Christianity and the GOP

In today's political climate, conservatives have gone out in favor of liberals. I have been very vocal in my... dislike for our newest president, Barack Hussein Obama, and I am often accused of looking at his presidency through biased eyes, but I assure you, O loyal reader, that I do not pledge my allegiance solely to the Grand Old Party.
During President Bush's terms in office, the term "evangelical Christian" began to get thrown around a lot. Liberals spoke it as though it were a curse-word and the conservatives used it as a rallying cry. Most of us so called evangelical Christians would count ourselves Republicans with a conservative attitude on government, but there is something we all must ask ourselves; Can we trust the Republican Party? This may sound harsh, maybe even crazy to some of you out there, but should our allegiance really be to any political party? Can we trust any of them to do what is truly right?
What I'm basically trying to get across is that as Christians, we shouldn't blindly put our faith in the Republican Party without looking at candidates positions on key issues. Truthfully, I do believe that the trust Christians have in the Republican Party is justified... right now anyway. What worries me is this trust growing to such unreasonable proportions that it is no longer based in logic.
My great-grandmother, Charity Vance, Mom Vance to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, was a devoted Christian mother of three who tried to raise her children by the word of God. She also voted Democrat her entire life. She was a wonderful woman with a good heart, but she voted Democrat because of political stances held by Republicans and Democrats that haven't been accurate since the early 1900's. Democrats helped the farmers and the little man; this is what she thought about the Democrats. The Republicans want to take away all my social security; this is how she viewed the Republicans. Unfortunately, the Democrats willingness to help the little man eventually turned into the acceptance of homosexual marriage as right and normal, and established that abortion should be legal. Had Mom Vance known what these men she was voting for were actually doing, she would probably never have voted for them. She wasn't basing her decisions on quantitative and qualitative fact, but on a trust that wasn't deserved anymore.
This is why we as Christians should never take Republican politicians at pure face value. We should try to find out what they stand for. What if the dynamic totally flipped? What if a Democratic presidential candidate supported human life by wanting to outlaw abortion and a Republican candidate had no qualms about the issue? Would you look into the situation closely to see which candidate accurately represents you and what your beliefs are, or would you trust that the Republican candidate because Republicans have always stood for the Christians, even though this candidate doesn't deserve that trust?
Taking all this into account, we must also be open to some compromise when it comes to politics. During the presidential campaign last year, many so called evangelical Christians jumped on the Barack Obama bandwagon. On the surface, this looks like exactly what I've been talking about; breaking down political borders and supporting the candidate who you think will best represent you and your beliefs, but in reality, one of the reasons some evangelicals supported Mr. Obama was that he claimed to be a Christian. Take special attention to the word claimed. I know that we as Christians should not judge someone else's faith, but we are also to look for actions that expose underlying faith, fruits of the tree, as it were. Barack Obama supports homosexual marriage and abortion! Do those seem like good fruits to you? Yet many Christians helped elect him into office.
While these Christians were becoming infatuated with the Obamas, as much of the American media already had, these same people dogged John McCain for not having a real relationship with God. Excuse me? I know the man goes to church, but I can't judge his relationship with God. As I said before, all I have to go on is the man's actions, and his actions seem pretty darn good to me. At least he supports the same issues that many Christians do. At least he supported a model of government that would allow Christians to worship freely. At least he defended his country against all odds. Can we say any of that about Mr. Obama?
Before I begin rambling or offensive (at least any more than usual), I probably need to wrap this up. In the end, which is more important? A political party, or the values on which those parties are based?

Cool Beans,

Noah

Make-Believe Vs. Un-Fun Rigid Dogma

WARNING: This post contains some information concerning the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and other holiday charcters that may shock some children. Parents, it might be in your best interest to keep the kiddos who can read away from the screen.


Today is Easter Day, the day that Jesus rose from his grave, but this day also carries conotations that make some Christian parents grimace. Easter eggs, chocolates and all kinds of other goodies brought by a big bunny and placed in Easter baskets. Though most folks don't find this threatening, some think that raising a child to believe in these things is detrimental to both their spiritual and mental health. I for one find this confusing, but to some it makes perfect sense.
I would like to say that parents who decide to not let their children believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and other characters like the Tooth Fairy are fully within their rights to believe this way. It is entirely the right of the parent to decide these kinds of things. The thing I have a problem with is the eagerness that some (though not all) of these well-meaning Christian parents seem to have about finding something wrong and dark in something so seemingly harmless as a rabbit delivering eggs or a fat old man delivering toys to good children. These kind of people are the same ones who count curse words in classic novels and claim fellow Christians will not go to heaven if they do not believe the same as they do on a miniscule issue. Madeleine L'Engle states that these people are "of a minority, small, but growing, of people who seemed to think they were called to discover the devil in other people." As Christians, we should bring light to the world, not look for more darkness. The world is bad enough as it is, so why try to find something so bad in innocent children's characters? What's the harm in letting a child believe?
One main problem some parents have with these holiday characters such as the Easter Bunny is that they believe that they somehow take away the main focus of the holiday, such as Christ's birth on Christmas, and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It is true that some children may find the presents to be the largest part of a holiday, but this often happens only because the gifts and traditions have not been placed in the proper context by a parental figure. When I was a young child, I recieved presents from Santa Claus and I got Easter baskets full of candy and toys from the Easter Bunny, but I also knew the true purpose of the holidays because the extraneous traditions were put in their proper place.
The proper place for thses things is in a part of the brain labelled "Strictly for Make-Believe". When I was was younger, I did believe in the Easter Bunny, but it was the kind of belief that I also had when I played at being a cowboy or an astronaut. Somewhere in my brain, I knew the logistics of a large, sentient rabbit delivering baskets of candy and eggs to children across continents weren't very convincing, but it was fun to believe it for a little while. The funnest part about make believe is truly believing it. You can't go about it half way. My parents never had to have a sit down conversation with me or my brother concerning the reality of these charcters because we mostly knew it was all make-believe. I am of the persuasion that most children believe the same way as I did and that children aren't so dumb as to place certain things over the realities behind their make-believe. For example, I knew I was an astronaut piloting some kind of strange vessel constructed of corrugated cardboard to distant galaxies, but I also knew that mom was making my lunch right in the next room. I understood the difference between reality and pretend, and it's all because I had the right context.
So, in the end, we should rejoice for the Lord has risen on this day and we should try to see the good instead of the negative because he has made a way for us all through through his death on the cross and his resurrection on the third day.

Cool Beans,

Noah