the whole time thus far, we have found many a political opinion concerning the elections this upcoming year.
i keep finding it more interesting to think about stuff like "how big can a pelican's neck really get, and how have people tested to find this out......"
but really there is something interesting about it. many people i've met, that i think are reasonable, most of the time God fearing, and most of the time somewhat concious human beings all seem to have their opinions. And much to my surprise, most of them are gonna vote, and more surprising yet almost all of them have their own candidate, and no one really agrees.
i've heard people be dead set on hillary, ron paul, obama, and some republicans i cant remember the names of
i used to be pretty dead set on convincing people that voting didnt work, based on bush being a president after loosing
and i used to think that zapatistas had the right idea with "the other" campaign, which basically said "since our government wont listen to its people through elections, and since our votes arent even being counted, but rather millions of ballads found uncounted, we must find another avenue to create the change we see as neccessary"
now as i differ from the zaptistas' accepting of violence, i dont think theyve got it figured out and i dont think anyone else does either really....
(but i do think that the zapatistas' ideas are alot more in line with the values i see in the beatitudes than alot of politicians)
i saw the jay leno show at truck stop recently and there was a republican candidate on there
i tried not to laugh at first, and then i tried to laugh instead of getting angry...
things i liked about the guy:
he jogged and he talked nice about his wife, and he a good taste in breakfast foods
things i didnt like:
the whole time he was on the show, instead of talking about the need for clean water and getting people to a place where they can have neccessary medications without forfitting everything else
he talked about giving companies more power and how unfair china is and how the war on terrorism (some abstraction) was of utmost importance but we need to have a strong economy so that we can still fight
it just came out like he had taken a laxative given to him by some other politician who had all the same caracteristics
it even showed him yelling at a news reporter and threatening him after the guy said something about his cheif advisor being a lobbiest......."thats pretty funny, huh jay?"
i hated it, because its all so detached and not even real. its like looking at person in an old folks home talk about a pegasus and how this pegasus has to be put down or the world will callapse.
Its hard to take something like that serious when its so far behind the thinking of so many people's thoughts and sentiments i've read that were put out hundreds of years ago.
Isaiah 40:15,17 tells us that the nations, or man's power is pretty meaningless and not what we need to search for
then i read I Sam. 8:1-22 which tells me that God only reluctantly gave people a king, after noting that they didnt trust in him enough, and thats why they wanted a king
and so as far as my ideals go..... governments are pretty counter productive and dumb, set up through a system of human dumbness and i dont like em one bit, especially since i cant justify the use of force
but then i am shown Rom. 13:1-5 and am reminded that God uses governments for good too....
but Greg Boyd (senior pastor of Woodland Hills Church) points this out also:
"But this doesn’t mean that God approves of them. Often in the Old Testament God used a wicked nation (e.g. Assyria) to punish Israel, only to turn around and punish the nation he used for being wicked (e.g. Isa 10). God uses what he does not approve. That’s God’s attitude toward governments. They are under the influence of Satan (Lk 4:5-7) and are inherently corrupt, but God nevertheless uses them to achieve his objectives, so far as this is possible."
i think thats pretty dead on. And i think the thing i like about these discussions about politics is that people are still trying to find new ways of making change, and some people are trying to find old ways, and some people are finding ways outside of the system to create change.
and many people are rethinking the idea of christians all voting one way, and ive not heard many christians talk about abortion, homosexuality, the congress needing to be christian, this christian nation (not real), our christian fore-fathers (not real), and i've only heard one person talk about iraqis or a religious jihad that people need to be afraid of, and ive not heard anyone talk about "under god" and only one person has asked me about what i thought of obama having muslim roots, the same guy that thought it was rediculous to have a woman president.
so this election seems a little more reasonable than last.... but its still just as confusing, and detatched and fragmented and not real, its over complicated and i dont think any of it is about love for your enemy or even your neighbor, or the old people or the crackheads (and the words still are thrown in my face: "lesser of 2 evils", how do you support that? "evils"? only "2"?)
i dont think there is any answer found inside voting, but i could see why someone would attempt to affect something, but i find it draining and inspiring at the same time ( i think the inspiring part is so many people with different ideas openly talking)
this morning i woke up (went downstairs to a pool, next to a lake, about 20 minutes from the beach, in warm weather, in January-----haha suckers ) and read two prayers and both i thought were better than any candidate in this election.
here they are in full:
St. Benedict of Nursia, one of the Fathers of western monastic movements prayed this:
O Lord,
I place myself in Your hands and dedicate myself to You.
I pledge myself to do Your will in all things--
to love the Lord God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength.
to discipline the body, to maintain balance in all things,
to love fasting, to relieve the poor, To clothe the naked,
to visit the sick, to help in trouble,
to honor all persons, to love my enemies.
to bear patiently any injury done to me.
to prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
I pledge myself to do Your will in all things--
not to kill, not to steal, not to covet, Not to bear false witness,
not to do to another what I should not want done to myself.
not to give way to anger, not to foster a desire for revenge.
not to entertain deceit in the heart, not to make a false peace.
not to be proud, not to forsake charity, not to seek after pleasures
not to desire to be thought holy, but to seek holiness.
never to forget that You see me everywhere.
I pledge myself to do Your will in all things--
to fulfill the commandments of God by good works.
to avoid idle talk,
to speak the truth with heart and tongue.
to pray often, and to seek ways to amend my life.
to love chastity, to hate no one, To honor the aged, to pray for my enemies,
to make peace after a quarrel, before the setting of the sun.
to bless those who curse me, to love my enemies.
to call upon Christ for defense against evil thoughts that arise in my heart.
I pledge myself to do Your will in all things--
not to swear, lest I swear falsely, not to return evil for evil,
not to be given to intoxicating drink, not to be an overeater,
not to be lazy, not to be slothful, not to be a detractor.
not to be jealous or envious of anyone.
not to engage my tongue in evil speech,
not to speak of matters that are trivial,
never to despair of your mercy, O God of mercy.
Grant O Gracious
O Holy Father
Upon me to Bestow:
Intellect to understand You
Perceptions to Perceive You,
Reason to discren You,
Diligence to seek You,
Wisdom to find YOu,
A spirit to know You
and St. Anthony of Padua, who loves animals (which means he's pretty cool), prayed this:
Lord Jesus, bind us to you and to our neighbor with love.
May our hearts not be turned away from you.
May our soulds not be deviebed nor our talents or minds enticed by allurements of error, so that we may never distance ourselves from your love.
Thus may we love our neighbor as ourselves with strength, wisdom and gentleness. With your help, you who are blessed thoughout all ages.
Behold the Cross of the Lord! Begone you enemy powers!
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
The Root of David, has conquered.
Alleluia
-marcus
