Election Day -- Yea!!!

It's election day! November 2nd!

Why am I excited? It's the last day of calls throughout the evening that I don't want to hear. It's the last evening of advertisements on television and radio that annoy me. I'll get less junk mail as well!

The bad part of the end of the election process? Each one of those things I mentioned above is a shot in the arm for our economy. As much as I dislike the advertisements, the printers will have less to do, the postal carrier will have less to do, the media will also have less income.

Scott McKnight talked about "The Eschatology of Politics" on his Jesus Creed blog today. He wrote:

This was published at Out of Ur blog; it is now edited for a new day.

Somewhere between 6pm and 8pm, Central Time, on November 2d, 2010, the eschatology of American evangelicals will become clear. If a Republican (or a Tea Party candidate) wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that evangelical has an eschatology of politics. Or, alternatively, if Democrat wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that evangelical too has an eschatology of politics. Or, we could turn each around, if a more Democrat oriented evangelical becomes depressed and hopeless because a Repub wins, or if a Republican oriented evangelical becomes depressed or hopeless because a Dem wins, those evangelicals are caught in an empire-shaped eschatology of politics.

I can’t imagine 1st Century Roman Christians caught up in some kind of hope whether it would be Nero or Britannicus who would succeed Claudius.

Where is our hope? To be sure, I hope our country solves its international conflicts and I hope we resolve poverty and dissolve our educational problems and racism. But where does my hope turn when I think of war or poverty or education or racism? Does it focus on my political party? Does it gain its energy from thinking that if we get the right candidate elected our problems will be dissolved? If so, I submit that our eschatology has become empire-shaped, Constantinian, and political. And it doesn’t matter to me if it is a right-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Republican wins, or a left-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Democrat wins. Each has a misguided eschatology.

Now before I take another step, it must be emphasized that I participate in the election; and I think it makes a difference which candidate wins; and I think from my own limited perspective one candidate is better than the other.

But before I take the next step I’ll say this: if our candidates lose won’t make one bit of a difference for our obligation to follow Jesus today. Not one bit.

Participation in our election dare not be seen as the lever that turns the eschatological designs God has for this world. Where is our hope? November 2 may tell us.

What I hope it reveals is that:

Our hope is in God. The great South African missiologist, David Bosch, in his book Transforming Mission impressed upon many of us that the church’s mission is not in fact the church’s mission but God’s mission. Our calling is to participate in the missio Dei, the mission of God in this world. So, at election time we can use the season to re-align our mission with the mission of God. Therein lies our hope.

Our hope is in the gospel of God. God’s mission is gospel-shaped. Some today want to reduce gospel to what we find in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, while others want to expand it to bigger proportions, we would do well at election time to re-align ourselves once again with the gospel as God’s good news for our world. Therein lies our hope.

Our hope is in the gospel of God that creates God’s people. God’s gospel-shaped mission creates a new people of God. In fact, the temptation of good Protestants to skip from Genesis 3 (the Fall) to Romans 3 (salvation) must be resisted consciously.

We need to soak up how God’s gospel-shaped work always and forever creates a gospel people. The first thing God does with Abraham is to form a covenant people, Israel, and Jesus’ favorite word was “kingdom” and Paul was a church-obsessed theologian-missionary. Herein lies the challenge at election time.

We are tempted to divide the USA into the good and the bad and to forget that the gospel has folks on both sides of political lines. Even more: we are tempted to think that the winners of the election are those who are blessed by God when the blessing of God is on God’s people. God’s gospel-powered mission creates a new people, the church, where we are to see God’s mission at work. Therein lies our hope.

Our hope is in the gospel of God that creates a kind of people that extends God’s gospel to the world. Chris Wright’s big book, The Mission of God, reminds us that election is missional: God creates the people of God not so the people of God can compare themselves to those who are not God’s people, but so that God’s people will become a priesthood in this world to mediate the mission of God, so that all hear the good news that God’s grace is the way forward.

Our hope is in God’s mission in this world, and that mission transcends what happens November 2d.

Politics

Last week, Greg Boyd tweeted:

I admire the courage of some of our political candidates. Most people avoid public debates even when they know what they're talking about.

I love that quote...

Strange bedfellows

I was listening to Frank Pastore on the Drew Marshall show last week. He was a pitcher in for the Cincinnati Reds and is now a Christian and talk show host.

During the interview, he mentioned that he was on Salem Communications stations. Salem bills itself as "Reaching audiences interested in Christian and family content and conservative values on air and in print". The interview was quite good and is worth listening to.

The thing that perplexed me a little is his comment about Glenn Beck being on Salem with him. I've got nothing against Glenn Beck, even though I have some disagreements with some of the things he says on the air.

