Does the President's Faith Really Matter? A Message to Christians

Much is being made about President’s Obama’s faith. According to a recent USA Today survey, ”Nearly one in five Americans incorrectly say President Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% last year, according to a Pew Research Center poll released today.

In the survey, about one-third of Americans correctly say Obama is a Christian, down from 48% who said so last year. In all, 43% say they do not know what religion Obama practices.” http://tinyurl.com/28zg2m2 Of course what one thinks of the President’s faith has no bearing on the Presidents heart.

But for many professing Christians there is concern that The President should be a Christian. And that if he does not hold their views, then the President should be subjected to criticism. Such a negative bias against the President is contrary to biblical teaching.

The New Testament was written under Roman rule. The Caesars saw themselves as divine. Pagan idolatry was the state’s religion. But under these circumstances, the earliest apostles of the faith exhorted the early church to respect and honor the government. In Paul’s Letter to the Church in Rome, He writes, Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. (Romans 13:1-7NLT)

The elected authorities are God’s servants whether they are Christian or not! If Paul can say this about a pagan ruler, then why is there so much disrespect for the President of the United States? Every government official takes an oath to uphold the Constitution. President Obama is doing this within the constraints of his office. Roman rulers were dictators. A government of checks and balances is far superior to a dictatorship. The United States of America should count her blessings. Perhaps Christians today should read more of the Bible and pray for their leaders. After all, a government is only as good as its citizenry! Who knows who the next president will be and what he or she will do!
　
　

Jesus is the Answer to Islam, Bhuddists, Hindus and CHRISTIANS!

With all the news in the USA regarding the proposed mosque/community center at Ground Zero, I thought it worthwhile to remind all of us (whoever us might be) what sets Christianity apart from other religions. But first let me say that as an American, the denial of the mosque being built will challenge the legality of such a decision under the Bill of Rights. This article is about what makes Christianity different from other religions. Having said that, let me say also that most Christians do not know what Christianity is about.

All non-Christian religions are systems of works righteousness. Do this and that and you will escape suffering, have a better life in the future, be rewarded, etc. And yes, many TV preachers who call themselves Christian appear to espouse the same! Christianity is really about what one person has done for those who believe in Him. It is not one more organization with buildings and ritual. Jesus is the object of our worship not because he makes sense when it is convenient to our particular needs but he has saved us from that fiery demise promised to all sinners. And we are all sinners. My membership in a church does not save me from that demise! Jesus teaches us that no one is good. (Mark 10:18) Later Jesus also teaches us we cannot save ourselves. That impossible feat is left to God. (Mark 10:27) Hence, we need to understand who we are in relationship to Jesus and His death upon the cross. When we scream at people (an act of violence on a smaller scale) we force them to see us as an enemy. And when we force people to see us rather than Jesus who alone is to be glorified, we are guilty of idolatry for we make ourselves more important than the one who does all the work in our lives. Jesus came to change our hearts. This is done by hearing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. We deserve punishment for all our sins and by His death upon the cross, Jesus has saved me from deserved judgement. As King David says in Psalm 51, The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart. (17) A changed heart results from an experience of God's mercy. We cannot earn our way into paradise. The way is narrow and only God can change us through His grace. This is true for all people including Chrisitans in name only! Faith in Christ comes from hearing the Gospel. Not proclaiming who is right. ( Romans 10:14-21)

Never Stop Feeding the Soul

At least I believe that as long as there is breath in one's body, prayer is efficacious and the Word of God can still bear fruit. After all, it is God at work and nothing can stop His saving grace. These are my thoughts as I pray for my mother who is in the last days of life imprisoned in her body diseased with cancer.

And why am I reflecting on this? The beginning of this year, my churchgoing mother confessed that she did not believe in an afterlife. As an orthodox Christian I do believe in an afterlife as revealed in Scripture. When her cancer was diagnosed as terminal, Mom declined any further treatments resigning herself to death as it was inevitable. As her health declined, she began not attending church as well as refusing communion from the lay Eucharistic ministers who would come by her apartment. This was her choice. But I have to give some credit for my beliefs to Mom and Dad as they raised me in the church. Growing up we heard bible based preaching. So seeds must have been planted.

But as I have grown, so has my theology. I pretty much am a Calvinist, a good 5 pointer if you know what I mean. God chooses us, we do not choose Him! Who is to say, that God cannot redeem Mom's soul while she lies in bed, now unable to speak, unable to eat? The parish Mom has been attending preaches a works righteousness. Outside of the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist, there is not a proclamation of the Gospel. Didn't Jesus say something about it being worse for those who cause someone to stumble? (Matthew 18:6) Is it not Jesus who calls us to life as we are dead in our sins and therefore cannot speak for ourselves? (Ephesians 2:1-5) I ponder these things as I have been exploring the burial rite from the American Book of Common Prayer in preparation for my mother's funeral. While doing this I have been reading the suggested Scripture readings to Mom aloud as she can still hear. And one suggestion from St. John's Gospel struck me with profundity.

²⁴ “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. ²⁵ Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷ and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. (John 5:24-29, New King James Version)

If the dead can hear, why not a soul in a body close to physical death? Why can't a soul awaken to new life even if the body is broken? After all, God Himself will show mercy on whom He desires. But how will a person believe if there is not a preacher sharing the Word? (Romans 10:14-17) So if you have a loved one dying, never stop praying, never stop feeding the soul!

Florence Nighingale: Nursing as Calling

I write this post from my mother's bedside. She is in a nursing home run by the nuns of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a nursing order in the Dominican tradition. They are called to tend to those dying from cancer.

Florence Nightingale believed she was called to the sick and dying. But in her day, nursing was relegated to prostitutes and substance abusers. For Florence, she saw the dignity of God in each suffering soul she ministered to. Today's hospitals owe much to the reforms Florence initiated.

But what I often see missing in our Christan life is the celebration of acts of mercy to the sick and suffering. What the nuns are teaching me, and what Jesus has taught already, is how serving the poor allows Christ to serve us through them. Florence saw nursing as a noble profession in a day when women who lived on and off the street were demanded to care for those deemed untouchable by disease and accident. Today we now have men in nursing and expect a professionalism once reserved for doctors. But what can't be reserved is mercy. The God we worship is a merciful God. Let us be merciful to all who suffer in our day!

Life-giving God, you alone have power over life and death, over health and sickness: Give power, wisdom, and gentleness to those who follow the lead of Florence Nightingale, that they, bearing with them your presence, may not only heal but bless, and shine as lanterns of hope in the darkest hours of pain and fear; through Jesus Christ, the healer of body and soul, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen