Voting Biblical Values

My good friend, Mark, wrote an article on his blog about voting Christian values. Please go read it. His writing is better than mine stylistically and he's nicer than I am. His writing, however, has made me think about politics and this is what has come to mind.

Would you like to know a cold hard fact? As a believer in Christ, there is no viable candidate for me. Romney is a Mormon and while he may agree with my mind about some social issues, he is not of like spirit and my heart is troubled. Obama is liberal socially so while I want to support the poor, the plethora of things that go with supporting the poor under his first term make it difficult to support him for a second term (see disclaimer below).

That leaves believers without a viable alternative. Like it or not, fellow Christian, there is no viable candidate for us!

Yet my beloved Liberty University, when urging us to get out and vote, suggested for a while that only the Republican candidates were viable options for us. I can’t find that link now, so clearly they took it down. It was a call to vote and the GOP elephant was the only picture. Sending a message maybe? Me thinks so. LU suggests, as does Billy Graham, that we vote Biblical values above all else! YOU CAN’T! This is his biggest mistake in a long, mostly fruitful ministry career, and it is about to become the church's mistake too.

I don’t care if you vote next Tuesday. Doesn’t bother me one bit. But don’t claim that you’re voting Biblical values. You can’t be, otherwise you wouldn’t vote at all. There are no candidates for us, and the ones that are out there are so tainted with the world’s point of view that we can’t move forward.

Furthermore, the GOP has a lock on the Christian vote. I realize that it’s not the entire Christian vote, but most of the Evangelical Christian vote. This makes me sick. We support the GOP and buy into the oil drilling, the tax breaks for businesses, and the idea that the rich should get to keep their money, whatever that means, when we say we believe in Christ alone. See what we have to do to get abortion rights taken away? We sell ourselves out to the highest bidder.

And this business of voting for a Mormon makes my stomach turn. Vote for who you want to vote for, my friends, but stop thinking you’re voting your Christian beliefs into office. You’re just voting for Exxon’s next tax break.

Disclaimer: These thoughts are written as a Christian, not a military member. If President Obama orders me to do something as a Sailor, I will do it. I follow the orders of the President of the United States and the officers appointed over me. This means that no matter what happens next week, I will support the President of the United States. I simply mean to establish a point of view that as a believer it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide on a candidate.

Psalm 23 Part I

My plan for the next several days is to lay out a basic theological concept of the 23rd Psalm. This isn't going to be an in depth study...more of an overview of one of my absolute favorite passages in the entire Bible. I hope it blesses you!

Enough pain and anguish exist in this world to fill all of eternity if God didn’t send his son to give us a shot at hope. For many, the ultimate pain is death, either one’s own or that of a loved one. For others, the pain of being rejected for their faith is enough sting to keep them from sharing with those around them. Our personal histories as Christians are marred with pain of all kinds, a lot of which is excruciatingly stunting to our growth as believers. So we seek this hope God promises and we desperately, I hope, cling to the idea that God will come through for us. One of the areas we search is the Bible since believers should still believe that God wrote down his thoughts in the Bible.

I think we often see the 23rd Psalm as a cute peaceful piece of poetry written by some poor shepherd three thousand years ago. If we leave these writings there, and don’t try to make sense of them in our own lives, then I believe we miss the blessing that God intends for us.

We begin in verse 1: This shows God’s care of the believer. It is David’s introduction for his Psalm, and he begins by pointing out that the believers are first and foremost belonging to God. This sentence may be rephrased, “I want nothing.” We can be without need if we believe. Note carefully the lack of mention of successful relationships or a promotion at work. God will take care of our spiritual needs. If we are in tune with his will, we want only what we need. As the shepherd is over the sheep, so is our Lord over us. This shows God’s care of the believer. It is David’s introduction for his Psalm, and he begins by pointing out that the believers are first and foremost belonging to God. This sentence may be rephrased, “I want nothing.” We can be without need if we believe. Note carefully the lack of mention of successful relationships or a promotion at work. God will take care of our spiritual needs. If we are in tune with his will, we want only what we need. As the shepherd is over the sheep, so is our Lord over us.

That is not a dictatorship as he also takes on the responsibility to care for our every need. For those who are not yet Christians, there can be some confusion about the above discussion point. On one hand, I promise that God will care for those who believe in him. On the other hand, I say that you shouldn’t be demanding of God for your wants. It seems like a guessing game, doesn’t it? And some believers have trouble with the concept as well.

The underlying theme in Psalm 23 is that God cares. He really, really cares. Even though it might be hard to understand that, it doesn’t make it any less true. Whether I have struggled with my children’s needs, or a loved-one’s death, nothing I can do or Satan can do has changed the fact that God cares, even if I can’t always see him working through the issue.

Thoughts on the Church and the Old Testament

My newest class for Liberty is Old Testament II and is dealing with the Prophets and Poetry. I remember growing up in a church in Kansas that tended to equate the modern (particularly American) church to Old Testament Israel. I've always had problems with that idea. What was meant for Israel was meant for Israel. There is no reason for the modern church to try and supplant them. II Chronicles 7:14 is a major passage.

I specifically focused on Jeremiah 2:1-13. Click the scripture to have it open for you.

Of course I don't think that the message is completely lost on modern people, whether they are of Israel or not. The biggest thing we take away from this though is not whether the prophesy could be interpreted as for us today, but a solemn reminder that God takes faith in Him seriously. This is not a game. Unfortunately, it is a game to many modern believers, particularly in America. Christians do need to wake up and realize the truth. The truth is not that the OT prophesies relate to us, but that God does relate to use and expects serious faith. 

Best Seller Wanna-be

I really want to be a best selling author. Is that wrong? I hope not.

It's not that I want to be famous. I actually don't want to be around big groups of people. What I really want is to entertain people with my writing. I want them to have fun because of what I write. With my upcoming novel: Trident Defense, I hope to do just that.

Trident Defense is a story of a US Navy astronaut who is selected to try and beat an invading alien force. It is the year 2029. The Earth is not prepared. A hasty defense is organized around three space ships and six old, US Navy Trident C-4 nuclear missiles.

But the story is more than just an action-packed suspense novel. It's actually the story of losing everyone he loves and trying to move forward. Admiral J. William Seymour is not a hero, at least in his own mind, though he certainly does heroic things. Instead, he is a man who does great things to save his people, but loses so much in the process that he never fully recovers.

Is that enough to become a best-seller? I don't know, but I believe in this book. I want it to do so well. I love writing about spaceships and aliens and battles (oh my!). It is so much fun. And like I said, I hope lots of people read it and enjoy the book too, even though it is rather serious in places.

What would success be for Trident Defense? I've never sold more than 100 copies of a book (my last novel barely broke 50). I don't think selling 100 copies will equal success for me on this one. I don't need to sell a million copies either, but I want more than previous books for this one. It is kind of special to me.

My desire is to start a career in writing, with this book as a spring board. My initial goal is 1000 copies sold, both electronically and in paperback form. From there, I can see what's next.