Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Post-election joy

Barack Obama has been elected as the President of the United States of America, and Democrats now hold the majority. I'm sure you already know, but I have to say that it still does something to me to say it.
And, despite what you might be thinking... it does something GOOD.

I've been inordinately happy with the turn of events. I didn't vote democrat, and I didn't want them to have a majority. But now that they have, I can do nothing more than rejoice. Maybe it's too early for everything to truly sink in, and maybe once that shoe falls I'll be more upset. But today, today is a day of great rejoicing.

I think we've been slowly dilly dallying around with this whole end times business, and it's pretty easy to see that 63,427,857 of our fellow Americans are ready to speed up this all-too-slow process.

I'm not even touching the charges of Obama being the Anti-Christ. My charges aren't even pointed at him by himself. I just imagine, that with democrats in the majority, the moral issues that we're only barely hanging onto now, will easily slip out of our grasp.

Abortion will rates will increase as quickly as the ease of killing children later and later in their development increases.
Washington (State) joined Oregon in making euthanisia legal.
And I'm pretty well certain we're almost done renovating the house enough that no one, will ever have to hide their sins in a closet again.

I actually woke up today and prayed for this man named Barack Obama. He will hold great power to show mercy to our children, our families; I pray for the miracle that would allow that change of heart for him. I prayed God have mercy on us, for all that we've killed, and all that we're going to kill; for all that we've sinned, and all that we're going to sin as a nation.

God have mercy.

And then I sang 'Gladly may we herald the message of His blessed appearing. Soon He's coming in glory tell one and all then awake ye saints of the Lord why slumber when the end is nearing But get ready for the final call."

And I rejoiced. We may finally have received the handbasket everyones always talking about.

He's coming soon. Are you ready?

7 comments:

Ed G. said...

Hi! Linked over from Sublime Transitions, glad to read your blog.

It's interesting, though, how the steepest decline in abortion rates in the US occured the last time a Democrat was president. I expect with Senator Obama in office, we will see a similar decline (it is the first time reducing abortions is a written platform goal.)

In '04 I voted for GWB soley on the issue of abortion. And like all of the recent Repiblican presidents before him, we didn't get very far. Now ready to try love instead of the courts. I guess we'll see.

Nate said...

I have always had a very hard time with how the abortion issue is handled by Christians. I want to see it ended, or drastically reduced just like anyone. But is the most direct way of carrying influence to vote Republican? Are candidates that parade pro-life stances not beholden to the agenda of their party, and if so wouldn't having such a stance be beneficial to their electoral cause, whether or not they are that committed to ending abortion? Why is legal action considered the best way of achieving goals, even among a people whose Bible suggests that "we do not wage war the way the world wages war," and "My Kingdom is not of this world?" Is the Gospel of secondary importance to reducing abortion, behind judges and congress? Just a few questions that keep me from being a single-issue voter in that regard.

Flyawaynet said...

Ed. I'm glad you stopped in. I returned the favor by stopping by your blog. I'm strangely fascinated by your blog just because the very first one post I read I would have automatically disagreed with. But when I question myself on it, I'm not giving the best answer. I'm going to keep reading just because you make me think! And I think it's incredibly important for me to know why I believe what I believe, and not just do what I do because I believe I believe it. :)

Flyawaynet said...

Nate, I I see what you're saying... I think!
And of course I can easily say that no, the Gospel shouldn't be of secondary importance. But every land has it's laws. Our role as Christians should be in the area of prevention. Its our teaching others to seek Christ and to pursue righteousness and Godliness and walking that deeper closer walk.
We teach there is a way that leads to life, life for us, eternal life in Heaven, and a God-touched life on earth.
After I focus on that, I can look at my country and say that obviously, we should not make murder of innocent people legal. So is my moral obligation to vote for someone who will continue to legalize the murders while reducing the numbers by giving out more education/tools that will allow people to continue sinful living but prevent the inconvenience of a child? Or the one who will say that murder is illegal?
How would Jesus vote? What would Jesus say? As a disclaimer this is a very hypothetical question...Would Jesus vote to legalize abortion if it meant the numbers would go down? Is he more worried about the outcome than the moral?

Nate said...

Interesting questions. I can't say I know the answers, but a semi-relatable scenario from the gospels is when Jesus was asked if they should pay taxes to Caesar, he said "render unto Caesar..." I'm sure you know it. I understand this to mean that the thrust of his ministry was not to manipulate government on its own terms but defeat it by witnessing a new Kingdom that is over and above it, drawing sinners out of their allegiance to worldly norms, and exercising power from a different source.

I could be wrong, but from my perspective, Christians in politics not only sideline the gospel, they dump it altogether. Which makes it decidedly unchristian, no matter what the goal. Who knows if abortion would exist if the Church witnessed the gospel truly and prophetically? (It would, I'm not totally naive) But my point is, we don't know because the gospel and a cross-witnessing lifestyle are jettisoned by 90% of us in favor of worldly modes of influence and power. Not that these aren't useful, but if you compromise the gospel on their account, the result is: Jesus Christ + good government brings righteousness. Which is not only wrong, its pagan and humanistic. No wonder there's no power in it. No wonder the empire is winning. If we committed to cross-living and the gospel was the obsession of voting Christians(instead of the culture war), you might see fewer and fewer abortions. And in that scenario, I would be much more prone to trust a movement of Christians hammering Roe v. Wade.

Flyawaynet said...

if we committed to cross-living and the gospel was the obsession of voting Christians(instead of the culture war),

Seeing that reminded me of something I heard during all the election craze. Someone just questioned "What are you first?"
Are you a Christian first? Are you a pro-lifer first? Are you a black/white first? Are you a republican/democrat first?

We tend to forget the first thing in our attentions to 2-20.

But, like you were talking about Christians in politics dumping Christianity - it doesn't have to be that way. Just because we focus on 2 instead of one, doesn't make 2bad. It just makes us fumbling Christians.

At the same time, I can reference another parable where Jesus says if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If politics are going to lead you away from Christ, in your pursuit of governmental justice... pluck it out.

Ed G. said...

fly, it's interesting that you responded to the post you read (which I am assuming was on prop 8). To be honest, that post surprised even me because how i netted out is a bit different than how i felt going into that topic.