I was perplexed because, according to several things that came out during his rally in Washington, Glenn is affiliated to some degree with the Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons). That doesn't make him a bad guy (I have friends who are LDS and would treat me better than a lot of other people I know) but it raises some questions in my mind about Salem Communications decision to sign him.

Why do we fight it...

This post has been a long time in the making.

When I mean making, it's sort of like a crock pot rather than a microwave.

You see, about a month ago, while listening to the Daily Audio Bible, I heard the story of David prior to his being made king of Israel and with his struggle with the king at the time, Saul (1 Samuel).

Several attempts were made on David's life by Saul, including throwing a spear at him, plotting to kill him, etc.

At the same time, however, David had opportunities to kill Saul and refused to do it. Why? Because he refused to take on the job of killing God's anointed king.

Fast forward to Romans 13 (the Daily Audio Bible hasn't gotten this far yet). The first verse reads.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1 TNIV)

Then I hear of the pastor who is praying for President Obamas death (an extreme case but...). I also hear conservatives who call themselves Christians who are also quite outspoken about the president. How is this any different than David's situation. These people believe that somehow, what is in their best interest is in danger so they slander and defame the man in the office. A man that, if I read the passage above correctly, God appointed.

Then I think back to David... I will not kill God's anointed king...

Hmmm...

Inauguration day preparation

With the inauguration of our new president coming up on Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this....

No matter who you voted for or what side you are on, you'll never have "A Savior on Capitol Hill".  There is only one Savior for this world.

The end of politics for a while?

I hope this is the end of my political posting for a while but...

First, a coworker (who lives in Phoenix) was at the McCain "party" Tuesday night and happened to be caught during the concession speech by an AP photographer.  He is on photo #8 here.  The disappointment shows on his face.

Now to what really brought on this post.

Cal Thomas wrote an article that appeared in the Modesto Bee titled "Power evangelicals seek isn't in government".   It is worth reading.

A quote from that that I found quite good:

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative evangelical image has failed.

The question now becomes: Should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?

I opt for trying something else.

Too many conservative evangelicals have put too much faith in the power of government to transform culture. The futility inherent in such misplaced faith can be demonstrated by asking these activists a simple question: Does the secular left, when it holds power, persuade conservatives to live by their standards? Of course they do not. Why, then, would conservative evangelicals expect people who do not share their worldview and view of God to accept their beliefs when they control government?

Of course he is right about that. He continues

What is the answer, then, for conservative evangelicals who are rightly concerned about the corrosion of culture, the indifference to the value of human life and the living arrangements of same- and opposite-sex couples? The answer depends on the response to another question: Do conservative evangelicals want to feel good, or do they want to adopt a strategy that actually produces results?

I'll let you read his article for his answer.

Only one more day

• Only one more day to receive phone calls from people I've never met telling me what my opinion should be.
• One more day of advertisements telling me the worst characteristics of the people they are opposing.
• One more day for this country to make history with either an african-american president or a female vice president.

Voting the Bible

Yesterday, I got my ballot into the "mail-in" drop off.  It is a good feeling not to need to stand in line for early voting, not to stand in line for regular voting, etc.

A news report yesterday on Channel 4 stated that:

As of early Friday morning, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office reported that nearly 1.3 million registered voters had cast ballots already, either in person or by mail-in. That's 40 percent turnout. 

At this point, I am extremely tired of the advertisements, each either promising their solution will put America into prosperity again or that the other candidates solution will make things worse. 

One race that is particularly vitriolic is the Musgrave/Markey congressional race.  Each has accused the other of illegalities, each denies the allegations of the other.  Musgrave has claimed to be an "evagelical Christian" while Markey was raised Catholic.  From the tenor of this race, I might conclude that they have either abandoned their faith or that they follow a very different Bible than mine.

Then there are the calls from the pro-life groups urging me to vote a particular way.  One was a recording from a priest, the other I remember was from a group called "Vote the Bible".  I looked up their website and was not surprised at what I found.  They seem to believe that there are only two Biblical issues this election (as in ever election for the last 20 years or so).  Abortion and same-sex marriage.  They state:

Vote the Bible seeks to provide information to those who wish to be informed about the official and published positions of those who would see public office.  These positions are obtained from each candidate for election and each party's official published platforms.  We think that Christian voters want to cast their vote in conformity with the Word of God, so we have included scriptures that are applicable to public issues.  Vote the Bible does not endorse any political party or individual candidate.  We do encourage you to cast your vote in this most important election for the candidate of your choice.

I find this to be a rather myopic view of the Bible.  Not that these two issues are not important to God.  It is that there are a lot of other issues which relate to how his followers should live.  I think there is a list around somewhere with about 10 items on it that seemed pretty important at one point... It went something like:

1. 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' 
   
2. 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' 
   
3. 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' 
   
4. 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 
   
5. 'Honor your father and your mother.' 
   
