Who Has More Power To Change Our Country?
The other night, my Pastor and I were having a discussion about Barack Obama. You see, while I have been a Christian only a few years, my democratic ideals have been a part of me for quite a bit longer and, while I respect my Pastor, I just do not agree with him right now. Finally, to put an end to this “heated fellowship”, my husband informed us both that the President really has so little power that, if either candidate won it would not be the end of the world.
That statement has caused me to come up with a question I believe to be much more important than who will sit in the Oval Office in January. It is blatantly obvious that our country has problems…BIG problems, including, but not limited to, war, terrorism, economic hard times, a health insurance crisis, and the continuing decline of our basic moral fiber. And, as I pondered my husband’s bit of wisdom, I began to ask myself the real question - Who does have the power to solve our problems and put our nation back on track? And the shocking answers are…ME! and YOU! and US!
I know it seems like an enormous responsibility, but I truly believe that we all hold a piece of the power to set things right. We cannot afford as a society to continue to look to Washington to make things better for our families, our schools and our communities. The solutions to these problems comes not from the top down, but from the bottom up. So, where do we start?
I think our first priority is to change the way we view ourselves in relation to one another. An author that has changed the way my 19 year old daughter sees the world, Shane Claiborn says that “each of us is created for community, and in the image of community. And yet everything in the world tries to rob us of this Divine gift.”
The world constantly tells us that we have to look out for number one. That we have to keep others down to maintain our position. We have become a world of self-centered and unempathetic creatures that leave no room for other people’s beliefs, opinions, shortcomings, needs and suffering. We speed through life and step over fallen people instead of taking the time to stop and help them up. More and more, we prefer to give them a little kick as we pass. It is not enough to just walk by and ignore them. We take satisfaction in people’s problems and failures, because we are a society that compares, and as long as their life is worse than ours, we feel okay. But, we are NOT okay!
I am a Christian, but I abhor religion and believe that it has done far more damage than good to our world. I also respect that other people do not share my beliefs, but the following excerpt from Shane Claiborn’s book “The Irrisistible Revolution“
“If you ask most people what Christians believe, they can tell you, “Christians believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that Jesus rose from the dead.” But if you ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everybody else; they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way. And doctrine is not very attractive, even if it’s true. Few people are interested in a religion that has nothing to say to the world and offers them only life after death, when what people are really wondering is whether there is life before death.
As my teacher Tony Campolo used to ask, “Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now?” I am more and more convinced each day that I would. Don’t get me wrong. I’m excited about the afterlife. We are going to party like there’s no tomorrow (umm, and there won’t be). And yet I am convinced that Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live. Otherwise, much of Jesus’ wisdom would prove quite unnecessary for the afterlife. After all, how hard could it be to love our enemies in heaven? And the kingdom that Jesus speaks so much about is not just something we hope for after we die but is something we are to incarnate now. Jesus says the kingdom is “within us,” “among us,” “at hand,” and we are to pray that it comes “on earth as it is in heaven.” No wonder the early Christian church was known as the Way. It was a way of life that stood in glaring contrast to the world. What gave the early Christians integrity was the fact that they could denounce the empire and in the same breath say, “And we have another way of living. If you are tired of what the empire has to offer, we invite you into the Way.” Even the pagan emperors could not ignore the little revolution of love. Emperor Julian confessed, “The godless Galileans feed our poor in addition to their own.” And the Way had little cells multiplying all over that ole empire. Of course, everyone was forewarned that in this kingdom everything is backward and upside-down — the last are first and the first are last, the poor are blessed and the mighty are cast from their thrones. And yet people were attracted to it. They were ready for something different from what the empire had to offer.
