Sarah Palin and a Variety of Religious Experiences

Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 09/07/2008 - 15:52 (Check me out!)

Sunday morning, September 7th, 2008. Last night, the remnant of Tropical Storm Hanna passed through our state, spawning a couple tornado warnings here and there and assorted power outages. On our way to church, we passed a section of road where traffic was redirected due to downed power lines, and I had heard about other power outages around the state.

Yet it was a beautiful Sunday morning. At church, the service followed a familiar course and we sang familiar hymns and then it was time for the sermon. Part way into the sermon, Rev. Lesley Hay, our assistant Rector talked a little bit about different ways people seek to worship God.

Suppose we go to live in a new place and are looking for a church to belong to. How do we choose? Is there any one church “closer to the truth” than another church? Is churchmanship – how the liturgy is done, the liberality of rigidity of the individual church and its leadership, legitimate criteria for making our choice? Or should we commit to attending our parish church and stretch ourselves a little or a lot, rather than shop around to find a good comfortable fit for our personal predilections? These can be difficult questions when we seek certainty or some kind of “authority” that will guide our lives “correctly.” Some people roam all over the place until they find what for them is a right match.

Recently, I reviewed the book, The Faith of Barack Obama. The book spoke about his spiritual journey and how he found himself worshiping at Trinity United Church of Christ. The sermon made me stop and think about Barack Obama’s spiritual journey and Sarah Palin’s spiritual journey. Gov. Palin was baptized a Roman Catholic as an infant and later baptized into the Assemblies of God church as a teenage and her religious beliefs strongly shape her politics.

I disagree with her politics. I disagree with the underlying theology that shapes her politics. I disagree with the way she demonstrated her beliefs at the Republican National Convention. Yet, I would not be so bold as to suggest that the churches I have attended throughout my spiritual journey nor the churches that Barack Obama has attended are any closer to the truth that the churches she has attended.

Back to Rev. Hay’s sermon.

Yet for Christians there is a common thread that will tie life together in one glorious bundle once they it and accept it. What is that thread?

Remember the start of today’s epistle. Paul is writing to the newly formed community of faith in Rome, and he says this, “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet – and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”’ If you love others – I’m paraphrasing now – you will never do them harm; to love your neighbor then, is to obey the whole law.

I remember at various youth groups, years ago, singing, “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” I worry about Sarah Palin’s brand of Christianity. Too many people I know, have rejected Christ because of strict legalism, because of feeling unaccepted because who they are doesn’t fit the model of who conservative Christians think they should be.

So, I pray that we as Christians get back to that common thread that Rev. Hay preached about this morning. I pray that our candidates will stop showing hatred in their attack-laden political speeches. I pray that all Americans might be able to see the love of Christ in the words of both Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.

I guess Rev. Hay summed it up nicely at the end of her sermon,

One reason we worship together each week is to remind ourselves that at the center of our life and the life of the world, is not conflict, or tensions unresolved or stuff avoided or internecine wars, or liberals versus fundamentalists, or despair, or cynicism, but Jesus Christ and the love of God. We are Christ’s mission to witness through our words and actions that God is at work reconciling this world into the light of peace.

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Palin and peace

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 00:24.

Perhaps you might find this post interesting - or at least it raises some interesting questions.

Sarah Palin a Christian?

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 20:50.

I think that alot of "Christians" mess up by not reading their Bible enough. God said "My people perish because of lack of knowlege". Every Christian should read and study the Bible for themselves until they are more knowlegable than their Preacher/Priest/Revrend etc...

True Love is unselfish. All sin comes from selfishness. Knowing those 2 things makes it easy to spot the true Christians and the "Weeds" (I like to call them weeds).

True Christians will help the helpless or support someone who is already helping the helpless because of the Love that they have recieved from God when they were saved. The Bible tells us that we are known by our fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. So, it is very easy to spot the good from the bad.

If we look into Sarah Palins life, can we see at any time she has unselfishly helped the helpless? Jesus said, if you give even a cup of water to even the least of these my bretheren, you have done it unto Me. So, Jesus makes it very easy to "Bear Fruit" or serve Him.

Jesus also makes it plain that those who have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited those in prison or jail etc.. have done it unto Him and those people who did those things Jesus called sheep and they recieved eternal life. He also said that it's not the hearers of the Word Of God but the Doers of the Word Of God that will be Justified.

So going by those standards, it is very easy to spot the real and fake Christians.

So, it seems to me that if a Christian even once in their life give a cup of water to someone who needs it, they qualify for Heaven.

Every one of us is fighting that "selfish nature" that is in us. Even Paul the Apostle expressed the same problem. The key is to change our minds and begin to live by faith. It takes faith to give up our time and money to help the helpless. Faith in a Good God who we trust to take care of us as much as we are taking care of others.

Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give unto your busom." "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given."

So we see that Jesus says that we who unselfishly give, then more will be given to us so that we can give even more which will give us even more so we can give even more.........

So as far as Sarah Palin is concerned, I think she is a Christian who is saved but she may not be very up to speed on her Bible very well and simply lives her life by things she has heard from people and preachers over the years and tries to live by what she has been taught from her Church. She doesn't seem like a fake person to me and I think it's awesome that a politition would confess being a Christian in front of the world. Jesus said that those who believed wouldn't be ashamed of Him.

Wow, I can't believe I wrote all this! HAHAHA!
Scott
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I don't agree with the way

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 16:18.

I don't agree with the way Sarah Palin expresses her religious views at the Republic Convention either. In fact, I truly believe she doesn't understand a lot about various topics.

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One reason we worship

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 21:21.

One reason we worship together each week is to remind ourselves that at the center of our life and the life of the world, is Sohbet not conflict, or tensions unresolved or stuff avoided or internecine wars, or liberals versus fundamentalists, or despair, or cynicism, but Jesus Christ and the love of God. We are Christ’s mission to witness through our words and actions Chat that God is at work reconciling this world into the light of peace.

will give us

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 10/16/2008 - 02:26.

So we see that Jesus says that we who unselfishly give, then more will be given to us so that we can give even more which will give us even more so we can give even more.........

If we give generously, God will give back to us generously. God is a Good God who blesses them that bless others. If you give Love you will recieve love. If you give mercy, you will recieve mercy. If you forgive others, you will recieve forgiveness. It is written all throughout the entire Bible, God says it over and over how a Christian should act and many Christians don't know it because they don't read and study the Bible like they should.Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ ankara evden eve and head ankara evden eve of Stones Throw, has put together Innovative Life, a definitive collection of Arabian nakliyat ankara evden eve nakliyat Prince’s output from 1984 to 1989. We’ve got two tracks from the album available, including an exclusive evden eve ankara evden eve nakliyat get wet/ And if you can’t swim, you should learn and don’t forget.” Truth.

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Bible thumpers

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 10/18/2008 - 13:31.

I think that republicans are often misrepresented as all being hard core Christian bible thumpers. The fact is that I , along with many of my friends, are republicans who aren't religion addicted conservatives. As a matter of fact the only bble I have ever been able to finish was a bible on dvd. Reading the Bible the old fashioned way is just plain too hard to follow.

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