In fairness to Buttigieg, he didn’t write the article. It was written about him by a self-identified liberal Christian who hangs with the Vox kids.
But it was, nevertheless, a rather lengthy exposition about Buttigieg’s supposed faith and what it means to him. If you’re a Christian, the absolute center of your faith is devotion to Jesus Christ as Lord. It seems that would be mentioned somewhere, particularly since Buttigieg is the one running around telling other Democrats they shouldn’t be afraid to embrace Christianity.
And of course, that’s right. If you devote your life to Jesus but disagree with me on everything politically, I’ll be thrilled. In eternity, no one will care about politics.
But does this sound like someone who is devoted to Jesus? Is that what his identity as part of the “Christian left” is really all about?
He also speaks openly about his Christian faith. While noting his commitment to the separation of church and state, Buttigieg has said progressives and Democrats “need to not be afraid to invoke arguments that are convincing on why Christian faith is going to point you in a progressive direction.”
Having a progressive presidential candidate place their faith so squarely at the fore offers many liberal and Democrat-voting Christians the opportunity to more openly embrace their beliefs and progressive politics. It saves them from the embarrassment that such a significant number of white Christians voted for Donald Trump’s presidency. It also allows them to use their faith to highlight the hypocrisy of the religious right.
So tell me again what being a Christian is all about? Because as far as I’ve always known, it’s about repentance from sin and reconciliation to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. That’s all over the Bible. I don’t see anything about “progressive politics.”
Now I know what the Bible says about helping the poor. I know what the Bible says about how hard it is for a rich man to get to Heaven. All of this is in the context of living a life in which we deny ourselves and serve God – part of which of course is serving others.
We can debate whether Jesus was advocating public policy with these teachings, or whether He was giving instructions for the lives His followers should live individually. But what cannot be argued is that the ministry of Jesus was first and foremost about the Kingdom of God, not about earthly government – a matter about which He could hardly be bothered to comment even when asked.
And yet what does Pete Buttigieg see as the essence of his supposed Christian faith? That it will “point you in a progressive direction,” and that he wants other liberal Christians to “embrace their beliefs and progressive politics”.
So where is Jesus in all this? Is He the center of Pete Buttigieg’s life? Or is Jesus a prop who’s useful insofar as you can grab isolated things He said and use them to push the ideology you were already going to push anyway?
Because if Pete Buttigieg wants to preach to his fellow Democrats about their need to embrace Jesus and Lord and Savior, and repent of sin, and live godly lives . . . well, that would be fantastic.
All I’ve seen him do so far is tell other leftists not to worry because surely Jesus agrees with them about politics.
Via WesternJournal
