Charles Barkley's Comments about "Fake Christians" on the Situation Room

When Charles Barkley appeared on The Situation Room, he was asked by Wolf Blitzer what his thoughts on the presidential race were.

"I've got great respect for Sen. McCain, great respect, but I don't like the way Republicans have taken this country," said Barkley. "Every time I hear the word 'conservative,' it makes me sick to my stomach, because they're really just fake Christians, as I call them. That's all they are."
Blitzer moved on to a different question following the comment, but later followed-up at the end of his interview and asked him to elaborate on what he meant by "fake Christian."
"I think they want to be judge and jury," Barkley replied. "Like, I'm for gay marriage. It's none of my business if gay people want to get married. I'm pro-choice. And I think these Christians, first of all, they're not supposed to judge other people. But they're the most hypocritical judge of people we have in the country. And it bugs the h*** out of me. They act like they're Christians. They're not forgiving at all."

I'll reserve most of my comments as this fits in perfectly with our lesson Thursday night, but I can't resist making one comment. Charles calls Christians who state their views judgemental. Stating what is right and wrong by biblical standards is not being judgemental. We are judgemental when we presume to know the condition of a person's relationship with Christ. We are CALLED to hold each other accountable to God's standards. I encourage everyone to pray for the ever growing population of "moral relativists." This is a real problem and the first way to alter these types of perceptions about the church is to make sure that we are submitting to God in our daily lives. Look forward to seeing you all Thursday night.

-Patrick

Time for God

First of all, I'll apologize for not posting for a few days. For the past several weeks, I've been traveling quite a bit with work. On top of that, it seems like it's been one social event after another when I've been home. We had a great crowd for the Super Bowl Party at our house and I really enjoyed spending the time with everyone. But while I've been so busy, I've been thinking about the fact that everyone in our group faces the same challenges. It's hard to be everywhere that we're supposed to, hard to find time for friends and family, and often even more difficult to find time for God. The other day Alisha and I were discussing the fact that we don't devote as much time to God as a family as we should. In fact, the only time that we do spend worshiping together is during regularly scheduled church services and when we pray together at night. She noticed however, that we always found time to discuss what we were going to eat for dinner or what we had planned for the weekend. Her opinion was that if we had time for those things, and not for more worship and study, then we were making those things more important than God. She is exactly right. We all live busy lives, but like the book by John Ortber says, "When the game is over, it all goes back in the box." Worship of God and advancing his kingdom is the only thing that matters in the long run, and if we don't find time daily to include God, we're telling him that he's not important enough. It isn't difficult to talk with God while you're driving in the car, or get up ten minutes earlier to make time for Bible study. Next time you find yourself spending more time on work, school, or socializing than you do with God, reexamine things. Then ask yourself who your heart really belongs to: God or Self.

-Patrick