WWJD

By on November 13th, 2008

God is NotI read a friends blog the other night, sometime after the election. I was left wondering the same question that he raised in his blog. His blog was “How Would Jesus Vote?” I will begin by saying that in general I don’t really think that God takes sides in things like this, no more than does when people on the opposite sides of battlefield invoke his name prior to commencing the fight. On the other hand, I think that perhaps it would, just as the friend suggested, be a good thing if all had prayed for his guidance and hand in the matter without invoking him to be on one side or the other.

Now as most now I label myself as an agrarian libertarian. I actually stumbled on a good explanation of that today when talking to someone else. I believe in your right to do whatever you want to do until that right interferes upon the right of someone else to do the same and you are not doing anything to leave the earth in a worse shape then you found it. Add a good dose of fiscal conservative policies and I am set. So you can see my dilemma when left with the two parties. I do tend to lean strongly to the right, or at least I have prior to the current administration largely based on the fiscal aspect of things.

Anyway as I am looking around at the state of things and start to contemplate things I do have to wonder if Jesus had been here in the last few weeks how he would have voted. I personally think if he had been here he would have turned over the voting machine, the curtains would have torn and the machine itself would have broken in two and he would have said something profound about neither being suitable to serve office. Maybe that is just my own personal thoughts on the matter.

So I admit that my vote did not go with the winner, but after some thoughts and reflection, especially after reading some things written by Martin Luther King (inspired by yet another friend) and thinking about some of the things said by another great person name John F. Kennedy, I am left wondering if Jesus would not have voted that way. I don’t know where I lost the feelings that I had back in college of compassion for my fellow-man. After all, wouldn’t Jesus have been reaching his hand out to the poor man who was down and out. Would he not have been more concerned about inspiring hope where there was little to none left? When it comes down to it, would he not have been more about achieving equality and achieving equality between everyone and wanting those who had talents to use them to benefit their fellow-man instead of exploit them for their own gain? I could certainly go on and on to be sure.

And sure, I know there are some things that may not sit well with Jesus on that side of things. I am just going to hope and pray that the right decision was made and perhaps it was in the context of the above. Time will tell to be sure.


Categorized under: Faith, Issues, Local Politics, National Politics, Philosophy, Presidents.
Tagged with: , , , , , , .
  • Cort Kirkland

    Let me try to take this one at a time with empirical evidence. Faith is a personal experience or at least it should be. About choosing sides let me share this from Abraham Lincoln, a Republican and devout believer-”Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully.”
    As an aside Lincoln also put the kibosh on a movement to pass legislation that Christianity be named officially the religion of the country. Why is that? Simply that religious beliefs don’t make the best policy, and Lincoln still had a good idea of what religious persecution was.
    Today, we have a movement to reform our corporate oligarchy into a corporate theocracy. Just curious-how is a government run based on a belief in Christianity any different than one based on Allah? You’re right about god not choosing sides because as an all-powerful being he could choose to eliminate disease, death, miscarriages, and strife in general.
    Another hero of the right is Thomas Jefferson, who no doubt was a devout man that just happened to bang his slaves. He also despite his beliefs supported the right to believe in anything because he also knew what persecution was-”Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”- Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom 1786. In other words, if you choose to worship a rock in your front yard then you certainly can.
    From a political perspective our problem is simple, the party system is killing ideas and thought for the sake of affiliation. George Washington warned of this inevitable problem in his farewell address in 1796- “They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.” Or as put more succinctly by Jefferson, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
    So, what can we take away from all this? We all are certainly perfect in believing whatever we want when it comes to faith and religion, but we can just as certainly disagree. Who would Jesus vote for? Neither, obviously. Because this is an issue for man to decide, free will for lack of a better term. Something an omnipotent, omniscient creator is impossible of granting because of the nature of the concept. But in the end, it’s simple, we have destroyed the vision of the founding fathers when it comes to our political system. This is something that our society nor god seems to care about, but as most people forget three telling bible passages. “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Matthew 5:39. “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Romans 13:9.

  • http://www.mephistos.com/ rcornish

    Well said Cort. And I agree 100% the system that we have today is not at all what was the true intent of the founding fathers. If you read through all the blogs here on occasion you find my little rants where I get off on a tangent about just that exact thing.