About five years ago or so I was intrigued by this whole Christianity thing. It seemed like the thing to do so I started doing it, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I just felt that moral pull from inside you know? I just had to do the right thing or whatever. Since then I have been trying to figure out what Christianity is exactly.
At first it was presented to me as this moral shock collar that we needed to put around everyone's necks. It was for the good of mankind that we let everyone know how wrong they were and how right we were.
We had to vote to keep God in office and sign petitions to keep homosexuals from ruining the sanctity of marriage. (I regret signing the petition, I'm sorry)
Now, I'm a little more educated on this guy Jesus. I no longer believe that Christianity and Democracy can coexist. If you participate in one you abhor the other, whether you are aware of it or not. Unfortunately, I think that most Christians think it is their duty to God to make sure that the right candidates are in office. However Jesus did not operate in this manner, and neither does God. Jesus lead by example and taught to love through sacrifice, not by force. God allows us the decision to either love him or to turn away, God does not force himself upon you.
Democracy forces the will of the majority on all. This is not sacrificial love. This is not leading by example. This is legislative rape.
Now, I am not saying that if one is a Christian one cannot participate in electing officials, but you can only put your faith in one system or the other. I understand in order to live in this community we live in called America we need people to run it, and by all means vote for whoever you want, but if you are a Christian who you vote for is of little or no consequence.
If you want to vote pro-life vote with your actions. Care for a mother who is contemplating an abortion. Care for all single mothers. Only if we respond to the situation that creates the seemingly neccessary abortion will we ever have a chance of saving lives.
If you want to save the sanctity of marriage take yours seriously. Divorce rates are above fifty percent, higher among the church than outside the church.
Democracy and Christianity are incompatible, only one can be followed seriously at a time.
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6 comments:
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that's all i can say.
very true opinions :)
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sorry to post on the same post twice haha
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btw my aim is on my profile page so just hit me up if you wanna throw political semantics around for a bit haha
i want everyone to read this!
i appreciate your honesty and the way you articulated your views and i agree completely.
Anthony,
(below is my post from a week or so ago..but since we've started some good dialog, I'm deciding to post it afterall) :)
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God has been teaching me a lot about these kinds of things this past year too; it’s been quite a journey for me. It sounds like you’ve been on the same type of journey yourself. For me this journey has been like a pendulum. It’s had highs and lows, and left and rights (politically speaking) also..what a ride! I’m still trying to find the balance myself.
I got a chance to share on Sunday morning at our church on thankfulness, and much of what I shared had to do with how spoiled rotten we are as Americans! We’re crying about the economy and gas prices, but we forget that there’s a child dying in the world every 15 seconds due to unclean water. I told the congregation that while we were sitting there nice and cozy, 360 parents had to bury their kids because of dirty drinking water. But man, life sure sucks when we have to pay 40 cents more a gallon for the SUV. And, our kids really get irritating when the DVD player in the mini van quits working.
The abortion issue is one that’s really captivated me. I couldn’t agree with you more: we need to help the people that are having the abortions. By God’s grace, lets allow Him to minister through us, to change the hearts and situations of women before they walk into the clinics. We won’t care about abortion legislation if nobody wants to have one in the first place.
But…they still do. So then, the question I am seeking is this: how far do we go to protect these babies? At the core, I believe that human life begins at conception. There are many people that don’t think that unborn babies are “humans” yet. I’ve seen horrific images of aborted babies and despite the blood and torn apart limbs and head, they are as human as you and I. There’s a well-known pro-life video that shows a live ultrasound video of a baby being aborted. The title “The Silent Scream” speaks for itself.
Years ago my uncle got arrested for a non-violent but persistent anti-abortion protest. He got a lot of criticism from other Christians telling him that Jesus wouldn’t have done this or approved of this. My uncle posed this scenario:
Let’s say you are standing in front of a school building. As usual, it’s a busy place and moms are holding their kids hands, walking their kindergarteners into building in the morning. As the moms walk out they get into their cars. But then you notice something strange. Moms are removing car seats and happy meal toys from the backseats and tossing them into a large dumpster in the front parking lot. You are intrigued, and as you drive away you see another dumpster in the back of the building. But here you notice something even more disturbing. There are nurses going to this dumpster and they are caring many black bags to this large garbage container. Then, one bag breaks open and young human body parts spill out. You realize that these are dead, mutilated kindergarteners in the bags! Your first instinct is to tell the moms....to let them know what is happening! But as you approach, you realize that they knew what was happening all along. In fact, this is why they are here.
