 Oh, you are going to love this sister-to-sister today. We're talking about things like, should Christians boycott? Oh, and does religion have a place in politics, and to what extent do you obey those in authority? I'm sure you're gonna tell. I have so many opinions on this. Stay tuned. And welcome to Sister to Sister. I'm so glad you joined us. You have joined a very great show today. We are five opinionated women of God, and we bring the questions that you write to us from a biblical perspective and from our hearts. So you're gonna hear a little of our hearts. But I'm gonna start with this question. It's hard. Amy, I'm coming to you. All right, here we go. Oh no, I'm going to rock seat. You're gonna rock you, sir. No, I'm not. Well, I'm like, what the heck, same. This is a really hard one. So who's gonna take it? Amy might end. Here it is. Okay. I'll start you finish. Roxanne and girls, should Christians boycott companies that support ungodly policies or practices? Okay, I'm gonna start with this. It's a matter of conscience. And I'm gonna actually bring in a little scripture here in Matthew. I would hope so. I mean Acts 15. The Jews and Gentiles were all became Christians and the Gentiles were eating meat offered to idols. And it offended the Jews. So they said, look, the meat offered to the idol is not unclean, but don't offend your Jewish brothers and sisters. So to me, I interpret that to say, do what your conscience lets you do. When you get in the group, don't offend someone. But at home, you could eat the pork. So I think it's really a matter of conscience. And I think it's a matter of something else. In this country, we are privileged to boycott because the law permits us to in a safe and reasonable way. But we have so many other choices. If that place was your only choice, would you really boycott? I mean, if there was baby food nowhere else, would you really boycott? So you have to really think about why I'm doing it, what I'm doing it for and follow your conscience. Which is exactly what I did recently. And I've got over two handfuls of companies that I'm not shopping from. I'm thinking about this. I'm praying every day against what they're supporting. I'm serving in the community that's going against what they're taking my money and funding. So I just thought, wait, wait, wait. I'm sort of kicking myself in the tail by praying for these things, serving the community in these things, believing these things in my heart and in my mind and with my life. Why would I give my money to a company that's gonna support the 100% opposite of what I believe and value? So I think that you have to be wise. And what's happened is it's pushed me to small local businesses and I've gotten to know people. And it's been an amazing, incredible experience. What do you think, Cor? I mean, I think we certainly always have a choice. But I do think that if we really took it to the nth degree, we would literally have nowhere to shop or anything to buy. Like we literally couldn't even use the smartphones in our hands. So I mean, if we're really gonna say, we're not gonna support any business that supports anything that goes against the Bible, we would be extremely limited in what we could do. And I hear a lot of conservative Christians complaining about cancel culture, but I feel like Christians were the ones that originated cancel culture with boycotting. So I mean, I think we have to be real careful with being hypocritical with when we start spouting out about boycotting. Like I do think we need to be careful about that. And I hate when politicians and celebrities use boycotting as a weapon. I do not think it should be weaponized. And I just think, I'm glad we live in a culture where it's not legislated, where people use their wallets to kind of decide on their own. What is their choice? I don't agree when you decide on your own to boycott something, when you get angry, it's someone else for not doing so. Not judging each other. I need the wisdom of flow on this. I just think, you know, as a Christian, I'm against sin, but I need to do it in a Christ-like nature. Come on. And so as my sister already shared about conscience, and you came from Matthew, right? Acts. Acts, acts. I did say Matthew at first, you were right. Oh, okay, all right. So first Corinthians 10, 29 through 30 says conscience. I say not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I be, for if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that, which I give thanks so that ties into what Corey is saying, you know? So I may feel very strong about something, but when I push that onto another person, the other thing is I always question, not that I'm anti-boycotting, but I also think you need to take a look at how effective is this, you know? What kind of message does it send? And you know, we do have to take a stand, but I do believe you gotta do it in a Christ-like nature. That's right, but boycotting is both sides of issues too. We have to remember that there was a major boycott of a restaurant chain with godly people that owned it and ran it. And instead of taking their business down, God elevated their business so that they can be closed on Sunday and yet the number one franchise in the United States. So God's in charge at the end of the story. And I have a question, this is a good one too. How should Christians respond when their faith doesn't align with the values that they