I Get It Now!

I think I finally understand, at least a bit, about the re-election of Barack Obama by those who say he promised hope and change, which they believe is still forthcoming.

For my money, he had four years to show us the hope and change and it did not happen. Why not try something else?

Yet, I had forgotten that the last two presidents got eight years. Bill Clinton, with his impeachment. George W. Bush with his unpopular two-front war. Seems like everyone gets a second chance now. Even Barack Obama, who seems to embody the possibility of “potential” without ever becoming “actual.”

Our younger generations prize fairness a lot. I believe many of them thought that, as long as he did not have a scandal and did not get trapped in his words on any occasion, the president should be given the benefit of the doubt and be returned to office. Remember, we have raised these kids on the lowered expectations of getting the crumbs left over once we baby boomers have already been at the table.

Not to imply that our president is a crumb!

Just saying that my generation tends to be more results oriented, willing to fire someone more quickly for not living up to the resume we were given. Our children and grandchildren tend to understand more about why people don’t always match their resumes, and to be more merciful when that happens.

Okay, I get that.

And also that nothing can happen these eight years that cannot be reversed later.

Even health care. Because, admit it, no one in America has yet read and comprehended all 2000
pages of that legislation. And some of it, like not making people uninsurable once they get sick, is only right, regardless of party affiliation.

So I am okay with the president getting another four years to try to work his magic. Then history will judge him, as it will all of us.

I would have preferred another outcome. I fear we are in for quite a ride, economically.

But, God is and always will be still on His throne. And no event on earth can change that!

Blood Feuds

You know how we Americans always feel superior to ethnic groups with rivalries going back thousands of years, like the various ethnicities in the former Yugoslavia or like all of the Middle Eastern peoples who just can’t get along???

I’m gonna suggest that we Americans are becoming just like them.  They call those thousand year rivalries “blood feuds” because if someone killed your family member, then you consider it open season on their family members for as long as the earth endures.

We are becoming that type of nation, I think.  Maybe it took getting to age 230 in 2006, so we could have a feel that some things in our culture here are ancient, too.  I had just graduated high school when we celebrated our bicentennial in 1976.  We seem to have needed to get a few years beyond that.

I think it is very unlikely that anyone will ever “steal” an election in the United States, at least an election for president, but there are some who believe that George W. Bush “stole” an election because the Electoral College results did not match the popular vote in 2000 (that has happened before and it is a result of the system our founding fathers consciously chose).

In order to get our “pound of flesh” some of my fellow conservatives then followed course by suggesting the current president isn’t eligible for the presidency because he was either born somewhere else or took dual citizenship during his childhood (which the U.S. does not allow).

Folks, that was just crazy.  The responses on both sides during both of those election cycles.  If the Electoral College votes have been certified, then that election is valid, whether we like the person elected or not!

Now we have an election in which both presidential campaigns are talking past each other with statistics that supposedly have been “fact checked” but which say opposite things.

It comes down to voting our world view, for the two world views being presented by the two campaigns are diametrically opposed.  Vote for the one you believe is valid, then call it good.

And still some will claim the election results are not real.  The Democrats believe the Republicans are suppressing the vote.  The Republicans believe the Democrats are inflating the vote with illegal ballots.

Let’s just say that there is a millionth of one percent chance that someone actually could do something diabolical with the U.S. electoral process.  Isn’t that where faith in God and justice come in?  There are some things too big for us finite people.

By definition, a theft is something that usually cannot be detected, at least all the details of it.  So if an election were actually stolen, it is possible only God would know.

I figure if someone ever managed to steal an election, against all odds, it is thus up to God to right that wrong.  I will not be part of this constant suspicion and mud-slinging in our land.  And I will not elevate it to the level of a blood feud.

Too many angry people are running around acting as though their fellow Americans are their enemies.  Let’s not be part of this.

Racism Breaks God’s Heart

Acts 17:26, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;”

It is a principle, throughout all of Scripture that God has made all human beings of one flesh, as the family of man, in a manner of speaking.  Not all of us are in the family of God—that takes being born again through Jesus’ sacrifice—but all of us are created the same way and have the same inherent value to God.  He loved us enough to send Jesus to redeem us, so He esteems us all very highly.

One way we are all the same is our tendency to move within a comfort zone of people who are like us.  Sometimes that is people of a similar income level, sometimes it is people of a similar educational level, sometimes it is people with a similar national or ethnic background.

Problem is, that can become idolatry in about twenty seconds flat!!!  There is no scriptural principle that would indicate people are to remain segregated by any of these factors.  If we focus on ethnic/racial divides in the U.S. today, we soon see that in some places, these divisions are turning into chasms.

Oddly, our Generation Y adults spend more time with people of other races than any other generation in the history of our country but they still often reveal as little understanding of each other ethnically as their parents and grandparents.

I can’t count the number of times that I have seen, in my experience with the Navy, people come together for work, then bad mouth each other after hours.  I have heard white liberals making hateful, racist statements against blacks; I have heard white conservatives do the same.

