Seek First to Understand

If you hung out on FB and Twitter much in the past few months, you heard some serious vitriol against Democrats in the 2012 election from people on the right who self-identify as Christians. One person whose tweet I read said this: "If you voted for Obama, you are not a Christian."  

Wow.

And a journalist I know wrote this on FB:

 When I observe the kinds of people who support Obama, what they stand for, the kinds of lives they lead--so very many of them are not who I would want to be associated with. Their ungodly world view and disdain for Christians/Christianity is paraded proudly. They obviously see something that makes them identify with him as like-minded. I would want to ask those sincere Christians who do support Obama how they feel about being on that same side--how come their world view seems to coincide more closely with the unrighteous. I just don't get it.

I fully acknowledge that there are ungodly people who support Republican/conservative principles just like their are godly people who support Democrat/liberal principles. There is no clear line--and some of the issues can get very complicated. But if I just stood back from the crowd and looked at the overall makeup of both camps, if I were inclined to be on the left, I would be asking myself why do I want to be associated with the group that has the far greater majority of folks who hate what I stand for. What is wrong with my thinking?

If you are truly interested in knowing the answer to his question, in exploring how a Christ-follower could do such a thing, check out what this person wrote. 

My goal is not to persuade anyone to embrace either party's ideology. My goal is for us to listen to one another, to think, to be mature...to act like Christians, demonstrating we can be charitable when we disagree because we are united by the Prince of Peace upon whose shoulders the government ultimately rests.