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A Savior on Capitol Hill

October 14, 2008

Okay – brief break from the assignment to myself (See the last posts). ‘Cause it’s political time – might as well get caught up in ELECTION FEVER (as Craig Ferguson puts it). And yes, I stole the title of this post from Derek Webb.

It’s that time again to look to Washington for salvation – from budget crises and overseas terrorists. I wrote before a post called The Politics of Faith about our sometimes obsession as people of faith with political heroes. I won’t rehash it all, but I do want to approach this from another angle…

The hip thing these days is to mock and ridicule the “other side” in politics. This creates an environment where it is tempting to get into wars of words and witticisms, both on TV and around the water cooler. The question, then, becomes “what should people of faith do in such an environment?” Is it our responsibility to determine which candidates are best for our country from a moral and even a spiritual perspective and attempt to thoughtfully defend those candidates around the office and the lunch table? Shouldn’t we be the people who advocate forcefully for candidates that hold to Judeo-Christian principles? Shouldn’t we try to convince people who they should vote for?

It’s a dilemma to be sure. On the one hand, we would like to see things go “our way” (whatever you have determined that to be). But many of us also live in environments that are hostile to our worldview, and choosing our political candidate based on that prism opens us up to heated attack and even ridicule. In a place like Seattle, I am even seeing a trend amongst Christian-types – a concerted effort to rationalize the dispensing of certain moral criteria in order to support candidates that will gain them a little more credit with co-workers and friends.

 

Who would Jesus vote for?

That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Some of us say he would vote Democrat because of social justice, and anyone who elevates other moral issues above helping the poor is not a real Christian. Some of us say he would vote Republican because of abortion and gay marriage and anyone elevates helping the poor above these issues is not a real Christian. Who would Jesus really vote for?

Posted inRaw Thoughts viralJesus (main) What does God want?

Four: Tell.

October 1, 2008

Tell.

Is there any word in English that has a more negative connotation than “preach”? Okay, I can think of a few (and no, I am not going to list them here – the internet is forever). But no one ever says “I wish someone would preach at me.” Movies that are too heavy-handed in promoting an agenda are called “preachy.” When I was a kid there was even a song by Madonna (sing it with me…”papa don’t preach…he’s been good to me”…HA! Now that is stuck in your head!).

So I will use the word tell. But I mean preach. In a less negative context. I hope.

 
 

Posted inRaw Thoughts viralJesus (main) What does God want?

Three: Redemption

September 20, 2008

There’s just no way to get around it. I have to talk about Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Now Dog is not always what you would call a sympathetic character. He dresses oddly. He makes baffling hairstyle choices. He and his entire family are arguably three fries short of a happy meal. He vacuums for fun. He has been recorded using racial epithets (an item near the top of the list of  “public persona unforgivable sins” – a list that does not seem include cheating on your wife or driving while drunk. But I digress).

Dog and the Fam.

There are a million things I could say to mock Dog. Most of them are far too obvious to make it worth the time. And for the record, I am not a hard-core Dog-fan, Dog-defender, Dog-catcher, Dog-pound member, whatever you want to call it. I couldn’t tell you when the show is on or what channel. But since confession is good for the soul, I have to admit that on at least four occasions, I have been flipping by that channel and been drawn into an hour of Dog-watching. And he always makes me want to cry.

Let the mocking begin.

 

Posted inRaw Thoughts viralJesus (main) What does God want?

Two: Believe

September 15, 2008

Part Two in a super-elongated series – an assignment to myself  “to start laying out what I believe God asks of us – first individually, then corporately as churches”. Here’s where we are:

  • One: Repent.
  • Two: Believe

Since One was “repent”, I think I should. I have neglected blogging (this is bad for me, not for you necessarily). I am trying to be more disciplined in weekly schedules and such. The advent of a new baby on the way and some big work projects (plus summer in general) have held me up a bit. To repent is to turn from your current path, so my deeds showing my repentance will be blogging in nature…

The second thing I think God asks of use is to believe. And I think these may be in reversed order. Maybe you have to believe first, otherwise repentance is fairly hollow. You don’t have to repent if you don’t believe in moral authority. If “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” then acknowledging God exists has to be the starting point of our approach to Him.

And that’s the real issue, isn’t it? God seems to have made a frustrating decision to base most of our interactions with Him on faith alone – not observable, provable, scientific-y stuff. “Why for?” you may ask (and I have done so many times).