I understand from black friends that there is the same tendency among black adults when whites aren’t present.

Meanwhile, what are we conveying to our children, who must grow up and move about in a multiethnic society?  It is like a national schizophrenia.  We treat each other nicely by day, then go our separate ways for evening activities.  Many, many churches are still segregated, even to the point that a historically white church might be in the midst of what has become a black neighborhood and still not have black members.

Just for one example, the verse at the beginning of this post is interesting because it supports the concept of the family of man.  It has been twisted in the past to say that people shouldn’t marry members of other races.

But look at the verse.  If it were truly forbidding marriages between people outside the bounds of their own habitation, it would be condemning me, for marrying someone from Britain, not American blacks and whites who marry each other as fellow countrymen!

This election year has made me heartsick.  Both parties have made statements that have divided us racially.  Whether those statements were intentional, they have done their damage.

As a conservative woman, I am very used to being treated as though I vote for my own enslavement, so I can relate to the feelings of black conservatives, who tend to be treated as though they are insane.  This election year has probably been particularly hard on them.

But the fact is that God cares less about our politics than we could ever imagine.  He cares about individual hearts, and whether they are right with Him.  And hearts filled with hatred for people who are different from us, whether racially or otherwise, grieve Him.

I John makes it plain that we cannot say we love God and at the same time hate our Christian brother or sister.  Many of our Christian brothers and sisters have different skin colors than us.  It has been that way since the early church (research the different nationalities mentioned in the list of names in Romans 16).

John 17 shows us, in Jesus’ High Priestly prayer right before He went to the cross, His heart’s cry that we all might be one, as one body of believers in Him throughout all the world.

One family of Christ, made up of all believers.  One family of man made up of all human beings.

We practice idolatry when we refuse to see people as God sees them; to love people as God loves them.

The press: Stand against abortion is reviled while underage sexual liaison is ignored

At least the Huffington Post picked up this story!

John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment.”

It all depends on your worldview.

Maybe the reason that the mainstream media have not picked up on the Gauthier story is because it looks like his campaign has already collapsed like a house of cards.  You think?

I mean, Mr. Akin is apologizing all over the place and vowing to stay in his race.  Mr. Gauthier has other members of his party who have already filed the papers to take over his candidacy.

I love lists so I will just list a few contrasts here.  Form your own conclusions.

Mr. Akin is a conservative Republican.  Mr. Gauthier is a Democrat.

However, the Huffington Post is liberal and they, along with some conservative sources, seem to have been the only ones to break the Gauthier story.  The Akin story was on the front page of our local paper today!

Although many pro-life Republicans have wondered aloud why rape is the only crime in which the victim (unborn child) can be punished by capital punishment, there are still not a lot of us willing to force a woman to bear the child of rape.  I think many of us rejoice when a woman can find sufficient forgiveness to carry the child to term.  I am sure it takes a very strong woman to be able to do that.  And that is all I will say about that.

Mr. Akin made a statement that was poorly worded.  The people who want him to resign from his campaign obviously believe that that statement reflects his heart more than his subsequent apology does.

I will say that his statement that women don’t usually get pregnant from rape was foolish but not a crime.  And it was a statement, not an action.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gauthier, age 57, had a liaison with a 17-year-old-boy at a rest stop.  The liaison was arranged via Craig’s List as a “no strings attached” sexual act (Mr. Gauthier placed the ad).

It happens that, in Minnesota, 17-year-olds are regarded as able to give legal consent to sex acts, despite still being minors.

So Mr. Gauthier didn’t commit a crime either, in Minnesota (no pay was given for the sexual act).

However, having a liaison with a minor who is 40 years younger at a rest stop after advertising for the act (and emphasizing that it was merely to be a physical act).  Ugh!  Pretty sleazy.

Doesn’t that speak volumes about the maturity level of the person running for office?  And his inability to be loyal to people, beginning with his intimate partners?  His overall level of seeking pleasure and not caring about the people he encounters (uses) along the way?  Dare we use the words “his morals”???

I am just thinking out loud here without even going to the fact that it was a gay liaison because you all already know that I hold to God’s Word on homosexuality being a sin.  This was sordid regardless of the gender of the minor.

I am going to just make this about worldview.  Is it okay to live in a world in which someone like Mr. Gauthier isn’t even mentioned by the press?  Is what he did totally his business?  Does it not at all affect his abilities to represent people in his state?

At the same time, is it important to expose Mr. Akin on every front page in America because he believes it might be a good thing to let a child conceived during a rape have the gift of life?

Yes, it is all about worldview, isn’t it?

I respectfully offer mine, and will not shout down anyone who disagrees with it.

Just be sure you choose your worldview with your eyes wide open.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MISSOURI_SENATE_RAPE_COMMENTS?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT (the Akin story from our paper today.  I can only embed one “official” link per post)