Coming out of college, my friends and I were pretty unwilling to “conform to the pattern of this world,” as the Scriptures say (Rom. 12:2). We knew all too well that there is a broad way that leads to death and that most people would take it, but we also knew that there is a narrow way that leads to life, and we wanted to find it (Matt. 7:13 – 14). In fact, people had begun to notice the ripples from our little student movement. I was asked to speak at Eastern’s graduation ceremony, and to the chagrin of the dean, I told the story of how some friends and I were busted for rappelling out of the windows of one of the dorms. The dean had written us a warning that said, “Can you please enter and exit the buildings through the doors, like everybody else?” So my graduation message, “Crawl through the Window,” went something like this: The doors of normalcy and conformity are dead. The time has come to give up on the doors and find a window to climb through. It’s a little more dangerous and may get you into some trouble, but it is a heck of a lot more fun. And the people who have changed the world have always been the risk-takers who climb through windows while the rest of the world just walks in and out of doors. It got quite an ovation from everyone but the dean. We were ready for something new.”
I am ready for something new. I believe it is time to stop looking to the government to take care of people and for people to start taking care of one another. We are a busy society, but we all have a moment or two in every day to make a small difference to someone. And the truth is that if we take the time to make life better for a few, they will take the time to make life better for a few and our efforts will multiply. Pay It Forward was a movie based on fiction, but it was based on more truth and could be more effective than the efforts of every well meaning politician in the world. The question I pose to each of you is “What are you going to do to change the world today?” It has nothing to do with how you vote.
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Diana, I’ve had a personal relationship with the living God for over 28 years now. I also have a Master’s Degree in Christian Education. And I agree with you that a personal relationship is different than simply religion. Religion is what we try to do in order to appease your personal view of God. A personal relationship is where God extends an offer of forgiveness for our sins and we, by faith, accept that forgiveness and become justified by faith…not by works lest anyone should boast” see Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB. The God of the Bible is holy, and all of mankind falls short of that holiness. (Romans 3:23, NASB). Furthermore, you cannot earn that holiness. But when we believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, taking on the punishment we deserve, then God the Father declares us righteous. Instead of appeasing God, we want to please Him for redeeming us when we were already dead in our trespasses. (Ephesians 2:4-5, NASB). NOTE: NASB stands for New American Standard Bible.
I agree that we all should be living in a manner worthy of His calling. We indeed must be taking care of one another. But Government does have a place in our society, especially when it comes to our country’s safety. We have a civic duty and privilege to vote. Furthermore, it matters A LOT WHO we select to lead our country. If you choose not to vote, then you must accept the outcome without complaint. I am voting for McCain/Palin. Why? Because they (especially Palin) represent biblical values. Our country has been veering farther and farther away from God’s principles. When we stray from God’s ways we eventually will incur God’s wrath. (With Obama as president, I fear that wrath may come sooner rather than later.) When voting for those in authority over us, believers’ decisions must be grounded in God’s word: “Seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things (the economy, etc.) shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33-34, NASB). As for those who walk rightly with God, he grants them incredible favor: In 2 Kings 22:1, King Josiah began is reign at the tender age of 8. Verse 2 says that “he did right in the sight of the Lord”. God allowed this inexperienced child to reign successfully for 31 years! In those days, that was considered a long time. Read the rest of that chapter to learn more about God’s judgment when the Israelites repeatedly veered from God’s ways; the king discovered a book that indicated what God required and discovered the people he now led were acting in disobedience. But because Josiah followed God, He spared the king from experiencing his wrath during his reign….
It breaks God’s heart when innocent lives are shed; yet Obama unashamedly supports abortion. The nation’s largest abortion provider (Planned Parenthood) has donated a lot of money to his campaign. He may call it “Pro-Choice” but let’s call it what it truly is: murder. God created man and woman so that families would be established. It is the foundation of society. The Bible specifically says homosexuality is sin, but Democrats (Obama included) have sided with homosexual activists, threatening to pass laws making it illegal for Christians to even mention that truth. I’m not talking about cruelty to homosexuals; no one should be treated disrespectfully. But simply stating what the Bible says, may, in the near future, land people in prison! Why is it that this society insists that we all need to be tolerant, yet Christians aren’t to be tolerated? Remember a few years back when it was politically incorrect to say “Merry Christmas!”? It was replaced with “Season’s Greetings.” And christmas trees were suddenly called “holiday trees.” All across the country there are examples of religious freedoms being stripped from Christians because of a few who disagreed with them. If there’s a cross up somewhere, and someone is offended, why can’t they simply look the other way? They don’t want their “rights” infringed upon, but they would gladly see that Christian’s rights are downright trampled. Where’s the equity in that? The sad part is the democrats are leading the way (full steam ahead!) in all that.
