As I was watching this video of Chris LaTondresse of RecoveringEvangelical.com, I realized that the post-RR (religious right) Evangelicals are just as superficial in their biblical exegesis as their parents (if this guy speaks for the whole movement):LaTondresse states that there are more Bible verses dealing with the poor than there are dealing with homosexuality and abortion, so why not support those who are promising to do something about the issue that gets more Bible verses. Um…so, whatever subject gets the most press wins? That’s the argument? But what he doesn’t deal with is what God is saying about the poor. Is it ever a nation’s duty to provide for the needs of the poor worldwide? Where is the biblical mandate for a nation to feed the poor of another nation? Isn’t it the job of each nation to provide for it’s own poor? How can we provide for the needs of the poor in nations that are run by dictators? How can we help the poor in North Korea? Or in Zimbabwe? How can we help the poor when the food we send is confiscated and never reaches those it was intended to help? We’ve spent billions of dollars helping the poor in this country and in other countries, how much more does he want us to spend? And is throwing money at the problem really the biblical solution? How can we train people to feed themselves worldwide and is that our job? Where is the biblical mandate for that?But more importantly, LaTondresse doesn’t seem to get that when God exhorted Israel to care for the widows, orphans, aliens, poor and oppressed, he was telling them to take care of those who are usually mistreated by society, “the least of these.” I would think that the “least of these” would include helpless babies in the womb who are mistreated in our society because they are inconvenient, just as the widows and orphans were inconvenient for Israel. Reading through the prophets, it’s clear that Israel failed in their duty to protect those who were the weakest members of society and they were judged because of it. Those who are willing to throw the unborn under the bus may want to read through the prophets and see what God had to say about those who ignored the plight of the oppressed, it may give them pause in being as callous as LaTondresse who warned the Republicans to drop abortion as an issue if they want to attract the post-RR Evangelicals. (I guess leaving those of us who are interested in helping the “least of these” with no party to support.) LaTondresse also implies that the post-RR Evangelicals have traded the poor for the unborn because they are more connected to the poor, it’s a global world after all and they’ve met them. Maybe it’s time the crisis pregnancy centers updated their presence on the Internet. Maybe they should have a womb-cam so that the web-savvy Evangelicals can develop a connection with the unborn and care about their plight.(via)