Politics and values

 Politics and values - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com Somewhere along the line, the Christian “church” went off mission by entrusting moral solutions to politics. Abdicating “church” responsibilities to politicians and governmenthas bad results. In the 1960’s mainline churches supported President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society agenda where a new era of taxation and government programs were to aid the less fortunate. To many church leaders this transfer of wealth meant the governmentwould be doing the heavy lifting in helping the poor and elderly, and thus, reducing the financial pressure from church community outreach. This meant more money for buildings and programs, parking lots and technology, but the blessings of salvation and givingwere diminished. Fast forward to today. The “church” is in shock over the results of the recent elections. Democrats in Virginia made abortion rights the only issue. They bombarded the airwaveswith the concept that because Republican extremists wanted no abortion-no exceptions, women were going to die. Republicans had no response. They let the lies stand. They ceded their values. And the Democrats won. In Ohio, a similar election. Democrats poundedtheir claims about women’s rights and abortion restrictions without exceptions. Not only did they codify abortion and other parental rights restrictions in the Ohio constitution, they were successful in legalizing marijuana. Both of these issues are aboutmoral code and values and both were carried by younger voters. Churches need to wake up to the fact their programs and lukewarm teachings and judgmental, hypocritical culture has lost our society through the millennials, gen z’s, andgen x’s because they see no value in “church.” Democrats have recognized that the moral code among the voting society is government-centric, not church-centric. People get fired up from one-sentence half-truths and lies they see in social media posts, headlinesfrom leftist news outlets, and talking heads in podcasts. There is no discernment. They think that rebellious attitudes and bullying are the way to a happy and successful life. Everybody is wrong, except the individual’s rights—which are based on the worldlyrather than the Godly. Hate don’t live here, except when you disagree with the resident position. Churches should focus on the Word of God rather than corporate marketing, the size of the parking lot, the big building, and the skinny jean/smoke machine worship. Youngerpeople need to be inspired to love Christ and his saving grace—not by enticement, but by example. If this was an emphasis in the pulpit rather than feel good self-improvement and entertainment, maybe it would filter to the dinner table and maybe eventuallythe abortionists would be put out of business because young men and ladies would understand the value of life. You know, the Proverbs 22:6 thing—“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it.” As Christ said aboutgiving unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Allowing the political system/government to set values, as we can see, doesn’t work.