One moment of shear annoyance took place during one of the main sessions I attended. I'm not sure the attendance - I would guess approx. 8,000 - 10,000. Wayne Smith, a popular retired preacher who is a treat to hear, was introducing Ernie Fletcher, his friend and the governor of Kentucky. He started by saying that "Ernie Fletcher is the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 50 years." And then it happend...people applauded. Some 9,000 Christians all packed into a room, sharing their joy that finally the great state of Kentucky was being led by God's chosen party - the Republicans.
I've got nothing against Fletcher - he read scripture & prayed and seemed like a good guy. And all Smith did was point out the fact that there hasn't been a Republican in that office in KY in a good long while. What irks me is this on-demand triggered response from the crowd. As though somehow there was now hope for Kentucky, since the God-party was in power!
How did the church of Jesus become only about two causes: abortion & homosexuality? I agree, those are issues that should concern us. (I contend a lot more is being done by Biblical "one-anothering" than by legislation, but I know there is much debate here...) But the poor & disenfranchised, the environment, and a host of other problems in our country and in our world are important issues as well, and those are issues that "we Republicans" tend to avoid. Funny, Jesus had a lot more to say about those issues than he did about the "pet" issues the Republicans have used to get the evangelical Christian vote. Just a question...has anything changed??(The image above is a bumper sticker...you can get it here)
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Larz,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your response to the re-publican glory moment. I have been handing out an extremely informative, well-produced dvd that exposes the failure of our political efforts. Those in the crowd who applauded are simply uninformed, some very willfully.
Brian
(DVD's available free upon request)