NewsMax covers an interesting poll commissioned by the American Bible Society and conducted by Zogby.
Three-quarters of the likely voters agree that it is appropriate that every President since George Washington has been sworn into office with a hand on a Bible. Also, about six in ten say that they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate who speaks publicly about following the example of admirable leaders from the Bible and who consistently uses the Bible for guidance in both public and personal matters.
The poll also found that 78% considered it a positive thing when candidates cite Scripture (now, if only 78% considered it important that a candidate's worldview lined up with Scripture).
Surprisingly, it found that younger folks (18-29) were more likely than the older generation (50-64) to vote for a candidate who saw public office as a privilege to serve others, with a responsibility to God.
The poll also found that 50% of likely voters wouldn't vote for a presidential candidate who does not believe in God, and only 20% said they would.
This is encouraging news. Now maybe if we could get everyone to go through the Truth Project, those same numbers of voters might start holding elected officials responsible for actually living up to a Biblical worldview.
6 comments:
That is good news!
If our leaders would conform to a Biblical worldview, perhaps we could move this country toward accepting God's perfect laws.
We could start with the easy stuff, reclassifying animals to to their intended positions. The Bible clearly states that bats are not mammals, but really dirty birds. And insects, which evil scientists would have us believe have six legs by definition, really are "four-legged creeping things that creepeth."
That straighened out, we could begin to really enforce the abomination bans so popular with us true Christians. Homosecuality is not the only abomination strictly forbidden by God. Eating shrimp, lobster, sushi eel, cheeseburgers (really!), and those four-legged creeping things is also expressly forbidden. The penalty is death. As it is for wearing polyester clothing, or any mixed-fiber cloths.
And then there's the stonings...
I don't think we need to bring back the Jewish dietary and ceremonial laws under the old covenant, or institute a theocracy, Anonymous. A Christian worldview of morality and the proper role of government would be sufficient.
But if you're game, give it a try!
Bob Ellis said: "I don't think we need to... institute a theocracy." But isn't that exactly what the religious want? They want the government to force schools to teach so-called intelligent design, to make abortion illegal, to ban access to birth control, and to provide "vouchers" for private religious schools. And this just names a few. All of these things are driven by SPECIFIC religious beliefs. I'm leary of government leaders who believe in fairy tales and I'm frightened by the ones who allow those fairy tales to dictate how they run the country.
I think the point of anonymous's post was to point out that if you are going to raise such a stink about homosexuality being an abomination, then you have to stick to your guns and declare the rest of the old laws as valid as well.
If you think wearing polyester while eating at Red Lobster or Burger King is OK with God, then you should have no problem with gay marriage.
This site professes Biblical inerrancy, and you can't pick and choose. If you really feel that gays should be held as Biblical abominations, yet think the rest of the laws no longer apply, then the problem obviously lies with your own bigoted personality.
Kara, That's an all-too-common misconception about Christians, but it isn't the case.
A theocracy is where the state is run by or at the very least subservient to the church and it's leaders. That was expressedly NOT what the Founders wanted, and it's not what religious voters want today. As the Founders did, Christians want to see their government informed by and influenced by their religious beliefs, not ruled by them as a matter of law.
You mentioned efforts to promote or restrict things like abortion and vouchers as being wrong when based on "SPECIFIC religious beliefs." By that logic, then we cannot ban murder, theft, rape, vandalism or most every serious crime in our society. You see, they are all based on SPECIFIC religious beliefs; if you don't believe me, go read the Bible and you'll find each one prohibited there.
Finally, you said you were "frightened by the ones who allow those fairy tales to dictate how they run the country," implying you were frightened that people who believe the Bible and the precepts of Christianity might run the country according to their beliefs.
If that's the case, it must keep you up at night living in the United States, since almost all the Founders of this country were dedicated Christians and believed that religion in general and Christianity specifically should guide and inform how the country is run. http://www.dakotavoice.com/2007/12/anti-religion-politics-new-kind-of.html In fact, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court John Jay said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
You don't have to believe in Christianity, but don't be so afraid of it. It's precepts have produced the most free, most affluent, most tolerant, most powerful nation on earth and in human history. Something that can produce such a wonderful place to live as our country can't be that bad.
Thanks for your comment, JB. I don't know if you read my last comment, but maybe you missed that the dietary and ceremonial laws of the old covenant were done away when the Messiah came. The moral laws of the Ten Commandments and other laws dealing with worship of God and how we relate to one another are still in place.
Besides, the New Testament condemns homosexuality at least as clearly as the Old Testament.
Like any written text, you have to read it contextually, meaning that you have to glean the meaning of a particular passage based on what's written around it (before and after) and throughout the entirety of the document. If you expected to gain meaning from a specific part of the Bible you might read the part that says, "There is no God" and conclude that the Bible says God doesn't exist. But if you read it contextually, you'd find that it says, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" This is a simplistic example, but I think you'll get the point.
You have to read the Bible contextually, with a mind open to what it's trying to tell you. As long as you reject it outright without giving it a chance to inform you, you'll keep misunderstanding it.
Why not give it an honest try starting today?
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