see happening in their country? Corey? Well, I mean, the first thing that came into my mind with this question is that this world is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. So I think that sometimes we get confused with being like putting country first before our kingdom first. So I think we gotta be real careful that it's always kingdom first. And so I don't know if I'm necessarily answering that question, but that's just the first thing that came into my mind. That we just have to be, because I think in the past, I don't know, just recent times a lot of Christians have gotten confused with that. I really do think there's been a confusion there. And God doesn't call us, he doesn't need us to push his kingdom through government. I really feel like that's not, he does not need us. He does not need us to do that. God is the king of this world. He doesn't need us to do it through that. Like in history, Christianity has flourished under persecution. It really has. And I feel like Christians are crying about victimhood. And it's like Christianity has flourished under persecution. Well, let's see what someone else thinks about it. Amy? Well, I know. She's driving us to failure. Well, no, because, well, the statement that God doesn't need us in government, I think, I mean, No, I didn't say that. Or that, how did you say that? I said he doesn't need us to advance his kingdom through government. But we bring his kingdom through the body on the earth, which needs to infiltrate every part of the government, the school board, the city. Like we are the salt in the light. So government executes righteousness on behalf of the church. Like it's not that the church is peripheral to government, the government's peripheral to the church and thy kingdom come. But the question, you know, what do you do when your faith doesn't align with the values of the country? It's you can't just get fired up and do a podcast or shout out hate statements or do a two minute clip and think you're changing the world. First of all, you pray. And what you pray about, you can't complain about. And when you're praying for something, you love something. When you're praying for the president, you learn your heart shifts and you love them. You want them to do well. When you're praying for the senators, praying for the new governor of Pennsylvania. I mean, so you're invested. And then you have to take the step past praying and you act. I mean, if you're really passionate, it's bothering me what's happening in the country. Get involved. We're hosting an educational forum with a gentleman running for governor. We're hosting an event for him. I mean, you can't just complain and not actually do something and put some action and some feet behind the solutions. But what you can do is not put stuff on Facebook that you feel. If you start typing and you wanna push send, don't do it. Don't do it. Zip it. Do you have a scripture for me? Well, I do. And you know, I love the balance on this show. The differences of opinion and the heart and the love for people just is so evident. You know, what I think of is the scripture when Jesus said, I didn't come to judge the world. He didn't come to bring morality. He didn't come to change values. He does, but he came to change hearts so that they would eternally be with him so that the world through him might be saved. So we're not judging somebody's values. We're not putting some issue to elevate it above our Lord, but we are loving people to the kingdom. I like that. Flo, what do you have? Uh-oh. Just trying to answer with wisdom and grace. Give me the sound bite version. Yeah, let me just give you the sound bite version because that's what's left. You know, how should Christians respond when their faith does not align with the values of their country? I think that the Bible was written in four time for our learning and we see that all throughout the scriptures. So we see we're in the scriptures that people cried out for a king and it was never God's intention for it to be that way. So I wholeheartedly agree with what my sister shared about pushing kingdom advancement through politics as something that we have to watch. I live in a democracy as I pass through my pilgrimage here on earth, but I represent a theocracy. Come on, I like it. I'm not exactly sure what theocracy means, but I'm gonna go to the next question. We got that one, yeah. Could get your dictionary on that one. Here's a really good question too. And it's the same, the same vein. These are hard questions and you write them into us because this is what's going on in the world. This is how you feel. You watching us at home. And Amy, I wanna go here because I think you have a good handle on how you feel. Does religion have a place in politics? Well, I mean, if you take religion out of politics, you will see China, you'll see Russia, you'll see Iran, you'll see Iraq. And I'm talking about religion, the Christian religion. Washington, when he was doing his inaugural, he put his hand on the Bible on Genesis 49. And after he said, I vow to protect the Constitution, he kissed the Bible. Like there was this honoring and the reverence of this particular country and nation that our God is over this nation. And if you think about even the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania, when you ring the bell on the bell, it says Leviticus that I will proclaim liberty and freedom