I dread the election. I dread all the commercials, the negativity and hate ads by people who claim to be Christians or "men of God." I am a Democrat. Living in rural Nebraska, admitting you're a Democrat invites disappointment from people who previously believed you were a good person. It was awful when I was a pastor. How could you be a pastor, call yourself a Christian, no less, and be a Democrat? I had to endure conversations in sewing circles or small group Bible studies about those awful Democrats, as I often had to endure discussions about how the whole problem with the world these days is those working mothers! Ahem.
Religion and politics do not work. When will we learn this? When people mix politics with religion, there is hate and condemnation. Jesus never ran for office, though his followers would have loved that. He knew power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. If someone says that God told them to run, then they've lost credibility in my eyes. God would not tell anyone to run for the most powerful office in the world. Sorry.
I am tired of the hate. I am tired of Christianity being represented by people who believe it's their job to condemn others as wrong. I don't care if you like President Obama, you have a right to your opinion, but he is our president, and the office itself calls for respect. If you disagree with him, fine, don't vote for him, but if you celebrate democracy, then don't be a sore loser. When Bush was our president, I was horrified by many things he did, but I didn't feel I had the right to start a hate campaign against him. I would not have even said that I hated him. I don't feel that as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, that I have the right to hate anyone. Not if I claim to represent Jesus. Jesus' teachings are impossible, it seems, to follow. They set an impossibly high bar for us. But it seems that because of that, Christians give up on trying to reach for that bar. It seems that just Believing In Jesus is enough, and our behavior has no consequences. Just Believe. I never read that Jesus said, "Just believe in me, and don't worry about the rest. Do what you want, as long as you believe." But that seems to be the going belief. Especially in politics. You can say you believe in Jesus and then hate anyone you want, bomb anyone you want, and verbally humiliate and berate anyone.
I don't believe that.
There are a lot of people I don't like, but I refuse to use the word hate. Hate is like fire to gasoline... it gets out of control. The object of our hate suddenly isn't human, doesn't have a right to live. It's an easy jump. Every living human being, every created thing is precious to God. EVERYONE. God never gives us permission to hate. Jesus, especially, never condoned hate. And I'd say, looking down from that cross, we would have understood if he felt a little hatred toward those who put him there. Pain makes us even more vulnerable to hate. Even then, he didn't. He forgave.
I lose respect quickly for anyone who doesn't practice what they preach. And there's an awful lot of preaching going on in our world, especially during elections, and very little practicing. Or maybe there's practicing, but it's practices that would represent the exact opposite of what is preached. God is Never Hate. God is all about Love. Jesus is Love In Human Form. And look what we did to him.
I'm not telling you who to vote for (the choices are not the least bit encouraging), but in a country that boasts of democracy, I expect to be free to vote for whomever I want to, and not condemned for it. And if you believe in democracy, then I also expect that those who don't get who they voted for will behave like adults. If the one I vote for loses, I intend to respect the process of democracy, and believe that God can work through anybody. But I will never believe that God works through someone who condones and practices Hatred or condones violence.
I try to follow Jesus' teachings in everything I do. I don't do that perfectly. I mess up. But I keep trying, because it's Jesus's teachings that I believe in. He died for those teachings. He died for telling the truth. He walked away from those who would make him president. He refused to slaughter his enemies. He chose the radical way of Love, knowing that it wouldn't get him the majority vote. But I believe Jesus... is a lot like God. Call me radical.
No comments:
Post a Comment