Prayer, money, and leadership

Yesterday in WorldMovers Sunday School, our cover story discussion was on the new congress, especially Speaker John Boehner.  We quickly saw theat many of the difficult decisions for the new congress concern money and budgetting.  For the next three blog posts I'd like to share some of that discussion with other Dove Mountaineers for your thoughtful consideration.

One of the things that we were concerned about (and prayed about) is that those who were elected would remain true to the intentions of the electorate, without compromise.  Realistically, we undertand that the very nature of politics is compromise.  But what things are  (or ought to be) inviolable?  The short answer would be:  those things which woudl violate the revealed truth of Scripture ought to not be compromisable.  Unfortunately most Christians are either already so compromised in those areas, or so Biblically ignorant, that we don't recognize them when we see them.

In this respect, we already have one piece of good news from the new Speaker of the House.  The taxpayer funded Smithsonian Institute recently opened a display of homoerotic art featuring (among other things) images of naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen Degeneres grabbing her breasts, and (worst) a crucifix covered with ants.   Congressman Boehner quickly provided leadership for the outrage against this display.

"American families have a right to expect better from recipients of taxpayer funds in a tough economy," Boehner said. "While the amount of money involved may be small, it’s symbolic of the arrogance Washington routinely applies to thousands of spending decisions involving Americans’ hard-earned money at a time when one in every 10 Americans is out of work and our children’s future is being threatened by debt.


"Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves to end the job-killing spending spree in Washington.”

It is important to note that in response to the public outcry, the Smithsonian has removed the video depicting Jesus covered with ants.  We can be thankful for small victories.
 
Tomorrow:  Economic questions closer to home.