Christian Conservative Christian "Independent"

I'm an evangelical Christian, member of the CPC, but presently & unjustly exiled to wander the political wilderness.
All opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

The Christian Takeover... not

As my name implies, I'm a "Christian Conservative". I'm the one that the media seems to be afraid will "take over the country" if the Conservatives win the next election.

Well, I do believe many things that go against the "mainstream" in Canada, and even against the mainstream of my party. So to all those who think that we run the party, here's proof that we don't... my views are not held by the majority within that party.

Oh well. Most in the party don't, but I firmly believe in the old-fashioned Biblical Christian beliefs, such as Heaven and Hell, right and wrong, sin, the resurection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rapture, and the fact that He's coming again one day to rule this earth. I was just reading about that in Hebrews 1 this morning. So you see, for me, it really doesn't matter, on a Biblical level, who's running this country... I know it's only for a limited time. However, on an earthly level, I care very much about issues affecting our nation, as I have to live here until Christ returns or takes me home to Heaven; hence, my political involvement with the Conservative Party of Canada.

Now, most people automatically assume that the "scary" Evangelical Christian Right controls the Party. Don't I wish it did; but it doesn't. But I also know that such a party would not be relevant in Canadian politics, as apparently only 12% of the population identify themselves as "Evangelical Christians". (to further stir the pot... based on those numbers, and a review of who surveys deem to be "Evangelical Christians", I'd say that less than 3% of Canadians are truly Biblical born-again Christians) Therefore, in the interest of Canadian politics, it makes no sense to have an ultra-right-wing Christian Conservative Party, now does it?

So to all those who think that the Conservative Party is "scary" because Christians are controlling it, think again. We don't have the clout within the Party to take it over like the media thinks we do. Our voice is not the loudest within it. Take the convention in Montreal... many traditional policies that the evangelical members supported were voted against, and are not part of the Conservative platform. Therefore, how can you say that we are running the show?

Anyway, back to matters that really matter, such as the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I do believe that He created the world, and that he owns it, and that he's given us time to be stewards of it... and look what we've done with it. That's one of the many reasons why I support the preservation of the enviornment... but I don't support Kyoto because it's bad for Canada. We can do a better job on our own, without having our wealth transfered to other nations because we don't meet the targets. (Kyoto = wealth redistribuion, nothing more) So, one of these days, He's coming back, will clean up this mess, and all the world will bow the knee to Him.

And I look forward to that day. But in the meantime, I will just try to make this country a better place for EVERYONE... regardless of faith or status. Sure, I'll still be trying to convert the world to Christianity, but not from within the government. Religion and politics really don't mix to well... so I say that the government should stay out of religious matters altogether. Our country supports the ideal that everyone should be free to practice their faith, and so do I.

But, alas, the Liberals like to say that you can't be involved in politics if you happen to be an evangelical Christian. You can be Catholic (our PM) or Muslim or Hindu or Atheist... but you can't be "Born Again"... they're scary! They believe scary things! They're going to try and take over this country! Don't let anyone near Ottawa if they happen to be one!

So you can relax Mr. Martin... there will (one of these days) be a full scale global takeover, but it won't be by us few evangelicals in the Conservative Party... it'll be by our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, while we're still here, we'd just like to have a government that we can trust, who won't overtax us, and will ensure that we have the freedom to practice our faith free from repression by our Federal government.

It just so happens that most of us Christians feel that Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada can do a better job of it than you can. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he goes to church... it's just an added bonus.

14 Comments:

  • At Sat Nov 19, 01:00:00 p.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well said, brother!If it appears Christians are drawn to the Conservative party perhaps it is because we are appalled by the situational ethics that are the norm in Ottawa right now.We cannot put our hope in federal politics, but we cannot ignore corruption.VF

     
  • At Sat Nov 19, 01:56:00 p.m. EST, Blogger Loyalist said…

    What the Liberals propose is a religious test for Parliament, a debarment that was removed for Catholics in Britain with the 1832 Reform Act and in 1860 for Jews.

    The Liberals scream blue murder whenever someone suggests touching one of their beloved new Charter rights. Yet they have no qualms about doing just that to debar evangelical Protestants from Parliament.

     
  • At Sat Nov 19, 02:06:00 p.m. EST, Blogger Lord Kitchener's Own said…

    Well, I don't know what to say except that your attempt to convince people not to be scared probably just scared the pants off of a lot of Canadians.

    And I see it only took two comments before someone attacked the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and suggested that Christians are being oppressed in Canada (or at least that the Liberals INTEND to oppress Christians in Canada).

