random political thought

I was thinking today about this idea that seems to permeate the thinking of many Christians I come into contact with. That is the idea that we need to get the "right" person into office, or else God will remove His hand from our country. Or remove his blessing. Basically, the idea that voting the "wrong" guy into office is a sign of sort of walking away from God.

as if our country hasn't already done that collectively.

But let me present a thought that occurred to me today. 8 years ago, the most disputed election in history ended with us electing an admittedly, unabashedly Christian man into office. Regardless of feeling I've heard (and personally wondered about) the genuineness of his faith- and ultimately the compromise that i believe being Christian and President of the US would entail, he admits to being a man of faith, and man guided by prayer and a man who trusts in God.

In the last 8 years, however, our country has suffered some of its most horrific experiences. Our own soil, mainland soil, was attacked by terrorists. We have involved ourselves in a war that seems to have no end, nor does there seem to be any way of measuring it. The housing market has dropped out- and it did NOT just start recently- this has been going on for years now. The stock market has dropped, and dropped, and... you get the point. Major banks, insurance firms and other financial institutions would have gone belly-up- and some may still- without government intervention- which, surprisingly made even more people uneasy. The value of our money has dropped- both against European money and against Canadian currency!

Perhaps it's not a matter of voting for the Christian to keep God' hand on America- because how much it seems the opposite in our current circumstances...

just a random thought...

Our Hope

Came across this quote the other day- it's well over 10 years old, and yet... i encourage each to ponder it many times as I have.

"Where is the hope? I meet millions who say they feel demoralized by the decay around us. where is the hope? the hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws are passed, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that’s where our hope is in this country, that’s where our hope is in life"

- a few Christians I know seem to have forgotten this. And it makes me think some of the Christian leaders out there trying to manipulate the election have forgotten as well. I myself post this because I needed to be reminded.

ps- props to the person who can post via reply to this the origins of this quote.

finding the truth...

I want to look at a popular way of thinking I’ve run into, and it becomes more prevalent during election times. People want to believe what they believe- because it supports what they want to do. They will believe what they believe and not actively search out the truth regarding that subject because what they believe perpetuates their course of action. In the case of politics, it’s so often this case. This time around, I STILL hear that Barrack Obama is a Muslim terrorist who’s an extremist. Why do people believe this? Because they want to vote republican. So, despite the overwhelming lack of support for their belief, they will believe what someone else has told them (as a flat lie, in this case) because it perpetuates their desire to vote Republican.

I read an article last night that quoted a woman as saying that she heard Obama is a Muslim terrorist. She could easily find dozens of places to dispel that rumor, but she WANTS to vote for a republican, and, especially now as the gap widens in the polls, people will cling to what they can to support what they want to do.

Doesn’t this permeate our Christian thinking, too? We want to pursue our course of action- living for ourselves, living in our affluence, going to church on Sunday. So we take the Bible to say that God wants us to be healthy & wealthy- that we are responsible to no one- and that God helps those who help themselves. If only those people who are in need would help themselves, God would help. So many honestly believe these things without doing the small amount of research in the Bible to show this is all false. And they believe it because? It perpetuates the lifestyle we live, alleviates our guilt of selfishness and gives us a warm fuzzy instead.