Keep Politics OUT OF Christianity

Let me make a bold declaration:  I am a Christian and I am NOT a Republican or a Democrat.  In fact, I do not choose to vote because there is no one running for higher office that even remotely reflects my views.  Oh, people say, you must exercise your “God given right to vote”.  Where in God’s Word is there anything about voting?  Jesus said to render unto Caesar the things that are his.  That is about the extent of any discussion of “politics” in the Bible.

Politicians are professional liars and even if they were telling the truth, I do not agree with much of anything they say.  I have major underlying problems with the basic philosophy of both major parties as well as most independent ones.  It really doesn’t matter anyway because nowhere do I see any instructions in the Bible for believers to be involved in politics.

1 Timothy says to pray for kings and those in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty.  It does not say to run for the office of King.  1 Timothy also says that if a man desire the office of a bishop (overseer in the church), he desires a good thing.  Nowhere are there any statements to the effect of “he who desires to be President desires a good thing”.  There are no statements for it is NOT a good thing.

The political system in America is nothing but a steaming pot of filthy corruption and over inflated egos vying for positions that will allow the person to make the most money and hold the reigns to the most power.  It is funny how few professional athletes, rock stars, actors and actresses seek elective office.  Why should they?  They already make millions of dollars and have adorning multitudes who bow down and worship the very ground they walk on.  What on earth could they gain by actually doing something constructive like run a country?

I talked with an old acquaintance yesterday that whenever we talk, the conversation turns to politics and then ends with him saying “I am a Republican and that’s just the way things should be”.  Since there is no room for debate the call always ends shortly thereafter.  This always comes up in regard to one subject and one subject only.

I direct a small charity.  I have had to basically close it down due to lack of donations.  This is due to the fact that most of the people I knew well enough to ask for donations were from an ancient time in my life when I was a conservative Republican.  Conservative Republicans don’t like throwing money at poor people who in their minds should take care of themselves.  Where exactly these people DO throw their money is a mystery to me, for most of them have far more money than I would ever dream of having in ten lifetimes.

Here is the argument; if a person is poor, it is always their fault.  They brought it on because of laziness usually.  Thus, the way out of poverty is to work three or four jobs and live in a tent and eat grass.  Once a person does this long enough, he will accumulate enough money to live the American Dream.  The Democratic response is for the government to levy excessive taxes on anyone making money so as to take that money and give it to the poor person with no strings attached.  Both of these arguments are not only silly but inherently flawed.

I am fat.  I cannot deny this reality.  My whole family is/was fat.  My mom spent her entire 87 years of life either obese or grossly obese.  She also spent thousands of dollars on every diet known to man trying NOT to be fat.  She died very fat.  My sister, my brother and myself are all fat and have fought to keep our weight under control our whole lives.  We have all failed, just as our mother and her mother and all her aunts.  Only recently has the medical field reluctantly acknowledged that there are “fat genes” that predispose certain people to being fat.

Medical science has also discovered there are genes that make a person susceptible to various forms of cancer and many diseases.  If these things are in the genes, there is little a person can do except be extra vigilant and careful to not feed the monster lurking within their bodies.  Those with strong family histories of everything from heart disease to Alzheimer’s usually end up fighting the same battles as those who came before them.  Science now even thinks the same is true of alcoholism, depression and other things.

The problem is that fat people are automatically labeled as lazy, undisciplined, selfish and generally bad people to be around.  Many deserve such a label for they are all these things.  But, if judgment is made purely on how a person looks without delving into the WHYs of their situation, there is no difference between calling all fat people lazy jerks than calling all black people lazy jerks or all poor people lazy jerks.  In all cases it is flat out wrong to categorize a group of people and self-righteously declare them lazy worthless excuses for humans just because of how they look, the color of their skin or their economic condition.

The “fat” battle many times comes down to metabolism and the older a person gets the more weight they put on.  I have known hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were skinny as a bean pole until they reached 40 or 50 years old.  Many of these people were champions of the “all fat people are lazy” movement.  Suddenly one day they wake up and look in the mirror to discover their worst nightmare came to pass.  They are getting fat.

They proceed to purchase memberships in spas and go on every exotic diet regardless of the price.  Many still cannot get the weight off due to a slowing metabolism.  I can think of many people who ended up dying grossly overweight who spent the first part of their life skinny.  I can think of many people who had tons of money early in life and have none by the time they are fifty because of spending it all and more on excesses early in life. 

I know of countless elderly people who have to live in poverty due to “running out” of money.  Many of these people saved their entire lives to retire and live comfortably.  Then sickness or other things come up and they run out of money.  Are these “poor” people lazy?  Should we require every seventy year old to go bag groceries and greet people at Wal Mart?  Many do, but many more can’t.

Making blanket statements regarding classes of people is a sin and is the mark of a self-righteous egotist.  Just because you are skinny, healthy, rich and young does not give you the right to consider everyone who is fat, sick, poor and old either lazy or worthless.  Yet, in our culture this is the way it is portrayed on television commercials and promoted by young, skinny, healthy and filthy rich actors and actresses who look down their noses at all the poor, fat and ugly people who could be like them if they just tried.

