The exit polling from South Carolina reveals that Evangelical Christians overwhelmingly voted for Newt Gingrich, despite his 3 marriages and ex-wife’s claim of Newt’s wishes for an “open marriage”. The pro-family, social conservative side of the party voted for Gingrich by a 2-to-1 margin. Among the voters who say religious beliefs of a candidate matters “somewhat” to a “great deal” again gave their support to Newt by a margin over 2-to-1.Not only did the Evangelical Christians heavily break for Gingrich, the exit polling also showed most of those decisions to vote for Newt Gingrich were made after his second ex-wife’s interview on ABC aired claiming he proposed an “open marriage.”
How do Socially Conservative Evangelical Christians, who were adamant about Clinton’s indiscretions being an attack on family values in 1998, come to terms voting for Newt Gingrich in 2012? Newt will say it’s because Christians understand the story of redemption. No, it’s because Christians no longer have an understanding of Christian Redemption.
“Christianity” today means something different from what “Christianity” meant to our grandparents. Many of the Truths held by the Church in the mid-1900’s are not believed or have the same meaning with today’s Evangelicals. Although, Christians hang onto the banner of “traditional marriage” for their opposition for gay marriage, many Christians don’t see that their own indiscretions have actually done more damage for the fight for marriage than the gay-right movement.
Click on the link on how the Church destroyed marriage and not gays:
http://www.theonlinepoop.com/2010/08/now-that-californias-prop-8-ban-against.html
The Biblical Truth that marriage is a covenant between God, man and wife is lost today. An institution created by God to be the incubator of a healthy society is nearly non-existent in Churches. The Barna Group, a leading research organization focused on the intersection of faith and culture, show that divorce among Evangelical Christians and those whose faith is outside of Church is identical.
"There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage," the researcher at Barna indicated. "Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, but are not particularly optimistic about that possibility. There is also evidence that many young people are moving toward embracing the idea of serial marriage, in which a person gets married two or three times, seeking a different partner for each phase of their adult life."
This idea of a serial marriage would have been unheard of in our grandparent’s generation. The mere thought of such acts would have placed questions on one’s character. But in today’s world, where not only the stigma from divorce is gone due to themselves going through it or having someone in their family and friends go through it, justification for it must be given within the Church to protect membership and revenue. So, serial marriages is no longer against God’s Covenant but must be accepted by way of redemption.
This is the redemption in Christian Churches Newt Gingrich is referring too. And it’s a far cry from the real Biblical understanding. Newt’s definition reminds of the kid that gets in trouble and quickly says “I’m sorry” thinking that the apology somehow demands a quick forgiveness.
Read how Republicans Flip-Flop on Sex Outside of Marriage
http://www.theonlinepoop.com/2012/01/clinton-sex-scandal-now-gop-redemption.html
“Well, as long as I ask for redemption,” a divorcee might think, “God will forgive me from continuing on like business as usual. I can ask for forgiveness and God will grant me forgiveness. And, if God has granted me forgiveness, than the Church must accept the redemption.”
Paul, when writing to the Romans wrote, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” (Romans 6:1) But, it seems many in the Evangelical community are accepting the idea of Newt’s outlook on redemption.
The Biblical understanding of the word Redemption means “to deliver by paying a price.” In the Church redemption is two-fold. There is redemption back to God and mankind.
The first redemption is impossible for mankind to achieve on his or her own. The grievances and debt for our sinful nature could never be complete because it is owed to a sinless and perfect God. The payment can only be paid by the sacrifice and blood of someone who is sinless and perfect. So, Jesus came to live a Holy, blameless, and a sinless life so His death and resurrection could be the Redemption (payment). But, that is only half of the plan.
Mankind still has to be redeemed back to man. A payment for the wrong has to be shown so trust can be given, people can be restored, and healing can take place. This is done by punishing our children after they have done something wrong. We see this in our justice system by placing people behind bars. Although God has forgiven us for our wrong doings and accepts our apology, God doesn’t relieve us of the payment from those people we wronged.
What redeeming has Newt Gingrich done back to mankind for twice divorcing and proposing an “open marriage?” Should he have to work on reconciling the relationship with this second wife? Should the payment be that he forgo his ambitions to become President to redeem the public’s trust? How about giving back all the proceeds from books and money from political deals while living such a lifestyle? Has anyone seen where Newt Gingrich has remotely worked on redemption beyond chastising the media for exposing his indiscretions? All of these suggestions bring trust, restoration, and healing through redemption. Unfortunately, it’s the only place that is absent from both Newt and the thoughts of Evangelicals in South Carolina.
So, instead of the Evangelical’s running away from Newt’s three marriages and his second wife’s claim of him wanting an “open marriage,” they ran toward him. The more candidates highlighted their successful marriages against Newt’s infidelity, the Evangelicals sympathized more with Newt due to their own experiences. As a result of a lost sigma of divorce and a wrong idea of redemption inside the Church, Newt only becomes more likely to win Evangelical votes with each passing story of his infidelity. It doens't matter to Evangelicals...it is embraced!
That is quite a different view from our grandparent’s Christianity.
I both agree and disagree with this post.
ReplyDeleteI agree the Republican Evangelicals who were outraged at Clinton's actions, because his private actions somehow affected his Presidency are wrong to also overlook Newt's actions. It is clear at this point that their objections were political not moral.
But, certainly Newt's actions are not worse than David's. Even before Uriah and Bathsheba, David had many wives. So I disagree that Newt is unfit to serve as Presidency because of his past marriages. There is a longer list of reasons for what Newt is unfit, but his divorces aren't on that list.
But, I agree again that the Church has lost the moral high ground on marriage, by ceding authority of marriage to the government, to protect traditional marriage values, while not cleaning up it's own house first.
The evangelist voting block can never again speak about their values with any credibility. They betrayed God for a politician.
ReplyDelete