I just hate it when Christians do this. They get all hyped up & starry eyed when a candidate rings all the right political bells singaling a savior has arrived. It happened with George Bush in two elections. The big story coming out of the 2004 Presidential election was how 'values' voters propelled "W" to a second term. It's a dangerous thing to have power. And sadly I think some in the evangelical right have become enamored with it.
Here we ago again with Mike Huckabee. He won the Iowa caucuses because of the Christian conservatives. Huckabee came in as a savior from what some perceived as a moderately liberal field of candidates. And I guess it doesn't hurt to have Baptist miniserial credentials in your background. Not to mention a winsome personality and a socially conservative track record. Huckabee wooed the conservative voting block and boy did they suck it up.
Anyway, I just thought it might be fun to mention a few things that typically make some people mad. Number one, Mike Huckabee is not savior. No more than George Bush was and is. He's just a man. The political realities of Washington are not conducive to Savior activity. Washington D.C. is a place for martydom not the Savior syndrome. They call it the Washington meat grinder and it indiscriminately chews people up whether they are republican or democrat. Think about it.
Number two, we have to cool down instead of getting hyped up. The political scene is prone to hype. The big story out of Iowa and N.H. is the hype. I mean you wouldn't believe it, they hype these political rallies up like high school pep rallies. And amid all the rah, rah, you find right wing christians praying for God to bless the outcome. Pardon me, but I fail to see the point. How do we justify all that hype in light of scripture anyway? I'd like to where scripture condones it?
Number three, even if the 'wrong' candidate gets elected, it's not the end of the world. When Bill Clinton got elected with less than a majority vote in 1992, I thought I would never hear the end of it. Conservative commentators were heralding the end of the world. Yeah, some damage was done, but also some good. Anyway, it's the same crap I heard from the other side when Bush got elected in 2000. The sky is going to fall, it's the end of the world, blah, blah, blah... a bunch of hooey! The last time I checked, God was still in control. He's not unaware of politcal misteps and musings. I'm sure God has a belly laugh everytime someone spews that crap. Because it's totally false.
I'll leave you with this last thought, Jesus said, "I am A to Z. I'm the God who is, the God who was, and the God about to arrive" Revelation 1:8 The Message Who can argue with that?
Anyway, your turn. I'd like to hear about your political gripes and spiritual struggles with our great democracy.
3 comments:
I'm not a Huckster, but I am not ashamed of being a Christian conservative, values voter. The one thing that makes me mad in the whole political scene is that Christian conservatives are seen as cold, heartless, evil people. I guess because I believe abortion is wrong, believe in tax reform and the private sector, believe in social and fiscal responsibility, I'm cold and heartless.
Let me ask you: why can the Dems push against parental notification when a minor has an abortion, but refuse to allow schools to give out aspirin or tylenol to students without a doctor's note?
Why am I so bad because I believe that I should be able to use my property taxes to educate my two children through a voucher program since our local school is TERRIBLE. "Oh, he's taking money from the children" - they say. Whatever - I am proud to be a conservative Christian, values voter. Who will I support? I really don't know but from what I've seen, it won't be a Dem. Not this crop of them anyway.
BY THE WAY: The Mountaineers of WV put the beat down on the Big 12 and the Oklahoma Sooners!
Hey Bob, just want you to know that I consider these blogs a very valuable place to put ideas on the table and have difficult conversations. It's unfortunate that blogging in isolation usually provides for a less civil or friendly sounding conversation...but some of that is the nature of the medium and we need to consider that as we read. Like the above comment...it's tempting to quickly react to labels like "Christian conservative values voter" and then tendency to further polarize. Shouldn't our conversations take us back to Jesus and prompt us to ask...do our "voter values" line up with Jesus' perspective on taxes, economics, personal gain, human rights, etc??
Hey Bob...good stuff! I just read your most recent comment on my blog and want to respond here in case you don't get the trackbacks on comments from there...I'll paste this over there too.
But anyway...great responses. It actually makes me feel much better about your comments. I'm still fuzzy on the liberation theology stuff b/c I don't totally understand it. I think I drifted off during that lecture from Dr. Cubie! Only one phrase really bothers me from your comment..."getting bogged down with issues of justice..." or something like that. That just raises a red flag for me b/c I think contemporary christians (especially american ones) don't get the significance of justice issues (minor prophets...hello, McFly)
But seriously...thanks for your passionate responses.
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