AMERICAN LIFE AND POLITICS
By Mel Ingram
"Insight into the landslide victory won by Conservative Voters over MORAL VALUES that has utterly SHOCKED and BEWILDERED the DEMOCRATS..."
Article MV-1 in a series to be presented on the
FEATURE PAGE OF THE HERRICKREPORT.COM
ELECTION 2004 AND MORAL VALUES
"The
problem", said Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun magazine, "is that too
many fellow liberals are trapped in a long-standing disdain for religion and
tone-deaf to the spiritual needs that underlie the move to the right. They
need to shed a core belief that Bush voters "are fundamentally stupid or
evil." "The left", he and others argue,"has to show
the religious basis for its policy positions and not let the right define
morality."
Roland Hill writes,
"One of the few times I agree wholeheartedly with USA TODAY on political
issues. I think the Libs have a lot of work to do to educate Americans, and
they do not want to spend the time or money to do that. They think they can
use raw political power to change America without doing the education, because
really educated people might not agree with them."
Feature Writer's Response: Roland, the trouble about "The Left"
trying to "educate" the Conservative element is that the Liberals
have it bass-ackerds.... Many members of both parties need to learn about true
Moral Values. A change in the inner heart is necessary before one can perceive
the truth -- the plain
truth that moral values are necessarily God-ordered and God-centered,
not weak and misguided outward attempts to 'present a pseudo moral face' or to
'talk the walk'. These secular
voices parade a quasi morality that runs aground and shatters when confronted
by the plain truth of the Holy Bible!
A
change in the inner heart means coming to know and accept Jesus Christ as
personal Savior and Lord of one's life! You
must be "born again":
"....Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God."
(KJV- John 3:5)
When
a person crosses over into the kingdom by becoming an adopted child of God
through a 'new birth' experience, that person has taken the first steps in
learning about God's morality.
In
otherwords, to my way of thinking, there is NO middle ground --one must
understand that God's revelation of morality, as given to us in the Holy
Bible, is the essential foundation for all moral principles and, indeed, to
"morality" itself. Therefore,
unless one believes in the God manifested in the Bible, one has no other
standard or basis to establish
true moral values. Attempts
by mankind to promulgate and define true moral values is the ultimate
presumption of egotistical hearts.
Conclusions: Those of us who put God first in our lives have a
big job ahead of us to EDUCATE those of BOTH
the Conservative (Republican) & Progressive (Democrat) elements about
true moral values! How
can they learn if we don't teach? And
why should they listen if we don't come to them with Agape (God-like love) in
our hearts and attitudes and daily walk-the-walk?
To me, the most encouraging
factor of this election was learning that there is still a large segment of
God-fearing Americans willing to put their vote where their convictions lie.
You may not agree with my thoughts or conclusions, my friend, but if
you'll think about it, maybe you'll see what it is that I'm so ineptly trying
to say.
Roland Hill Rejoinder: "I do not disagree with most of what you say. I particularly agree with the first sentence of your last paragraph [above]. There are a lot of good "Progressives" who believe as you do. The trouble is, they have let the pushy and strident radical secularists run their political party and set their agendas.
There are good reasons behind most of the Liberal political positions and well-intentioned people thought them out. You and I do not agree with some of them (i.e. abortion on demand, funded with tax money) and we have different ideas on how to achieve some goals (i.e. World Peace), but it seems to me that a lot of ideas are pretty much the same on both sides with just differences in how and when and how much implementation there should be. Who wants to argue that we should not feed the hungry, or educate the illiterate, or shelter the homeless?
I do not think you believe practicing Roman Catholics are bad people or are ineligible to pass through the gates of Heaven. If you do, we should stop talking. Likewise, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Anglicans, Christians (Disciples of Christ), Greek Orthodox, and etc. These are differences of rite and interpretation, but we all work together. And there are a lot of 'Progressives' in that bunch.
Why can't the "Progressives" bring out their religious/historical/cultural justification for their programs to show that they are not heathen secularists (those who aren't). Then we can all work toward the common good on the many things where we do agree. So far, they have not taken the time or expended the energy. They should.
Maybe a lot of these are "talking the walk" as you say."
Feature
Writer's Response:
Roland, my good friend, allow me to lay to rest any question you may have
concerning my beliefs about those "ineligible
to pass through the gates of Heaven."
