Chris,
Are you saying then that Christians - you know, REAL believers in CHRIST - should not vote then?
I think GOD gave us a vote to use, not bury in the ground and accomplish nothing.
If you fail to vote for the best candidate presented through prayerful consideration then the wrong person or group assumes power.
What is the value in that?
GOD IS IN CONTROL. However, like the issue of salvation, a person does not have to accept CHRIST (and receive eternal life) and does not have to vote. But those actions lead to a bad end - eternal death and the wrong people running the country.
If we do not use what GOD has given us, then HE will take it away and give it someone else:
Mt 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strowed:
Mt 25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mt 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strowed:
Mt 25:27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Mt 25:28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
Mt 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Mt 25:30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
gr82bsaved
Are you saying then that Christians - you know, REAL believers in CHRIST - should not vote then?
I think GOD gave us a vote to use, not bury in the ground and accomplish nothing.
If you fail to vote for the best candidate presented through prayerful consideration then the wrong person or group assumes power.
What is the value in that?
GOD IS IN CONTROL. However, like the issue of salvation, a person does not have to accept CHRIST (and receive eternal life) and does not have to vote. But those actions lead to a bad end - eternal death and the wrong people running the country.
If we do not use what GOD has given us, then HE will take it away and give it someone else:
Mt 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strowed:
Mt 25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mt 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strowed:
Mt 25:27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Mt 25:28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
Mt 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Mt 25:30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
gr82bsaved
Matthew 25 is not about money or politics.
So many Christians quote Matt 25 in order to make a point with regard to earthly things that they feel that the Lord has given to them.
If you begin in Matt 24, Jesus begins by speaking of all of the false Christs that will come, and then he goes on to tell us hao many will be deceived and the result will be 2 in the field and one is taken and one is left, 2 at the mill and one is taken and the other is left.
He tell us then in 24:42 to “watch” because we do not know what hour that our Lord is coming.
Then at the end of 24 and into 25, He tells us about those that begin to think and act wickedly saying that their master has delayed His coming and they begin to beat the servants and drink with the drunkards.
In chapter 25, Jesus tells us what we can compare the kingdom of heaven to and in doing so He gives us a picture of what that kingdom is all about. It is about many that profess to know Christ, but in so many ways they deny Him. This is what the ten virgins are about at the beginning of the chapter. The “oil” that they are to have is the Holy Spirit, but there are only some that are truly in the Spirit, the rest are going after the flesh and yet are trying to identify themselves with the true believers. (This of course is exactly what we see all around us in the Christian community today)
Then, in Matt 25:14, there is the parable of the talents which you are using to illustrate our responsibility to vote in the US.
This parable that Jesus gives us has nothing at all to do with earthly wealth or what we are to do with our voting rights, (which you are saying that the Lord gave to us)
It doesn’t have to do with anything except one thing alone.
One of the keys is found in Matt 25:24-25, where it says, “then he who received the one talent came and said, “Lord, I knew You to be a hard man, reaping where You have not sown, and gathering where You have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid Your talent in the ground. Look, there You have what is Yours.”
The seed here is the very same seed that Jesus speaks of when He tells us about the sower that went out to sow some seed and some fell by the wayside…
The seed is the Word of God, the talent is what we do with the Word of the Lord once we have it. Do we hide it under the bushel basket, do we put it under a bed, or do we proclaim the Good News as we should to all that are lost around us.?
So, to say that the talent that Jesus is speaking of is somehow anything other than allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us so that the message of the Gospel can be heard, is not supported by the scriptures.
In fact, everywhere you hear Jesus speaking, He speaks of not being of this world, as Peter and Paul tells us the very same thing when He calls us pilgrims and sojourners.
Blessings to you IN CHrist olny,
Chris

