Is this funny, or something else? Do words mean something? Please read ‘My name is Everett Piper and I’m running for president of the United States’ by Everett Piper.
In the April 23, 2019, edition of the NPR Update, Tom Gjelten posted a column he titled “How Would Jesus Vote?” In that column, Mr. Gjelten presents the South Bend, Indiana mayor, Pete Buttigieg, as a new kind of “Christian” politician a “married” homosexual who favors the eisegesis of inclusion, acceptance and tolerance rather than the exegesis of doctrine, dogma and clear definitions.
In other words, Mayor Buttigieg’s “Christianity” is one of subjective feelings over and above the authoritative facts of The Faith. Mr. Buttigieg redefines religion to suit his own personal preferences and priorities. He chooses to change Christianity to better accommodate himself rather than change himself to better accommodate Christianity. Mr. Buttigieg, thereby, redefines what it means to be a Christian.
Mr. Gjelten, to his credit, does mention that there are those within the historically orthodox Christian Church who disagree with such a progressive and freewheeling reconstruction of a definition that has been pretty much settled for some 2,000 years. More specifically he cites, one “conservative academic [who] argued that Buttigieg doesn’t get to make up his own [Jesus]”.
I am that “conservative academic.” (continued here)
How Would Jesus Vote? by Tom Gjelten is the NPR Update Piper referenced.
Where do I stand? Is Piper right or Buttigieg? Piper has my vote. Conservatives don’t call the Bible a blueprint for government. Even though the first five books of the Bible present the Mosaic Code, a legal code, we accept the fact we are under the New Covenant (see What is the new covenant? (bibleinfo.com) and What is the New Covenant? (gotquestions.org)), not under Old Testament law.
Jesus did not establish His government. That awaits His Second Coming. So what do we do in the meantime? We do what He said. We don’t allow busybodies to order us about. We obey Jesus. We follow His example, and we allow others the opportunity to do the same. We allow others to follow the dictates of their own conscience.
Romans 14:4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
We don’t twist the meaning of words. We don’t try to pretend we are not forcing our beliefs upon someone else when that is exactly what we are doing.
Consider this quote by Pastor Duke Kwon from the NPR Update.
“I think there is a problem when we try too quickly to say that our view of this or that matter of public policy is the only legitimate Christian view,” Kwon says. “I think one of the hallmarks of Christian discourse in the public square ought to be humility, respect, patience, self-control. [Those are] virtues that are informed by the Gospel of Christ, and all too often that’s the opposite of what you hear from Christians when speaking out on policy issues.” (from here)
Humility is about humbling ourselves before God and obeying God, not giving in to the whims and the absurd promises of power-hungry politicians. It is not about using government to force others to implement our own version of Utopia. When so-called Progressives start insisting that we must render unto Caesar what belongs to God, Christians must object. Jesus did not obey the traditions of men. He obeyed the Will of our Father.
Citizen Tom 
There are two ways to look at the story of Abraham and Isaac. The conservative way is to say, “I will kill my child so that I can go to heaven.” The liberal way is, “I do not support a god who commands me to kill my child; I’d rather go to hell than do something morally disgusting.”
@Catherine
Not certain what Abraham and Isaac have to do with this post, but I assume what you are getting at is something to effect that God cannot be trusted. That is what faith is about. The demons know God, but they have no faith — no trust — in Him.
When God tested Abraham (Genesis 22), what was God testing? He was testing Abraham’s trust in Him. Abraham proved he trusted God. Long before this verse was written, Abraham believed it.
We must love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, more than we love anyone or anything else. No idols. We can put nothing before God, not even our own children.
So are there are only two ways to interpret Genesis 22. Well, I think it is best to let the Bible interpret itself, particularly with respect to a passage like Genesis 22. That is what the lady does here => https://www.rationalchristianity.net/abe_isaac.html. To understand Genesis 22, she references other parts of the Bible.
Here is a similar interpretation => https://apologeticspress.org/apPubPage.aspx?pub=1&issue=1274&article=2819
The lady here looks at a different aspect of the issue => https://catholicmoraltheology.com/second-sunday-of-lent-a-loving-sacrifice/ She observes that Abraham did not withhold his son. What God has given us, He has the right to take back. We are just stewards of His gifts. That includes our lives.
The article here emphasizes we cannot judge God by the standards we use for another human being => http://www.biblestudy.org/question/sacrifice-of-isaac.html
Citizen Tom, do you remember the Presidential campaigns of Pat Paulsen? “I’m neither right wing nor left wing; I’m middle of the bird. If a bird leans too heavily on just one wing, it flies in circles.” Now THAT’S memorable candidate talk, from his 1968 campaign. Then there was 72, 80, 88, 92, 96 and his 2016 “Outta shut up tour.” Check it out on YouTube. We can still write him in.
@iamcurmudgeon
I remember Pat Paulsen. His perennial presidential campaigns were funny, but I think I will vote for Trump.
Yeah, at this point I will vote for his fulfilled promises, Hope for more of that, appreciate his animus for the media and pray for him to delete his Twitter.
@iamcurmudgeon
I have mixed feelings about his Twitter account.it does help Trump to get his side of the story out, but he sometimes says things he should not say.
But it does tweak the media..
Yep!
Preach it, brother Tom!
It seems to me that the battle about homosexual/transgender rights is started by the progressives. To my knowledge, it’s not the conservatives who initiate national policies that only benefit small groups of people. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
There is no Biblical precedent for oppressing anyone who doesn’t share Christian beliefs. Ironically, the people who are telling us they just want “to be left alone” are loudly insisting that I need to change.
Check out https://familyallianceonline.org/2019/04/30/identity-politics-is-factional-politics-gone-mad/.