Tea Party: The anti-Christian movement supported by Christians

The tea party typically frustrates me. Not only do many of their supporters come from key demographics that do not benefit from tea party political standings, but they are typically adhering to things I consider anti-Christian.

First, let me be clear. I take seriously the teachings of Christ when he states that there are two key commandments. 1) Love the Lord your God above all else and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. These are the core of Christianity, the rest is just fluff. Really. Think about it. Gay rights? Not really in the Bible. Abortion? We live in a fallen world with a fallen people. It's going to happen. I mention these only because they are hot-button, but trivial, issues in the national dialogue today. I happen to believe these issues are overridden by the above guidelines, but that is a blog-post for another day.

Let us look at some issues from the tea party platform.  (Taken from: http://www.teaparty-platform.com/ )

1) Eliminate Excessive Tax
2) Eliminate the National Debt
3) Eliminate Deficit Spending
4) Protect Free Markets
5) Abide by the Constitution of the United States
6) Promote Civic Responsibility
7) Reduce the Overall Size of Government
8) Believe in the People
9) Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics
10) Maintain Local Independance

Those are some pretty noble seeming goals. I find myself drawn to these ideas, and even thinking that they might be Christian in origin. Hmm... Let us dig a little bit deeper. No, not deeper into the tea party platform, but deeper into that dusty thing on your shelf... You know, the one you don't pick up and read? Yes... The Bible.

With regards to issues 1 through 3, Christians should not care. Jesus spoke definitively on this issue in Matthew Chapter 22: 15-22. You can go read the whole thing, but for now, you just need to know that he stated, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s." The money we use has value because the government supports it. These money issues are trivial and outside the work we are called to do. Don't worry about taxes, worry about doing the work of God.


With number 4, I don't even understand the point. What is a free market, and why do we care? Do they mean a market free of government regulation? This would most likely return us to a situation where big businesses control the market. Do they mean no big businesses? I'm not going to delve into the political aspects of this right now. On to the next point.


Number 5: Abide by the Constitution of the United States. Beyond the fact that this makes little sense in and of itself, this is an anti-Christian sentiment. Yes, we should adhere to the laws of our land, but is that it? No. We should adhere to the law of God! Love your neighbor as yourself. Who cares about the right to keep and bare arms? Really? You're concerned about losing the privilege to walk around in a children's park with an uzi?


For issues 5-10, the issues are not only moot, but designed to draw you away from the Truth of Christ. We are supposed to "believe in the people?" Which people would this be? We are a fallen race, bent on our own destruction. We have guns that only serve to kill other people. We have drugs that are only good for drawing us away from the work of the Church. We invent new ways to be evil every day! How can we believe in the 'people,' when we ourselves are not worthy of others' belief?


Should we care about the size of government? A little government can be just as oppressive as a big one. Government cannot and WILL not be able to stop the word of God from going out among the people. Countries openly hostile to Christianity are seeing growth in the number of believers! Why do we care so much if our government does something that we perceive to be against the will of God? Of COURSE government is going to go against God. Why are you looking so closely at the government anyway? Shouldn't you be out doing something?


I'm sure I've made you mad. Ask yourself why. I find that I most often make people mad when I hit on a truth they do not want to acknowledge. If you want to challenge my argument, go for it. I welcome the debate!