Wednesday, March 28th, 2007...9:56 am
am i an idiot?
Ok you don’t need to answer that!
Here is something I do not understand…. Why does everything have to be political? Why when you take a stand one way or another do we find ourselves in a political camp? Can a decision be made totally outside of being political, or even “religious” or better yet, denominational?
Am I a total idiot to think that I can care about our environment, and this amazing world that God created and not be a ragging left wing radical? (I have been loving the new show Planet Earth on Discover Channel) How about this… can I care about human life, and protecting God’s creation and not be thrown in the camp of a “republican”? Maybe I am just over sensitive to this because it is that time of year… The time that some mud is being thrown and candidates are jockeying for position for the Presidential election.
Jerry Falwell totally threw me over the edge with his insane comments about Global Warming. [HT]
A few days after his sermon, Falwell was quoted as saying “God will maintain the Earth until Jesus returns.” Falwell implies that no matter what humans do to the planet, God will take care of it. [More here.]
I guess I am crazy or just an idiot to think that God would want us to take care of his creation. Something like our body is a temple, take care of it. The earth is His creation, take care of it. Life is precious, take care of it. I does not seam that hard. However, I am not naive to know that MONEY has a huge influence in these arguments. Money, and the amount that is being thrown around to sway decisions to influence culture and the minds of everyone. I just sometimes wonder what Jesus would say about all of this… Just a thought.
Just another rant… but I would love your thoughts!
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14 Comments
March 28th, 2007 at 11:10 am
About five lines into your “rant” I wondered just the opposite. Could a person be an authentic Christ Follower and be a viable political candidate? What would that look like? How would you market that? Would they stand any chance of being elected? Would they have to wear a suit? What positions can Christ Followers hold these days and is it required that you have to post the fish on your sign? Dang being in the world and not of the world is hard. Where’s my remote?
March 28th, 2007 at 11:57 am
One of the guys that I really respect (although I have never met him) is Bruxy Cavey from The Meeting House (themeetinghouse.ca) near Toronto. He has been talking a bunch lately about blazing a trail that is a “third way” not conservative or liberal. A tough thing to do since conservative and liberal are the categories that we currently operate with and people LOVE to immediately place everything in categories.
March 28th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
This political science major turned pastor says “here, here!” Our faith crosses so many political boundaries in either direction (at least it should) that it can’t be labeled. when it sucks is when spiritual leaders make overly political remarks and further entrench the assumed labels in people’s minds. Thomas Jefferson was on to something with the old “separation of church and state” thing. boy i could talk about this one for hours.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
You underestimate the importance of politics. Whether or not you consciously side with a political party when you take a stand on an issue, you are.
In regard to the environment, the left has hijacked this concern. In reality, care for the environment is a conservative issue. Stewardship is at its heart.
However, the left has used junk “science” (i.e. we’re warming up the earth) to scare people into taking care of the planet. Instead, we need to build character into people from day one so that they will care enough about the planet to take care of it without being scared.
If you hadn’t noticed, the whole Global Warming thing is designed to put the US under pressure. It’s a typical leftist anti-American, anti-corporate strategy. Global warming is nothing but politics since there’s no real science there. Global warming “science” is about as viable as human origins “science.” They both use the same kind of untestable and unprovable hypotheses.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
We should–as individuals, not churches–care for the earth. But we should worship the Creator, not the creation. Radical environmentalists and radical Islamists have the same goal–return us all to the Middle Ages.
March 28th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Terry, I share your frustration.
I hate that everything I believe has to fit into one box - either Republican or Democrat, right or left. I am for fiscal conservatism and less government (to name a couple). But I also believe that we should protect the environment and have social programs that enhance the lives of those less fortunate.
The real issue lies with the parties. They don’t work to serve Americans; they work to further their own parties (and make more money). There is an attitude of “You are either with us or against us.” What happened to representing your constituents? The problem is that won’t get you elected.
The entire liberal versus conservative thing is tired. You cannot believe either side. Brian is right… the left has hijacked the environmental movement, yet they never seem to actually do anything about it. Meanwhile, the right has aligned themselves with religious groups – and manage to do very little to help them.
