get food. This was not
charity. It was a command. And it was a redistribution of property –
goods owned by the rich were transferred to the poor so that they may
have enough to eat. If the Bible was against Social Democratic policies,
such an action would not have been prescribed for God’s Old Covenant
people.

Another passage is Genesis 47.13-22 when God saved Egypt through Joseph.
What occurred was essentially the pharaoh taking over private farms,
which would be an ancient form of nationalisation. If the Bible was
against Social Democratic policies, such an action would not have been
prescribed.

Taxation is not theft. The Bible never depicts it as such. Romans 13.6-7
says that Christians should pay taxes. 1 Samuel 8.10-18 does warn that
kings have the power to steal your property and family for their own
selfish and warlike ends, but we’re not talking kings here, we’re
talking government.

Ancient Rome had a grain dole (the “Cura Annonae”). This was present in
Rome during the first century. It was a law that provided free bread to
the needy. None of the NT writers speak about it negatively. In fact they
don’t mention it at all. This is important because the book of Romans,
written to the Christians in Rome, did not require them to oppose it.

Some social democratic social policies support abortion and
homosexuality. While I adhere to the Bible’s stance on these two issues,
I don’t think that making abortion illegal will result in less
abortions, and I don’t think that making homosexual marriage legal will
result in the destruction of the “traditional family”. There have been
too many myths and rumours surrounding the “homosexual agenda” for many
decades within the evangelical community.

Much of modern evangelical Christianity has been infiltrated by
pro-capitalist thinking over the years, to the point where “the
Christian worldview” ends up denying things like welfare payments or
public education or universal healthcare. This is ridiculous.

The Bible’s overwhelming depiction of poor people is that they are not
responsible for their poverty. While some passages warn against laziness
or idleness, the vast majority of poor people are shown to be poor
because of the actions of the rich. eg Proverbs 13.23, 14.21, 14.31,
19.4, 21.13, 22.22, etc (just search for “poor” in both testaments and
you’ll see the overwhelming message)

Social Democrats are not Socialists. A Socialist wants the government to
control all enterprises and capital. By contrast, a Social Democrat sees
a greater part for government to play in society and the economy. Social
Democrats still see a part for the free market to play in societyand the
economy. They just see the government being involved more. Even Bernie
Sanders isn’t trying to destroy capitalism. He’s just a Social Democrat.

While historical examples of Socialism and Communism have persecuted
religions, atheism and anti-religionism is not essential to their belief
system. Modern day Socialists accept religious freedom, even if they do not
agree with certain religious morals being accepted into wider society.
Social Democrats, similarly, support religious freedom.

It is very possible for individuals, households and even entire
countries to become “better”, and to do so without the work of the Holy
Spirit in regenerating them. Many people become better people without
being saved. This is partly a good thing, as it shows God’s common
grace. But they’re not getting to heaven without Christ. Let the
government and society be the place where God enacts his common grace,
and let the church and Christians be the ones who spread God’s saving
grace. I’m saying this because too many Christians argue that the only
way people’s lives can be changed for the better is through the Gospel.
Of course the Gospel does change lives, and it also secures for those
who have faith in Christ the assurance of eternal life, but there are
plenty of things in our world that have improved people’s lives that
aren’t gospel related.