What’s appropriate at this point? What would Jesus want us to do? Certainly kindness and love should be our approach. We should pray as we approach them, speak to them in love, and offer to help them. And NOT just lip service. Talk is cheap! I mean really, really help them, sacrifice for them. Be willing to adopt their babies. But what if they tell us to screw off? Do we then just sit there and recite the Lord’s prayer? At some points in the Bible, God had people declare war against those who were against His people, and if these little babies aren’t His people, I don’t know who is. I want to be the good Samaritan and help the dirty, bloody guy on the side of the road. In fact, I just prayed with a crack junkie in my office at work not that long ago. But what if I walk by that guy a few minutes early while he’s still getting the beat down? Do I try to reason with the raging & violent criminals? Do I hide behind a rock and pray and wait until their done before I help him, or do I grab the nearest stick and work on preventing the brutality to begin with. Which would be helping him more?
So the questions are this as far as abortion: Do we have a right as Christians to do more to stop this? Do we have a responsibility as Christians to do more stop this?
Now-What do I think? How far do we go? The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t know for sure! But..I have this funny feeling that we all have a different part to play. I think there are some basics that we as Christians should be doing. I think prayer is number one! Not only for the situations at hand, but to seek how we are to respond individually, and that is probably different for many of us. This includes seeking how we should vote, which is our responsibility as Americans. I believe God will have some of us intercede with feverent prayer. Some to sit and cry with pregnant moms, hug the hell out of them (I mean this literally) and hug the Jesus into them. Some to adopt these babies. Some to work on legislation to protect them, and yes, possibly even some to take a more evasive approach. The problem is this, looking the other way or simply filling out a ballot isn’t enough, and those that think it is need to ask themselves what it really means to be a Christian (and whether or not they really want to be one).
But to bring things back around, great article! You certainly make a lot of great points here. I get extremely frustrated because so many Christians go to the ballots, hit the “right” lever, and think that they’ve done their part to make a difference…that’s bullsauce! As harsh as it sounds, I believe more than the voting booth, it is sometimes the “conscience-clearing booth” for lazy Christians. After all, ministering in the voting booth has an “impact on millions”, and it’s so much cleaner than ministering in the jail cell booth, right!? We’ll spend 45 minutes praying for politicians but won’t bring a bag of groceries to the strung-out neighbor next door. Dude, that isn’t Jesus. The Bible very clearly tells us that “it’s His kindness that leads us to repentance” and Jesus exemplifies that point throughout his entire life on earth. It’s His kindness, shown to others by Him and by us, that truly changes lives…not legislation.
Yet, I believe that we cannot stand and watch clear injustice without reacting. I cannot stand and watch brutality and not be willing to put myself in harm’s way to fight for what I believe in. Take the strung-out neighbor example. If I’m serious about my faith, I will not only pray for him and share Jesus’ love, I will bring groceries and clothing. But, should I pray with him and send him food, but let perpetrators rape his wife, sons, and daughters without stopping it? Would that be true compassion?
I don’t have all the answers, but there’s got to be balance somewhere. The bottom line is that we need to live out our Faith everyday to everyone. We as American Christians have it so good, yet many of us are so sterile and are willing to do so little. So sad…
Jeff-
I totally agree with you. I don't think we should stand idly by while the atrocity that is abortion consumes unborn lives. I just think that legislation is not the final answer in the problem. The thing is I don't know the answer, all I can do is try to dissuade one person at a time from having an abortion through a display of God's love.
As for the wars that God has initiated throughout the history of the Bible, I just don't think we can assume we are to go to war without God's direct command. God led people into battle and we have been given no such initiative. Not only that, but it was before the new covenant was made. As followers of Jesus we have a much more specific role in God's Kingdom and I think violence in any form is ruled out. (I know this is more or less just restating what you already said, but I am trying to go somewhere with this lol). The thing is, what do we do then? How do we deal with rapists in a loving way? I am still trying to figure that one out.
There is a convicted child molestor that lives directly across the street from me. This has brought up some issues in our family as far as my younger siblings (who are 10, 11, and 14) being out of sight. I can't say that I would be strong enough to not totally destroy anyone should they harm one of my siblings, but as a follower of Jesus I have to die to myself in that regard and love this person regardless of their actions. I am not saying I would be any way passive about this person's behavior, but I don't think they should be killed or pit in prison. I think the church needs to surround that person and help them recover. There needs to be reconciliation. Much, much easier said then dne of course, but this is our call.
This type of idea applied to abortion is a little more difficult because there can be no recovery for the babies who are killed, so clearly we have to take some sort of preemptive action against it, but what would that look like? I think it would look like Mother Teresa's example of taking in over 3,000 babies to save them from abortion. Abortion is not going to go away overnight regardless of what action we take. I think the most Godly and Christ like action we can take is to address the situation(s) that causes mother's to want to abort their babies. I think that's where my knowledge ends, I don't know the situations that end up with an abortion.
I know that all of our problems can be solved by loving God with all that we are and loving one another as if every person you saw was an extension of your own body.
Thank you SINCERELY for pracitcing this. Seriously, thank you.
Sorry if that was a rant or if I went off topic a little bit lol.
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