No doubt the findings in the article from my previous post have caused concern among many people in the church over the past few years. Young Christians today, while not necessarily liberal, are far from being as conservative as many Christians in this country have tended to be. Is this a cause for concern? Not necessarily. Honestly many Christians need to chill out about this. I found that article to be, at the very least interesting, and at the very most encouraging. While I am conservative when it comes to abortion and gay marriage and believe the Bible is pretty clear on such issues, I’ve become very turned-off by those who use these two issues as their sole basis of judgment. Issues addressed in the article (drugs, alcohol, sex, environmental causes*, health care, poverty) are huge issues. Poverty especially, which finds significant attention in Scripture. None of this is to say that abortion and gay marriage are insignificant issues, but rather that it is Scripturally irresponsible to focus merely on these two issues.** Honestly, its rare if not improbable to find a candidate which is fully in line with Scripture on every single issue. We’re not voting for the Pope of Protestantism. Depending on your slant of glass half-full or half-empty, as Christians we’re voting either for the best choice or the lesser evil. The American government isn’t the church. We don’t need it to be.
*- A cause which, contrary to much belief, is about far more than just being a tree-hugging hippie.
**- If we were to prioritize political issues by frequency of mention in Scripture, homosexuality wouldn’t even come close to poverty.
