My First, and Probably Last, Blog on Politics

Today I read a bit of dialogue taking place between a couple of people on Facebook. The subject was politics. The conversation was an argument over political “groups” on Facebook and their effectiveness. The discussion didn’t involve me but it did cause me to think about my own political opinions and how they’ve been affected by my walk with Christ.

As long as I can remember, I’ve been very conservative. I heard a saying once that if you’re not a Democrat in your 20’s, you don’t have a heart, and if you’re not a Republican in your 30’s, you don’t have a brain (or something along those lines). Well, I guess I’ve never had a heart because, while I’ve never been a card-carrying Republican, I’ve been a Conservative since I was a teenager. Years ago, I was a political junkie and lived to listen to all things political. I watched all the news shows, especially the Fox News Channel, and I was a huge fan of conservative talk radio. I almost never missed an episode of The Neal Boortz show (probably the biggest source of my Libertarian leanings) and even found myself listening to Rush Limbaugh occasionally. It didn’t take me long to get sick of Rush because he’s so full of himself, but you get my point, I liked political stuff.

These days I don’t listen to any of that stuff. Neal Boortz is entertaining but I just got tired of him trying to point out the hypocrisy of Christians while being a hypocrite himself. I don’t listen to Rush anymore, well, because he’s Rush and he’s obnoxious. I don’t watch the news channels anymore because I don’t watch any channels anymore. I have a TV but it’s unplugged and sitting in a closet. It’s not that I don’t think politics is important anymore. Obviously politics affects us all whether we want it to or not. I think it’s quite important and I participate in it, I just don’t give it undue attention.

Politics seems to bring out the bad side of people. I’ve seen people whom I would consider to be intelligent people, say some pretty stupid things just to get their person (or party) of choice in office. I remember when it was coming time to elect the successor to Bill Clinton, there were some Democrats saying that we should change the U.S. Constitution to elect him for a third term…that was stupid. Soon after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, I remember hearing some Republicans say that we should change the Constitution to allow someone who wasn’t born a U.S. citizen to be President…that was stupid too.

This election season has brought out the “stupids” as well. I’ve heard everything from “Sarah Palin is going to kill all the polar bears” to “Obama is a terrorist and he’s going to make the U.S. a Muslim country.” Good grief! As my professor at West Georgia, Dr. Hovey, once told my class on a totally unrelated topic, “Don’t be stupid!”

The discussion I mentioned at the beginning was about Facebook groups. These groups often involve arguments such as these, or worse. The reason I mention them is that, in the discussion of these groups, one of the people involved said that she would stop inviting people to join the groups when, as she put it, “Obama becomes elected and I have to simply resign myself to praying to God to help our nation over the next 4 years.” I know plenty of people with this kind of attitude and I would submit that it’s the wrong attitude to have about the election.

First off, Christians should be praying for God to help our nation no matter who wins the Presidential election, but that’s not the real problem I have. The problem is that we all try to do everything we can do, we take every precaution and make all necessary arrangements for success, and if everything we do ultimately falls through, then, and only then, do we depend on God for His help. That is exactly the reverse of what we should do. Our first step should be to trust in God no matter what’s happening. Remember, God is sovereign. That means He is totally in control and nothing surprises Him. Whether Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama wins the election, it’s not going to be some huge surprise to God and He’s not going to be sitting in heaven, wringing His hands, trying to figure out a way to deal with it. I hope Sen. Obama doesn’t win but I have a feeling he will. I’m definitely not the political prognosticator who has all the knowledge and experience and can guess who will win with much accuracy, but I just have a feeling that there will be more people to vote against Sen. McCain than there will be to vote against Sen. Obama. Please hear me, no matter who wins, Jesus is Lord…and I’m not just saying that to be trite, it’s the truth. I hope that people will not read that and say “Yes, that’s true” and then go right back to worrying about what’s going to happen.

I don’t know what the Lord has in store for our country. Perhaps the next four years will be a time of renewal for America. Maybe great strides will be made to ensure the freedom of all people by defending the unborn, to protect the sanctity and covenant nature of marriage, etc. Then again, maybe a direct assault will take place on these things and maybe the Lord will use this time to open the eyes of our nation and the world. As I said, I don’t know what’s in store for us. I do know, however, that God WILL be glorified. It may not seem like it to us, as a matter of fact, it may seem to be the opposite, but what man means for evil, God means for good.

I sincerely hope that everyone reading this will place their hope not in a candidate and not in a country, but in Christ. One of my favorite songwriters, Derek Webb has a song that captures this idea quite well: “My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. No, my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood…it’s to a King and a kingdom.”

We are all sinners. The Bible tells us that “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)...no one is exempt from the judgment of God’s righteous and perfect wrath, but that's not the end of the sentence. The next verse says "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). In order for us to escape eternal punishment for our sin, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, was tortured and murdered in the most humiliating and degrading way possible, as our sacrifice. His was the only sacrifice sufficient to forgive us of our sin, no other sacrifice could possibly cover our sins. If we believe in Christ, in that King and His kingdom, and trust in Him as our Savior, we are forgiven of those sins and welcomed into fellowship with God. I hope you sincerely put your trust in Him.

CRH

I love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2