Friday, January 25, 2008

Change of topic

I had planned on writing about a certain "ah-ha" moment I had this morning, but wanted to put this out for your consideration (and flame, if you feel so inclined).

Ron Paul was interviewed on beliefnet.com. You can read the full article here. An interesting quote from it is this:

---quoted text below---

[Do you] consider yourself an evangelical?
Yeah, I do. But I’m not sure that every single person that uses those labels are absolutely uniform and that people know exactly what they mean… some evangelicals get a little bit annoyed because I’m not always preaching and saying, “I’m this, I’m this, and this.” I think my obligation is to reflect my beliefs in my life. I like the statement in the Bible that when you’re really in deep prayer you go to your closet. You don’t do it out on the streets and brag about it and say, “Look how holy I am.” If a person has true beliefs and is truly born again, it will be reflected in their life.
---end quoted text---

Well, for my $0.02, that hits it right on the head. I don't want any more public officials touting their religiosity and claiming that makes them more fit or others less fit for service. It seems to me that every time I hear of a public figure, whether that be politicians or entertainers, I usually end up thinking "I wish they wouldn't have drawn attention to themselves as models of faith and morality." If I recall correctly, Bill Clinton professed to be "an Evangelical Christian" and could quote bible verses with the best of them. All it take sis one seedy interlude with an intern and a cigar to shatter a man's integrity forever. I wish he had not said anything.

Maybe if more people (myself included without question) kept their faith behind closed doors and let it work out in their lives we wouldn't have politicians claiming a religion to win loyalty and votes. I'm sick of empty professions of faith from obviously shallow hypocrites.

Politicians: Show me what it means to you in how you live and how you govern, and I'll let that influence my vote.

Christians: Maybe if we banged fewer bibles and lived more like people changed by faith, others would be drawn to know more about that faith and Jesus instead of wanting nothing to do with us or Him.

1 comment:

halethegangsallhere said...

AMEN!! I have often thought the same thing...and felt that many people must feel the "hidden agenda" when they are friends with a Bible-banger. Someone recently noted how they felt when they were friends with a Mormon and found that they were constantly trying to "convert" them to their religion. It made the friendship feel empty and like the agenda was more important than the friendship. May we not be guilty of having such an agenda that we miss the joys that true friendship can bring. And if it is meant to have an impact, the life should speak for itself.