Hello again. My wife was supposed to leave my Gameboy at my parent's house. She didn't. I'm waiting till 7:00. Then I get to go to the ballpark, which is right outside the back door, and watch a boy, whom I taught how to throw a curveball on Monday, pitch. He won on Monday night and is back at it tonight.
I am going to respond to the comments to the Ryan Dobson interview left by Ben Brown.
"On Christian's and the Political Process:
Are we to compromise? Christianity in general, I would say, is not a lifestyle of compromise. Most things of great importance are relatively cut and dry (in general, let's not get too specific). So when electing leaders are we to compromise our beliefs in order to get someone elected who fulfills some of our beliefs? I don't know that I will be voting for president this year. I may vote on particular proposals, etc. if there are any, but I don't know if I can give my vote to either presidential candidate with good conscience."
I share your disillusionment. That is why I liked Alan Keyes so much. I felt I didn't have to compromise on any of my beliefs in voting for him. I'm sure if I looked hard enought I would find some disagreement, but overall I love the man and his beliefs. Now, I feel I am left with the lesser of two evils.
"Bush: yes he says he's a christian, yes he talks about God, yes he stands up for many things he believes in, but at the same time he sanctions the killing of hundreds of people, and is willing to talk about it openly. Say what you will about national security, I'm just not sure killing is ok anymore given God's provided grace. Bush's willing to ruin natural habitat's (God's good earth, and creatures) to dig up fossil fuels that are only going to prolong our dependence on them."
I'm sure I will more thoroughly address the topic of Christians and war in the future. Here is the cliff notes version of where I stand right now. War is fine. There will be war. God uses war to furthre his cause. God could be wanting America to go to war right now. God used pagan nations to punish other nations, even His nation of Israel, in the Old Testament. War is not out of God's will. Maybe one could argue that it used to be in His will but in the New Covenant it is no more. I would have a tough time buying that.
I feel God is trying to bring the whole world to a point of redemption. If that means removing a regime from power, then he will do that. If that means removing a group of people from the face of the earth, then He will do that. He is worried about the redemption of the whole world, not just one small people group.
When it comes to Christians, I have a different stance. I believe a Christian should never kill another human being. I do not believe Jesus' stance on turning the other cheek was allegorical. We are called to be the priesthood of believers. What sort of priesthood goes around killing people. We are called to be the religious element in every nation. We are called to intercede on behalf of all of the lost. We are called to be the kingdom of God. In so doing, we have no nation that we would be willing to die for. God's people are no longer a physical nation but a physical church.
How do we know whether the person on the "enemy's" lines is not also a follower of Christ? What message of love are we showing to those that we are firing bullets at? The world will take care of itself. God will call nations to remove those who are in the way of the expansion of His kingdom. I do not think he would call Chrstians to be the one's to do the bloody work. As always, I could be wrong.
On to Bush. He might be a Christian. I don't know. However, I do have trepidation concerning Dick Cheney's association with Halliburton and their role in Iraq. As a matter of fact, our Christian President's right hand man just told someone today to go F themselves.
"Kerry: Ok with abortion, ok with "gay" rights (Regan, you should get John N's take on the current concept of homosexuality, it's way cool), etc. But at the same time I would be willing to pay his 50cent gas tax if it meant getting rid of gasoline in 10 years."
I don't think I could ever vote for John Kerry. His statements about how his relgion is personal and would not ever interfere with his public life scared the crap out of me. (That might not be the best link, but I have to go to the baseball game. Although this is near the middle of the post, it is the last thing I typed.) As I said before, I think it is completely fine for the church to influence the government. I do not believe that the government should ever influence the church.
"Does mostly good outweigh some bad or visa-versa? How do I vote for someone that doesn't represent... or rather how do I vote for someone who consciously makes decisions that I view as unethical, even unChristian? Voting for someone who sanctions killing (soldiers/cilivians or fetus's) is something that's hard for me to swallow. I'd be more comfortable voting for a completely faithful Christian with no chance of getting into office than I would compromising and allowing someone who would do 'a few little' unChristian things in the midst of greater good. Wouldn't that be more intolerant?"
The very nature of a democracy says that a Christian is unlikely to get elected because he represents more than just Christians (at this point, maybe this is where the Christian Exodus has a leg up, I don't know).
I agree for the most part that we should be more intolerant, but I'm taking my intolerance along with me to the polls if and when I go. Why should I tolerate bad policy?"
Here. Here.
I agree 100%.
"p.s. Regan, you would make a great defense attorney. You come up with so much material that it makes it almost impossible to even respond to your thoughts. Does your brain ever hurt?"
I do get headaches sometimes. They have gone down tremendously since I quit the caffeine.
Watch out for the potholes.
