Pro What I Believe

I am not gung-hoe about any candidate. In fact, I pretty dislike all of them. After all, no candidate is “Pro Everything I Believe.” No candidate is even close. And last I knew, that was a good thing to vote on: what we believe, right? Or more specifically, as a follower of Jesus I am pretty sure I should vote for what matters to Him (as I agree). Yet, this is where it gets difficult. That has a lot to do with the fact Jesus really didn’t care about politics, or at least that is what I understand when I read the gospels. He cares about people. A whole lot. Everyone was expecting the “Messiah,” the guy whom they understood would take back David’s rightful place on the throne. They wanted the political hero, the zealot who would take back Israel with a vengeance and reap justice and return peace. I have no doubt Jesus was down with that, but He was very clear that it wasn’t the time for that even though He totally could have then. Yet when Jesus could have gotten all sucked into the realm of ruling, instead He was determined to show His followers this was a time for humility, a time for serving others and loving people to the fullest degree. He claims He will come back some day and do the whole ruling deal, bringing justice and make our world into the most perfect utopia. I believe that. I am pretty sure its not going to happen as long as humans are on the throne, at least.

I know some of you have heard me talk so happily about socialism. Whether its my Communist Celebration Chili (which tastes awesome by the way) or the fact I rather admire Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to the poor (i.e., redistributing wealth), either which way, maybe you could call me a sympathizer. I like the fact that the first followers of Jesus shared all the had, ate together and gave everything of theirs to who needed it. I think its ideal. Yet, ideal or not, its impossible with human nature around. Pretty soon that didn’t work out when the “followers” of Jesus started lying about what they were giving. Apparently that was pretty unjust and wrong in God’s eyes, as those who did that died instantly. I don’t think God was trying to teach a lesson that socialism is evil. But that’s an example of how it can’t work. People are power hungry or money hungry, which makes socialism into a scary system when it is actually in effect. When we were in China those we met completely glorified their government, not realizing how little opportunity, life, and how much oppression they were under within that communistic system. My husband also raised another good point the other day, that within a socialistic government there is no motivation to work for anything. Of course, if everyone was perfect they would joyfully work hard for the beauty of loving their neighbor in the name of justice. So, once again the ideal of socialism falls short unless everyone is like God, and perfect and self-less in every way. So, despite those reasons as being extreme downfalls to the system, I think I would like socialism.

Yet, as that obviously can’t work out, there is then the idea of a theocracy. This can go wrong pretty easily with the very likely possibility of a dictator being in charge. But even if there was a perfect monarch on the throne to beautify the Musketeers’ motto “all for one and one for all,” there are other problems. The first of which would be that it depends on which religion the theocracy is based. Currently there are many Islamic theocracies. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t want to be part of their kingdoms. I guess that would have a lot to do with the fact that I disagree with Islam as a religion. You’ve gotta get the right religion on the throne. And no, that would not be Judaism either, following the example of the old testament. I think that can teach us a lot about God, but honestly, Jesus came to free us from that system and fulfill it at the same time. It is not current, no matter how many Christians want to glorify it. Seriously, we’d all be missing body parts or have been put to death by now if we lived under this system. Us girls would be hidden away for much too long of the month, there would be dead sacrificial animal blood everywhere near the temple, and we’d never get to eat ham for Christmas (Excuse me, the Festival of Lights). There were a lot of benefits of it at the time, but it never worked out because God’s people wanted power, abused power, didn’t listen to God, and never shared God with others. It might have been an ideal if God was really in charge of it, with perfect justice and yet mercy being the ruling factors……but because of the choice of the people, it is the not the ideal. Maybe in a case where we could remove human nature and free choice once again…..

So, in the end we have a democracy. Its wonderful. And scary. Here we are, with our free choice making decisions again……by the end of tomorrow the choice of the people will decide what direction our country will go in for the next four years and beyond.