Election Day

Today is the day. Election day. If you haven't voted yet and are planning to, you might want to stop reading this and head to your polling place because there is not much time left. I have a brief message for you all today: No matter who wins, we are saved by Christ and that makes us the real winners!

So if your candidate wins, don't gloat. If your candidate loses, don't sulk. The government and politicians won't save us. Only by the love of Christ will we be saved. So really, the election doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is our relationship with Christ and with each other. So love your neighbor whether they vote for Republicans, Democrats, an alternate candidate or didn't vote at all.

Billy Graham and the Mormon Cult

On the always entertaining Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert makes light of an issue between Billy Graham and his own philosophy. Watch the clip here (starts at the 2:52 mark). Basically, Billy Graham had declared Mormonism a cult on his website until he met with Mitt Romney. Now suddenly he is supporting Romney and has removed the listing of Mormonism as a cult from his website.

I have no problem if he wants to support Romney or even to remove a list of cults from his website. But I think if he is changing his opinion on what is Christianity or not based on political parties, then he is wrong. Maybe he isn't, maybe he is just being polite, but I would much rather him remove all references to other religions as cults rather than just the one of the presidential candidate he likes.

Loose Ends

I want to finish off this week by adding some further commentary on a few topics I have already covered and some references.

http://romneymegaprayer.com/
This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about in my post: Pray for Our Leaders. It is urging Christians to pray for a Mitt Romney victory. What happens if Romney still loses? Does that mean God doesn't exist or that Satan controls America? No. We should be praying for God's will to be done. God knows what is best for us. Vote for whoever you want, but know that God's plan is at work however it turns out.

http://matthewpaulturner.net/blog/watch-this-never-before-seen-footage-of-mormon-temple-rituals/
This is a video that is clearly made with an anti-Romney, anti-Mormon slant, but I thought it was interesting following my post: Our Christian President. I don't know how much of the video is true, but I have heard some of it before. Whether you care about having a Christian president or not, a lot of people will take it into consideration (although many are misinformed.)

Nolabels.org
This is an organization I really like. They promote getting things done by reaching across the political party lines. They have ideas for congress and the presidency. I think it is something every American can get behind - working together.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ellenpainterdollar/2012/10/why-i-am-a-christian-democrat/
A friend sent this link to me a few days ago. It is a well written explanation of why one woman is a Christian and a democrat. You don't have to agree with her, but I think it is worth your time to check out.

Finally, I would be remiss to not mention the book I have been reading lately: "Red Letter Revolution". It has really made me think about a lot of different issues (most not political.) It is about living out the words of Jesus I all aspects of our lives. I recommend it to everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ.

I'm a Christian and I Support Gay Marriage

Like I said in my first blog post, I overheard a co-worker of mine say, "You aren't a real Christian if you support gay marriage." But I disagree. I think you can be a Christian and support gay marriage in America. Here are a few reasons why.

First, discrimination should not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form in America. There is a video going around on the internet of a Missouri Pastor giving a speech defending gay-marriage. You can watch it here. It is a great example of how similar the homosexual community is being treated similarly to the black community in the early 20th century. The question is why? How is this allowed? It is allowed because people like to go into their Bibles and read it to match their worldview instead of the other way around. It is allowed because people are scared of what they don't understand. It is allowed because people want the government to not overstep their bounds when it comes to their rights, but don't care about more regulation in others' lives. All of that is unacceptable. All Americans should have equal rights.

Second, the government is not a Christian government. The government should be impartial to religion. So if people are using religious reasons to denounce gay marriage, the government should not take that into account. I'm not totally sold that the government should be regulation heterosexual marriages either, but if they are making laws on marriage, it should be equal for all people. I know I have touched on this in previous posts, but it is not the government's job to convert people to Christianity. I have seen where people are afraid if gay marriage is legal, it will be required for church's to perform them even if they are against it. That is just fear talking. If made legal, churches will still be allowed to marry who they deem fit. Besides, what gay couple would want to get married in a church that doesn't accept them?

Finally, gay marriage won't affect you if you are heterosexual. What does it matter to you if a gay couple gets married? Do you think it will ruin the sanctity of marriage? I think all of the divorces (around 50% of all marriages in this country) have taken a bat to the sanctity already. Besides, sanctity should be the church's thing, not the government's.

I was originally going to dive into some theological issues about it, but I know it is complicated for a lot of people. Some churches and denominations will be OK with it, and others won't. But I will leave you with a few things to ponder without my input.

• An old college friend of mine was really passionate about this issue. She once told me that she thinks of the homosexual community as the same as the tax collectors of Jesus' day. Hated, shunned, thought of as lesser people. And yet Jesus loved them. He broke bread with them. He invited one to be his disciple. She felt that we as Christians should be the most accepting group of people to the homosexual community in imitating Christ.

