I'm testing out a laptop!
This means...wait...if I have a laptop, I might...yes, that's right, I might be able to USE THE INTERNET! And that means I might be able to POST TO MY BLOG! Hooray!
First, I will direct you to Jared's 95 Theses for the American Church.
It is election night I am watching Barack Obama's electoral vote count soar above McCain's at about 9:30 EST. I voted a couple hours ago. I voted for Obama. I voted for him in spite of a large chasm in my understanding about what issues should carry weight, and how much, for someone whose primary motivator is the Kingdom of God and the glory of Jesus Christ(I considered for a moment at the booth harkening to Woody Guthrie and writing in Jesus Christ for president.) Do I vote for the guy who opposes abortion? What if he also plans to keep us incessantly at war? Do I trust what a candidate is telling me he will do in office, when the entire system he is engaged in demands capitulation to extremists and interests in order to get elected? Other than a feeling, (which Mr. Obama is widely noted for inspiring) I don't know how much I really have to go on.
The question I do have is this:
Do Americans really think they can go to the polls today and vote, and then as if they've done their civic duty, return to their debt-drenched lifestyles, watch TV, eat Chee-tos and bitch about the neighbors? Nov. 4 matters more than Nov. 3 or 5? Does the way one chooses to live daily register on anyone's gage of how the world is transformed? Or do we, like sedated consumers, sit quietly and stare at the blinking lights that our authorities manipulate, with our jaws hanging slightly open and a puddle of drool forming in our laps?
Newsflash people, Obama is not change. If America wants change, America will live differently. America votes with how it chooses to respond to Jesus Christ. America's vote is cast by the manner in which it treats the poor and rejected, the importance it places on money and power, approval and good looks. Does America walk by the thirsty and the hungry because it would be unproductive and unsightly to give them a glass of water? Then it votes for stagnation and an atrophying spirit. Does America love money and success and power? Then it votes for Pilate and Caiaphas, and to continue to make of itself an imploding imperial joke.
The way you defeat a declining stock market is remove your trust from it. The way you defeat economic downturn is consider all your money worthless. The way you defeat abortion is prophetically model cross-carrying love. The president can do none of these, I'm afraid, for the nation. The responsibility for these things is not before the president. It's before a people who are having the Good News shouted into their ear: Repent, believe the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth, and follow him. Or perish like Rome.
Update(Day after election): Congratulations, Mr. Obama, or as the media calls you- Barack. I am so glad we finally have a black president. I am also going to pray that God reveals his Kingdom mission to you in such a powerful way that you are consumed by it the way Jesus Christ was on his way to Calvary.
4 comments:
thank you!
....i'm sick of people putting their hope in a president or a government....as though that president or government is entirely about showing the kind of love Jesus showed. please. they were never about any of those things. Love isn't popular and it doesn't always make you look sparkly and good. And contrary to popular belief- your voice is not only heard when you vote. That is one of the most ridiculous lies ever.
regardless of who gets elected, nothing ever changes who are to follow, and how we are to love.....and no vote can cast that responsibility onto another.
sorry for the rant. : )
just very encouraging to hear someone say what i have been thinking....and challenge us all to go live it.
erin
Well I appreciate this Erin. I half expected someone to come in and rake me over the coals for voting the way I did, and for having the opinions that I expressed about voting. I'm sure there's plenty of holes in my reasoning, and a lot of people would be able to pick apart this philosophy, but it's the best I can do without being thoroughly politically savvy. I found an interesting quote over at Justin Taylor's blog. John Calvin:
"Let us then continue to honor the good appointment of God, which may be easily done, provided we impute to ourselves whatever evil may accompany it. Hence he teaches us here the end for which magistrates are instituted by the Lord; the happy effects of which would always appear, were not so noble and salutary an institution marred through our fault. At the same time, princes do never so far abuse their power, by harassing the good and innocent, that they do not retain in their tyranny some kind of just government: there can then be no tyranny which does not in some respects assist in consolidating the society of men."
i can not give anyone a hard time for who they voted for because i did not vote at all.
i completely had nothing to do with it. i could not do it. i have lost all faith in the political system. i did not feel it my duty at all. i did not care how many women fought for the right. i just could not bring myself to do it.
i also have not faith in the american people, of which i am one. i do not believe that the people do or ever did really have a say in what happens. it is all about money and power, and probably always has been.
but, still there is something in the common desire for a leader that stirs something inside of me. it gives me a glimpse of what i will be like one day when our savior returns. all of the rejoicing and gathering together of His supporters and followers in unity. anytime the underdog wins, anytime i see this many people come together in acceptance with a commmon gladness.
it just makes me think how it will be for the saints when the King of kings makes His acceptance speech.
haha. that's similar to what I was going to say, I also did not vote. :) (don't stone me) my conscience wouldn't allow it.
I think there are other ways of affecting things, such as you said, nate, living them out, and I think we have as much of a voice as we want....and we also choose the manner in which we use it (like imonk's recent post on the 'culture war')
If i stand in opposition to the majority of the things our government stands for- then I stand in opposition with the weapons of love and (I hope) humility.
ooo....gotta run to work.
thanks again for the encouragement.
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