Obama is the most liberal senator in the senate. Biden is the third most liberal. They are nowhere near even main-stream America. It’s clear where they stand on the issues important to believers: They are completely opposed to it. And just because someone is religious doesn’t mean he or she has a personal relationship with God. Anyone can go through the motions. BTW, Obama attended an American-hating church for twenty years. He’s been indoctrinated by his mentor’s (Jeremiah Wright’s) views. Do you really think he’s going to do what is best for our country?
If you look at the book of Isaiah, you can see the consequences of those who decide to place their trust in someone other than God. Take a look at Isaiah 30 and 31; the Israelites were facing difficulties, yet they chose to place their hope and trust in someone else (the Egyptians) rather than in God. God, being all powerful, simply removed the security the Israelites were leaning upon: “‘Woe to the rebellious children’, declares the LORD, ‘Who execute a plan, but not Mine. And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin; Who proceed down to Egypt, without consulting Me. To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation’. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! …Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit; so the LORD will stretch out His hand, and he who helps will stumble and he who is helped will fall, and all of them will come to an end together” (Isaiah 30:1-3 and Isaiah 31:1-3 NASB). I think the principle still applies today.
Our country is at a major crossroads. This election is by far the most important one yet. I suggest you pray diligently while opening up God’s word to determine how He would have you vote. Since God’s ways are not man’s ways, we need to find out how He views things as we read His word. Our hearts can be easily deceived unless we know what Scripture says. If you’re unsure of where to begin, and want to gain insight quickly, you may want to listen to a local Christian radio station 90.9 FM for biblical teaching from godly, seminary-trained pastors. For example, Tony Evans (his radio program is The Urban Alternative) is on at 7:30 PM M-F and Robert Jeffress (pastor of Dallas First Baptist; his program is called Pathway to Victory) is on at 2 PM M-F; also, Focus on the Family is on at 10 AM and 8 PM and Faith and Family is on at 12 noon; all have discussed such matters. If you go to their respective websites, you can browse through the message titles and then select ones you want to listen to. Listening to them online is free and can be done immediately. To get you started, go to http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/The_Alternative/archives.asp?bcd=2008-9-24) to listen to one of Pastor Tony Evans’ messages on government and religion. He rightly points out that God is ultimately the government; and explains consequences of those in government who do not follow His guidelines.
I hope this helps….
Windmill Farmer-
I hope you did not take away from this that I do not think it is important who becomes president, because I do. And I also know that you do not come to the Lord through works, but by His Son Jesus Christ. The point of this was that we,as individual Americans, have more power than they do to change most of the problems we face. One of those problems, as I pointed out in my article, is the breakdown of our basic moral fiber. I am a firm believer that you cannot legislate morality. Trying to do so will be a frustrating effort, the same way using religion by itself will prove to be.
