I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned my earlier life’s fascination with politics, even a brief consideration of playing along, and my current complete and utter disdain for our political system and state of our government. Saturday night while trying to occupy my time to keep from watching the Rangers get slaughtered, I ran across this Rick Perry post referring to Herman Cain and Mitt Romney. var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}
“When it comes to faith, it is the core of who I am. It is an essential act as much as breathing is an essential act,” Perry said. “I found the true source of hope and change, and that is a loving God who changes hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.”
Now, in the letter to the Romans “flesh” is referred to as our sinful nature a couple of times (Romans 7 & 8). So is Perry saying God changes hearts of stone to hearts of sin? Well, I’m sure it isn’t what he meant but it’s one reason I get queasy so often when politicians start referring to faith. The fact that Perry holds high his stance on capital punishment makes me question what kind of God wants us killing other people to remain faithful. I’m of the opinion that most politicians have a high level of faith as long as it works for their political future. If that makes me judgmental, I hope the Lord will forgive me.
I’m not a fan of government legislating faith. I really believe that if we emphasize reading the Bible, prayer and doing the will of God, we won’t need government to “legalize” prayer in schools, tell us abortion is wrong or what marriage looks like. I think the most dangerous thing a Christ-follower can do is turn over the will of God to government.
I’m no fan of Rick Perry and I think he would be the last Republican I would vote for if it came down to that decision. In the meantime, I hope his heart will continue to be turned into a heart of love, mercy and grace. I hope that for myself all the more.
Grace and peace to you.
WayOutWise 