Since I believe in the Authority of the Bible, I can rely on its precepts to circumscribe
the boundaries that define who is or is not eligible for Heaven as their final
destination:
"For
God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved. He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God." (KJV-
John 3:17-18)
Clearly, when Jesus said,
"the world through him might be saved " -- this means everyone
in the world is eligible, with no exceptions!
Now, in my book this means Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus,
Unitarians, Mormons, Methodists, Baptists; whomever -- All are eligible
for salvation and a place in heaven! But,
not many will receive the free gift of salvation according to the Scriptures:
"Enter
though narrow gate. For wide is
the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter
through it. But small is the gate
and narrow the road that leads to life [in Christ], and only a few find
it." (NIV- Mathew 7:13-14)
But Jesus also said that this
only applies to "he that believeth" -- and I
believe that he meant what he said!
Many other scriptures support this inclusiveness
(everyone is eligible for salvation), but not everyone will actually be saved
(converted, reborn, find salvation, go to heaven, be redeemed, etc.) -- but,
remember that "…he that believeth not is condemned already…"
So, we see by reading our
Bibles that anyone who seeks
life everlasting in Heaven must 'believe',
and if they don't, they are already
lost, condemned and bound for hell without hope of Heaven. So, my
friend if you and anybody else who has ever been saved, have a 'ticket to
Heaven' because you've received the free gift of salvation thanks to the
sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of the Holy
Trinity!
This inevitably brings us to
the $64,000 question: "Exactly what
did Christ mean by the word, 'believe' and
what must one do to be saved"?
Well, the Bible says:
"That
if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved'. For it is
with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth
that you confess and are saved. As
the Scripture says, 'Anyone who
trusts in him will never be put to shame' (never be ashamed)" (NIV-Romans
10:9-11) and
also: "Jesus answered, 'I am the
way, the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father, except through
me." (NIV-John 14:6)
These scriptures are a
conclusive 'road map' to claiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Let there be no doubt that when one believes, accepts and
invites Christ into their heart, God has promised them eternal life in Heaven
with him. And if they don't, then
I'm sorry, but the Bible says that their names are not
included in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Please allow me to assert here and now that my understanding of the
correct definition of a 'Christian' includes only those whose names have already been
entered into the Lamb's Book. Yes,
I believe that only those who have been "born again" by believing
and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior may rightly and correctly refer
to themselves as 'Christian'.
Some may call this definition too narrow, too far to the 'right',
or even bigoted; but folks, this is not my definition!
Rather, It is the definition that may be found in your Holy Bible.
"…So
far a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church [at Antioch] and taught
great numbers of people. The disciples
were called Christians first at Antioch. (NIV-
Acts 11:26) Then [King]
Agrippa said to [the Apostle] Paul, 'Do you think that in such a short time
you can persuade me to become a Christian?' Paul replied, 'Short time or long -- I pray God that not only
you, but all who are listening to me today, may become what I am
(a Christian), except for these chains.'" (NIV-
Acts 26:27-28)
Dear readers, the above
remarks were in specific response to Roland Hill's rejoinder, above. But my position concerning 'moral
values' is based on my belief in the Authority
of the Bible. God not only is
the creator of all things, including man and the universe; he is also the
originator of all moral values. God's
recorded version
of all morality began with the tablets of the Decalogue (Ten
Commandments) which he gave to Moses. This
was the beginning of the Mosaic Covenant
under which the Jewish people lived until Jesus Christ shed his blood on
the cross of Calvary to bring in the New Covenant. This is
also known as the 'New Testament' to
which all of mankind becomes party by acceptance of the conditions of God's
promise -- Salvation!
So you see, my discussion of
moral values is based on the Gospel and it is available to all that accept the
authority of the Holy Bible. People
(unbelivers) may conjure-up and promulgate all sorts of rules, laws and charts
to describe their secular ideas of moral innovation, but only God's version is
acceptable to Christians. This is
the precise reason that our non-Christian friends of both progressive and
conservative persuasion fail to understand what 'moral values' mean to Christians.
I hasten to add that there are, perhaps, as many Democrats who claim to
be true Christians as there are those who claim the Party of Lincoln.
By the same token, there are many true Christians that just happen to
be Jews or Arabs even though they do not practice the Hebrew or Islamic
religion.
My next article will discuss
the various moral issues that seem to cause so much consternation among
non-believers (non-Christians) of both political parties.
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