I don't claim to know much about politics.
Whatever it is that I might know about one political happening or another I learn in one of two ways:
1. By catching it on Morning Edition on NPR. Morning Edition is my way of both getting a healthy dose of intellectual-sounding words in my head before I get to work, and getting just enough liberal crap in my head to offset all of the conservative crap I hear on my radio alarm clock, which is tuned to AM talk radio. My hope is that I’m fairly moderate, or at least appropriately confused, before I get to work.
2. By reading the free New York Times or USA Today that gets left on the doorstep of my hotel rooms. I don’t know how they decide which one to leave me on any given day, but I’m starting to collect some quantitative data on that, and so far I have linked it to whether or not I rehang my bathroom towels.
And, true to my form, despite having a breadth of political knowledge that resembles a Necco wafer, I tend to spout off about it a lot. So, in that vein, here are my honest positions on issues that make people angry:
The Death Penalty: If I could write a slogan more clever than this one, which I saw once on a bumper sticker outside of a Catholic school, I would: “It seems wrong to me to kill people who kill people to show people that killing people is wrong.” The death penalty is not a deterrent, it’s not a cost-saver, and the only person it seems to stop is the guy strapped into the chair. The defenseless guy strapped into the chair. The fact that we’re killing people based on our legal system, which is biased, influenced, affected, racist and flawed (as any legal system is) really really freaks me out. Since the birth of DNA evidence analysis, more than 60 inmates have been released from death row. Just… …think… …about… …that…
Abortion: For all of you who are waiting for this Christian to say something right-wingy and intolerant about how cruel and awful abortion is…
…you’re right on time. Abortion is cruel and awful. I’m a little mixed on situations where the mother’s life is in danger, because then it’s kill one person or kill another…but babies, unborn or otherwise, are people, and they deserve the same chance to screw up or champion their lives as the rest of us do.
Homosexuality: I don’t know if being gay is wrong. I think most gay folks are born gay, and I’m guessing a few other folks subconsciously become gay because of one reason or another, and very very few choose to be gay on purpose. The Bible says it’s wrong. My heart says it isn’t. So…what do you do with that? I’ll tell you what you do, if you’re me: you realize that if being gay is wrong then gay people are doing wrong stuff just like I’m doing wrong stuff every day, and that I’m no different…no better or worse or more loved by God or less loved by God…then they are. Bottom line. If you choose to be gay, then you’re a braver man than I’ll ever be…I can’t imagine all that you’d have to put up with. Point is, I’m not better than you are, and I’m no worse. You’re a child of God, not a gay child of God or a straight child of God. Go be gay, don’t be gay, but God loves you and I just the same.
Euthanasia: I respect people’s right to die, and particularly respect their right to kill themselves, so long as they don’t kill or wound anybody else in the process. I think your right to die and your right to your thoughts are just about the only two inalienable rights on the planet, and unless we can prove that you are mentally unfit to make any decisions about your own life or death (such as a jilted lover who, in a fit of depression, goes running to her GP looking for a lethal dose of sodium pentathol). If you’re a cancer patient who is struggling with the pain everyday…or even just a cancer patient who doesn’t want to fight it anymore and is ready to go home…and has carefully thought this out…by all means, Doc, make it happen. Seems contradictory to be so against the death penalty and abortion and so in favor of euthanasia, doesn’t it? The key difference is who is making the choice. I respect your choice to die, though I hope you’ve got a damn good reason.
The President: George W. Bush is a monkey. He is a magical monkey who learned how to talk. I think we should congratulate him. I don’t think he’s immoral…I just think he’s retarded. And not in a cute way, either.
The Bible: I like the Bible. I downright love parts of it. The Bible seems to be the richest fount of knowledge, spiritual insight and historical teaching I’ve read thus far. It tells the story of a man who I believe was/is God, and it does it through the eyes of those that knew him…or, if you believe the Jesus Seminar, those that knew the guys that knew the guys that knew him. I think it is God’s inspired word. With that said, I’m also not entirely sure it’s God’s infallible or uncorrupted inspired word. Every translation is an act of interpretation, and after 3,000+ years, the thing’s been screwed with pretty heavily. I’m not sure that every word in the original text is the inspired word of God, either…but I know that I’m not a competent judge of what is and isn’t God’s inspired word, and that I know that I’ve had parts of the Bible validated by my own first-hand experiences with God…so I know at least some of it is, and I’ve yet to find nonsense in there. The bottom line on the Bible is that it seems to know a hell of a lot more than I do, and if I use my own sense of right and wrong as my sole moral plumb-line, I’m going to end up a morbidly obese sex-crazed drug addict who dies in prison on a car-thieving rap after trying to steal the original KITT. So, I have to look somewhere else….I look to the Bible…but that’s not the end of it. I ask my friends. I ask people smarter than me. I check with my gut. It’s not a great system, but I’ve yet to go to jail, and as far as I know KITT is still in Orlando.