    I'm sorry to say it, but I'm afraid your post (and inevitably the comments that will be attached to it) will probably do more to INCREASE suspicion of the CPC rather than decrease it.

     
  • At Sat Nov 19, 02:41:00 p.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Unfortunately, Lord Kitchener appears to be saying that the place of Christians in politics cannot even be debated. (Though it shouldn't have to be debated at all. Canadian Christians are Canadian citizens like any other Canadian citizen).

    If people are scared of Christians, it's not because of Christianity, but because they're ignorant of what Christianity is all about.

    In fact, the Bible exhorts people to obey the government, to pray for the government, to be respectful of others, to pay taxes without cheating, to work hard, to contribute to society, to be honest, to help others in need. I'm not sure how this is scary.

     
  • At Sun Nov 20, 02:06:00 p.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It's not that I'm necessarily afraid of Christians, it's that I'm afraid of many of their conservative, religious values (which, of course, influence their social values). As a Christian myself, I believe that we are called to be separate from religion and live a life of love and grace, but unfortunately many of the evangelicals and fundamentalists among the Christian movement seem to want us to continue in the religion that I believe Jesus came to free us from.

    That said, I realize that the Canadian Conservative party is probably even farther left than the American's Democrat party in many ways, but I just wouldn't feel comfortable voting for the Conservative party unless they were to guarantee they would not vote "conservatively" (by which I mean the way that many evangelicals and fundamentalists would want them to) on many social issues.

     
  • At Sun Nov 20, 02:11:00 p.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "Concerned Canadian" said... "If people are scared of Christians, it's not because of Christianity, but because they're ignorant of what Christianity is all about."

    The reason most people are ignorant of what Christianity is all about is probably because most Christians (particularly the evangelicals and fundamentalists) live and teach a false Christianity. When Christians gets back to Christ's message of love and grace and actually begin to follow His path perhaps the rest of us will be a little more comfortable with Christianity. And I speak as a Christian myself, I realize that I'm not faultless here either.

     
  • At Sun Nov 20, 05:19:00 p.m. EST, Blogger Christian Conservative said…

    So Drew, on a non-political aside, do you think we should stop trying to "convert" people to Christ? ;-)

     
  • At Mon Nov 21, 02:11:00 p.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    No, I wouldn't say so. I would say we should stop trying to convert people to "Christianity" though. :)

     
  • At Tue Nov 22, 04:44:00 p.m. EST, Blogger Brian Nash said…

    Drew I don't know what type of Christianity you practice or what Bible you read, but God is not wishy washy he does not see things in shades of Gray only Black and White, you need to understand that we are all deserving of God's wrath and punishment and it is only through the grace of Christ that the elect have been saved from the lake of fire. If you look in the Bible and see what we are deserving of (even the minor deviation from God's Law is deserving of death)
    If you are going to pick and choose what you believe about the Bible you're not a Christian.

     
  • At Tue Nov 22, 05:42:00 p.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey Brian. The type of "Christianity" I "practice" is the Christianity that I believe Jesus taught and practiced, not the type that today's pseudo-evangelical and fundamentalist churches teach (when I refered to "Christianity" in my last post I was refering to the "Christian religion" rather than the freedom from religion that I believe Jesus came to proclaim and died and rose again to bring us). The Bible I read is whatever one I happen to have handy... KJV, NASB, YLT, whatever.

    The difference here is simply that you interpret Scripture one way while I interpret it another way and we both believe that our intperpretations are the correct ones. It's all about interpretation. :)

     
  • At Tue Nov 22, 06:28:00 p.m. EST, Blogger Brian Nash said…

    Drew where did Jesus come and proclaim freedom from Religuion, that would seem an very strange thing for God to proclaim.

    And as far as myself when I am in doubt of what a passage means I would read the Original Hebrew in teh case of the Old Testament or the Original Greek in the case of the New, helps to bring some clarity.

     
  • At Wed Nov 23, 10:00:00 a.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "Drew where did Jesus come and proclaim freedom from Religuion, that would seem an very strange thing for God to proclaim."

    That would be a long discussion, Brian, longer than we'd have space for here on a blog comment page. :) We can discuss it via email if you so desire though. My email address is at the bottom of my website which you can get to by clicking on my name above.

     
  • At Wed Nov 23, 09:23:00 p.m. EST, Blogger A. Carlton Sallet said…

    With all this bickering, I'd swear you were all Catholic....

     
  • At Thu Nov 24, 10:34:00 a.m. EST, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    LOL

     

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