I come from a conservative evangelical background, so I understand how the evangelicals/tea partiers think/how to speak their language. You may have noticed that debating logically with an evangelical/tea partier usually gets you nowhere. To get through to them, you have to understand how they think and learn to use their vocabulary words. Below is a sample letter to send to them that I promise you will resonate beyond belief.
Before we get to the letter, let's take a moment to understand why they think differently. Look at biblical heroes. Noah listened to God and built an arc, even though it seemed to be the most ridiculous thing on Earth to do. Moses left his cushy life as the Phaoroh's assistant to wander the desert for 40 years because God told him to. Abraham almost killed his son because God told him to. God ordered Joshua to attack the city of Jericho by marching around the wall and then blowing his horn, but this ludicrous strategy caused him to conquer the city. There are dozens more examples I can give, but you get the point. The people who are rewarded by God are those that cast aside all logic and reason and unquestioningly do what God tells them to do.
Of course, these kind of people are easily manipulated. The Republican party and especially the tea party understands this, and has set itself up to be "the voice of God." That the evangelicals would fall for it sounds silly to you and me, but the secret is the republicans/tea party has tapped into the vocabulary words that resonate with the church crowd. Nothing logical will ever resonate with them. Only godly sounding arguments do.
Here is a letter I sent to a tea partier, using tea party language. It resonated with him, so I sent it on to all my tea party friends. None of the other tea partiers responded to me, but they have suddenly become quiet about politics when they were quite loud before. I would encourage everyone reading this to send this on to every tea partier you know. It works.
Dear David,
I am not interested in arguing government policy and economics with you any more. After all, you have made it abundantly clear you have no interest in anything factual or logical because you think you get your information from a higher power.
I want to debate the BIBLE with you now. I want you to see for yourself that you DO NOT have the "special Godly information" that you think you do.
Romans chapter 12, specifically verses 2, 9, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21. I think this proves that the tactics utilized by the tea party are unacceptable to God.
Romans chapter 13:1-8 talks about respecting the govt in power and paying taxes. The tea partiers refuse to respect the Obama govt and support the republicans using dirty, underhanded tactics to undermine the govt. The tea partiers also claim taxes are unbiblical, but as you can see, paying taxes is a command.
1 Peter 2:13 Show respect for the govt leaders. Once again, tea partiers refuse to acknowledge Obama as a legit president with trumped up claims of being from Kenya, being a Muslim, etc.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13, God will take care of the sinful non-believers. It is not our place to do so. I believe this applies to the passing of laws that oppress the rights of people who behave in ways that Christians find immoral. God doesn't want these laws passed. He wants us to minister without politics, through love.
1 Timothy 3:1 - 4:2 talks about the behavior of leaders, including: Must be able to manage own household (Palin's pregnant teen and high school drop-outs?), peace loving and non-violent (all the talk about an uprising? and guns?), not one who loves money (how much money do beck and Palin make?), not speak evil of others (constantly demeaning and bashing liberals), must not be a heavy drinker (or drug addict like Rush Limbaugh?), good reputation (how many ethics violations has Palin been found guilty of? O'Reilly writes porn involving crack cocaine and kinky sex with children, Beck encourages his viewers to buy gold in a company currently under federal investigation), or an adulterer (Newt and 3/4 of the repubs). If they do not follow these virtues, they are following lying spirits and preaching from demons, not from God. These are not the people you should be following.
The evangelical stereotype is incredibly negative. Evangelicals claim they are being "persecuted", but the truth is that non-evangelicals think of Evangelicals as insulting, demeaning, self-righteous, holier than thou, illogical, unreasonable, stubborn, spiteful, and willing to turn to violence if you don't get your way. We do not see you as the kind of people Jesus demands of his followers in John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Loving may be the last word I would use to describe the Evangelicals.
The Tea Partiers in particular come off as especially angry and hateful; quite eager for violence. You may not be in your hearts, but that is the definite appearance the group as a whole gives, and it scares non-believers away since tea partiers tend to invoke God in their rhetoric so much.
Tea partiers hate individual people who get govt aid, but not corporations that get govt aid, like Wal-Mart. How many millions of people feel personally hated as a result and will never receive God?
Tea partiers hate illegal immigrants who steal jobs, not employers who choose illegals over citizens, nor big companies that outsource jobs. How many illegals will never find God because of the hate?
Tea partiers hate Muslims and are trying to stop the building of mosques all over the country while at the same time saying they are trying to protect the founding father's ideals of freedom of religion. This only serves to alienate any Muslim who may have once been open to Jesus.
When tea partiers say they hate all these people and in the next breath demand more guns, the people targeted honestly believe you are coming to kill them. Like I said, I fully understand your perspective, just want you to see the other perspective, too. They honestly think you are coming to kill them. Do you really think associating yourself with the tea party pleases God?
I believe strongly that if you aren't going to take away civil rights from people who like to gossip, are greedy, proud, boastful, envious, hold hate in their hearts, disobey their parents or cheat on their spouses, then you shouldn't take those civil rights away from gays since they are listed in Romans as being equivalent sins.
The founding fathers set up the laws to be essentially "you can do anything you want as long as it doesn't adversely affect anyone else." Other people being gay doesn't directly affect me in any way at all, so the law should let them have rights. Other people being Muslim also doesn't affect me at all. Since you claim to be so committed to the ideals of the founding fathers, do you see why this stance looks hypocritical to some?
I know your arguments on all these issues and fully understand them, so I am not trying to open a debate. I am just asking you to step in another person's shoes for a minute to see a different perspective on the same situation. Your behavior as a minister of Christ should be your number one priority in life, and I want you to understand that currently, it isn't a positive ministry. What will God say on Judgment day?
Christi