If you had to name the most pressing issue facing the United States today, what would it be? You might show concern over the freedom of religion — the Constitutionally guaranteed right to live according to the dictates of our conscience and the religion of our choice. You may say abortion, the spilling of innocent blood that cries out to Heaven for vengeance (Genesis 4:10). Societal confusion over marriage and gender, or the massive indebtedness of a society that lives beyond its means may also make an appearance. This weekend, one Republican presidential candidate said “we focus too much” on abortion, and the most pressing Biblical issues for him include early childhood education, the environment, the economy, and prison policy. Needless to say John Kasich, the governor of Ohio who has shot to within one point of second place in New Hampshire, has a slightly different interpretation of the Bible than most. He justified his decision to expand Medicaid – sidestepping his state legislature – by citing Matthew 25. That decision has cost Ohioans more than $4 billion, significantly more than Kasich forecast. On CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, hostess Dana Bash asked Kasich how the Bible guided his thinking, aside from Medicaid. “The Medicaid decision…I didn’t read a Bible to decide that,” Kasich responded. But when it comes to social issues, Kasich made clear he wanted to deal with issues other than those most clearly addressed in the Bible. “I think Republicans allowed themselves to be put in a box” on social issues, he said. “I think we focus too much on just one issue” – abortion. “And now that the issue of gay ‘marriage’ is kind of off the table, we’re kind of down to one social issue, you know?” “I think that it’s an important issue, but I think there’s many other [social] issues that are really critical: early childhood, infant mortality, the environment, education,” he said. He also named prison reform. He said his belief in allowing abortion in the cases of rape and incest was “reasonable.” During the Republican presidential debate, he scored points with the media by saying that he had recently attended a male friend’s “marriage” to another man. So, John Kasich doesn’t believe that every child deserves to be born alive, or that the Bible’s view of human anthropology is binding, but does believe that the Good Book demands a growing welfare state for lower-middle class children, collectivist economic policies based on dubious science, and boosting the fortunes of convicted felons. Great nations are built upon faith, but successful nations are built upon sure faith – line upon line, precept upon precept (Isa. 28:10). Building upon any other foundation leads to confusion, and to pride, and pride goeth before….
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