A few thoughts
I was gonna post some post-election "analysis" on here but I decided that it wasn't entirely what I wanted to do. I think a few people have hit something important on here so I figured that I would address it, especially since I saw it in the Washington Post today too. Anyway, some people have pointed out how it's evangelical Christians (the "religious right" if you prefer) that really won this election for Bush. Well...I'm not gonna disagree and to be honest I'm pretty glad that I don't have to.
Kerry and the Democratic party did an incredible job of rolling out the vote. It really was awesome, I was thrilled to see how many voted. I did always wonder how we were going to "teach the world about democracy" when more than a third of us don't vote. And Bush's side managed to reply by bringing Christians out to vote as a block like they never really had in the past. I think I read this morning that something like 15-20 million more people voted this year than four years ago. That's an awesome number.
But it does bring up an important question of why the evangelicals cost Kerry the election if that's true. I think Bryce kinda got to it, this election really was about values. It wasn't about terrorism, let's be honest, neither candidate was going to do something to try to get terrorists to attack us more despite what Cheney said. It wasn't about the war in Iraq, a lot of people (myself included) who voted for Bush even thought that the war was a mistake with everything we've learned since (that doesn't mean I think he lied, just that we acted on bad intel), cause neither of them will get us out of there with any sooner. It wasn't even about the economy, the economy was growing fast, or the deficit since studies were showing that the long term deficits would be virtually identical under both candidates. What got people out there for Bush were those values.
It seems like something that's so easy to dismiss or ridicule. I mean, values seem pretty old fashioned and ridiculous in a world without a true black and white. If of course you're willing to accept that. I firmly believe that no matter what I'm told by a scientist I could never be an atheist. To be perfectly honest my faith isn't strong enough. The idea that nothing (not even a void, absolutely nothing) times nobody equals everything is seriously the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard. Something has to be eternal, either a God being or the universe and the same scientists who tell me there can't be a God tell me that it's scientifically impossible for the universe to be eternal. Logic demands one of those premises is wrong, I'll take the idea of a God who's greater than science. In the end only two theories of God have ever made sense to me that explain the existence of evil, Christianity and Deism (the belief of two equal powers, one good and one evil). Again, Deism (like Atheism) eventually falls apart on me logically and Christianity's all that I have left.
But think for a second of where that leaves people. All the sudden the perspective becomes eternal. We do see that our "citizenship is in Heaven" (Phil. 3:20) and that we are "pilgrims and strangers on earth." (Heb. 11:13) We don't work for earthly treasures because we want incorruptible heavenly ones. We see ourselves as belonging to Jesus' kingdom and want to be with Him with all our hearts.
But there's a disparity, while our citizenship is in heaven we are still on earth. So we have to wonder, how then ought we to live here knowing that we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells? (2 Pet. 3:11-13) Well, the Bible calls us "ambassadors of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20). So then we must represent Him to all people. To bring this back to the election, this means how we vote. We have to vote to try to bring politicians into office who will be faithful to God's law and makes laws that same way. That's why Christians came out in big numbers to support the gay marriage bans, not because we hate gays, on the contrary we're called to love all people, but because we hate sin, both in our own lives and in the lives of others. That's why most evangelicals could not vote for Kerry in good conscience, because some of the things which he supports. Bryce's example of abortion is a great one. The commandment is "You shall not murder" so I could never vote for anyone who supports abortion. My greatest fear is that one day both the Republicans and the Democrats will be running pro-abortion candidates. I honestly don't know what I'll do.
To bring this back a little bit I'd like to illustrate something. On Monday night I met with four other people to pray for the elections and our country. We honestly did not meet to pray for any particular candidates or parties. What we prayed for was God to change the hearts of whoever was elected, that He would use them to do His will. We prayed that the church would faithfully carry the gospel to souls who needed it. We prayed for stability in Iraq and Afganistan, that they might find peace and freedom to believe and that Christianity could flourish in those regions, not be forced upon people who did not want it but that they might freely believe what they wanted and that God would work among them.
Yet the key part of our prayer was along the lines of Lamentations 3:37, "Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?" Mostly we were praying for peace and faith, that regardless of what happened, whether or not the candidates that we supports won, that we would trust God's perfect plan. After all, His plan of salvation was perfect and did not need our help. Likely if we had lived during that time we wouldn't have understood it until His Spirit removed the veil from our eyes and gave us the gift of faith that we might believe. Imagine how ridiculous it is, that as men our sins condemn us before a perfectly holy and righteous God, not only that but that even our good deeds count as filthy rags in His sight. So a God who had to be just but chose to love us anyway sent His only Son to become man. That Son lived the perfect life that we never could, in perfect obedience to God's law, and then died. On that cross all of my sin was placed on Him, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" and He took the punishment for it and in exchange for my sin He gave me his righteousness "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) It's absolutely mindblowing. But any God who would do that for me deserves all that I am and can do for Him. And one day I can't wait to take all of my bad deeds along with all of my best deeds and throw them into a heap so that I might run straight into the arms of Jesus, brought into the presence of God by His precious blood.