6. 'You shall not murder.' 
7. 'You shall not commit adultery.'
8. 'You shall not steal.' 
   
9. 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' 
   
10. 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Certainly, the issues that the "Vote the Bible" people care about show up on number 6 and 7 (sort of, that is a whole different debate). On the other hand, if we are to "vote the Bible", dare we think about how many of the other ones have been violated by our politicians?  I certainly believe that there are lies (I was going to say untruths but isn't that being a politician as well?) being told by every candidate out there.  They alone can not be the solution and they will not always represent me well.  

Throughout the law as well as the rest of the Bible, God is also concerned about issues of hunger, poverty and justice for those that don't have that option.

If we are going to "Vote the Bible", lets vote ALL the Bible.  Otherwise, let's quit fooling ourselves and only partially bringing God into politics and vote for the choice we feel is best.  Lets also get politics out of the Church and quit letting the politicians pander to and control the Church and have the Church get to the task we were given... building the Kingdom of God rather than the empires of man.

A Derek Webb song for the next two months...

From Derek Webb's cd "The Ringing Bell"

A Savior on Capital Hill (you can listen to it here on Last.FM)

I’m so tired of these mortal men

with their hands on their wallets and their hearts full of sin

scared of their enemies, scared of their friends

and always running for re-election

so come to DC if it be thy will

because we’ve never had a savior on Capitol Hill

you can always trust the devil or a politician

to be the devil or a politician

but beyond that friends you’d best beware

‘cause at the Pentagon bar they’re an inseparable pair

and as long as the lobbyists are paying their bills

we’ll never have a savior on Capitol Hill

[Bridge]

all of our problems gonna disappear

when we can whisper right in that President’s ear

he could walk right across the reflection pool

in his combat boots and ten thousand dollar suit

you can render unto Caesar everything that’s his

you can trust in his power to come to your defense

it’s the way of the world, the way of the gun

it’s the trading of an evil for a lesser one

so don’t hold your breath or your vote until

you think you’ve finally found a savior up on Capitol Hill

re: Where is our hope?

This was posted on Scot McKnight's Jesus Creed blog:

Somewhere between 6pm and 8pm, Central Time, on November 4th, 2008, the eschatology of American evangelicals will become clear. If John McCain wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that evangelical has an eschatology of politics. Or, alternatively, if Barack Obama wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that evangelical too has an eschatology of politics. Or, we could turn each around, if a more Democrat oriented evangelical becomes depressed and hopeless because McCain wins, or if a Republican oriented evangelical becomes depressed or hopeless because Obama wins, those evangelicals are caught in an empire-shaped eschatology of politics.

Where is our hope? To be sure, I hope our country solves its international conflicts and I hope we resolve poverty and dissolve our educational problems and racism. But where does my hope turn when I think of war or poverty or education or racism? Does it focus on November 4? Does it gain its energy from thinking that if we get the right candidate elected our problems will be dissolved? If so, I submit that our eschatology has become empire-shaped, Constantinian, and political. And it doesn’t matter to me if it is a right-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Republican wins, or a left-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Democrat wins. Each has a misguided eschatology.

You can read the whole post here.

The question is... Where is our hope?

The Presidential Race

Both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions are behind us.  I've heard Christian friends raving about Sarah Palin.  I've heard others raving about Barack Obama.

Months ago, I heard people (Christians too!) state....

If (fill in the blank) gets elected, I'm leaving the country.

Which I find to be an interesting statement.

Today, Scot McKnight has a response to a letter he received in his "Jesus Creed" blog.  Scot is a professor at North Park College, a writer and a theologian.

A couple of points he hits in his response...

More importantly, on November 5 I will get up and go about my business no matter who gets elected. There will be people who need to hear about Jesus; there will be people who are suffering from systemic injustices; there will be people abusing power; there will be good reasons to drink coffee and eat lunch with colleagues... ...Changing Presidents will not end those needs and those problems and those parts of my life. So, my task as a Christian is to follow Jesus by loving God and loving others as well as I can. Changing Presidents won’t change that one bit. I don’t see that either candidate has the intent of depriving us of these things.

And

...I don’t hope in the next President. I think that is idolatrous. In fact, hoping in the next President is the first step toward idolizing empire.

Read Scot's full response here.  Then decide who you want leading you.  A man (or woman) or God!

*** Editors note... Google is placing the images on the page, not me.  The ordering is not significant in any way.  In my editor, they were on the same level with (just for the sake of irony) McCain/Palin on the left and Obama/Biden on the right.

