JD Vance is not a Christian which is obvious to everyone except apparently Christians. Proof of the fact he’s never read the Bible comes from his very own mouth: this is inaccurate and found nowhere in Scripture.
The actual “concept” is to “…[l]ove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Per Jesus Christ, this is the greatest commandment so already Vance is wrong with whatever he’s saying here. The actual order of Christianity is loving God first, love our neighbor second. Jesus actually says that we should be willing to ditch our families entirely to follow Him actually.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Bizarre that Vance doesn’t mention God at all anywhere even though as Christians God always comes first. However, if Vance were a genuine believer of any religion, he wouldn’t have traded his morals for a shot in politics to begin with.
Anyway, who are our neighbors?
Fortunately, we don’t have to look to borders, politicians, or anywhere else but the Bible to answer this elusive question. Luke 10 tells us:
“Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a priest was going down the same road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
So too, when a Levite came to that spot and saw him, he passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan on a journey came upon him, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
The next day he took out two denariie and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Take care of him,’ he said, ‘and on my return I will repay you for any additional expense.’
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
“The one who showed him mercy,” replied the expert in the law.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Oddly there is no mention of family, community, fellow citizens, etc. as being among our neighbors. Jesus used a Samaritan here, whom were considered pagans and were hated by the Jews, to illustrate His point. I’m not even going to touch on the Old Testament, where there are numerous references to treating foreigners well, because if Vance hasn’t read the New Testament, he assuredly has never read the Old Testament. That said, the Samaritan was a neighbor because he met the need of the one who required help, rather than ignoring him as he commented “thoughts & prayerz” on his Facebook page.
The Great Commission tells us to go into all the Earth to spread the Gospel. Sure, that can be your country, but all of the Earth suggests we should in fact prioritize spreading the gospel to the world, not just our neighbors and families.
Our families are not more important than Christ, neither is our country. It’s easy to say this; much harder to live it out, but it’s still true. That isn’t to say that Vance’s “concept” here is a bad way of thinking, but it’s not a Christian way of thinking.
Therein lies the issue with the American Church. They have chosen to follow politics, rather than Christianity, and have lost the plot. As Christians, our greatest concern should be bringing people to Christ. I’m not saying to remain oblivious to politics or not get involved in them, but the ultimate problem with the world is sin which can only be fixed through Jesus Christ. Not illegal immigration, not open borders, not feminism, not the pro-choice movement, not transgender individuals using bathrooms, DEI, nor even Musk but sin.
There is one solution to sin which is Jesus Christ, and it is God’s kindness which leads us to repentance. How else is the world to experience God’s kindness if we as Christians are not kind and loving to them? Yet, I wonder if the church really thinks that by supporting men like Vance and Trump, and their actions, they are leading non believers to Christ?
Somewhere along the line, Christians began to equate conservative values with Christian values. One doesn’t need to look far to see that conservative as wicked as liberals. Just because someone is conservative, doesn’t mean they’re Christian. Furthermore, what makes one a Christian is a belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Consequently, the solution to sin is not conservativism, family values, or even faith but a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Yet, as Christians increasingly immerse themselves in conservative ideas it forces them to view anything that isn’t conservative as inherently sinful, so liberals and everything they promote must be evil by virtue of being liberal.
Consequently, you have Christians supporting clowns like Matt Walsh and Musk simply because these people oppose liberals. It’s concerning that Christians even celebrate “owning the libs”, when actually the Bible tells us to love our enemies. And liberals aren’t the enemy anyway (neither are conservatives), sin is the enemy. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Furthermore, the promotion of conservatives values denies the power of Jesus Christ, which is what allows us to live holy lives. Then, you mix in the pro-life movement where a very complex issue that pits the value of unborn children against the value of women, who have been oppressed and treated terribly throughout history (and still are around the world) got boiled down to being all about access to abortion, or not, rather than the sanctity of all life and how we can practically help women facing unexpected pregnancies.
As Christians, we should be asking ourselves why we as a nation are not outraged to live in a world where women and girls are raped and get pregnant to begin with. Have our hearts really grown so callous that this act alone doesn’t cause us outrage? It doesn’t matter how small the number of these cases are – it should break our hearts that this happens at all, yet Christians will die on the hill of boycotting Target for rolling back DEI or Hallmark for a lesbian commercial, than the fact a ten year old was raped and got pregnant.
Needless to say, Vance’s entire blurb here can be boiled down to “faith, family, football,” which is the American church in a nutshell. When Christianity gets watered down to things that don’t actually matter, it lacks the power to change society on a heart level.
This is why it’s important to read your Bible everyday and to spend time in prayer with God. Before throwing stones at others, we should ask God what unclean things lurk within us that He needs to free us from. It’s also why it’s good to step back from online echo chambers and get to know your neighbors, regardless of their political affiliations, race, immigration status, gender, sexuality, or religious beliefs.
As Christians, we are the hands and feet of God, and the Bible says, “the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few.” So, we must be laborers for the gospel. Willing to put in the work.
Quite frankly that’s rather easy to do in a country like America, where we are in no danger of being killed or arrested over our beliefs. All we must do is show those who don’t know Christ kindness, knowing that God will do the rest.
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