-- from "Jesus, Friend of Sinners" (Casting Crowns)
The verbal gaffe -- not gaffe: moronism -- by a candidate in the US elections this past week should be an example to Christians, to remember what our assignment from Jesus is.
I think I have it straight, here: the candidate was talking about abortion -- which he's against -- and stated that during a rape, a woman's body can "shut down", so that she does not get pregnant.
Evidently, he had been asked if abortion should be allowed if the woman had been raped and he was attempting to avoid what could have been a sticky question ...
oh, why am I making excuses for him?
(Are there not times when someone does something so phenomenally stupid, that you get hung up trying to figure out where in blazes he was coming from?)
One thing that's apparent: this fellow was so fixated on proclaiming what he was against that he stretched to find any point he could; and in so doing, cast all Christians as being judgmental, ill-informed and stupid.
That's sad. Jesus sent us to proclaim the Kingdom and the Good News that we can be reconciled to God through Him, but instead (as I pointed out in a posting two years ago) people get the impression that the way to declare one's faith is to express anger and outrage at things that offend God.
But throughout the Bible -- from "vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord" to "judge not, lest ye be judged" to "Thou ... shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth" to the parable of the talents, where the master calls for all those who hated him to be brought before him and executed -- the message is clear: we are to stick to our own jobs and let God handle the anger-and-outrage thing.
And let's not kid ourselves: there's going to be a lot more potential for anger and outrage in the not-too-distant future. There seems to be no end of Things That Offend God working their way into our culture these days, and people need to see the Truth and the Light. They won't see it if we keep pointing at darkness.
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