They booed God

A recent article in the Christian Post describes events at the Democratic National Convention where delegates booed when it was announced that the word God was added to the party platform.

Supporters of the Republican Party (GOP) will most likely point to this event in an effort to garner support for their own candidates. After all, who wants to be a supporter of the party that booed God?

But is the GOP the answer?

Problem in the culture

The sad thing is that our culture boos God every day. People of both parties boo God, if not in word, then by action. We boo God when we . . .

• ignore God’s revelation to man in the form of Scripture
• allow for the redefinition of institutions given to us by God
• ignore God’s principles on taking care of the poor among us
• allow for the killing of innocent children because they are unplanned or inconvenient

Christians would do well to remember that no political party exists to further the claims of Christ and the mission of his church. We may each have an opinion of which party comes closer to supporting Christian ideals but we must keep in mind that neither party is Christian in its outlook.

In America, we’ve been given the freedom and the responsibility to vote to determine which candidates represent us in the political system. We should take this responsibility seriously and vote for the candidate that seems best qualified to address the issues we face.

Politics not the answer

Perhaps the DNC has done us a favor by being overt in their disdain of God and God’s principles. It should serve as a wakeup call to the church to remind us that politics is not where we should look for answers to what plagues our culture. The problem is not the DNC or the GOP, the problem is the rejection of God by a large percentage of our population. The Republican Party is not the safe haven we seek.

The addition of God in either party’s platform does nothing of benefit for those who do not wish to be in relationship with him. There is no magic in the addition of the word. Jesus said of the religious leaders of his day, “this people honors me with their lips but their hearts are far from me (Matthew 15:8).” Likewise we can say the right thing but do the wrong.

The problem with ancient Israel was not a failure to call on God. The problem was that they relegated him to one God among many gods. They included Yahweh in an effort to cover their bases, not because of special regard for him. In the same way, the addition or subtraction of the word God in the party platform could be seen as an effort to add God to the other gods society worships just to improve the odds of being elected.

Our only hope

The only hope for our society is for the Church to have a renewed commitment to fulfill the command to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). We make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them to obey the commands of Jesus. This is not a political process, nor does politics enable this process.

The Church will prevail against the gates of Hell when, and only when, she is the Church and ceases trying to be a faction in a political party.