Over the last couple of months, my older sister, who lives in Ohio, has been sharing with me her pastors' comments about the election.
She and her family attend Solid Rock Church in Monroe, where the pastors, Lawrence and Darlene Bishop, have been making comments about how Christians shouldn't support a candidate who is pro-choice. And we all know which candidate is pro-choice.
She and her family attend Solid Rock Church in Monroe, where the pastors, Lawrence and Darlene Bishop, have been making comments about how Christians shouldn't support a candidate who is pro-choice. And we all know which candidate is pro-choice.
The Bishops have been very careful in not mentioning names, I assume because they know that churches cannot endorse political candidates because of their tax-exempt status. The Internal Revenue Service says churches may pass out voting guides as long as they don't endorse candidates. Also, it's legal for religious groups to take positions on public-policy issues, including issues that divide candidates in an election, which is what the Bishops did, without using GOP Presidential Nominee John McCain's name.
But Sunday, the Bishops went a step further in their mission. They invited Apostle Kimberly Daniels to the church to give an anti-abortion talk. Daniels, who is the founder of Florida-based Spoken Word Ministries, which is, according to the website, "an inner-city, multi-racial church with a vision to reach the lost for Jesus Christ and to train them to do the greater works," demonstrated who she is planning to vote for by showing a slide show featuring pictures of aborted fetus'.
But Sunday, the Bishops went a step further in their mission. They invited Apostle Kimberly Daniels to the church to give an anti-abortion talk. Daniels, who is the founder of Florida-based Spoken Word Ministries, which is, according to the website, "an inner-city, multi-racial church with a vision to reach the lost for Jesus Christ and to train them to do the greater works," demonstrated who she is planning to vote for by showing a slide show featuring pictures of aborted fetus'.
Daniels' message was so powerful that my sister and brother-in-law, who are lifelong Democrats, were actually considering voting for McCain. And who wouldn't after pictures of aborted fetus' are shoved in your face? That doubt in the voter's mind is what the Bishops wanted.
My sister said the Bishops, over the last couple of months, and Daniels on Sunday, have been trying to make people feel guilty for supporting Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama. Their message was Christians should be pro-life. In my opinion, the two can co-exist. The beliefs co-exist in me. I am a Christian, yet I am pro-choice. I should be able to do whatever I please to my body, because it's my body.
My sister said the Bishops, over the last couple of months, and Daniels on Sunday, have been trying to make people feel guilty for supporting Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama. Their message was Christians should be pro-life. In my opinion, the two can co-exist. The beliefs co-exist in me. I am a Christian, yet I am pro-choice. I should be able to do whatever I please to my body, because it's my body.
People should be able to come to their own conclusions about which candidate they support without being threatened or told they will burn in Hell for supporting someone who, like everyone else, has the right to believe what he believes. There is more to Obama than being pro-choice, just like there is more to McCain than being pro-life. Solid Rock's approach to the election was simplified, when it should not have been. Does education, healthcare and economy not matter? I guess not, if you fall under Solid Rock's definition of a Christian.
8 comments:
I think everyone should enter into their prayer closet before they vote. When you look @ the signs of the times Jesus is returning very soon.
#1 Abortion is a sin. Thou shalt not kill.
#2 Same Sex marriage. That is not how God intended the world to be. He created Adam & Eve not Adam & Steve
Everyone pray & see what God wants you to do
I whole-heartedly agree with what you've said.
When it comes to voting for president (or any elected official), you should look at all the issues and where a candidate stands on those issue.
Saying you shouldn't vote for a candidate simply because he/she is pro-choice is utterly ridiculous.
As for the church, they went way over the top by doing what they did. I pray that church members weren't swayed to vote for that pro-life candidate!
What the speaker and the church are doing is not only inappropriate but it is illegal. Both should be turned into the IRS and have their tax exempt status revoked. This preaching from the pulpit is what got us 8 years of Bush. Folks are too busy rallying around 1 issue and blindly ignoring everything else.
It is not "illegal" to do and say what the Bishops did. First of all it cannot be illegal because of the first amendment. The IRS simply says if you want to endourse a candidate as a church you can enjoy your tax exempt status.
Secondly, the Bishops did not endorse a candidate. They pointed out a fundamental doctrinal issue of their church. The IRS nor the US Government has the right to tell a church what to preach if the clergy member is preaching a doctrinal issue. If one does not like the issues being preached, they should simply find a new church.
It is amazing, everyone has the right to free speech but conservative Christians. Jeremiah Wright preaches about left wing hate views against the republican party, the questionable Rev. Jesse Jackson preach his left wing politics, and Lewis Farrakhan can call and endorse Obama as the Messiah and noone says anything. But let a preacher stand up against abortion or stand for things they believe in and watch the letters and phone calls fly to the IRS.
Politics has no place in the church - Republican or Democrat. Churches need to stay out of politics. These same churches that have the audacity to tell people who to vote for are the same ones that are notoriously quiet when it comes to poverty, racism, sexism, and hunger in this world. Never a damn word, but when it comes to same sex marriage and abortion, they are all over the microphone then. Take away all of their tax exempt status!
Solid Rock has a lot of out reach ministries. They help. The reason we are up in arms about abortion & same sex marriage is because it is a SIN.
Listen to the message God brought forth @
www.onlybelieve.tv
Who's side are you on?
I am on God's side.
Pray & ask God who he wants you to vote for.
Churches are the most active in eradicating poverty, providing food pantries, homeless shelters, and etc. I know the Bishops personally and see that they provide homes for improverished girls who become pregnant, I have pastor friends that feed over 10,000 people per week through their church, house 1500 individuals that are homeless. I also know small churches that provide 28,000 pounds of food per week. One comment said, "take away their tax-exempt status". If that happened, who would take care of most of the nations impoverished. The church is the best at it.
I agree that churches who spend 90% on the topic of politics have a problem but it is once again their right. Everything should be done in balance.
I understand that many get upset with churches like the Bishop's for the what they believe. If a pastor truly believes what they say they believe in, the Bible, they have not choice but to say what they believe is sin and not.
#1 if you don't believe in abortion, then don't have an abortion.
#2 if you don't want to marry someone of the same sex, then marry the opposite sex.
people please! america was founded on freedom! yet you fanatics, those of you who live your lives by a book written thousands of years ago in a language you couldn't begin to comprehend, are always trying to interfere in the lives of other free americans. i desperately hope you base your vote on more than these two issues, neither of which is on the ballot. if you did, you don't deserve the freedoms you are so quick to throw away.
live your lives and mind your business!
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