It’s my understanding that common wisdom tells us not to discuss politics or religion in too open a place unless we’re ready to make enemies. This may or may not be something I’ve made up, but it does seem that these topics are pretty volatile. It’s very easy to make enemies very quickly. When we mix politics and religion, though, the danger of an emotional explosion increases exponentially.

La Shawn Barber and other conservative Christians often assert that it is impossible to be both a Liberal and a Christian. On the other side of the aisle, liberal Christians (I’m sorry, but I don’t know of a good example of a liberal Christian blog.) express just as much disbelief that it is possible to be truly Christian while holding conservative values. What would Jesus say? Is Jesus a Republican or Democrat? A Liberal or a Conservative?

My honest opinion is that the answer to both of the latter two questions is, simply, “Neither.”

When I think about what he would have to say about the hatred that seems to ooze forth from both sides of the debate, I simply shudder. It is never our place as Christians to judge the heart of another person. While we are called to lovingly tell others when we believe that their actions are not Biblically right, it is wrong of us to assume we can look at their actions and know that they’re not even trying, or that they don’t believe.

Both sides have a point (or two, or three, or…). I don’t see how anyone who truly believes the Bible can believe that abortion is acceptable in the eyes of God. On the other hand, we are told to care for the poor and afflicted, to show His love to all those around us, and conservative Christianss don’t always address that very well. I don’t know what Jesus would say when faced with the division that is splitting his Church (because I honestly believe there are truly faithful Christians on both sides of this debate), but I could guess.

My dad often shares the following story in Church. I’m paraphrasing because, well, my memory’s lousy. A guest in my grandfather’s house was angrily ranting about another man. He was so angry that he was talking about getting a gun and going to shoot the other man. My grandfather simply asked who had made the second man wrong the first. The first man looked at my grandfather and said, “Why, Satan.” And, who was it that was making the first man want to kill the second? “Satan.” My grandfather then asked, “If you’re both serving the same master, why do you want to kill him?”

Christian faith doesn’t require us to all be of one mind on every topic. In fact, I believe that if God had wanted an entirely homogeneous Church, he would have never given us freewill. Let’s face it: it would have been a heck of a lot less trouble for Him if He had simply made Adam incapable of even wanting to taste the Forbidden Fruit.

No political platform, no political candidate, will ever be perfect in the eyes of God. Not until Christ once again returns to this earth will we have a perfect leader. While it’s very tempting to say that one sin is somehow worse than another, the Bible tells us that isn’t so. I don’t have the verse in front of me, but the Bible says that whoever is guilty of the least infraction of the law is guilty of violating the whole law.

The wages of sin is death.

For all have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God.

If neither position is perfect, and if God recognizes no degrees of imperfection, why do we insist on judging who is “more wrong” in the eyes of God? I strongly suspect that the reason we give into such temptations is that Satan is very capable of finding our weakest points and hitting them… hard. When we can see nothing but our anger and hatred toward Christians who stand on the other side of the political spectrum, our Christian witness in the world is severely damaged. Satan isn’t stupid. He knows that, in this increasingly carnal-minded world, Christianity is under assault from outside. If he can help divide us, we’re easier to defeat — divide and conquer, as it were.

Christians — in America and elsewhere — need to remember that we have a common ground to stand on. We need to come together and acknowledge that, even when we disagree, we are still Brothers and Sisters, still bound to do what we can to reach the lost of this world who haven’t yet found Jesus Christ. We need to stand on the Word, and we need to do whatever we can to mend the split that Satan is trying to create within Christ’s church.