Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear claims ‘Politics matter, but they are not an issue of first importance.’
Greear: ‘If all you do is talk about the wickedness of abortion and you never really talk about empowering the poor or how deflating, dehumanizing discrimination is, then chances are you are more influenced by Fox News than you are the Bible.’
CAPTSTONE REPORT — In a podcast and blog post, Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President J.D. Greear claimed how Christians vote is not a test of fellowship in the church. Really? So, organized murder is not an issue of first importance? Because that is what abortion is—state-sanctioned murder of babies.
Of course, Greear does the usual disclaimer that politics matter and that there are clearly sacred Christian convictions that must influence politics. However, he won’t judge someone’s “political calculus.”
“I have my own convictions,” Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear said. “But I’m not going to make that a matter of fellowship and faith. If there is somebody because of their perspective or perception of what is going on in the world chooses to have a different political calculus than me, I don’t believe the church should be defined by anyone of those.”
This is nonsense. If there are Christian positions on issues, then why are Christians excused from applying them?
Greear then goes on to assert that Christians who focus on abortion are probably more influenced by conservative outlets rather than the Bible.
Greear said, “If you are a really a follower of Jesus, boldly speaking out against injustice, you’ll find that you are not neatly fitting into one category or the other. Your proclamations about justice won’t all be right-leaning concerns nor will they be left-leaning. For example, if all you do is talk about the wickedness of abortion and you never really talk about empowering the poor or how deflating, dehumanizing discrimination is, then chances are you are more influenced by Fox News than you are the Bible.”