OK, so that was just six issues. But it’s enough controversy for one post. I hope you agree with me, because that means the world looks one more person just like me, which means I stand a better chance of getting a better mortgage loan. But, if you disagree, I hope you post and tell me why. And do it loudly, so I’ll be sure to hear.
Peace,
Justin
13 comments:
One bad thing about your heart telling you being gay isn't wrong is that your heart is sinful from birth.
At the lowest common denominator, we see homosexuality placed alongside things like being a drunkard, a gossip, arrogant, disobedient to parents, and unmerciful.
The fault, as I think you've tried to express, is in the "rating" of sin by protestant America (the Catholics do it too, but the greatest sin there is being protestant). Too much in evangelical circles we try win arguments with homosexuals instead of just loving them anyway and seeing what Jesus will do.
At the church I worked at before Faith, we had a lesbian couple who had been together 25 years. They didn't come right out and say they were gay, and actually denied it to a few people, but it was generally assumed. They were two of the most lovely people I've ever met in my life. They were so sweet to my kids and pretty good to my wife and I. Shortly before we left to take the job I have now, one of these women became convicted by God about her behavior standing in her way of a closer relationship with Christ. Long story short, both women decided their walk with God was more important than their walk together. That had to be worse than a typical divorce, because there was no cheating, love loss, bitterness and anger to boil over in a court of law. These two people still loved each other, but moved into seperate houses, and stopped having sex. That's way more of a commitment to Christ than I've ever made in regards to my multitude of sins. Only a few of which I listed above.
But in most circumstances, those two women would have been shoved out the door. Instead, they were given truth, in love. Amazing how that works when you play it out the way Christ inteded.
Dude, awesome post.
I do differ with you about one thing in particular: the infallibility of Scripture. I wholeheartedly agree that no English translation is infallible (sorry, KJVers). But, without the concept that the original manuscript was infallible, then relying on Scripture is futile, because if it wasn't the Word of God, then why bother with it?
That's not to say that there aren't some things in Scripture that are difficult. For example, the violence ridden throughout the Old Testament. However, even that (to me, anyway) speaks of the validity of Scripture - it's generally not endorsing it, it's mentioning it.
I agree with both Jacob and Brian on the homosexuality issue; it is sin... and so are gluttony, anger, lust, vulgarity - all of which I have been guilty of. We as the Church cannot look at homosexuality at the unforgivable sin... and we cannot deny that, if you subscribe to Christian spirituality, it is a sin.
Finally, one philosophical question for you: if G-Dub is a monkey, what is Dick Cheney?
B.J. McKay.
Speeding is a Sin??? (maybe for all the crappy drivers)
I don't feel it my heart, though.
;-)
Justin, you are going astray...
As Christians we are to stand for the only two political issues that matter. These will be THE moral issues upon which Christians will speak (well...more wave pom poms, but expression is expression).
Abortion--On this we are bound to hold that this is an evil, awful sin but do nothing real to stop it. It's in the Bible somewhere. Bonus points for hateful speech toward scared fourteen year olds. What we can't do is implement any policy based solutions to make it happen less. Those girls need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, because that's what Jesus would...hmmm
Homosexuality--That shit is gross. I know some theological LIBERALS will say that it's a sin no different than any other, but come on. Gay is gross. Google it and you'll get lots of websites of our brothers in Christ talking in horribly bigoted, insensitive, awful terms about homosexuality. That's OK--listen to those guys. Just include the phrase "Love the sinner, hate the sin" somewhere in your talk and now it's endorsed by Jesus! You get bonus points if you can un-gay a homo. Good job brother!
