Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! This is a post I wrote this week and shared on my own Facebook page. I got so many notes of gratitude for sharing these words I decided it would be great to share on Bob and Sheri. Hope everyone enjoys a love-filled, confrontation-free, Holiday season of hope and unity.
I think it might be helpful to remember that every prayer you prayed yesterday, someone else was praying to the very same God for a very different outcome. Just as Christianity doesn’t come in a “one size fits all” package, neither do individual believers.
If you believe that God handpicked Trump to be the President then you also then must believe He has played a role in his being impeached. You can’t have it both ways. In other words, if you believe in God’s sovereignty, then all outcomes are part of his perfect plan. In other words, with that belief as your foundation, inherently God does not make mistakes. He being “omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent” is by those definitions, literally in charge.
Evangelical far right Christians do not speak for all Christians. In fact, Christianity and those who call themselves Christians are as diverse in their beliefs as we Americans are in our culture and ethnicity.
Pastors like John Pavlovitz and Jim Wallis (author of Christ in Crisis) see the current political situation through a very different lens than Franklin Graham or Trump’s spiritual advisor, Paula White. In fact they see Jesus, his life and his words and what it means for his followers, in a very different light than those who follow the current populist mindset.
While every believer would say they are praying to the God of Abraham in the name of his son Jesus Christ – each person has a different interpretation of who that God is, what he wants, what is his heart’s desire and how that plays out practically in our world today.
For all intents and purposes, the God you worship is the very one you imagine in your own mind. The Jesus you pray to is the one who reflects who you are and what you hold to be most important when you read the Bible. While the story of Jesus is fairly clear in the Gospels, the modern day Jesus is whoever you want him to be; He is the version you create by projecting your own filters, priorities and perceptions into the narrative.
For some in America, he is the very attractive, blonde, white Jesus as depicted in the famous portrait by Warner Salman painted in 1940. For others, he was a Jewish man who was unassuming and not physically alluring who lived a life defying religious norms and inspiring others to plumb the depths of love.
I am writing this because I see so many hateful memes and posts which are directed towards entire groups of people – as if every liberal democrat and every conservative republican share the exact same beliefs.
40% of registered democrats identify themselves as mainline Protestants vs 44% for republicans.
So declaring your democrat neighbor as evil for not being a supporter of Trump is something completely out of the realm of the words that Jesus spoke, and of course, vice versa.
There are those who wish to stir up hatred and division, voices which make you want to put down your fellow man and despise those who view the world differently. There are voices who readily label others as evil and anti-American simply because they have a different opinion.
In these days which will follow this very solemn political upheaval – I think it is more important than ever that we each look into our own heart, tune out the noise and repel divisive propaganda. Turn away from the tribal soundbites and dig deeper into fact driven truth. Trust your own critical thinking skills enough to explore all sides of all the issues.
This is the season of love and light. If we embrace those, the rest will organically dissolve. Namaste Ya’ll.
This article was written by a guest blogger. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not reflect the opinions of Bob Lacey, Sheri Lynch or the Bob & Sheri show.
The Zen Den
Hello and welcome to The Zen Den. My name is Alison and while I am passionate about many things, my most inspiring driving force is human connection. Blogger, content writer, orthopedic exercise specialist, motivational speaker, international yoga pro, published songwriter, avid poker player, mom and wife are just a few of my titles. But when I do my job at NASA, I am known simply as “The Fairy Zenmother” a role I deeply love because people invite me into their space to help them find their center, relax and stretch their muscles and destress their mind. Here in the blogosphere version of The Zen Den, I invite you into my world where I will explore ideas for creating a better tomorrow and a kinder today. And hopefully, with insight, authenticity and humor; my words, observations and experiences will help you feel calm, centered, intellectually challenged and spiritually enlightened. Alternatively, if you have something you would like to see covered in The Zen Den, just let me know. Your feedback is welcome and valuable to the success of this blog. Finally, my heart is filled with gratitude to have this opportunity to share with all of you.
