Palin and the rest of you, get out of my religion
I am Christian and I vote my religion.
I am Christian and I vote according to who who most closely follows the order of importance laid down by Jesus.
Jesus said (we we quote him every week in church) that the most important commandment is to love God, and that the second is like unto it, love your neighbour (slightly paraphrased). The first one is a personal thing, and therefore I do not ask a politcian, or prop, etc who they beleive God is (also because asking the second a question is rather hard). So I look at how they treat others, and how they say they will improve that.
Taxes, how much, or little matter only to me in that I need to have enough money to survive. Beyond that Jesus said to give unto Cesaer what is Cesaer's. Which I also take to mean that when it comes to money first it goes to the government in the amount that the government asks for, second to the church, third to those who are in need, and fourth to me.
I also beleive God gives us hardships that we need to deal with, and that we should not tell others how they should handle theirs, nor should we make their hardships any harder. Telling someone what they can and cannot do to themselves, or in the privacy of their own home is us saying "God gave us free will, but you do not get to exercise that right." And who are we to say anything of that nature.
I have yet to find where in the Bible it says that we are to police the world for the sake of God, only that we are to love others to God. I have never known someone that was scared or forced to God whose relationship with God lasted longer then their immediate need, or want to get someone (parent or otherwise) off their back. In all my studies I have not found any God in any Wisdom tradition that says 'I only want you when you need me', so why would the God that all Christians beleive is above all other Gods want that?
Whether you beleive my God is the only God, one of many, not one at all, that there are none, or you have no opinion becuase are still searching, my job is to love you, not tell you how horrible you are, or tell you how to live your life. Jesus loved the prostitute (at the time worst job a woman could have according to the bible), the tax collector (at the time the worst job a man could have according to the bible) , and worked with the leper (the worst sickness during bible times), who am I to say that I am better than him, the man that I beleive was man and God in one.
I am Christian and I vote according to who who most closely follows the order of importance laid down by Jesus.
Jesus said (we we quote him every week in church) that the most important commandment is to love God, and that the second is like unto it, love your neighbour (slightly paraphrased). The first one is a personal thing, and therefore I do not ask a politcian, or prop, etc who they beleive God is (also because asking the second a question is rather hard). So I look at how they treat others, and how they say they will improve that.
Taxes, how much, or little matter only to me in that I need to have enough money to survive. Beyond that Jesus said to give unto Cesaer what is Cesaer's. Which I also take to mean that when it comes to money first it goes to the government in the amount that the government asks for, second to the church, third to those who are in need, and fourth to me.
I also beleive God gives us hardships that we need to deal with, and that we should not tell others how they should handle theirs, nor should we make their hardships any harder. Telling someone what they can and cannot do to themselves, or in the privacy of their own home is us saying "God gave us free will, but you do not get to exercise that right." And who are we to say anything of that nature.
I have yet to find where in the Bible it says that we are to police the world for the sake of God, only that we are to love others to God. I have never known someone that was scared or forced to God whose relationship with God lasted longer then their immediate need, or want to get someone (parent or otherwise) off their back. In all my studies I have not found any God in any Wisdom tradition that says 'I only want you when you need me', so why would the God that all Christians beleive is above all other Gods want that?
Whether you beleive my God is the only God, one of many, not one at all, that there are none, or you have no opinion becuase are still searching, my job is to love you, not tell you how horrible you are, or tell you how to live your life. Jesus loved the prostitute (at the time worst job a woman could have according to the bible), the tax collector (at the time the worst job a man could have according to the bible) , and worked with the leper (the worst sickness during bible times), who am I to say that I am better than him, the man that I beleive was man and God in one.