Standing on Biblical Truth

1. This Country is Having Issues, because we are Allowing Ourselves to be led, primarily by People and Parties, instead of an All-Knowing God.

Proverbs 28:2
When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.

We need to stand for Policies not People and Parties.

Philippians 3:20-21
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

If we are Citizens of Heaven, we need to stop being people who blindly follow a personality, or join a political party to tell us what to believe, and be people who stand on Biblical truth FIRST.

PICK YOUR PARTY BASED ON YOUR BELIEFS, DON'T PICK YOU BELIEFS BASED ON YOUR PARTY.

2. As Christians, we need to do our due diligence in learning how to vote and who to support.

It is not wise to be a "One Issue Voter." Saying that you have looked at all of the issues, and that you lean on one side because 1-2 issues take priority over smaller things is fine…

As christians, the question we need to ask is:

• Which one of these matters most to God?
• Which one of these things keeps coming up again and again in scripture?
• Which stance that that party says they have, is actually TRUE.

Often, standing on one, sole issue opens you up to be used as a pawn for a political party.

3. Follow Law As Is, or Change It.

As people, God commands us to follow the laws of our country:

Romans 13:1-2
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. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

So, as Christians we have to follow any and every law that doesn’t directly contradict scripture. That means, that if a law is written in a way that we don’t like, we need to work to change that law through an act of congress or voting. When there is an outdated or ignorant law, we should be people who fight to change it, and NEVER be the people who condone breaking it unless it contradicts a direct command in scripture!

The job of the judicial branch of the United States is to figure out the original meaning of the text of law and apply it to today, not to change it for today. Our job is the same thing with scripture: figure out the original meaning of the text of the Bible and apply it to today, not to change it for today.

(These issues we are talking about are in no particular order.  The order will be set live in the sermon by the audience.)

Freedom of Speech

Conservative Argument: Freedom of speech is absolute, unless that speech calls for violence.
Liberal Argument: Freedom of speech does not cover hate speech, discriminatory speech, or offensive speech.

1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…

Ephesians 4:29
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

“The strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression; it is more speech.” - Barack Obama, UN General Assembly 2012

Firearms

Liberal Argument: Guns lead to excessive violence and mass shootings.  Only police and the government should have them.
Conservative Argument: Self defense is a right of all people.  As Christians, we should protect one another and stand up to tyranny.

Exodus 20:13
You shall not murder.

According to the CDC, gun deaths account for about 74% of homicides in the US.

Luke 22:36
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

Exodus 22:2-3
If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.

Racial Injustice

Conservative Argument: Racism is evil. We should rebuke any amount of racism in ourselves and the people around us.
Liberal Argument: Racism is evil. Every entity that was built through racist ideologies needs to condemned and reformed.

Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights"

Racism - prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their racial or ethnic group

…the definition currently being called racism is completely untrue: "prejudice + power = racism." God told Jews not to be racist when they were very much the minority.

Ephesians 2:14
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

Economic System - Capitalism Vs Socialism

Conservative Argument: A free market leads to people being paid fairly for their work. It is unethical for the government to control people’s labor and over-regulate private enterprise.
Liberal Argument: Paying everyone equally is the only way to create global equality and keep poor people from being taken advantage of.

2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat."

Historically, countries with a socialist or communist government are ALWAYS more likely to put restrictions on the Christian church.

• Cuba - The North American Mission Board has to legally “own” church property so Cuba can’t take it from Cuban SBC churches.
• China - Recently created new rules that churches have to demonstrate ‘total devotion’ to the Communist Party to get Coronavirus aid, including only using a specific Bible edited by the government.
• North Korea - Citizens have to worship Kim Jong-Un as a diety, and Christians are killed often for their beliefs.
• Venezuela - The Venezuelan government has arrested many, many pastors who have spoken out against socialism.
• Norway -The government is allowed to dictate what can and can not be said in sermons.
• Russia - Marxism lead to the murder of 106,300 clergymen (in the Great Purge) and 12-20 million Christians.

Hebrews 10:25
not giving up meeting together

https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/the-religious-problem-with-socialism/

War

Liberal Argument: War is inherently evil, and we should never be part of it.
Conservative Argument: War is a necessary part of society.  It is used by the righteous to defeat evil in the world.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
…
8  a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Romans 12:17-21
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Abortion

Liberal Argument: Trying to regulate abortion is an attack on women’s rights. The government cannot tell women what to do with their bodies.
Conservative Argument: Abortion is murder of a human being, and no one has the right to end innocent life.

God values the life of unborn children as much as adults:
Exodus 21:22-25
Jeremiah 1:5

Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Taxation

Liberal Argument: Taxes should be increased overall so the government can take care of all of the needs of it’s people.
Conservative Argument: Taxes should stay low so people take care of their own needs, and the government should take care of things individual people cannot.

There is a clear command to pay taxes:
Matthew 17
Matthew 22:21

Romans 13:6
This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

Warning against a large government:
Romans 13
Revelation 13

1 Samuel 8
Exodus 30:15
The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives.

Immigration

Liberal Argument: Immigration is a basic human right, and we should not have borders that keep people out of our country or the services the country provides.
Conservative Argument: Borders keep our people safe, and illegal immigrants should not have access to government resources without going through the legal process.

Deuteronomy 10:19
And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

Leviticus 19:34
The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born

Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Ephesians 2:19
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.

Numbers 35:15
Deuteronomy 16:14 and 26:11

The Environment

Conservative Argument: Our world is temporary, and we should put more of our efforts into people, and less into the environment.
Liberal Argument: No cost is too high to protect our environment. We need to be good stewards of our planet.

Leviticus 25:23-24
23 “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. 24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

Healthcare

Liberal Argument: Healthcare is a basic human right, and should be available to all people for free.
Conservative Argument: Our current healthcare system is broken, but we cannot ethically force people to provide goods or services for free.

The Declaration of Independence:
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins
- Abraham Lincoln

1 Thessalonians 5:14
And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

Gender Identity

Conservative Argument: Gender and sex are the same thing.  Being that gender is created by God, there is no place for gender fluidity.
Liberal Argument: Gender and sex are different things.  It is possible for people to identify as a different gender than the one assigned to them at birth.

Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

The idea of gender and sex being different was never even theorized until Sexologist John Money introduced the distinction in 1955.

Deuteronomy 22:5
A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

Black Lives Matter (the Organization)

Liberal Argument: Black Lives Matter is an organization that stands for racial justice.  Any anti-biblical standing of the organization is secondary to the primary purpose of BLM.
Conservative Argument: Black Lives Matter is an openly anti-biblical organization that stands for dismantling God’s family structure, and condemning Biblical gender identity and sexual orientation. We can’t support an organization that stands for these things.

The Black Lives Matter organization is emphatically anti-Biblical in that it stands for:

• gender fluidity
• homosexuality
• breaking down the God-ordained family structure described throughout scripture but most notably in Colossians 3

Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Galations 5:14
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.

The Black Lives Matter "About Us" page, before being edited due to backlash: https://archive.is/oARH0

Taking Care of the Poor

Conservative Argument: As Christians, we are the ones tasked with taking care of the poor.  The government does not do a good job of it, and they end up enabling people.
Liberal Argument: Individuals can not take care of all of the poor around us.  The government should be tasked with taking care of poor people.

1 John 3:17
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

1 Timothy 5:8
Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Deuteronomy 14:28-29
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.