Is this alright to do?.....
Although I am a registered Republican, I am not so sure Jesus is.
So I am driving to work this morning, listening to NPR, and I hear about all the hub-bub going on about he Senate Judicial nominees. I think to myself, "darn Democrats". Really, I did think the word darn....well, this time. Democrats bug me a lot. And they like to take my money from me (ok, so its God's money that I am borrowing for a while, I know).
So, then later today I come across this piece by Michael Spencer about this thing that happened this weekend. Disclaimer, it is going to take a few minutes to read, this but it is so very worth reading. I promise. I must admit, Dr. Dobson has always given me a bit of the willies to listen to. While I appreciate what he has done for the American family, I am not sure I buy all his politics. Particularly because I am not so sure that Jesus' politics and Dr. Dobson's are such a perfect match.
After you have digested Michaels piece, here are my reflections. First, the little I know about Jesus is that he did come to present to us all a completely different paradigm about life here, and the life hereafter. So given this, perhaps Jesus might not be too hot on using the church for political purposes. Now, my friend Rob Asghar would be among the first to remind me that Jesus might have a different paradigm for lots of other things political; how we care for those less fortunate, whether war is really "just" or if that is a convenient form of logic to justify our imperialistic tendencies (spoken by a supporter of the Iraq war), and a host of other issues about our political discourse. We like politics that make our world safe, that keep the bad guys at arms distance. But that darn Jesus, he was a lot more fearless than I am. He was quite a heroic figure, that guy.
There really is a lot more I am not so sure of as I grow older. Maybe Jesus has a "third way", that we might all want to pursue together. What are your thoughts? Does Michael Spencer have a point? Are our paradigms wrong? Lets do some thinking, for the Kingdom.
1 comment:
Steve,
I’ve always been baffled by why Christians get so bent out of shape over the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance. It seems to me that Christians should pledge their allegiance to the God of the bible, not pledge their allegiance to the country of their citizenship. It is conceivable, although not very likely, that in my lifetime, I will need to be anti-American if America represents values that I consider anti-God.
It is for this very reason that Christians have some obligation to be involved politically. America is run by voters who lubricate government with political donations and group representation. Like you, I mostly vote Republican, and occasionally Libertarian. In my case though, I am voting against Democrats, not for Republicans. My views are not represented by James Dobson or anyone else. All I do is vote, which makes me almost irrelevant, but I am just not willing to give financial support to candidates that have much bigger sources of donations, especially in California.
For many years now the political right has tried to associate Jesse Jackson with the Democrat party in order to siphon moderate Democrats. The political left is now using the same strategy with James Dobson. I hear Republicans on the radio express concerns about the religious right. However, National and State elections continue to trend Republican. In the end, I don’t know that James Dobson makes a difference either way.
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