Everything That's On My Mind

Do not put your trust in princes,
       in human beings, who cannot save.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
       on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
       whose hope is in the LORD their God.

Psalm 146:3-5 (TNIV)

I've never endorsed a candidate, but in this case I'll make an exception.

Feel free to print your own yard sign.

In less than a month, we will once again have the opportunity to head to the polls and vote in a national election. This opportunity is a blessing from God that many people around the world do not have. It is also a responsibility and a spiritual discipline for Christians. But like most spiritual disciplines, there is a strong individual component to it. For spiritual disciplines such as prayer and bible reading there are some common principles (such as DO IT!), but how those principles are implemented (such as when, where, how long, etc.) is an individual decision between a believer and God. In the same way, there are scriptural principles that all Christians can apply to their voting decisions but how each individual Christian applies those principles will vary.

One of the worst aspects of the political process is the tendency to demonize opponents. Every one seems to try to paint their opponent as the worst thing since Adolf Hitler. Christians have too often fallen into this trap and not only demonized candidates but also demonized the supporters of those candidates. This is shameful. Christians need to learn to disagree with godly character, humility and love, avoiding the temptation to join the mud-slinging. To paraphrase Paul: There is neither Democrat nor Republican, neither Conservative nor Liberal, neither Left nor Right, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Godly men much smarter than I have written good guidelines for making voting decisions. (For example: here, here, here, here, and here.) I won't bother to reiterate their points, but I will add a few suggestions of my own.

• Do your homework
  This one is obvious and everyone says it, but not everyone does it. Here are some good resources:
  • OnTheIssues.org - See what national candidates (President and Congress) have actually said on specific issues.
  • FactCheck.org - Cut through the spin and distortion, particularly in political advertising.
  • VoteSmart.org - Another site with non-partisan information on candidates.
  • League of Women Voters - Non-partisan voters guides, often right down to local city elections. Oakland County's voters guide is here. Unfortunately, it appears the Macomb County LoWV hasn't joined the 21st century yet.
    
• Avoid playing in the mud
  When candidates or their surrogates (PACs, etc.) go negative, they almost always distort their opponent's position to make a point. Don't fall for it. Find out exactly what the candidates have said and try your best to find non-partisan analysis of those positions.
  
• Donkeys and Elephants are not the only animals God created
  It is my opinion that our political process would be much healthier if we broke up the two party monopoly. That is a daunting task, to be sure. Everyone loves a winner and everyone wants to be on the winning team, so nobody wants to support a third party candidate. I believe our focus should not be on picking a winner but on picking the best candidate for the job, regardless of their popularity.
  
• Don't discount the ugly duckling
  Charismatic people can be scoundrels, and effective leaders are not always Prince Charming. Personality can reflect a person's character or it can hide it. Far too often I hear people expressing opinions about candidates based on their appearance, how they smile or don't smile, their posture, etc. Character is what really matters.

Finally, remember that no matter what happens on November 4, it won't cause the sky to fall. God is still on the throne and whoever is in power is God's tool to accomplish His purposes, whether they know it or not. Our hope for the Kingdom of God should never be in the political process, but in the sovereignty of God and the power of the Gospel.

If you missed tonight's Presidential Forum hosted by Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church, make sure you got over to the Saddleback Civil Forum web site and watch it before November 4. This forum is a unique occurrence in American politics, I've never seen anything like it. It was very, very helpful to me as I'm making my voting deliberations and I think it will be helpful to you as well. Pastor Warren did a good job probing the views of both Barack Obama and John McCain within the limited time available. He asked tough questions and got some interesting answers. Here are some of the questions that I thought were particularly good.

What would be the greatest moral failure of your life? What has been America's greatest moral failure?

What's the most significant position you held 10 years ago that you have now changed?

What does your faith in Jesus mean to you?

Is there a Justice on the Supreme Court right now that you would not have nominated?

What can be done to end religious persecution and human trafficking around the world?

Congratulations and thanks are due to Pastor Warren for putting this event together. It's a real blessing to voters.

UPDATE: The videos are not available yet at the Saddleback Civil Forum site, it may be a rights issue with the networks. The videos are avaiable at CNN, however.

...another political season. Tonight, Iowans meet in caucuses to anoint two presidential nominees. On Tuesday the people of New Hampshire will do their part, then we Michiganders join the fray the following Tuesday.

[General political ranting redacted.]

I tried to write this post a few different times, but each time it sounded angry and/or sarcastic. I'm a bit jaded when it comes to politics. Scratch that...I'm very jaded, but I still believe it is our responsibility as Americans and as Christians to participate in the process. I have no illusions about the process. It's hopelessly flawed and corrupt. That makes it difficult to get motivated, and that's probably one of the reasons the USA has such pitiful voter turnout numbers compared to the rest of the democratic world.