I am entitled to my opinion, but I do not think that being pro-choice necessarily makes a person pro-abortion. I have long held the opinion, and this is MY opinion, not that of Twenty Peaceful Minutes, that Republicans and the religious right want to attack all of these issues from the result, while Democrats tend to look for solutions at the root. I believe this to be a biblical approach as there are many references in the Bible about trees and roots. I won’t get into a bunch of detail, but the jist is that you can chop the limbs off of a tree, but the stumps are long dormant and will always cause the tree to regrow. Instead of keeping our focus on abortion or gay marriage, what if we dropped our judgemental tendencies and started loving people where they are like Jesus did? What if we put the energy we put into fighting the result - abortion - and starting spending more energy caring about teenagers, what they go through and how their culture provides a platform for pre-marital and unprotected sex? What if we spent more time in the church sheparding and teaching parents how to be Christ-like leaders of their homes? What if we took some stress off of American families by making sure they could provide health care for their families? It might be easier for them to focus on raising children who reflect morals that are learned and not legislated.
James 2:10 (NIV) states that “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” As Christians, we like to categorize sins and make some worse than others. Obviously, some sin carries a heavier consequence than others, but I think we are using issues like abortion to blind ourselves and let the Bush administration off the hook for sins they have actually committed against the American people. They have allowed, if not participated in corruption, lying and thievery, not to mention their disregard for human life with respect to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And don’t even get me started on their policies regarding interrigation practices that involve torture.
Basically, I believe that using their stance on abortion is a trick of the devil to prevent us from looking further at a politicians beliefs and the potential damage he can do to the basic moral fiber and wel-being of our country.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that there is a major breakdown of our basic moral fiber. I also agree that we as individuals can have a huge impact within our sphere of influence. And more really needs to be done on an individual basis. However, I disagree with you that government cannot legislate morality. There are numerous laws that are in place to legislate people’s behaviors. And, as I mentioned previously, many more are coming down the pike. The bottom line is this: since God has created the earth and all that is in it—including us—shouldn’t we be following His rules? As Christians, we should be spending time prayerfully studying God’s word to see what He has to say about a matter. We need to be asking God to illumine His word and to give us understanding, “’for My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8 NASB). Quite frequently passages are taken out of context to make it fit a particular world view. But that isn’t what the Lord had intended. There are biblical commentaries written by seminary professors who have spent their entire adult lives prayerfully studying God’s word in its original language. They are experts in understanding the proper context of Scripture. A good resource would be the Bible Knowledge Commentary; it’s only two volumes for the whole Bible, written in layman’s terms. If you are more into in-depth study, you can find detailed commentaries. A whole volume may be dedicated to one small book of the Bible. Larger books of the Bible have several volumes. There are also Study Bibles you can buy that have reference notes on each page. But typically they simply skim the surface.
You mentioned that Republicans and the religious right want to attack all of these issues from the RESULT, while Democrats tend to look for solutions at the ROOT. I agree that dealing with the root issues is VERY important. But how can you say that Democrats are dealing with the root, when they don’t want abstinence taught in schools (what the religious right wants), and insist on passing out condoms? Gosh, that seems like dealing with the RESULT of a promiscuous lifestyle (any sex before marriage falls short of God’s best). Furthermore, Dems encourage ABORTION to resolve any “inconveniences.” Again, that seems like dealing with the RESULT of poor choices. Teaching abstinence is truly in the teens’ best interests. It saves a lot of heartache. And it honors God. It seems to me that the “religious right” is the party dealing with the ROOT of the matter. This is simply one issue; I could go on and on. But that will need to wait for another dialogue.