throughout all the land to all of its inhabitants. So through that mindset, I was talking to some friends in Miami who were from Cuba and lived on the edge of Cuba and Castro came in and told his family, this is mine, thank you, took their whole land, their whole farms and their whole being and livelihood. So government affects the livelihood of people greatly. I mean, look at COVID, look at 2020, look at the power even in the governors of a state that they had over the church, even meeting or not meeting. So I think that I would ask people in the Bible should religion have a place in politics? I mean, I would ask Esther, I would ask Nehemiah, I would ask King David, I would ask the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I would ask the one whose government shall be upon his shoulder and mind you, I think that this is something that God has put in my heart. I don't think it's a grace on everybody, but for some reason almost everything I read in scripture ties to king, kingdom, thy will be done, the king's kids and establishing his kingdom and reign on earth through government. That's a pretty strong statement that you have there. Does anybody else have something for me? The question is religion in politics. I think you just have to balance that out when you're thinking about it, because when you have, you know, there still is a majority of people that proclaim Christianity as their faith in America, but there is also growing in this country where you have people that don't have a faith or that have other faiths. So if you have other politicians that step into, you know, a position of leadership and they're in other faiths, would you want them proclaiming that religion over? They are. Right, and so that's what I'm saying. So that's where you have to say, like, would you want another religion being spoken over, you know, in politics? So that's why you have to be careful with that separation of church and state. That's why they're, you know, the founding fathers have placed that into place so that there is not a, you know, national religion, so that there is not a, you know, speaking over and saying, this is the religion and that this is what's being spoken over people. I think people should be free to practice their religion. I just think it's a slippery slope and it's something you have to be careful about. And I totally respect your calling on that. I just think that you have to see it from both perspectives that it could be dangerous as well when you look at it from the perspective of other religions. Well, I know it would be dangerous as if I keep going because it is time to take a break. You go get a cup of coffee, stay right there, tough stuff today on Sister to Sister. Welcome back. You're watching Sister to Sister. I'm not sure if it seems like Sister to Sister today, but the question that we had cooking continued during the break. And the question was, does religion have a place in politics and my sister would like to take it? You know, I'm listening to both sides and Roxy made a comment after we went off. She loves the balance of it. And likewise, so do I, because anything that is a forward balance is an abomination according to the word of God. So when you talk, the example that our sister gave basically about countries that we're gonna use to term communists or whatever, but you, as my other sister said, where are we heading? As we make these decisions about being a Christian nation, then we are open to the interpretation of Christianity. So therefore we're a Christian nation. And I don't think that people of two different races should marry. So what kind of laws get enforced after we do that? I don't think that people of the same sex, that's a sin according to the word of God. So does that give me the right to now stone them or put them out their house or have them not live in a neighborhood? So we have to take a look at where this is going. My Bible says, you know, for as much as possible live peaceable with all men. So how am I ushering Christ into that? Does, I think religion doesn't have a place in anything. Gospel and the love of God has a place in everything. And that's what we call it. And so the, the love of God. Seriously. Because see religion is man made and the gospel is the Lord's. And so if I am ushering in the love of God, then I look at, according to the Bible, what role did the people of God, not the Baptist, not the Lutheran, God is not a Brit, okay? So what role did they play in politics? If you look in, you know, from the old to the new, what did they do? They came in as advisors. What were we instructed in the New Testament scripture? We are to pray for those that have the rule over us. The king would consult and ask those to come in and interpret dreams, give them counsel. And I believe that that is our role. Okay, well, since I have your attention, I'm gonna ask you this question too. We're gonna move on. Move on. Thank you, ma'am. Okay, here what it is. And you touched on the marriage thing, Flo, you did, but how does being a Christian impact how you feel about marriage? And I'm just gonna add, I don't ever have to talk, right? But for me, it's a three-corded strand. It's Jesus and George and me, period. Go. I like that. Because I totally agree with that. And for me, that's the difference in being, for me personally, a Christian, is that it's a three-fold chord. Because there were times that, I'm sure