The Modern Evangelical

One of my daily stops on the Internet is a blog called The Recliner Commentaries. Dennis, the blogs author, does a great job of compiling current news items and adding his Christian perspective in the form of commentary. One of today's entries was a post called The Evangelical vote The whole article is well worth reading, but the gist of it was a list of many of the issues that are by and large supported by Democrats, but would not/should not be supported by a Christian. Dennis ends with the statement that he is "at a loss to understand how Evangelical Christians can vote Democrat with a clear conscience." This is my answer to that statement.

I think the explanation of how Evangelical Christians can vote Democrat is obvious. The term "Evangelical" itself has gone the same way as the term "Christian". Early on in New Testament times, the term Christian meant only one thing. A born again follower of Jesus Christ. Today I think we would be extremely generous in estimating that 20% of those calling themselves Christian would match that first century definition.

Even so, the term "Evangelical Christian." Unless I am mistaken, the term Evangelical came into popular use during the last century to differentiate those who were serious Christians from those who were not. Calling yourself a Christian had lost its meaning from overuse by those who were only nominally Christian, or in my view not really Christians at all. In fact, I would submit that those who claim to be Christians, but have never been born again, are guilty of breaking the command in Exodus 20:7 "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." I hold to the view that the purest meaning of this command has to do with calling yourself a Christian , and yet the taking of that name to yourself having no effect.

This is nothing new. Even as Paul explains in the book of Romans, not all of national Israel were God's elect. Romans 9:6 says in part "....For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:" I don't believe we are misusing the words by applying it thus: For they are not all Christians, which are of Christianity, or they are not all Evangelicals, which are of Evangelicalism.

So if the question is how to understand how Evangelical Christians can vote Democrat with a clear conscience, my answer is that "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel."