LIVES IN ME.
Well, my sweet blogger friends, I have to admit... I'm a little scared about election day. I keep telling myself over and over that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." - 2Timothy 1:7. But I can't help but be a little anxious about what our world as we know it will soon become.
In 13 days, I have a gut feeling that our country is going to make a huge mistake. And one word sums up why I believe we are going to make this mistake; UNGRATEFUL. You see, God created us as such amazing creatures. He gave us the gift of memory, intelligence, and so much more that can fit into something so intricate called our brain. He gave us the ability to learn. Yet, we don't want Him anywhere around our schools. We don't want His name in our curriculum. He gave us a gift, and we want Him to go away. We are UNGRATEFUL. He gave us the gift of life. That we could create a living, breathing human being and that it could grow inside of us until it is born. It is a beautiful thing. What a git he gave us! But we continue to tell ourselves that until that creation has become something that can make its own choice, that someone else has the right to make the choice to kill it. We have been given a gift. Yet, we are so UNGRATEFUL. In fact, our view of precious life is so distorted that when a man shakes his newborn baby to death we call him a monster, but when a man says that he is for a partially born child being stabbed in the head and the brains sucked out, we call him a hero. We want to elect him as our president. So many people want to compare casualties in war with abortion. But how can we ?? Those men and women who serve make a choice to do so with the knowledge that they might someday die. Those little children don't get the choice. He holds our lives in His very hands, and yet we want to erase him from all things.
All I can hope is that I am prepared for the chaos that we are about to enter into. All I can hope is that when someone tells me I will go to jail for my faith, I will continue to stand up for Christ. And when someone tells me that I will die for my faith, ... well... for me to Live is Christ and to die is gain. All I can do is pray for our country. And pray that I will have the courage to stay faithful to the end. For all that He has done for me, I am GRATEFUL.
Most Precious Heavenly Father,
Be near to me in times of worry and doubt. Help me to remember that You will conquer and have conquered all things. Please help keep me strong and courageous in times of persecution. I want to take up my armor and my sword and follow Your son. I will give my very life for all that you have done for us. Please be with the hearts of our country and remind them of how grateful they should be. God, I don't even know if I should be involved in politics as a Christian, but so badly my heart cries out for your Will on Earth. If I am wrong in the way I have approached this, please humble me and break me so that You alone are raised up. But most of all, Father, remind me that this too shall pass and until it does, ...it is well with my soul. You are more beautiful than all things. Only Your love satisfies. No matter what leader we choose to lead our country, I will always follow You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Hey pretty girl! I definitely understand feeling fear in the face of the upcoming election. My fear is the opposite of your fear, but I understand the feeling all the same.
ReplyDeleteMy issue with mixing Christian beliefs (or any religious beliefs) and government is that those beliefs exclude a good percentage of our country. I believe in God but I do not believe in the Christian doctrine. So where does that leave someone like me?
I'm terrified of having my rights slashed by leaders who believe they are on a mission from their God to repair the moral fabric of our nation. I don't like the implication that my beliefs aren't valid because I'm pro-choice, which isn't an implication you have made, but is constantly made by conservative pundits. People are more complex than to be boiled down to one core issue and judged on that issue alone.
My study of Jesus shows me a man who was concerned more with poverty than any other issue. If you cut all the verses around poverty or helping the poor out of the Bible, you only have something like 30% left. I am always suprised to hear when Christians don't specifically look for a candidate who is going to fight for that cause.
It's a tough time. Neither candidate is the be all, end all to save our nation. It's scary, on both sides.
Thank you for posting this. It's helpful to read about views that differ from my own because it reminds me that we are all in this together and the challenge is not to make one side believe what the other side believes, but instead to find a way to coexist as peacefully as possible, to search for common ground, and to do what we can to help those around us, daily. (Which you understand especially, doing the work you do.)
Just wanted to throw out my thoughts. Love you!
<3
Hey girl! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and not just ignoring my post because you have a different opinion than me.
ReplyDeleteI did want to address something you said. "My study of Jesus shows me a man who was concerned more with poverty than any other issue." He talked about poverty a lot, yes, and believe me... working with the Crisis Center, I know that many people need help with finances. I also have learned, that many people don't need help, they want others to pay for everything while they continue to do as they please. As a matter of fact, I would say 85% of people that come to see me at the crisis center say that they need help paying bills, yet they don't have a job, yet they have cable, and buy beer and meth every day of the week. It is unfortunate that people who really do need the help sometimes get cheated because of so many people that abuse the system. That is why I just help all of them and hope that there will be one or two who really needed the help. I am afraid that is why a lot of our country is poor. Last month our center paid for rent, water and electric for a lady ... and her landlord called and told me that she didn't understand why we did so because she makes so much money between her and her live in boyfriend. I then found out, that her and her boyfriend make triple what Adam and I make. I know that, like I said, that is not all of our country, but we as Americans, are the richest country in the world. Yet when our economy starts to hurt, we start to sweat because we might just have to get rid of our I-pod, Cell phone, 5 T.V.s in the house, blackberry, and every $50season of Sex & the City on DVD. I mean, really? I'm just not sure if Jesus' definition of poverty would be the same as ours.
I think that Jesus did want to help those who were hurting. You are right. But the issue he talked most about was not poverty, but Morality. And when I read about Jesus, he spoke against homosexuality, against murder, and stealing, etc. I'm not sure if you have heard much about the hurricane evacuees, but MANY of those people that we tried to help in our area were arrested for burglary and theft.