• Here is the response from that Missouri pastor to all the backlash he got. He has a lot of really good stuff in there. He quotes author Brian McLaren saying, "the Western church had been wrong on slavery, wrong on colonialism, wrong on environmental plunder, wrong on subordinating women, wrong on segregation and apartheid (all of which it justified biblically) … we had been wrong on this issue" 

• There is a really good documentary (it is on Netflix) called For the Bible Tells Me So that talks about the church's relationship over the years with the homosexual community. There is a lot of stuff in there that will make you think. It is worth your time.

So take it as you will. I know some people will never come around on this topic. They believe the 11th commandment was "thou shall not legalize gay marriage." OK, that was joke, they probably don't believe that. I'm just asking you to open your mind and see if this is something the government should be worrying about or not.

I know it can be hard to stand against the grain and speak out for what you believe, but say it with me now: "I'm a Christian and I support gay marriage." There. Doesn't that feel better?

Good Stewards of Nature

Genesis 1 tells us that God created the earth and everything upon it. Then He declared it good. I think we, as Christians, should be great caretakers of the earth. I think it is our duty to care for something that God created so wonderfully.

Some Christians will say that "this world is not my home" and use that as an excuse to not care about about how we treat the earth. Yes, I believe Jesus will return one day and save us all from this world. I do not, however, believe that will happen in my lifetime. Every generation since Jesus ascended into heaven has thought His return would be in their lifetime. So I don't assume that this is the one He has in mind. It might be, but I'm not going to trash the earth based on the possibility of Him returning in the next few years. We should be striving to preserve the beauty of God in nature for future generations.

I also believe that the United States should be leading the world in new technology that would lead to less dependence on foreign oil. We can help preserve nature by burning less oil while at the same time leading an industry that will lead to more jobs here and exportation of technology to other countries.

Also, I know a lot of people find God in nature. Spending time in a place that is the same as God originally made it can be awe inspiring. If people can find God somewhere, shouldn't we be doing everything in our power to help preserve it? We should be working on being good stewards of what God has given us, and that includes nature.

Christian Negativity

I believe as Christians, we are called to be kind to one another. We should not be the one's out there talking badly about another Christian. And yet, when politics come into play, that seems to go by the way-side. Negative ads everywhere are bad enough, do we really need to be wasting our precious time spent together talking negatively about another person?

People all over the country are having discussions with each other about politics. How many of those conversations are more negative than positive? We tend to live in a world where people choose their candidates based on who is the "lesser of two evils." Shouldn't we be voting on someone who we support, rather than someone who doesn't bother us as much as the other guy? I know it is hard when you don't agree on all topics with a candidate, after all, it is nearly impossible to completely agree on every topic with anybody! But I encourage you to find the issues that matter the most to you and support the candidate that most lines up with that rather than spending your time worrying about the candidate that most disagrees.

Christian churches and organizations are no small players when it comes to negative campaigning and that is sad. Personally, I don't think churches and Christian organizations should be worrying about politics (they should be worrying about bringing people to Christ!) When they do find their way into politics, they should be a positive beacon of light in the otherwise dark negativity of election season. Unfortunately, these organizations tend to concentrate on telling Christians which candidates are more against their "Christian values." Take for example this letter from four years ago made by Focus On The Family (no strangers to promoting negativity in Christianity themselves, just ask the homosexual community) titled Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America. They sent this out to persuade Christians to not vote for Obama because of all the bad things he would do and how he would hurt America. Of course, non of their fears actually came true.

I heard from a friend about a month ago that their pastor challenged their congregation to go the rest of the election season without talking negatively about a candidate. Challenging? Yes. Impossible? No. There is now one week left before the elections, and I think this is a good idea for all of us Christians. Talk all you want in support of the things your favorite candidate is proposing, but stay away from talking negatively about the other candidates. Christians speaking negatively about another person (never mind another Christian) reflects poorly upon you, and more importantly upon Christ.

Political Spending

In the October issue of Atlantic Monthly, James Bennet noted that a total of $9.8 billion will be spent on political advertising in the current campaign cycle. Have you donated to a political campaign or Super-PAC?

I think before any Christian donates to a political campaign, they should pledge to match that donation to a charity or non-profit organization. With the current economy, non-profit organizations have been hit hard. This article from the Indy Star talked about how it causes some burnout of employees who now must do more jobs than they were hired to do because they can't afford to hire new employees. Wouldn't the country be better off if these organizations that can really make a difference get more donations?

What if the candidate you donated to loses? Your money has been wasted. But if you have spent the same amount of money on charities, you can feel a whole lot better about it.

I'm not talking about matching your political contributions to your tithing amount. I'm talking about on top of that. I think this would be a good way to make some good things happen out of an otherwise ugly and argumentative political season.