Now that the critical elections of 2017 are behind us—and quickly, before some new ones pop up!—perhaps we can discuss this dispassionately.
You are a serious follower of Jesus Christ. You take Scriptures seriously and believe God’s people have an obligation to be salt and light in this world. As a result, you exercise your right to vote and you try to influence others to do the right thing.
So far, so good.
Can we talk?
I have a question for those who take their discipleship to Jesus Christ seriously and as a result have strong political views:
“If it could be shown that you are wrong in your conviction (position on this issue, support of that candidate), could you change?” Would you be willing to drop your opposition to that cause or stop advocating that issue if you learned you were in error?
If it could be shown to you that your position on abortion or Obamacare or gun control (or any of the other hot issues for conservative Christians) was in error, would you be willing to switch to the other side?
I’m not being the devil’s advocate here. He has plenty of those without you or me lending him a hand. I’d rather be a voice for righteousness if possible.
Some people are so wed to their position that nothing, absolutely no facts or reasoning or insights, can budge them. And when that’s the case, they quickly become belligerent and carnal and a detriment to all that is good and right.
Some of the most devout Conservative believers quickly become angry zealots when they espouse their cause. And that’s what concerns me at the moment. They begin trying to do the work of the Lord in the flesh. Which dooms it from the start.
So, the question stands:
If it could be demonstrated to you that the truth is with the other fellow, that you are wrong, not doing the Lord’s will, would you be willing to change?
There can be only one answer for the serious follower of Jesus Christ. Just one.
The only way for a true child of God to answer that is in the positive.
I would be willing to change my convictions if it were shown to me that I was in the wrong.
I want to please my Lord, not further my agenda.
After all…
–The Truth and only the Truth shall set you free (John 8). That line in verse 32 refers to the Lord Jesus, of course, but it’s also an eternal verity. Lies and half-truths lead to bondage; the Truth sets us free.
–Think of Peter’s comeuppance on the rooftop (Acts 10) where he learned he had been seriously in error concerning the Gentiles. “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (10:15). Later, Peter said, “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him” (10:34). He was willing to change when shown by the Holy Spirit his error.
But the reality for so many modern believers seems to be another thing entirely.
I’m in the midst of reading “Crowded Hours,” the 1932 autobiography of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the first-born of President Theodore Roosevelt. As a history student I love reading about well-known characters in the past as they looked at events with which I have a certain degree of familiarity. Take the 1912 presidential election, for instance.