So that you don't wander off, here are some sins that we as Christians shouldn't care about:
Corporate greed--Come on. Jesus was clearly a white, middle class republican. Just ask Karl Rove. As such remember that living in pursuit of America's dream is almost the same as following the cross of Christ, but with more money. It's a WIN WIN! Some people might say that an easement of corporate greed could transform the world in ways such as bringing Aids and Malaria medicine to Central Africa which is in crisis, and that we don't do this because it's more profitable to give a fat white dude a boner than to save a continent. The people who say that are communists.
The Environment--Sure, we can say that we love God's creation, but let's not get all green and wacko here. When God created the world he said it was good, and that was like 4,400 years ago (even before he hid the dinosaur bones to test our faith). They didn't even have old growth forests back then, and God said it was good. So who am I to complain. If it's good enough for God, it's good enough for me.
I hope that this has helped you stop your painful back slide.
Ra Cook,
Your comment on how Christians deal with abortion is ignorant. And insulting. Perhaps you were trying to be clever, or "unchurchy," but you came off sounding arrogant and childish.
Postmoderns hate to be painted with a broad brush, but paint others with a 12 incher.
Justin, amen on the Death penalty!!!!! Excerpt from an article that states it so well
http://musicbykeith.blogspot.com/2006/02/hmm-upon-further-review.html
Agree, abortion sucks, but what sucks even more is shouting "you can't have an abortion/we support life" and then supporting policies that say "well you poor people, hope it works out for you now that you are alive."
Church dropped the ball with Homosexuality (as the same way it did with the whole “Christ in Christmas” fiasco this xmas). Stop making a big deal about it; we have enough issues in our own house. And lets be honest, Christ talked a whole lot more about loving the poor and the Kingdom of God than he did about if a gay couple gets a tax break. If we are honest Mr. James Dobson, co-habitation or Porn is a significantly larger "attack the sanctity of marriage". The church has lost that battle on these type issues (because they require us to examine our own hearts (Brian, that was for you :-), so we have demonized a group of people. I have had too many of my fellow Christians say "love the sinner hate the sin" that when I ask them who they hang out with who is gay (love the sinner right) they say,..."well, uhhh, I had a friend once who....".
Euthanasia; man I struggle with this one on both sides.
President; love to have a beer with the guy,… freaks me out that he is the cream of the crop of 270+ million people. At this point (I’m not making a joke here, I am dead serious) I wish Hillary would have run in 2004 and won.
Bible, same as Euthanasia. As we have talked this a ton, I struggle with it’s authority less than you; but I am a lesser mind than you (of course, I am a card carrying member….ha, the inside joke continues).
Brian, would love to have a beer with you. Not to convert you (I know there are probably 50 very funny lines I could put here that would get a chuckle), but because you speak more of the language (not always content/same view, but that isn't a bad thing for discussion purposes) that connects with me more than folks in my church. Thanks for sharing your “heart” …. Man that was gay (as in happy)
Keith
Whee!
Now this is the kind of controversy I was looking for!
More to come, thanks guys!!!
Peace,
Justin
Jacob:
Of course I was trying to be offensive. We don't deal with an R rated truth with some G rated lies.
Keith expressed my point in a nicer way a few posts later.
The guys who say the right stuff aren't always the guys who do the right stuff. Abortion is awful. Of course it is. It's also a result of life events that we can address, and not merely by creating social welfare programs funded and implemented primarily via the church.
Is abortion genocide? I believe it is. My sister, a born again Christian and women's rights activist disagrees with me, but I think she's wrong, and I'm right, and that a universal ethic of human life is clearly represented in an informed reading of scripture.
But anyway, whether or not it's genocide it is also an awful symptom of poverty...mountains of economic evidence point to this. Any fervent attempt to advocate against abortion that doesn't take into account abortion as a symptom of poverty is doomed to be just some guys talking.
Paging Dr. Masterson:
Brian, I'd love to get your opinion on the abortion & euthanasia issues from a medical perspective. I understand the policy and econ stuff a bit, but I'm completely dumb on the medical stuff. I'd love to learn more and you're smart.
Also, this is a great discussion. Justin's blog gets good readership, but lots of us who read this thing are friends who love each other and have complementary gifts. There's no reason that this discussion can't provide impetus to world change.
--ryan
Justin-
I'm gonna lighten this one up a bit and share with you a bumper sticker I saw today...the best one I've seen in a LONG time.
"2008 -- The End of an Error" Oh, I loved it!
Brooke
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