Monday, November 24, 2008
Struggling to be Free from Familial Curses
One of my professors, who was specialized in dead biblical languages (not dead at all!)emphasized the repetative nature of the New Testament's use of the active "overcoming" when talking of perseverence. My children have really shown themselves as sanctifiers of my faith and what it really means to persevere and overcome. In them I can see both the Lord's victories and my own sin as it afflicts them. It is true victory when I can operate outside of my own default system (our cursedness) and enact out of the grace that I have known. Our kids are amazing because they deal with us first with absolute love and grace and only later judge us by the rules we helped lay out. If we can't see how we've hurt God with our sin, then we can look to our children as a measure, as they mature. To those children (as adults) that will judge their parents as perfect, the sin can be seen as the parents not admitting their imperfection, and perhaps this is the worse sin of all in how it damages our children. I say all this because my oldest of five is entering tweenhood, and I am shaking in my boots at the new adventure ahead. I've learned that the hardest things to accept in her are those that I have passed on to her. I hope I can offer some reassurance in saying that it doesn't get any better. Heaven help us.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Follower of Christ = Right Wing Conservative....Not This Time
When this election campaign began, I was convinced that Obama was a celebrity monger, black liberation radical-following, terrorist sympathizing abortion proponant. I didn't take these things too seriously because I just didn't know enough about the man to really care. I knew just enough about his politics to dismiss him completely. But in these last six weeks, everything has changed. I regret that I was so presumptuous and failed to completely dismiss these allegations about him.
The more I kept my sights on our GOP's nominee, the more hopeless I became. There was a moment where I thought I may be comfortable with McCain, when Sarah Palin was introduced, but rather than be a fighter for women's rights, she was merely a prop.
The two of them together is all too reminiscent of the good ole' boy system. I have unfondly coined them as McPain. When I hear their painfully inarticulate speeches about "taking care of our vets", and how we've been victorious in our war with Iraq, I want to hang my head in despair at the fact that they will not even aknowledge the failure that is the Iraq war. They will not even consider that we were duped. And then McPain will go on to speak of dealing with Russia, Venezuela, and Spain with more military force rather than attempting diplomacy.
And what about this "Average Joe"? Aside from speaking of "Joe the Plumber" the McPain campaign has tried to promote itself as being "someone we'd like to have a beer with" or a champion of the average American. Yet their campaign has been banal and petty, their airtime being eaten up by personal attacks on Obama. When they attempt to stir emotion in their supporters its not through inspiration or solidarity but through appealing to the most base of human emotions, such as fear, mob mentality, and flattery. Do they really think so low of the "average" American that we would be moved by finger-pointing and incindiary racist sentiment? The "average" American is not so fickle, and their political interest is fueled by real observations and real grievances. Perhaps in less difficult times we were entertained by fairy tales and propaganda, but the economic crisis has forced us into sober maturity.
Corruption, joblessness, and lack of healthcare coverage are real issues, and when the man who is looking for our vote speaks on these matters only as an afterthought, I am truly concerned about McCain's motivations. When Obama says "In the Bible I've read, it says that we are our brother's keeper, we are our sister's keeper" I will listen, because even if this guy is shrewd enough to say exactly what we want to hear, at least he is smart enough to recognize that the "average Joe" is aching for unity and justice and that our issues are beyond needing to identify with our political leaders. If what we need is a drinking buddy in office, then there are a number of unemployed men and women at the corner pub at noon that would be more than happy to apply.
The more I kept my sights on our GOP's nominee, the more hopeless I became. There was a moment where I thought I may be comfortable with McCain, when Sarah Palin was introduced, but rather than be a fighter for women's rights, she was merely a prop.
The two of them together is all too reminiscent of the good ole' boy system. I have unfondly coined them as McPain. When I hear their painfully inarticulate speeches about "taking care of our vets", and how we've been victorious in our war with Iraq, I want to hang my head in despair at the fact that they will not even aknowledge the failure that is the Iraq war. They will not even consider that we were duped. And then McPain will go on to speak of dealing with Russia, Venezuela, and Spain with more military force rather than attempting diplomacy.
And what about this "Average Joe"? Aside from speaking of "Joe the Plumber" the McPain campaign has tried to promote itself as being "someone we'd like to have a beer with" or a champion of the average American. Yet their campaign has been banal and petty, their airtime being eaten up by personal attacks on Obama. When they attempt to stir emotion in their supporters its not through inspiration or solidarity but through appealing to the most base of human emotions, such as fear, mob mentality, and flattery. Do they really think so low of the "average" American that we would be moved by finger-pointing and incindiary racist sentiment? The "average" American is not so fickle, and their political interest is fueled by real observations and real grievances. Perhaps in less difficult times we were entertained by fairy tales and propaganda, but the economic crisis has forced us into sober maturity.
Corruption, joblessness, and lack of healthcare coverage are real issues, and when the man who is looking for our vote speaks on these matters only as an afterthought, I am truly concerned about McCain's motivations. When Obama says "In the Bible I've read, it says that we are our brother's keeper, we are our sister's keeper" I will listen, because even if this guy is shrewd enough to say exactly what we want to hear, at least he is smart enough to recognize that the "average Joe" is aching for unity and justice and that our issues are beyond needing to identify with our political leaders. If what we need is a drinking buddy in office, then there are a number of unemployed men and women at the corner pub at noon that would be more than happy to apply.
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