Politics

is defined by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle as being things pertaining to the City, with the City being what the ancient Greeks defined as a City.

Aristotle

Aristotle is quoted as saying, "Man by nature is a political animal." By that, Aristotle means that Humans are not naturally hermits. Thus, Humans must create rules by which they live with or next to each other without destroying each other.

Those rules taken together are what we call Politics.

I hate to admit it, but Politics and Religion become intertwined even when we try to avoid such from happening.

While viewing social media, I keep seeing people making strawman arguments about believers in Messiah Jesus who dare to support a political party that opposes efforts to turn the USA into a theocracy favored by those making the strawman arguments.

According to the strawman-makers, the Christian faith requires that all people in the USA be forced to conform to the ways that the strawman-makers interpret the Bible, and if one is opposed to that, then, according to the strawman-makers, one is not a Christian or one is an enemy of Christianity.

How are sincere believers in Messiah Jesus to react to the strawman-makers?

All that I know to do is to keep affirming just what the New Testament says about the gift of eternal life given to those who place all of their faith in Messiah Jesus.

In order to have the gift of eternal life, one does not have to force others to conform to the ways that one interprets all of the Bible.

The strawman-makers are adding requirements for eternal life that are not in the Gospel that is recorded in the New Testament.

1 John 4:15 (NIV) says, "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God."

One reason why I join the United Methodist Church is because the UMC affirms 1 John 4:15.

The strawman-makers read that verse and then say, "Yes, but ..."

No, there is no "but" in the Gospel as recorded in the New Testament.

Having 100% faith in the Jesus of the Bible means believing in his death, burial and resurrection. It means believing that his shed blood makes permanent atonement for all of our sins, including the sins we may not know that we have committed.

The strawman-makers slander genuine believers in Messiah Jesus. 

Although they act like they do, the strawman-makers do not sit on the Great White Throne mentioned in Revelation 20:11, and they are not the harvesters mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 13:30, 39.

So, upon encountering strawman-makers, one need not worry. 

The strawman-makers can yell and bloviate all they want, but one's eternal destiny does not depend on them.