A few years ago, I read a blog post about a woman whose family had been praying that she would come to Christ. This woman surprisingly began to go to a Bible study and actually enjoyed it. She kept going, but then the members of the group began to talk excitedly about Trump as a presidential candidate. It turned her off so she stopped going and was no longer interested in the Bible study. Did the people at the Bible study prevent this woman from coming to Christ? [1]

Now while there is a difference between being excited about politics and being excited about Christ, and it is possible to let politics crowd Christ out, we’re not talking about when conservatives go too far. The main question is if being turned off by Christians who supporting conservative positions is a valid reason for why others reject Christ. When evaluating for ourselves whether this is possible, there are three things we should keep in mind.

1. There are indeed some things people can do that can keep others from Christ.

These are the kinds of things that directly destroy the good reputation of God. Things like murder, rape, cruelty, or greed that are done in Jesus’ name and justified through Bible verses. These are horrible actions, done by horrible people, but because these actions are done with the assumed support of God and the Church it causes very real, and very deep wounds in those who do not know Christ as He actually is. For such wounded people, trusting those who claim to speak for God will be met with distrust, since their experiences have proven to them that such distrust is right. Yet they have never known the real God. This is a sad truth.

But this is not what is often being done and said by conservative Christians. No matter how it is presented, Christian conservatives do not actively, intentionally, and repeatedly murder, rape, or steal using God as their justification for why they can do those things. Anyone who says they do is at best repeating evil hyperbole and at worst intentionally maligning Christians or conservatives to increase hatred of them.

2. Salvation is between God and each individual

While it is true that God can use us to draw others closer to Him, salvation is the start of a new relationship between God and that person. Each person is accountable for the choices he or she makes in regard to a relationship with God because God is personally engaged with that person’s spirit and knows the level of light he or she is accountable for.

The woman in the story above is the one who made decisions to stay distant from God. She had a preference for the kind of talk that others around her should have and she chose to be offended rather than to give the truth she was learning about God precedence. In other words, she did not want God and she wanted an excuse to leave the Bible study. People like her who claim that certain political talking points drive them from God are only using that as an excuse for why they have rejected God. They think that by placing the fault with physical presenters of the Gospel, that they will then be held guiltless, but God is the one they rejected. He is the one who knows all their thoughts and who was speaking to them when they made their choice to be offended and to ignore Him.

This is also true of the millennial and younger generations who grew up in the church and then left. In a book by Gabe Lyons called UnChristian, Lyons polled younger generations and asked how they saw the church. Most saw Christians as judgmental, hypocritical, etc., but their perception for how Christians seem is not a valid excuse for why they would not know Christ. If they loved Christ, then they would not allow anything to keep them from Him, even other Christians or ‘Christians’. Across the board, those who desire truth and Christ, will keep pursuing Him even through forests of lies and across lakes of hypocrites to obtain Him because He is true.

3. Unpopular Truth Reveals Hardened Hearts

In our culture today, there are polarizing issues that make conversation similar to navigating a mind field. We don’t know who supports what. We don’t know how what we believe will be heard by others. However, there are things we believe that come from our understanding of the Bible: that life in the womb is sacred, that each life is valuable and matters, that God instituted marriage and designed gender, that authority should be respected, that God is our hope not government, that the family is important, and that the church is important. To speak these unpopular truths will seemingly drive those who disagree away, however, their reaction to what we say is not a reaction to us or to wrong ideas. Their reaction is a direct reaction against God, because God is the one who said these things first and we are only repeating them and reminding those around us that He did say them. Those who reject these ideas are trying to create a reality apart from God, yet they still have to live in God’s reality and they hate being reminded that they can never get the reality they want.

Now, obviously, we are not to go around stabbing or crushing people with these truths. We are always to be loving and to share what we know with gentleness and respect, but we are not to shy away from speaking because we are afraid or because we would feel guilt if our words turned them away. Fear is not from God. Guilt keeps us from saying what we know is right. But this is precisely why those who reject God make claims that conservative Christians are the ones who drive them away from God. They want to keep us silent. To keep us from speaking things that are true. To make us live in fear and guilt, because they are the ones who are trying to ignore the real fear and guilt they have of going against God.

So use wisdom. Speak what you know to be true with gentleness and kindness. A conservative position is not the real reason conservatives are put down. Be faithful to what you know to be true and while it is good to stay open to learning and being corrected, bring everything to God and determine it by His standard, not by the opinions of those who might hold their own souls hostage so that you would come to their side. Keep Christ and everything else matters less.

[1] A Democrat Walks into a Church…. – All Things are Yours (wordpress.com)