I have always been the type of person who is VERY opinionated and I usually know my stance on political issues (debate team anyone?), but as I filled out my voter registration form...I realized that as much as I thought I knew about politics and who I should be voting for...I knew nothing.
Now the issue is not that I don't know about each of the candidates policies and platforms, I am pretty educated in Obama and McCain's stance on issues like Iraq, the Economy Crisis, Healthcare, Education, etc. And based on those issues I know where my convictions are (which I won't be sharing because that is not the point of this blog) that is not the issue.
So after seeing how my political views panned out and what that meant for my voting practices...as a Christian I was compelled to look through another lens, perhaps the most important lens...and figure out what Jesus has to say about politics. First off, I absolutely do not believe that Jesus was a "liberal" or a "conservative" so anyone who tried to convince me that he was one or the either proved to be no help. Jesus was a lover. So how does that love translate into political policies?
I think that when Jesus came, he had no political agendas in mind for this time. Like, yeah he wanted to show the people that they were not to worship other gods and be succumbed to religious laws that were destroying their faith...but he didn't come to say 'I am a conservative so you should be, or I am a liberal so you should be.'
The conclusion I came up with is that Jesus is too radical for politics. If you look at his teachings, they were simply out of control. He took everything that anyone had ever known about anything: politics, love, money, etc. and flipped it upside down. He proposed renovations of the hearts in people that no one could have seen coming--but it wasn't about the ‘politics’ of it. It was about the internal change and the becoming one with Christ.
All this to say: I don't think that a "true" Christian should feel forced vote for any particular party. I think that Conservatives have some awesome Godly things to bring to the table and Liberals have some awesome Godly things to bring to the table. I think it's more of a personal decision, if we are reading the Word and soaking in what Jesus was doing...our political convictions will line up with his will. When he engulfs our being, our hearts will break for what breaks his and we will be able to vote based on the compassion he gives us for the world--whatever party that may place us in.
So this probably is not the controversial blog you were expecting, and maybe it doesn’t even help you—you could probably fight me on the “details” and “facts” of the issues…but when it comes down to it, I am going to seek God in my decision. I am not going to be pulled in any direction because it’s the world’s definition of the “Christian” thing to do…I am going to spend time thinking about how Jesus would love this world and the measure that the person I vote for can love this world in comparison.
LF
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