Christians Shooting Themselves in the Foot

MSNBC had this article on their website that a friend forwarded to me today. The article, entitled "Christian Right Steps Up Attacks on Obama", goes on to point out moves by Focus on the Family Action, Charisma (Pentocostal magazine), and the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission to use scare tactics against Obama's popularity - while spending most of the time on Focus on the Family Action's "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America". Here's a couple of exerts for you:

"Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts."

"Among the claims:

• A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to "hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys." (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).
• A series of domestic and international disasters based on Obama's "reluctance to send troops overseas." That includes terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that kill hundreds, Russia occupying the Baltic states and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and al-Qaida overwhelming Iraq.
• Nationalized health care with long lines for surgery and no access to hospitals for people over 80."

It's unbelievable to me that Christians would (A) write this kind of stuff and (B) be proud of it. Explain to me, how does this coincide with Paul's call for us to deal with people "with all gentleness" that we see in Phil 4 and Titus 3? How does this communicate love and respect for people - especially with those we disagree? How is this loving our enemy? Come on people!

The spokeswoman for Focus on the Family responded with this:

"The goal was to "articulate the big picture," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of public policy for Focus on the Family Action. "If it is a doomsday picture, then it's a realistic picture," she said."

Are you kidding me?!! Who thinks that Obama's really going to do all this? The guy hasn't done much in his career up to this point - I promise you, he's not going to squander the country in four years. Four years that are likely to be very unproductive.

But bottom line, regardless of Obama's politics and rhetoric, we, as Christians are called to so much more than this. We are called to be Christ and Christ's ambassadors to the world. So, to those who have chosen to take the "low road" like the groups above - thank you for the damage you've done to those of us Christians who are trying to build bridges into a liberal world that needs to be respected and honored before they'll ever listen to us. Thank you for not being what Christ called us to. Thank you for using your voice - that could be significant - for something that, five years from now (if not sooner) isn't going to matter. Thank you for deciding that, because God's not in control, you needed to resort to these kinds of tactics/measures to "save the world."

Oh wait...didn't Christ do that 2,000 years ago? Isn't his Kingdom advancing and the gates of hell won't prevail in stoppping it?

So, in the words of a friend of mine, "This is why it is I don't want to be associated with Christians when it comes to political matters."