You also brought up what you consider the “religious right’s” judgmental tendencies, and suggest that we start loving people where they are, like Jesus did. If you take a close look at the Gospels (for others who may be reading this, that’s the first four books of the New Testament, which records Jesus’ life here on earth: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Some Bibles have Jesus’ words in red, so you can see what he said more clearly….), you will see that Jesus didn’t simply ignore sin; he addressed it head-on. He hated the sin, but loved the sinner. (As believers, we should too.) Take the woman caught in adultery. The religious leaders tried to trap Jesus, so they set up a sting in which they caught a woman in adultery—the very act! (Notice the man who participated was not brought to Jesus; just the woman…what hypocrisy!) The Law of Moses said she should be stoned, but Jesus had compassion. He told the crowd that “he who hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone”. One by one, they all left. It was just her and Jesus. She needed His forgiveness. And that is what He gave. Yet Jesus told her to go and SIN NO MORE…. (John 8:1-11). He was very clear about that. Think for a moment; what thoughts might be running through this woman’s mind as she lay naked in front of Jesus? (Although the Bible doesn’t say she was naked, she probably was since she was caught “in the very act”!) Not only is she embarrassed, she’s expecting to be stoned to death. Yet God gave her a new lease on life. And her way to say Thank You is to honor Him by sinning no more. Let’s take this one step further; do you think if she had gotten pregnant, Jesus would’ve said, Go ahead and have an abortion, I understand? Forgiveness isn’t a license to sin as we please! Yes, forgiveness is available. But the Bible also makes it very clear that if one continues in disobedience, there will be consequences. (See 1 Corinthians 5: 1-5.) Believers will not lose their salvation, but God WILL discipline them.
And while believers are to be loving, they are also called to be salt and light. There’s got to be balance. It’s not a matter of “anything goes.” Salt is used for preservation and light is to stand up for biblical values in a world darkened by sin.
I need to address your comments about the Bush administration. I’m not saying Bush is perfect; no one is. But you talk about his administration’s disregard for human life with respect to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone thought (Dems and Republicans alike) there were weapons of mass destruction there. There were satellite photos of covered vehicles exiting the compound from a different direction at the exact same time the United Nations inspectors were arriving to investigate. Those same trucks returned as the inspectors were leaving. This happened several times, and is very suspicious. Furthermore, there was plenty of time for the Iraqi government to get rid of their WMD’s prior to the war. Just because none was found when we actually arrived doesn’t mean there never were any. (In fact, we know there were, since Sadam used some of them on his own countrymen! ) Their murderous dictator thought nothing of killing thousands of his own countrymen! We were doing that country a favor by dealing with him. We would’ve left sooner if the terrorists from other countries hadn’t attacked. (Which, BTW, the terrorists felt it was a worthy cause to kill innocent civilians along with Americans.) The news out of Iraq has been skewed by liberal reporters so as to ignore what good we have done for the Iraqi people. Yes, in the process of setting these free from the horrors Sadam Hussein inflicted, some civilians did die. That’s unfortunate. But that does happen in war. As for the Afghani people, they were under the tyranny of the Taliban. And that country was a haven for terrorists. If they weren’t dealt with there, we might have to deal with them here. And as for torture, you and I really don’t have any idea what torture really is. Perhaps we should ask John McCain. I doubt the tactics the Bush administration uses are as bad as McCain faced….
Going back to what I said earlier, since God has created the earth and all that is in it—including us—shouldn’t we be following His rules? To determine what those rules are, we must take an in-depth look at what Scripture has to say. They aren’t vague. The more time one spends in His word, the more one will understand God’s heart. It all boils down to this: which candidate is following those God-given rules? That’s who believers should be voting for.
Windmill Farmer -
There are several reason I am not going to argue theology with you-
First, this story was never intended to be about religion or politics. It was about how we treat each other as human beings on a daily basis, despite our religious beliefs.
Second, as a new Christian, I cannot compete with your 28 years of theological revelation. Someday I hope to though!
Third, even in our Christian beliefs, there will be things we will have to agree to disagree on. For instance, I believe that you can lose your salvation. If you couldn’t, why would the devil work so diligently to trip us up after we receive Christ? It simply makes no sense that you can get saved, live any way you want, and believe you are going to Heaven. I do not state that to start another religious debate. I simply wish we could allow others to believe as they do, try to influence them throught the way we live our lives and mostly how we treat each other.