Every person is different and the reasons for their situation are as varied as the stars in heaven.  Unless people climb down off their high horse and take the time to find out WHY a person is poor, fat, sick, homeless, hungry or troubled; they have NO right to pass judgment.  To simply say that the “Republican Way” is to not give a dime to anyone poor because they brought it on themselves and deserve to be poor because they won’t go work five jobs is utter stupidity and is worse to me than racism.

Yes, the Republican way depends on the “trickle down” of resources from those with to those without.  But, if arrogance and pride get in the way, there is no trickle and then what?  Then the answer becomes one of the government giving hand outs to everyone which breeds laziness and prolongs and amplifies the problems and make them worse.  Thus, I am left as an independent in my thinking and politics.

Simple Things; Dad , Dogs and an Older Brother

There is within all of us the yearning to please someone.  God initially placed this in us in relation to Him.  During those times we are not in His will, the desire to please switches to either ourselves or someone else.  We have all known people who spend all of their time trying to please the boss or someone of authority.  There are many names given to people who do this, none are proper to post on this site.

We all know what these people are doing, yet many times the one they are doing it to is clueless.  This is because people enjoy being pleased.  Most everyone, if they were honest, would have to admit to feeling good when someone lavishes them with praise and seeks to do whatever it takes to bless them.  Also built into us is the desire to be pleased.

I must admit that I am partial to “man’s best friend” (no offence to cat lovers), but there is something about a dog that makes this subject come alive.  A dog is actually quite easily pleased.  A dog will readily show his pleasure at something by means of a wagging tail.  Oh if it were so easy to know if we have succeeded in blessing people.

I cannot begin to remember all the times over the years when I have felt badly, either physically or emotionally and immediately felt better and been uplifted by the wagging tail of one of our dogs.  I have stumbled home at times over the years beaten up and beaten down by vicious attacks from various sources and within an instant had all the pain and turmoil relieved by the very obvious delight expressed by one or more dogs at seeing me come home.

There is nothing that heals one’s heart up quicker than being wanted and needed.  A dog has the incredible ability to provide this in unmistakable ways.  Whether friendly barks, wagging tails, licks to the face or intense rubbing up against one’s leg or body; a dog lets you know right away that he is the happiest creature on earth to see you home.  Perhaps we should learn a few lessons from our dogs when it comes to how we view our spouses and children or parents.

Awhile back , we started watching ancient episodes of “Leave It To Beaver” from the late 1950’s that run constantly on various cable networks.  Among the many things I love about the first two seasons of that show is the innocence of the family unit.  Every day when Ward comes home from work, he opens the door and announces “I’m home”.  Every day, when Ward comes home, June is there to welcome him home with a kiss.  Every day, the first question is “where are the boys”, for that was the most important thing to him (besides reading the paper).

Of course the show did not portray the real life of any family, but it did represent a bit of 1958 life in America.  Back before the days of constant electronic distractions, life was much simpler and much more emphasis was placed on the family than even a decade later.  Families were genuinely happy to see each other instead of making excuses to avoid each other.

When I was around ten, my parents worked either the afternoon or night shifts to make enough money to support us.  There were many days that my older brother had take care of me from the time we came home from school till we went to bed.  He was 7 ½ years older than I was and to me he was the coolest guy on earth.  I was thrilled whenever we were told he would be “the father” on a particular evening.  Why?  Because that meant it was a “Dog and Shake” night.

About two blocks from our house was the original Pizza Hut.  It was a tiny little building no bigger than most storage sheds people put lawn mowers in.  In the same parking lot as the Pizza Hut was an equally small little building that housed the illustrious “Dog and Shake” fast food place.  They specialized in hot dogs and milkshakes, but also had very good hamburgers.  This was before the days of McDonalds and Burger Kings everywhere. 

On these special days, we would head up the place around 5:30 and to me, it was the most exciting trip I ever got to make.  Nothing beat walking those few blocks with my big brother.  It made me feel special, and honored to be in his presence, for to me, he was best big brother on earth.  He even let me place the order sometimes.  That made me feel like a grown up. 

We would get the bag with whatever we chose to eat that night (which was always the same thing) and make the return trip home smelling the aroma of our highly anticipated evening meal the whole way.  We would then settle down in front of the television and watch what was usually the news at that time of night while eating our feast fit for two kings.  Oh those were the days.

It didn’t take much to make me feel like the most important kid in Kansas back in 1963.  All it took was the genuine love of a brother whom I looked up to as Beaver Cleaver looked up to Wally.  I can recall many years of my life when I received the greatest pleasure a kid could ever experience from times with my brother, my dad and my dog.  What has happened to our culture that it takes movies, electronic games, computers and high priced toys of every type to amuse us and bring us pleasure in life?

Looking back, I thank God for Dad, dogs and my brother more than anything else in life back 45 years ago.