Skip to main content

7 Eternal Truths from the Presidential Debate (+ a little commentary)


The Trump-Biden debate tonight was indeed "a hot mess inside a dumpster fire in a train wreck." Joe Biden was more respectful and dignified. I am dispirited that Trump is the figurehead of conservative(ish) politics. He used multiple segments to solely attack Biden instead of casting a vision for what could be his next term. Biden did this a little, but overall spoke to the listeners much more effectively. The thought of offering full support for either leaves a bad taste in my mouth. One's policies distress me and the other's character repulses me. My goal is to dwell on these eternal truths instead of tonight's brouhaha:

  1. Politics should be a pursuit to "love our neighbor." (Mark 12:31)
  2. My calling is to first share Jesus with people and not be a pundit. (1st Peter 2:9)
  3. My final hope does not, indeed CANNOT, lie in politics. (Psalm 146:3, John 18:36)
  4. My first citizenship is in heaven with Christ. (Philippians 3:20)
  5. Wicked politicians are a burden to their people (Proverbs 14:34, 29:2)
  6. Politicians need our prayer. (2nd Timothy 2:1-2)
  7. Jesus is Lord, and will be after the election. (Hebrews 1:3)
What are some of your reflections following the debate?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Church's Ongoing Pandemic

Photo Credit  People don’t go to church for a lot of reasons, but a Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble. Sadly, the number of professing Christians is far larger than the number who attend weekly meetings. Many churches experienced an acceleration of this trend during Covid as well: professing Christians have returned to school, work, and leisure, but have not returned for regular church gatherings. Why? Everyone is a unique case in the specifics, but there are trends we see in the wake of the pandemic: people have elevated political and medical (mask & vaccine) opinions over faith commitments and demoted their faith so it is not the primary identity marker in their life. What does this mean for the church? Is it doomed? I don’t think so, but Christians need to rediscover that the church can have different political and medical opinions, but still love each other, be on mission, and gather for Jesus. Christians need to remember that the fact that Jesus died on th

May 2019, A Time of Transition

New & Exciting This May was the end of my 3rd year in Seminary! I am thankful the Lord has brought us this far, providing moment after moment of grace to get through classes, assignments, and finals for 6 semesters. I want to thank my Amber first for her continual support and care for me when I am discouraged, consumed, or exhausted because of seminary. She usually suffers most when I struggle through seasons. She is my best friend, wife, and chief supporter. She rocks. Amber finished her second year of teaching in May! She will not be returning full time next year, but she will do summer tutoring and continue in a part time role, Lord willing. She is relieved to be finished and is quite enjoying the break from the intense end-of-school schedule. With her free time she is picking up the hobbies of bar crawling and ax throwing. (Kidding!) Here is a picture of us at the church leadership appreciation dinner. (I was dressed up as from the 80's...or at least attempting to)

October - November 2019: Ministry, Finals, & Family Visits

October and November were filled to the brim with ministry, finals, and family visits. Here are the highlights! In October, we started out with a weekend retreat with the youth. The theme was "Love your neighbor [across the aisle]." We talked about how Jesus' ethic of love even applies to politics in the heat of political fervor. We had a photo scavenger hunt, ate too many snacks, and enjoyed each other's company on top of it all. Please pray that we would be a light in the upcoming dark season in America: presidential election season. Here is a game of chair basketball the kids got REALLY into. (Maybe even a little too much) Here's a photo of some strong high school youth  completing a "push up challenge" for the scavenger hunt. Also, Amber and I invested in some bird seed and feeders to enjoy birds on our deck. Here's some of the best photos we could snap: House Finches Sometimes you watch birds and sometimes birds watch you