none of you have ever had to deal with this. I wanted to divorce my husband, leave my husband. You know what I mean? Trope my husband, you know. And thank God for the word of God that says, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not kill. Right, right, right. But it is that, it's that three-fold chord. And what it is, is it's a covenant. And I made that covenant with God concerning that other person. That's good, that's good. What do you have? That's good. I mean, as a lawyer, you know, I've drafted a lot of contracts in my day. And a contract is different than a covenant. In a covenant, I'm gonna give richer, poorer, better. I don't usually say these anymore at a marriage. But you're gonna give usually no matter what. In a contract, you're gonna say, I get something and you get something. And if I don't get it, I'm out of here. But as a Christian, we try to work together in a covenant relationship that if there is not this giving of 100%, we're going to work through it. We're not gonna bail out. Right, I like that. I'm gonna go to the last question because it's really good. And here's what it is. To what extent should we obey those in authority over us? This relates to everybody. Amy, what do you say? I would say to the extent that it would go against the word of God. And I would use the 2020 shutdown as an example of what the scripture says to the church to come together more and more as you see the day coming that not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together. And yet authorities were saying, don't gather, don't get together. And there's a whole discussion there too of health and being smart. But it's particularly, do we just do what they say? Well, we said as a church, if there's a time people need hope, it's now. So what can we do in a respectful, honoring way? We got 1,000 churches together. And we did parking lot church. So it was safe. You're in your own car. We were on a forklift. We did rooftop church. We did everything creative to gather together in a safe way during a critical time. But if we take it out of government and out of church just for a minute, which I would like to, is obeying authority over you. That would be your boss. That would be your principal. That would be your teacher. Why aren't we teaching our people to respect authority? That's where I get it. I think people, it has been taught, but I think we can't ignore the fact that authority has been abused. Such as, unfortunately, coming back to the political piece, what did we do with the church? We turned pulpit into political campaign centers. We hurt, we wounded people. If Europe is a particular political party, then you're not even saved. How could you be saved? How can you be a Christian? When did the political party become higher than the blood of Jesus Christ? When you raised the flag higher than the word of God, than God himself, you have now promoted us to adultery. I'm just wondering if our producer is considered authority. I was gonna say, I just have to obey the producer who gives us these questions. Robin. I have always been like a questioner of authority. Yes, you have. I am not a rule follower, so I have always been like a questioner. And there's a place for questioning, I think. Well, there's not a place for questioning right now, just so you know. Just so you know because I'm so grateful, time's up, but I'm so grateful that you were here for this really important discussion. And stay right there because we'll be back to wrap this up. Do you feel like this? I don't, like I feel like I just came alive because I love talking about government, church, politics. Let's go. Just email me if you wanna talk more about it. I'm your girl. But really, we do need to look to the scripture for our answers. And guess what? I actually love differing opinions. Bring it on. It just strengthens my opinions. And it probably strengthens their opinion. Let's go to the scripture. This is in Romans 13.3. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong, do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. Man, I just wanna charge you and just remind you of even the term church. That term church in the scripture is the Ecclesia. This Ecclesia was a government term. Like God used a government term, the Ecclesia, to actually show and say this is what the church should look like. So this group, the Ecclesia, they would meet once a week in the center of the city and they would make decisions on behalf of the city. And so I just wanna encourage you today as the church, you are the governing body of Christ when we say and pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that's you, like you're the one here on earth. He's in heaven and he's given all power and authority rest on you. So I just, I encourage you today, if you feel called and you're feeling that government call to school boards, to city councils, to Senate, to governor, I say go, go, go. God's got your back. Be the church. Be the hands and the feet of Jesus and be the salt and the light and go into all the world and preach the gospel. Oh boy, oh boy, that was- Now I step off the soapbox. It's hard, it's hard to follow that but I can just say from my heart, I wanna be for what Jesus is for, not for what Jesus is against. And I have a scripture I end with every time we get together as iron sharpens iron the countenance of a man or a woman sharpens the other. See you next time.