For me, voting is more of a personal spiritual discipline: to prayerfully and thoughtfully determine how I should cast my vote. I don't really care who wins or loses. If I'm backing a losing horse, so be it. My responsibility, especially in presidential elections, is to vote for the person I truly believe would be the best leader for our country, regardless of whether he's "electable". That doesn't make the decision easier, but it does allow me to avoid some compromises.

Both Keith Schooley and Ben Witherington have recently posted good lists of suggestions for primary voters. I can't really add anything useful to what they've written, but I can provide a few resources for research. The League of Women Voters generally provides good, non-partisan information regarding the candidates, although they are sometimes a bit limited in the questions they ask. You may also consult their Michigan and Oakland County branches for more local information when the time comes. I've recently found OnTheIssues.org to be a good resource for information on candidates as well. Finally, FactCheck.org applies a healthy dose of truth serum to political advertising.

So my advice is to do some research, do some praying, vote for the best man (or woman) you see on the list and don't worry who wins or loses. No matter who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Boulevard, God's still on the throne.

There's a great uproar in certain Christian circles regarding the new movie The Golden Compass, which comes out next month. This movie is based on the first book of a series by Philip Pullman. Pullman is one of the new "evangelical atheists" (my term, AFAIK) along with Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, who are actively trying to rid the world of all religions. I have not read Pullman's books, and I expect you haven't either, but author and film reviewer Jeffery Overstreet has and you can read his summary over at the FamilyLife Culture Watch blog.

Historically, a movie like this generates massive protests, email campaigns, and cries for the destruction of Hollywood. Such protests are silly and counter-productive to the extreme. They provide free marketing for the movie in question and in the end probably cause more people to see it rather than less. If it weren't so sad it would be funny.

Christians spend far, far too much time worrying about the "competition" and screaming about how wrong they are. What happened to the Good News? Have we lost faith in the power of the Gospel to the point that we feel it needs our protection? Michael Spencer (the iMonk) has expressed this more eloquently than I could in his fantastic post called "I'm Not Afraid of Atheists (or Their Movie)" which I highly recommend reading. We need to "overcome evil with good", not with a culture war. Paul never needed to attack his opponents, he just preached the Truth. That's what we as Christ-followers need to get back to.

I'll close with this quote from Leadership Journal:

"Paul doesn't bash Artemis. When you tell the story well, you don't have to bash. It's clear. In fact, in Acts 19, the city clerk says to the rioting mob, "Paul has never blasphemed the goddess." One of the distinctive things about the Jesus revolution is they never blasphemed the gods of the cities, and yet the whole city became Christian. That has unbelievable implications for what Christians are doing right now—preachers bashing Hollywood—When you tell the story well, you don't have to."

~ Rob Bell

I found this interesting article today. I don't highlight this article for political reasons. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of either politician at this point. What I find interesting is the ease with which human beings are able to claim they believe something without actually acting to do anything about it. It's not just politicians, it's all of us. We're all prone to hypocrisy. It's very easy for us to point out that trait in others, but how easily do we recognize it in ourselves? Jesus' instructions ring loud and clear: we need to worry more about the plank than the sawdust.

I was thinking about writing an entry in reaction to the recent elections, but as usual my schedule prevents me from doing it justice. Maybe someday I'll be able to have more of a content blog rather than a link blog, but for now...this is primarily a link blog. To that end, I offer a link to a great post by Ben Witherington today entitled "Evangelicals in a Post-Haggard, Post-Rumsfeld World". Dr. Witherington touches on many thoughts I've had in recent days.

We're called to transform the world through the Gospel, not through political influence. Let's stop being Republicans or Democrats or liberals or conservatives and just be followers of Christ. There are no shortcuts to a transformed society. It happens one soul at a time.

Get out and vote! In a democratic society, you have no right to complain about the government if you do not participate in the process. The right to vote is not just a privilege, it is a God-given responsibility. Scripture teaches that God holds leaders and those in government accountable. In a democratic society, that includes us. I don't care who you vote for, but research it, pray about it, and VOTE!

Politics

It's quite a challenge figuring out who to vote for when you're as disillusioned with politics as I am. I've come to the conclusion that one of the main problems with our government is the two-party monopoly on political discussion. To quote Shakespeare, "A plague on both your houses." I've decided I'm going to take a very hard look at the alternative parties like the Constitution/US Taxpayers Party. I hear you say "but they'll never get elected!" So what? My responsibility is to vote my conscience, not to back a "winner".

Religion

Keith Schooley posted a great list of characteristics to determine if a church is more interested in "maintenance" or "mission." The list is from a book by Harold Percy called Good News People. Boy, my reading list is getting longer and longer.

Culture

I don't even know where to begin to address the Ted Haggard situation. All Christians should be praying for Pastor Haggard, his family, and his church. There are trying times ahead and they all need our prayers. We should also be reminded of the truth of the scripture "there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed." We all need to guard our hearts very carefully and stay close to Jesus and to our spouses. Satan seeks to destroy us and our witness, but he can only accomplish it if we cooperate with him.