by 
The office of President of the United States demands a good deal of respect. The occupant thereof deserves respect as well. Part of the problem of the last few years has been that there has been little to no respect for the office or its current holder.
That being said, we have a Democratic Republic, not a Monarchy. President-Elect Obama will not be king, but President. And in this country is not wrong to state our disagreements with his policies or actions as long as it is done in a respectful way.
Submission
I’ve read a lot about how the Bible commands submission to the government. To pray for our leaders. And that God chooses them. I totally agree with all of these statements. As Christians we’re to seek peaceable lives, to live Christ in our day to day activities.
However, just as you may disagree with your husband or your boss, that doesn’t mean that you are revolting against their authority. Where applicable, it is appropriate to discuss the policies and the practices of a government, and you can do so without attacking the person of the President.
Conversations about how Pres.-Elect Obama is the Anti-Christ or is evil are not fruitful to the cause of Christ, or being an American. Wishing evil upon him, belittling his name or title are completely out of bounds.
But don’t let “submission” stop you from talking about the issues. Abortion is still killing of an innocent life. Taking someone’s money and giving it to someone else is still stealing. Homosexuality is still vile.
Serpents and Doves
Christ commands us to be sharp as serpents and harmless as doves. As we live the Christian life, we need to spend as much or more time living out the helping, loving, caring end of Christianity as we do the calling out sin part. Some get labeled for only doing the latter and not the former. If we’re going to have a good testimony we need to do both, and we need to call out sin even if the finger points at ourselves.
Hypocrisy can be spotted a mile away, and it is not becoming those that follow Christ.
Extremely well-written post!! Very encouraging and challenging. :o)
I linked to you in my “What She Said … #9 – Post-Election Edition” post going up later today. :o)
Theresas last blog post..What she said … #8 – Election Edition
Thank you so much for this post. I have really been struggling with this. Whether respect = no voice at all.
“If we’re going to have a good testimony we need to do both, and we need to call out sin even if the finger points at ourselves.”
Amen!
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Best post I’ve read all day!
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Great post. The office of presidency has been very disrespected lately. I am disappointed though at how the media fought so hard to cover up important issues.
What’s funny is, since you’ve written these post, Google ads are putting up Obama ads on your site. Every now and then I’ll get some weird ads on my site and I just have to wait it out.
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