And I am against war as well. I know John McCain wants to finish the job, but even Obama said that he would send our troops to Turkey. hints : MORE WAR. Either way we vote we get war. And that is sad, but like I said in my blog, those people make that choice themselves. There are plenty of people in our country who can't have children and would take a baby any day, yet 1 out of three women will kill a baby in her lifetime. Those are precious children that someone else would love and cherish.
And finally, as far as pushing my beliefs on someone who does not believe in Christian doctrine .. .well, I guess this is how I feel about that. My family came over here from Italy many years ago because America is a Christian nation. The people who founded our country did so on Christian principles. 82% of our country are Christians. So it is hard for me to sit back and let people do away with Christ all together and for me to be ok with that. As far as being agnostic, you might have to endure some Christianity in this country, and sadly, not much anymore... but you will never be killed or thrown in jail for what you believe. Christians on the other hand, are bing put in jail and killed all over the world every day because of what we believe. If those people start to fill our country, I might be killed for being a Christian... but an agnostic, ... well... will be just fine.
oh, and if you havent read my post yet about "I'm sick of Politics", please take the time to do so. It explains my thoughts a lot better. I'm sitting here at work with many distractions, so this might be scatter brained. With all of that said, I love you and I appreciate the heart you have to want to help those less fortunate. I hope that either way the vote goes, our country will stop killing each other and ourselves. Because after all, we can heal the pain, but we can never bring people back.
ReplyDeleteOh, and one last thing about poverty ... I just thought of this..
ReplyDeleteBarak has spent 180 million dollars on his campain.
Palin spent 150 thousands for a suit to wear for VP.
THAT is money we could help our country with. It is incredible.
You are right about so many things. And I'm so glad that you understand that I'm not attacking you or your beliefs. I used to share your beliefs; it would be ridiculous for me to not understand where you are coming from in this.
ReplyDeleteCampaigns spend too much money. I think a lot of that is part of having a two-party system, which is a huge issue in an of itself.
It's interesting to me, having once wholeheartedly shared the Christian viewpoint, to discuss these issues. I don't ever want to trivialize beliefs held to be so dear and so much Truth to so many. But on the other side I find myself with a lot of questions.
Why do we say the country was founded on Christian guidelines? I believe our country was founded on the right of all men to choose his own religion, his own set of beliefs. Separation of church and state was a big part of the founding of our original government. So it's hard to accept the argument of Christian guidelines in order to impose a moral compass on the masses. It just doesn't sit right with me.
Our founding fathers were also kind of a bunch of douchebags. But that was the way of the times back then. Slaveholders didn't see an issue with slavery. It was okay for men to tell women they weren't equal and therefore shouldn't vote. Eventually, the women of the nation began to question that inequality and joined together in voice to change things. The same thing happened with the civil rights movement in the 60s.
I feel strongly that we are in another era where we have to correct the oversight of our founding fathers. I know Christians believe homosexuality is wrong. I disagree. Many Americans disagree, and we are entering the next civil rights movement. I can't look a dear friend in the eye and say that I don't believe he should have the right to marry his boyfriend, the man he loves. It just wouldn't be true for me. And I feel like having an elected leader who believes this is dangerous. Both Obama and McCain have said they don't support gay marriage and want to leave it up to the states. I wish Obama would take a stronger stand on the issue, would be the one to speak up for a group of people and say that he doesn't have the right, that nobody has the right, to deny them the same rights of heterosexuals.
I feel like we're on a slippery slope by allowing Christian leaders to impose beliefs on the people and in law. If something doesn't change, it wouldn't be a crazy idea to imagine 30 years from now being persecuted for *not* believing in Jesus as the son of God. And that scares me too.
I have to imagine Christians would feel much the same if the tables were turned and other beliefs were forced upon them. It's easy to fight to have the 10 Commandments in schools, but what if leaders wanted the dollar bill to say, "In Paganism we trust?"
Please understand that I am not at all angry or upset with those who hold Christian beliefs. I get where you are coming from, as I used to share them also. I just think the nation is in a safer place if religion is kept out of government.
Also! I agree with what you are saying about the state of a lot of the people in poverty right now. The system has a lot of holes and a lot of necessary changes are required. That's why it's so important for elected leaders to work together. And even more important for people to understand the power of grassroots movements for true and lasting change.
ReplyDeleteI think you do wonderful work and that even helping one person who truly needs it, for 15 who maybe don't, means that you are doing something that will please God. And that part is very inspiring to me. And why l love that I count you as a friend.
<3
I love that we can agree to disagree on things and still be friends. I do understand a lot of what you are saying, and even have struggled recently with whether I should even vote or not. I too have friends that have chosen a gay lifestyle, and I still love them all the same. I just have a different opinion about if that is the "right" way. And by right, I mean that obviously God created our bodies to fit perfectly and to be able to create offspring. That is how I think He intended it. I also don't believe that you can be born gay. Many boys who were sexually molested as children, or who learned too much about femininity from their surroundings turn out gay. The opposite goes for women. Aids is definitely spreading rapidly in the gay community and sometimes I have to wonder why it is so easy to infect by doing something unnaturally.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I love that we can discuss this and both have a better view of what someone on the other end of the voting ticket is thinking. No matter who gets into office, it is comforting to know that most of America is voting because we know that we need more Love in our country. No matter what we think the answer to that may be. :) That is a good sign at least, right?