Did you know that Conservative Christians are ignorant, stupid, lazy, gullible, prideful, uncurious, sexists, uncompassionate, racists, and so forth? It is true! It has to be true! I have heard this analysis from both Liberal Democrats and people who seem to be Conservative Christians.
Seriously! Conservative Christians are rotten people. Can’t be trusted to use good sense. Of course, that is also true of the rest of the human race.
The thing that most disappoints me about Christian Conservatives is that they are human beings just like me. That means they are gullible, easily frightened, selfish, greedy, gluttonous, envious, lustful, …. that means that Conservative Christians are capable of doing things that they know that they should not be doing.
So, why do I associate with and associate myself with Christian Conservatives? Well, most people who call themselves Christian Conservatives at least know when they are doing something wrong, and they are ashamed.
Does that mean I should run around shaming Christian Conservatives? There is a difference between holding people accountable and shaming them. We are supposed to encourage each other to do the right thing, not shame each other. We are supposed to help each other rid ourselves of our shame.
Consider the words of the Apostle Paul.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 New American Standard Bible
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13 even though I was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost. 16 Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost sinner Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Was the Apostle Paul the foremost sinner? Compared to me? What makes a man or a woman a great sinner in God’s eyes? What we do know is that Paul did not consider himself better than other Christians. Instead, Paul gave the credit for his success to God.
Because he had sincerely repented of his sins — which he understood as horrendous — Paul was grateful for God’s mercy. Still, we wonder. Was Paul the foremost sinner?
Consider an example of what Jesus found abhorrent.
Revelation 3:15-18 New American Standard Bible
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have no need of anything,” and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to apply to your eyes so that you may see.
The Laodiceans valued their wealth more than they valued God. Paul was hot with anger when he pursued Christians, not lukewarm. He tried to do the right thing, even though he was terribly wrong, and Jesus corrected him.
Is it the right thing to shame Conservative Christians? When? When Christians shame other Christians, is that okay? What does it say about the Christian who shames other Christians? When Jesus told John to give the Laodiceans a message, did Jesus shame the Laodiceans or correct them? What is the difference?
To save the souls of those who don’t know God, our nation needs a revival. How do we do our part to call our people back to Christ? Perhaps we each need to read Revelation 2-3 once again and remember what Jesus said to seven churches. Perhaps we also need to ask ourselves which of those sins that Jesus identified we ourselves have committed.
We have a complicated problem. Consider the difficulty.
Philippians 2:3-4 New American Standard Bible
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Which of us considers others as more important than ourselves? Which of us habitually considers the interests of others? Were we raised to think that way?
Are the challenges that “I” have to face in this life easier than those of other people or more difficult? How do we know?
1 Corinthians 10:13 New American Standard Bible
13 No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Have I endured the temptations my neighbor has endured? What temptations has my neighbor endured? Does my neighbor love God more than I? It seems we are supposed assume our neighbor loves God more than “me,” and he has proven it to God. At least, we have difficulty proving otherwise.
How do we obtain the will to think so highly of others, especially other Christians, particularly those nasty Conservative Christians? It seems we need the help of the Holy Spirit.
Citizen Tom 
My “two cents”; also, no one bothered to respond to that post:
Interesting post. It is not especially easy to get people to read some things. Doesn’t mean that they should read them those things, but we find some things provocative and some things we don’t.
Reblogged this on Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach.
Thank you for the reboot.
Tom, – Your statement :
“How do we obtain the will to think so highly of others, especially other Christians, particularly those nasty Conservative Christians? It seems we need the help of the Holy Spirit.”
Your post topic interested me to read the following link article.
https://www.catholic365.com/article/21854/the-surprising-significance-of-the-tower-of-babel.html#:~:text=Most%20Catholics%20kids%20learn%20the%20story%20of%20the,make%20a%20name%20for%20themselves%20apart%20from%20God.
In my opinion, yes, we need the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith and understanding of our need for humility. Humility instead of arrogance to believe we are as wise and capable of making our own choices and laws that are as great as wise as our Maker.
We are once again building separate Towers of Bable in the USA, based on race, religion, politics, Congressional laws, personal opinions, And, some choices being made in the USA.are in truth selfish, foolish, and even sinful.
Regards and goodwill blogging
That’s an interesting link and food for thought. I had not considered the connection between the Tower of Babel and Pentecost before. That’s insightful.
I do have a slight point of disagreement, however. I suppose many of the clergy would tend to use this passage to elevate the importance of church. The church is important, of course, but the Holy Spirit, God, is the focus of Pentecost, whereas man tries to elevate himself, both literally, at the Tower of Babel. Unless the church points us to God with Jesus as its Head, that church leads us into idol worship.
The problem of idol worship, anything that distracts us from worshiping the One True God, is a theme in Bible and the subject of the first of the Ten Commandments.
Amen! We do need the help of the Holy Spirit. Desperately!
I am appalled at how many Christians criticize conservative Christians. I was stunned at the vitriol by Christians aimed at what was going on in Asbury.
I am praying for repentance and revival.
Thanks for the insight!
The folks involved in what was going Asbury were guilty of not validating the worldview of some Christians. There are a lot of people who call themselves Christian, but they don’t take the Bible seriously. So, the idea of a revival, the work of the Holy Spirit, strikes them as absurd.
It seems like the way of Gamaliel might have served everyone best: ““In the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:38–39)
Agreed!