History-Both Made and Repeating...

MY GOODNESS!!! What history has been made last night! I find it interesting that at the same time history is being made, it is also repeating itself as people stand by and celebrate.

So much to say...I've said some of this to some of you that may read this already, so I apologize if you hear it twice...

First, let me say that my political views are dictated by the Bible. Many people believe these two things-politics and the Word of God-should be kept separate. Keep the Bible on your coffee table, by your bed, or on your bookshelf, to indicate that yours is a "Christian" household. Bring it with you on Sundays when you head to church. Even crack it open during the week for some encouraging devotional time. But when it comes to politics, what the Word of God says is often smothered under a bubble wrap of political correctness. If we see that what Jesus taught offends some people, then our voices falter and our opinions on right and wrong waiver. How interesting that not wanting people to get offended is usually all it takes to weaken the passion in a Christian.

Even though the Bible clearly states in the New Testament that homosexuality is a sin, Christians still voted for a leader who has backed giving rights to homosexual couples getting married (note: many say that the Bible cannot be trusted as a source on this because it is in the Levitical law that it condemns homosexuality, along with things like stoning for adultery, etc., and of course we don't stone for adultery now...however, when Jesus came, he set all Christians free from following the Mosaic law, then AFTER THAT homosexuality was reaffirmed as a sin). Gays and lesbians should, by all means, be loved with the love of Christ and welcomed into the church as a means to show them the path to Christianity. However, it is possible to love the sinner and condemn the sin. Many Christians go to either one extreme or the other on this. They either hate the sinner because of the sin and think gays shouldn't be allowed in church (while at the same time turning a blind eye to all the premarital heterosexual sex going on around them), or they refuse to condemn homosexuality as a sin, even though it is clearly stated as such in the Bible.

Even though the Bible clearly states that all life is sacred and that God formed us in the "secret place" and knew us before we were formed in our mother's womb, Christians still voted for a leader who has voted for late-term abortion. I can't even get into how any human can rationalize that one out...that's another blog entirely.

Even though the Bible clearly states that sexual immorality is destroying your body, which is the temple of God if you're a Christian, Christians still voted for a leader who has worked with the porn industry lobbyists to protect their "freedom" of speech on the internet; not just allowing the porn industry on the internet, but protecting their right to send out unasked-for pop-up ads.

So, there are those who do believe that while what the Bible says is all well-and-good for our individual, personal, private lives, we shouldn't lead a country based on it. I'm trying to make sense of how I should then have a relationship with Jesus if I were to believe that. How could I say to Him, "Well, I understand that Your wisdom and teachings are valuable enough for you to die for and that you commanded me to take up my cross also, every day, and follow You. You commanded me to learn Your word and follow it. However, I'd like to be led by somebody who doesn't agree with Your teachings." It makes NO SENSE to me.

How are there mega-churches with thousands of people celebrating the name of God in a loud, unified roar of praise, and yet the vote went the way that it did? How are there nation-wide revivals at huge Christian concerts and events, and yet the vote went the way that it did? There is a hugely sharp contrast, it appears, to what the Christian wants to get FROM God and what the Christian wants to keep God OUT of. When things go wrong in our country (9/11), we wonder where God was. Yet, we ask Him to please stay out of things like abortion and moral issues.

I think about the Israelites...God's named, chosen people. They went for generations with warnings and second chances, with God always restoring them, forgiving them, loving them, reviving them. Then, one day, God finally said, "Enough!" Israel was rejecting Him, blatantly and directly in the face of God, saying that His word was not something that needed to be followed. They worshiped the idols of their neighbors. They forgot the laws He had given them. They no longer taught it to their children, like God had commanded them to do. And when God finally removed His hand from them, the once-proud people found themselves invaded, torn apart, and forever changed as a consequence for turning from Him.

But that brings me to the other point. As Christians, we should be mindful of this history that is a part of our belief system, and we should be wary of repeating it. However, those who are not Christians don't have the Bible as their authority, and so they don't worry about anything like God removing His hand from our nation. They should, however, be mindful of history repeating itself from the last few centuries. Redistribution of wealth? SERIOUSLY??? Like I said last night, read Orwell's Animal Farm, people!!! This plan has proven, time and time again, to fail!

It is a MONUMENTALLY stale, idealistically naive tactic, promised in a Wizard-of-Ozish way to a nation full of people who obviously slept through their World History class! Behind a curtain of promises Obama can sit and deliver his speeches, but when the curtain is pulled back it will reveal, like it ALWAYS has before in history, nothing but a short-term procrastination band-aid fix to the economic problems.

I don't make a lot of money, but I don't want to accept the wealth of those who spent years of sweat, time, money, and sacrifice to invest in their future! Those who are wealthy earned it. (Okay, most of them. Granted, Paris Hilton has done very little...) Where is our pride? Are we really a nation who now wants to just sit back and take from those who have worked so hard to get to where they are? Does no one remember the bread lines that stretched forever in Russia? The family that risked their lives to escape communist Germany by sailing in a homemade hot-air balloon over the Berlin wall? Has anyone ever read The Giver? I don't ever want my children to be handed a free pass at receiving someone else's money. I want them to know the simple policy of work=reward. I WILL teach them that there is an issue of personal pride that comes from working hard, investing in yourself, and reaping the rewards later down the line.

Now, I am not cold-hearted. As a Christian, I do believe the Bible also commands us to help those less fortunate than us. But giving them a long-term planned free handout is not helping. It is enabling them to stay less fortunate than us for the rest of their lives. Remember the Chinese proverb that says, "give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you feed him for life..." That is what we should be focusing on, and redistributing everyone's wealth is not the way to do it.

I am extremely proud to be a part of a nation that has finally overcome a huge racial obstacle, and I am aware that the fact that we have a President who is half African-American will be a wonderful motivator to those trying to make themselves better. I am proud to be alive during this history-making moment, and I will always remember where I was when they officially announced the next President of the United States. But I will also remember the look of sheer ecstasy from the roaring crowd on television waiting to hear Obama speak. And I will never understand.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 teaches that I should pray for those in authority over me. It doesn't say only if I agree with them/only if I voted for them/only if they can give me what I want. It simply says to pray for them. And I will...I will pray for Obama. I will pray for him to have wisdom. I will pray for him to realize that he cannot handle the monumental task of leading our nation without spending time on his knees before God asking for guidance. But with that prayer, I also am praying for the Christians of our nation. They, we, MUST take a stronger stance on what we proclaim to stand for. Upholding moral rights that are taught in the Bible must be our top priority...we must learn to desire a leader that wants, himself, to be led by the guidance of God.