That God can have my vote, it's part of all I have to give which isn't nearly enough but that's the most beautiful thing. It doesn't have to be.
Kerry and the Democratic party did an incredible job of rolling out the vote. It really was awesome, I was thrilled to see how many voted. I did always wonder how we were going to "teach the world about democracy" when more than a third of us don't vote. And Bush's side managed to reply by bringing Christians out to vote as a block like they never really had in the past. I think I read this morning that something like 15-20 million more people voted this year than four years ago. That's an awesome number.
But it does bring up an important question of why the evangelicals cost Kerry the election if that's true. I think Bryce kinda got to it, this election really was about values. It wasn't about terrorism, let's be honest, neither candidate was going to do something to try to get terrorists to attack us more despite what Cheney said. It wasn't about the war in Iraq, a lot of people (myself included) who voted for Bush even thought that the war was a mistake with everything we've learned since (that doesn't mean I think he lied, just that we acted on bad intel), cause neither of them will get us out of there with any sooner. It wasn't even about the economy, the economy was growing fast, or the deficit since studies were showing that the long term deficits would be virtually identical under both candidates. What got people out there for Bush were those values.
It seems like something that's so easy to dismiss or ridicule. I mean, values seem pretty old fashioned and ridiculous in a world without a true black and white. If of course you're willing to accept that. I firmly believe that no matter what I'm told by a scientist I could never be an atheist. To be perfectly honest my faith isn't strong enough. The idea that nothing (not even a void, absolutely nothing) times nobody equals everything is seriously the most ludicrous idea I've ever heard. Something has to be eternal, either a God being or the universe and the same scientists who tell me there can't be a God tell me that it's scientifically impossible for the universe to be eternal. Logic demands one of those premises is wrong, I'll take the idea of a God who's greater than science. In the end only two theories of God have ever made sense to me that explain the existence of evil, Christianity and Deism (the belief of two equal powers, one good and one evil). Again, Deism (like Atheism) eventually falls apart on me logically and Christianity's all that I have left.
But think for a second of where that leaves people. All the sudden the perspective becomes eternal. We do see that our "citizenship is in Heaven" (Phil. 3:20) and that we are "pilgrims and strangers on earth." (Heb. 11:13) We don't work for earthly treasures because we want incorruptible heavenly ones. We see ourselves as belonging to Jesus' kingdom and want to be with Him with all our hearts.
But there's a disparity, while our citizenship is in heaven we are still on earth. So we have to wonder, how then ought we to live here knowing that we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells? (2 Pet. 3:11-13) Well, the Bible calls us "ambassadors of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20). So then we must represent Him to all people. To bring this back to the election, this means how we vote. We have to vote to try to bring politicians into office who will be faithful to God's law and makes laws that same way. That's why Christians came out in big numbers to support the gay marriage bans, not because we hate gays, on the contrary we're called to love all people, but because we hate sin, both in our own lives and in the lives of others. That's why most evangelicals could not vote for Kerry in good conscience, because some of the things which he supports. Bryce's example of abortion is a great one. The commandment is "You shall not murder" so I could never vote for anyone who supports abortion. My greatest fear is that one day both the Republicans and the Democrats will be running pro-abortion candidates. I honestly don't know what I'll do.
To bring this back a little bit I'd like to illustrate something. On Monday night I met with four other people to pray for the elections and our country. We honestly did not meet to pray for any particular candidates or parties. What we prayed for was God to change the hearts of whoever was elected, that He would use them to do His will. We prayed that the church would faithfully carry the gospel to souls who needed it. We prayed for stability in Iraq and Afganistan, that they might find peace and freedom to believe and that Christianity could flourish in those regions, not be forced upon people who did not want it but that they might freely believe what they wanted and that God would work among them.
Yet the key part of our prayer was along the lines of Lamentations 3:37, "Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?" Mostly we were praying for peace and faith, that regardless of what happened, whether or not the candidates that we supports won, that we would trust God's perfect plan. After all, His plan of salvation was perfect and did not need our help. Likely if we had lived during that time we wouldn't have understood it until His Spirit removed the veil from our eyes and gave us the gift of faith that we might believe. Imagine how ridiculous it is, that as men our sins condemn us before a perfectly holy and righteous God, not only that but that even our good deeds count as filthy rags in His sight. So a God who had to be just but chose to love us anyway sent His only Son to become man. That Son lived the perfect life that we never could, in perfect obedience to God's law, and then died. On that cross all of my sin was placed on Him, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" and He took the punishment for it and in exchange for my sin He gave me his righteousness "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) It's absolutely mindblowing. But any God who would do that for me deserves all that I am and can do for Him. And one day I can't wait to take all of my bad deeds along with all of my best deeds and throw them into a heap so that I might run straight into the arms of Jesus, brought into the presence of God by His precious blood.
That God can have my vote, it's part of all I have to give which isn't nearly enough but that's the most beautiful thing. It doesn't have to be.