Personally, I rarely believe anything that either side has to say. Instead, I choose to educate myself on the topic, rather than listen to the drivel of those with an agenda.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I hear you!!! It’s gotten almost impossible to be a moderate. Everyone thinks you have to either be ultra conservative or radically liberal. There’s no middle ground anymore. I actually had someone tell me that it was not possible to be a moderate anymore - you had to be either extreme right or extreme left. I disagree.
Balance is important. Somewhere in life there is balance. I can care about the environment with out being a radical environmentalist. Balance is important.
March 28th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Are we suppossed to be good stewards? This should be about more than finances and health. We need to be good stewards of the planet God has put us on.
I don’t think that makes you a “left wing radical”. It means you have a brain! I have a friend who once said to me “I don’t know how you can be a Christian and be a democrat!” To be blunt…I think that’s stupid. There has to be a middle ground somewhere…
March 28th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Hey guys, thanks for all of your comments and feedback.
Ryan/Bill- I to agree there needs to be more middle ground!
Scott, I agree with your point of educating ourselves on a topic, instead of listening to an agenda. The hard part about that is nearly everyone has an agenda. Un-bias information is next to impossible to come by.
Brian. I really need more information and time to process and look into this whole thing. I really have not at all. I do agree that we should take care of things because we are called to, not out of fear. However, I just have a hard time discounting it all to junk science. I guess I might be wrong, but that is hard to belive.
Ben, I would love to hear more. Do you have a blog?
Robert…. Your comment on my other post is the best comment ever. You are truly my hero on earth!
March 28th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I’m 18 and I am just now being able to have a say in all these political affairs. I am a Republican only because I know my vote doesn’t count as much if I am an Independent, and also, if I was Democrat, my father would kill me.
I find myself very moderate on the left/right issues and and I hate that people can not respect that.
Being a digerati, you should know that the “better morals” Republicans listen to lobbyist and are just idiots sometimes when it comes to issues with technology. *cough* Ted Stevens *cough*
I’ve heard politics best described as this: poly (many) ticks (blood sucking parasites).
March 29th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Terry,
In regard to global warming being junk science, think about this. Do you believe that man evolved from single celled organisms? Or do you believe in intelligent design?
Depending on your answer to that question we can have an intelligent conversation.
The vast majority of “scientists” believe exactly that - that we evolved from single celled organisms. A majority belief does not convince me something is true. Just as the Galileo naysayers were all wrong, the evolutionists are wrong. Why believe the prophets of global warming simply because they hold the majority opinion? They’re using the same type of untestable, unprovable hypotheses that the evolutionists use. They want you to believe it’s science, but it’s 100% conjecture.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Great point Brian. We do have a basis of absolute Truth, no doubt. I do appreciate your thoughts and you have inspired me to look more into this. I can not speak intelligently on this topic at all, and openly admit that. One thing that I do know…we have Truth! Start there and work your way through it.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
You’re not an idiot, and your quotes of Falwell don’t show him at his best (I hope!), but I think skepticism and resistance of modern environmentalism would be the wise stance. I’m old and decrepit enought to remember the Carter era (barely). I’ve blogged about it some. In the era of gas lines and the nation’s first violent fuel riot we were told with absolute assurance by our Evangelical President along with everyone Who Was Smarter Than Us that this would be the way it is for the rest of our generation. We were dealing with “dwindling” natural resources and only immediate action could keep it from getting worse.
And then Reagan deregulated prices (first executive order of his presidency) and within two years the entire thing was over. Just like that.
And now, instead of a shortage, suddenly we are told that we in fact have enough fossil fuels to cause a major permanant unnatural global warming?
I’m skeptical. And imposing limitations means basically kicking away the ladder from third world nations that we used to no longer be third world. If this is warranted, I’ll have to seem more evidence than what has been provided by Those Who Are Smarter Than Us.
Yes God wants us to be good stewards, but he also wants us to not kill people. As hysterical as that sounds, slowing down industrialization in cultures that have a lot more “nature” than we do along with the poverty and mortality rates that accompany undeveloped resources, it is not unjustified.
My opinion.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:05 am
In my opinion, people like to be able to put labels on people. If you look around, we do that in the area of religion too (Baptist, Methodist, etc.). Can I believe part of one denomination and part of another without being labeled one or the other? Interesting to note that this is something that transcends poltics because I guess we want to be able to label people. Even those in the poltical world who cannot be labeled have a label and typically that is libertarian.
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