Well, here goes nothing.
This is a tweet that was posted yesterday by well-known Pastor Mark Driscoll:
Now, let me go ahead and say... I'm not a fan of Mark Driscoll... at all. I'm also not here to debate politics or to discuss my views (or yours) of our current President. There's a bigger issue here, and it's one worth talking about. First off, I'd like to address, in looking at the picture, there were at least 1165 people that "Favorited" (the twitter equivalent of a Facebook "like") this tweet. Driscoll has 328,047 Twitter followers as of right now. His reach is so vast, that posting things like this can truly be detrimental to the impact we are having for the Kingdom. Before you argue with me, again this isn't about his political view or yours, please hear me out.
For those of you that don't know, Mark Driscoll has authored another book recently, titled "Who Do You Think You Are?". I, in turn, must ask Driscoll that very question... @PastorMark Who Do You Think You Are??? What gives you the right to judge a man that you do not know, that you do not have a relationship with, and that you most likely have never had a conversation with about The Father, The Kingdom, or Jesus Christ. In what realm, does being a nationally (quite possibly internationally) Pastor, make it okay for you to call someone else out based on nothing more than your political stance differing from his. I don't care what the media has taught us about President Obama's religious preferences, we have no idea what he practices behind close doors. That would be like me calling your salvation into question, simply because I disagree with your tweet. That's not happening, because I can't judge your salvation. While I am not a fan of Driscoll, I am also not going to deny the fact that he has done some things that have definitely advanced the Kingdom of God. That makes this an even bigger issue though, because you should be aware of the reach that you have. That tweet alone reached your 328,047 followers, not including the thousands of people that follow the 3,183 people that retweeted that. I would say, at an extremely low estimate, that tweet reached a good 750,000 people. I also believe, it probably warranted a few different responses from both Christians and non-Christians alike:
1. Hatred/disdain towards our President. It's clear that a lot of people like Obama, because they voted him into office. However, those that don't support Obama are usually much more vocal than those that do. I'm not saying it's not okay to have political beliefs, but when you call the President's beliefs into question, you are supporting the idea that as Christians it's okay to slander our country's Leader because the media has given us a viewpoint that, more than likely, is skewed one way or the other.
2. Disdain/Upheaval against (and towards) the Church and Christians. That message reached a lot of non-Christians. The pure judgmental nature of such a tweet can and will induce an uproar of non-believers calling Christians out for our own hatred of those different than us. As Christ Followers we are called to "Be imitators of Christ" (Ephesians 5:1). The last time I checked, Christ loved everyone, regardless of their sins. Christ could have struck down Pilate at any given time. He knew this man, Pontius Pilate, was going to crucify Him. Yet, even as Christ suffered on the Cross, He cried out "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing" Luke 23:34. Christ didn't say "Father, forgive them, except for their leader Pilate, who doesn't believe in me, let's not forgive him because he doesn't really know you". Therefore, if we are to live a life like that of Christ, we must love others. No matter our difference in political opinions.
3. One scripture: "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended." *Romans 13:1-3
I'm not going to talk about my political views. However, I will say, that I am not aware of why God puts anyone in office. So, I don't know what the reason behind putting Obama in the Presidency again is. The beautiful thing about God and my faith in Him... is that I don't have to understand with it, or agree with it, or approve of it. God is the ultimate Authority. I can trust that He will take care of us, and it is my duty to pray for President Obama, Congress, and the rest of our government officials... not to pray or rebel against them. Instead of slinging hate about a guy that we only know based on the media (which generally we tend to shade towards following the media that shares our opinion of him *BIAS*) we need to trust our God, show love to the man in power here in this country, and pray that God will use and guide him. I am thankful that we have the right to free speech... but if we don't use it in a way that glorifies God, we aren't really doing justice to that Freedom. Think before you speak, you never know the amount of people you are reaching or the impact you might have. Instead of separating prayer and politics, let's unite them as facilities for a common goal-- to make the Kingdom known.
Grace and Peace
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