A brief foray into the political world, a place where I really have no bearings at all

Okay, so, I know that many of you have already read so many blogs and articles detailing why or why not to support Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or any of the seemingly endless list of GOP candidates. I'm not really here to tell you who to support. I personally support Bernie Sanders out of all those options, but that is neither here nor there really. What I want to talk about is Christianity and it's place in how we look at voting.

For those who are living under a rock and don't check Facebook ever, if you look back at your feed, it has probably been bombarded by photos with the hashtag #seriousdateswithlizanderic I have indeed been dating someone for a little while now, but that's neither here nor there. I have also had quite a few conversations with my girlfriend's father about politics, and he voices my questions rather well. (But this is in no way a word for word exact quote by him.)

"What I don't understand is how the Political Right and conservative Christianity has been merged into one when the Political Right's agenda is more often than not disagreeing with the Gospel message."

The gospel message of Christ is one of peace, inclusivity, love, and ultimately, reconciliation. Reconciliation of the people of Israel, as well as the entire world. Jesus spent time with the religious elite and the poor and needy alike. He talked about theology and religion, but he also put action to his  words and went out and healed others. not only that, one of the most glaring messages that He spoke was about the Kingdom of Heaven. Not just the Kingdom of heaven though, but the Kingdom of Heaven. Here. Now. Jesus was not just talking about heaven like a far off place that we needed a ticket to get into. Jesus was talking about reality in our world around us. he was calling us to join Him in the reconciling process of the world. That being said, how then can Christianty, most notably, a christianity that almost solely believes that Scripture should guide our lives absolutely and totally, (Again, not sure if I agree with the way that they interpret Scripture or what role it plays in our lvies exactly as they do) adhere to a GOP agenda (mainly Trump's agenda, I realize that not ALL GOP members are like this) that is starkly anti-immigration, anti-muslim, anti-women, pro white, anti-any-sort-of-minority,and really anti-anyone-who-is-not-part-of-the-GOP. This is NOT the message that Jesus taught.

This agenda that people like Trump are trying to pass into effect would basically exclude anyone who is not white enough or American enough. Isn't that what Jesus fought with the Religious elite about in the Bible? Didn't Jesus fight time and time again for the poor and needy when the Pharisees and Sadducees were telling people that they were not pure enough? Didn't they sneer at Jesus when the woman bathed his feet in perfume? Didn't they sneer at him when he healed a man in the synagogue? Why then is mainline Christianity going along with the GOP? Is it because that is just how they were always taught?

I know that this is a bit of a scrambled mess, and I'm not really doing much more than posing questions, but I guess that my point is this, Is Christianity called follow the GOP or are we called to follow the teachings of Jesus? Would Jesus have barred Muslims from fleeing a war torn country or would He have accepted them with open arms? Would Jesus only call a select few to join Him in restoring creation, or would He call everyone that He has created to join in? Is God's grace only for those that are privileged enough or is it for everyone?

This is not to say that America is, in a sense, Jesus, far from it. However, we, as Americans, should be thinking about this sort of stuff when we vote for our next president. Are we voting for someone who's agenda going against the grain of Christ, or should we look to vote for people whose agenda will help those in need, no matter what their situation may be? I do not claim to be an expert by any means, but these are my brief thoughts on the entire discussion.

P.S. I do not think by any means that all republicans agree with Trump. I, by no means, want to lump every Republican into his agenda. Just being clear, and I am not saying that the Democratic party get's it right all the time either. The simple fact is that the GOP is much more tied with Christianity than the Democratic party. Democrats tend to have a much more "separation of Church and state" sort of view. But I also do not think that Democrats are Jesus incarnate. I just want to take a Chriwstocentric view into this.