Diana,
You mentioned that this story was never intended to be about religion or politics. It was about how we treat each other as human beings on a daily basis, despite our religious beliefs. Yet you posted it in the religion and theology section of a website that encourages dialogue. And you certainly are entitled to your beliefs. What concerns me is what those beliefs are based upon. Thus far, none of your comments have pointed to any research you’ve done as to how you reached those conclusions, whereas mine has. Furthermore, I have not been mean-spirited about any of my comments. In fact, I have gone the extra mile to not simply give my perspective, but to give a number of references for you (and others reading our discourse) to investigate (if you so choose) so each person can consider and come up with his or her own conclusions.
I recently read an article from Frank Pastore and found it to be very insightful about what you and I have been talking about. It addresses some of the perspectives you have mentioned. I had never heard of him before, so I did some research. He was a former professional baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds, and a Radio Talk Show host on Christian radio station KKLA in California. This is what he wrote:
“For the past several months, I’ve heard two recurring themes from critics of my show: ‘You’re too political and unloving; Christians shouldn’t argue about politics,’ and ‘You’re not fair and balanced; you’re close-minded and too biased against liberals.’
“Perhaps many Christians believe these things because they don’t understand politics is really an exercise of theology applied — one way we love our neighbors as ourselves. Our political and social policies should grow out of our theology, not vice versa. We are not to reverse engineer our theology based upon our political and social agendas. Our faith is foundational to everything else. For Christians, theology creates and shapes our approach to politics; for non-Christians, politics creates and shapes their approach to theology — or at least their worldview.”
“The best way for me to love my neighbor is through those things I choose to do personally. The second best way is through votes for candidates who support policies that I believe will promote the common good. Thus, I am political because I am loving, and I am loving because I am Christian. Therefore, I should argue — albeit in a God-glorifying manner — about politics.”
“Finally, with regards to the criticism that I am ‘not fair and balanced’ and that I am ‘close-minded and too biased against liberals,’ I am perhaps guilty as charged. However, it is only because I have weighed the arguments on both sides and found the current expressions of modern liberalism deficient. I gave liberalism a fair hearing when I began to formulate my political philosophy and found it contrary to my Christian values. I am no longer struggling with moral equivalence between the left and the right. I would be close-minded and biased if I were unwilling to weigh arguments for liberalism. Having done so, I am a conservative precisely because I have found the arguments for liberalism unpersuasive.”
My thoughts exactly….
Quick editor’s note, Windmill Farmer, I placed Diana’s story in the Religion & Theology section, she didn’t. Right now, the tags and categories are assigned by the editor when the story is posted. Just thought I’d clarify…
P.S. No clue why it says ‘Author’ next to my name above this comment, or if other people even see that. Diana is the author of this post, sorry for any confusion.
Thanks, Josh, for the clarification. Apparently when anyone makes a comment it shows who made it. Hence your note to me is now posted in the string on the site.
Oh, my mistake; I see what you mean by “Author”. My name doesn’t have that. Interesting. I have no clue as to why yours says that…. BTW, thank you for allowing the dialogue between Diana and me….
No problem - that’s why I’m really encouraging articles like Diana’s, I want to see more discourse in the comments on these articles!
Windmill Farmer
I am sorry. I did not mean to imply that I thought you were being mean spirited. Also, as Josh noted, I did not place this in the Religion category. I also do not consider myself strong enough in theology to argue with people who are obviously more learned than I am. I do not believe that our convictions should not be a consideration in who we vote for. My point was simply that we look to government to solve a lot of problems that could be solved if we reverted back to the way previous generations related to one another. It was never intended to influence who people vote for or how they believe. It was simply a call for us to treat each other better and reach out to people that we have the ability and resources to help. I have heard it said that if the churches of the world really did what they were intended to do as written in Acts, there would be very little hunger or poverty in the world. I believe the church should be less focused on politics and get back to being the arms, hands and feet of Jesus.
Please accept my apologies for the way my response sounded. It is sometimes difficult to read the tone in internet correspondence and I certainly did not mean to be antagonistic.
