The Blog I Never Use

Rizzle wrote:

. . . So Ty, what would you have us do in this broken screwed up system of ours? I'm supposed to vote tomorrow, and yet all I'm left with is two parties who have nothing and yet everything in common. They oppose each other in every way, even if it's just for the sake of opposition. And yet both are schmucks (sp?) who I know nothing about except for the fact that they're in politics (which is not a quality I respect very much). Sure there are the independents, the green party and all that. But who really wants to waste a vote? I say we all move to Panama and swim in the canal.

As a political agnostic, I suggest not having any real faith that voting makes a difference. On the other hand, as a realist and a responsible citizen I suggest that you vote only on issues that you believe have a clear-cut good vs. evil value (vote for the good one).

As for candidates, I believe that the way of life that allows one to become a politician is a way of life that corrupts. It is not that they are all intentionally evil, but just as spiritual disciplines form the way of life that we hope will lead to goodness, the pursuit of power as a way of life leads to evil. Therefore, if you can honestly believe in the goodness of the candidate, vote for that candidate (if you can believe that, campaign for the candidate and give money to that candidate). If you believe that you see good in the candidate, though, remember, politicians lie. Everything that that candidate says may be sacrificed to a new agenda tomorrow, but if you believe in them, vote, but with a great deal of prayer and not a small amount of fear.

I refuse to vote for bad people, but if your conscience calls you to vote for one, choose the one who supports charity, who fights for justice or who admits his faults; if no candidate can claim even one of these, I cannot imagine how we could choose responsibly. The fact of the matter is that voting without a clear mandate, that is voting without being sure, is just stealing a vote from someone who is sure.

But have faith: Biblical Theology (esp. OT) tells us that God is the real king. These petty dictators may do evil in his name, but he uses those who love him (and even those who hate him) to oppose evil. Also, remember this lesson from church history: before Constantine, no emperor who was good for Rome was a friend of Christianity, and no emperor after, including Constantine,who was a friend to Christianity was ever good for Christianity. Either the emperor would try to protect the empire from Christianity because he cared about the empire, or he ignored Christianity because he was irresponsible, or he accepted Christianity to use her to gain power and, in so doing, he corrupted her (BTW- Nero is not a good counter-example, he only persecuted Christians because they were Christians before his madness took hold of him, and he was a good leader until that point). All-in-all, though moving to Panama might be a good solution individually, moving to Cuba or Afghanistan might be better for the health of the church, assuming that some of us remain un-martyred; I'm not saying that we should do it, but it is the easy way to spiritual health ;)

In short, the hope of Christianity is not to gain political control, but to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God; again, the point of our lives is not to change the world with worldly power but to care for widows and orphans in their distress and to keep ourselves undefiled by that very world, in which politics play a significant part.