Post Edited (JEE) : 1/27/2005 12:24:23 AM (GMT-6)

I'm wondering why you're wondering about how I live out my faith. Don't judge me, man! (kidding)

But seriously, folks...the truck incident just plain puzzled me at first, and then I laughed about it and am still laughing. The sheer absurdity of it all is just hilarious. I still can't fathom how a person who would champion democratic values could ever justify their interference with another person's right to non-violently express their own political views. The thought of vandalizing someone else's property just because I don't like their political views is completely against my own convictions about how a Christian should live, in addition to my views of how a citizen of a democracy should live.

As to the "unconditional, unsurpassable worth love" thing, I think I've made myself clear that I don't find that idea taught in scripture nor logically possible. But no, I don't actively HATE liberals, I just find them hard to relate to. I should also say that most of my conservative friends think of me as more liberal than they would prefer, so I guess it's all kind of relative.

In my experience, the liberals and conservatives both strongly tend to pontificate, stating or implying that their position is "God's agenda," somehow, the one that JESUS would really champion. The funny thing to me is both these camps often try to use God for their own political ends, when Jesus said His kingdom was NOT of this world. It seems to me to be a rather common mistake on both sides of the spectrum for people to confuse the church with the state.

How do I pray for liberals? I honestly don't get the idea that genuine prayer could ever possibly be condescending (in the sense of not valuing or demeaning someone). If by "condescending" you mean do I pray that they be persuaded to change their way of thinking, I don't know that I ever have prayed for them in that way, but I don't think that would necessarily be condescending, though obviously it might be. I generally don't find that I am able to pray effectively for people that I don't have some kind of personal contact with. That said, I freely admit that prayer is an area that I greatly need to improve in. My strongly "bookish" rationalistic personality tends to make prayer more of an exercise in contemplation and seeking for enlightenment than active intercession for others. And it is an area that I intend to seriously improve on this year.

As far as my political views go, I did conscientiously vote for Bush as the one whom I felt was the best option of the two, but that doesn't mean I would rubber-stamp everything he ever says or does.

John

Post Edited (JEE) : 1/27/2005 1:38:44 AM (GMT-6)