A rather small and unnoticed portion of the Democratic debate, on February 22nd, should make us all ask ourselves; what does is mean to be Christian? Before going any further, here is the video clips form the debate.
Without saying too much about the technicalities of our Christian faith, I would like to point out that what Bernie said was very Christian in a few places. I say that not because I think Bernie is a Christian. I say that because he’s NOT a Christian, yet he promotes the portion of the gospel that Jesus most notably pointed to, which the “religious right” seems to be ignoring. Jesus is one day gong to return and He is going to judge us and this is how He’s going to do it.
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25:41-46)
For way too long the right wing of politics have claimed to be the Christian party, yet they promote a Christianity that says every man for themselves. They promote a Christianity that says “what’s mine is mine because I earned it. If you’re poor it’s your own fault.” They promote a gospel that places money on the throne and not Jesus’ call to love one another and to place our treasures in heaven.
If the Christian politicians want to keep claiming that we are a Christian nation then we only condemn ourselves. If we are indeed a Christian nation then we are doing a very poor job. And for those who want our government to be more Christian, you can’t have a Christian government and then condemn them for wanting to take care of the poor and needy in society. You can’t claim to be Christian and reject the hungry and reject those who need medical care. You can’t have a Christian government that doesn’t take care of the widows and orphans.
On the issues, Bernie actually seems to have the most Jesus-like policy positions…… and he’s not even a Christian.
Lets fix that. Let’s stop blaming the poor, the minorities, and sick, and the aliens, for the problems that we face as a nation. Let’s stop the endless wars and profiteering and use those resources to care for the hurting people that sleep in our streets and lay sick in our hospitals. We cannot serve Jesus while hating others. We cannot serve Jesus while we are serving money.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1 John 4:20)
As a fellow Anabaptist blogger put it,
“If we are not in the place of humility, we will have a difficult time receiving Jesus.”
[anabaptistly.wordpress.com]