Diana –
I just found out something that sends chills down my spine…I felt it to be an incredibly important piece of information as you go to the polls. It’s common knowledge that Obama proudly mentions his community organizer experiece in Chicago closely follows that of Saul Alinsky’s style. Saul Alinsky wrote a book years ago called, “Rules for Radicals”. Shockingly, he dedicated this book to Lucifer (i.e., the devil). “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — and which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.” Go to a library or book store and check it out. Talk about a trick of the devil! Satan would be absolutely delighted if Obama won, and having unsuspecting believers casting their vote for him would be icing on his cake….
The facts are all there: Obama’s got a muslim background, he started his political career in the home of Bill Ayers…an unrepentant terrorist who bombed America, he is good friends with his long-time mentor, Jeremiah Wright, who has repeatedly (on video) said, “God D— America!” And even Obama’s wife has said that only when her husband became a presidential candidate, that for the first time, she was proud of her country (there’s a video of her saying that, too).
Okay, he referenced his style. So what? This is what I found about his “style”:
In 1969 he was awarded the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award. It has been awarded annually since 1964 in commemoration of the 1963 Encyclical “Pacem in Terris” of Pope John XXIII. It was created by the Davenport Catholic Interracial Council of the Diocese of Davenport in the U.S. state of Iowa. Other notable winners are Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr, Helen Caldicott, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Sister Helen Prejeean…the list is long and inspiring.
Also, as I was reading Mr. Salinsky’s “Rules for Power” which he wrote in the book you mention, I can’t help but notice that it mirrors in so many ways the way the religious right try to influence the rest of us.
Rule #1 - Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.
Rule #2 - Never go outside the experience of your people. When an action is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule #3 - Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.
Rule #4 - Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the
Christian church can live up to Christianity.
Rule #5 - Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then
react to your advantage.
Rule #6 - A good tactic is one that your people enjoy. If your people are not having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.
Also, I looked at the wording and I don’t really see it as a dedication, but more as a statement of fact. Satan was a radical and there are good radicals and bad ones.
But, again, I am wasting my time here. THIS WAS NOT ABOUT POLITICS!!!!!!!!!!! But your arguments bring to light what I believe to be a basic flaw in the church today. People hide in their big country club church buldings, looking down their noses at people they disagree with or refuse to take the time to understand or listen to and cast judgements. Then they try to push their judgements off on others using fear, slander and out right lies. And I believe they do this to avoid looking at themselves. Jesus didn’t sit in a 3 million dollar building and decide who was good enough, had enough money, or dressed well enough to come fellowship with him. He got His hands dirty, walked where they walked, listened to and cared about their pain. And He did this for the bottom of the barrell. So, as for me, I will continue to look for fruit. And the fruit I see from the current administration and like thinkers is greed, corruption, lies and disdain and apathy for people who are not like them. Enough is enough.
Diana–you go girl. We need to all be respectful to each other as human beings. There will always be people who make things out of nothing. Brush it off—you totally made sense.
Forgive me for reading this a little late, but it doesn’t sound like Windmill Farmer is showing any disrespect, but trying to bring to light the facts that are surrounding Obama. Yes, he’s already won the Presidency, but just because he claims he’s going to do this and that doesn’t mean he’ll actually take action.
There’s no way, as a Christian, that I would ever vote for a man (regardless of his/her skin color) that claimed he was Christian, but still gives women the right to abort their innocent children. I believe the 6th Commandement states that “Thou shalt not kill”, and, well…abortion is murder.
Furthermore, there’s no way that I will vote for a man who is long time friends with a Pastor who G’D’s America, or has a Muslim background, or has wife who openely admits she is not proud of this country, no matter what they say they will do for healthcare or education.
One thing I will do is pray for him and this nation.
And once again, the whole point of the article was completely overlooked. It was suppose to be about us doing more to help eachother as individuals, not who got elected as president. It was my hope to inspire a few random acts of kindness and a little generosity and it was never an attack on people’s political ideals. It was about changing who we look to to make our lives better. I am so sad that the point never got across.