Brayden Iest shares view on respecting leaders with opposing opinions

America finds itself torn by opposing views of its leaders. I believe that many people judge our leaders solely on opinions from the media, without hearing the facts and deciding for themselves. I think that these opinions lead to a disrespect of the authority that God places over us.

I started to look into this topic after President Trump took office and noticed that the majority of Americans become upset with some aspect of U.S. or local leadership at some point in time.

With the case of President Trump, opinions vary from people loving him to people hating him. There will always be people who disagree with the current president. However, disagreement and disrespect differ.

The Bible references multiple times when God calls his people to respect and honor the people he places in leadership over them. 1st Peter 2:17 says, “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” The last part of that verse drew my focus. At the time when 1st Peter was written, the Roman emperor took the place of the president today.

As an example, the apostle Peter respected the Roman government even though it executed his friends and later, would execute him. Peter knew that murder was against what God commanded, but he never outright opposed the authority because he knew God put it there.

In the following podcast, Edward Fikse explains why we should respect leaders with opposing opinions.

Christian magazine Relevant Magazine publishes articles relating to current events and connects them to Christian life. In 2017, writer for Relevant Magazine Scott Sauls published an article titled “How Do We ‘Respect’ Authority We Disagree With?”. In the article, Sauls writes about the multiple examples of honoring leaders.

“Examples fill the scriptures,” Sauls said. “In spite of being put in prison for crimes he didn’t commit, Joseph treated Pharaoh and the Egyptian guards with honor. Daniel and his three friends spoke respectfully to Babylon’s evil King Nebuchadnezzar. David blessed and prayed for King Saul, even though Saul wanted to kill David. When David had the opportunity to defeat Saul with his sword, he resisted the temptation. Instead, he entrusted himself, and the ways that king Saul had injured him, to God who judges justly.”

A nation functions the same as a team. Every player (citizen) must work together for the collective good of the team (nation).

Currently, the U.S. suffers from a lack of teamwork. Republicans, Democrats, and everyone else with a political standing tear each other apart over their own opinions.

With all the political propaganda and influence that becomes infused into the media, Americans forget that Republicans and Democrats are supposed to be on the same team. In their quest to strengthen America, their arguing weakens it.

In today’s day and age, the media influences every possible aspect of human life. This also includes major coverage of politics. While keeping the population informed, the media also chooses which parts of stories to share.

Media outlets compete with other networks, leading to sacrificing an unobtained piece of the story to get the it out first.

In the current state our country finds itself in, the politics fail to make a difference due to the split in our population. People need to realize that no matter what they believe politically, they need to respect others who see things differently.

The Golden Rule applies here well. It states to “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Once we learn to respect our leaders, we then focus on things that better both sides of the argument.

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Brayden Iest can be reached via Twitter and email.