Politics.... It's starting all over

I got a call last night from someone in the Obama campaign.   They were nice enough to ask if I would support him in the upcoming election.

I replied that I am a registered voter but an independent (meaning I am not registered with either party) and don't know enough of the issues to make that determination.

One of the podcasts that I listen to recently interviewed Mike Huckabee.  You can download and listen to it here.  It was a good interview and Huckabee impressed me.

A few months ago, they also interviewed Tim Sanders. You can listen to that interview here.  Sanders is an author, not a politician.  I have read at least one of his books ("Love is the killer app").  He was asked about the "likeability" of the crop of politicians.  He explained the Bill Clinton had a high "likeability factor".  Even his enemies, when talking to him in person had a hard time disliking him.

He was then asked about the candidates in the primaries.  He said Obama was the most likable, much like Kenedy which frightened him as it makes him a pretty big target.

Neither candidate from the major parties is ideal.  Politics is all about compromise which sometimes means nobody is really happy with the result.

Politics....

It's firing up again. Both the Democratic and Republican national conventions are within site.... Not much drama there, both candidates have been chosen.

Last night, I answered the first of (I suspect) many political polls.  I love (NOT) the way they engineer the questions to get the results they want.

On top of that, James Dobson hits the news with a claim that Obama distorts the Bible.   Obama fires back that Dobson distorts Obama.

I think, as a matter of course, both are right, both are wrong.  Again, I see Christians wanting to put too much faith in the President and not enough in the King (of Glory).

McCain is not any better (Dobson doesn't support him either) as he recently made a politically loaded statement that his allegiance is first, last and always to America.

I think I am feeling very Mennonite lately.  That may not be a bad stance to take.

Tony Campolo

I don't know what you think of him but I found this video interesting. In it, Tony criticizes American Christians for being seduced by Freud. Our reason for salvation should not be because it makes us happy but because Christ died on the Cross for our sins. You can watch below.

Mr Smith goes to Washington

Kyle & I caught the last 45 minutest of this Jimmy Stewart/Francis Capra movie. Sometimes I think it should be a pre-requisite for any politician prior to running, then again, after they have been elected.

AMC (the movie channel) said that it was considered an un-American movie as it was too critical to those that held the offices at the time.

If you have never seen the move, rent it! The message contained in the movie is that a politician works for ALL the people they represent, not just the rich few.

Farewell to Falwell

The question on the bus on Tuesday was why the flags were at half mast. Nobody figured it out. We did find out that Jerry Falwell had died. I still don't know if it was related as Law Enforcement Memorial Day was Monday or Tuesday as well.

I remember in the early 1980s when Falwells Moral Majority came into prominince. It was the Regan years and it seemed that "Christians would finally get what we deserved". We may have, I don't know. I know that many of the changes in our society in those years have not been pleasing to God or to Christians. Some changes in society may have been pleasing to Christians but maybe not to God, something I won't judge here -- just a tendency to think that what we think is good is not necessarily reflecting God.

I don't know if Falwell's work there slowed the slide towards Chaos or if it had any effect at all. You see, God is in contoll, whether we recognize it or not.

In the twighlight zone?

Yesterday evening, listening to the local radio stations was like being in the Twilight Zone.

While on a trip to the local Radio Shack, I tuned into one of the local Christian radio stations. On the show was a woman host who, from what little I heard, made Rush look liberal. From what I heard, America should be doing more against Iraq and Al Queda. The rant I heard was for a simpler term "Spouting Hate". I then turned the radio off to talk to Marj.

A few miles down the road, I flipped on one of the local AM talk radio stations, one that is usually pretty conservative but is not particularly religious in nature. The host there is talking about an Elton John statement suggesting that we ban religion banned. The news stated:

Elton John has declared that organised religion should be banned, as it turns some people into "hateful lemmings".

The host on this station was telling how Christians are told to love and how his church (I don't know which one) does that. This is a host who, from his language and demeanor on the air does not strike me as a particularly "Christian" individual.

I was struck by the irony. The station who is the "outreach" to the unchurched is spouting hate against it's enemys. The station that has no commitment to any "Christian" values is sending out a more "Christian" message.

"Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

-- Matt 5:39 (The Message)

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love.

-- I John 4:7-8 (The Message)

I am sad about the election

No, not necessarily the results but the money spent.

We had 2 big ballot initiatives, one an amendment to define marriage between a man and a woman, the other a referendum to allow "civil unions" between same sex couples.

I don't want to debate the merits of either. I do want to comment on this.

I heard that one organization who supported the marriage amendment and opposed the civil union law spent$1,000,000 in advertising. That is a 1 with six zeros behind it.

Let me put that in a little different perspective.

The average wage in Colorado is $43,000. That is enough to pay 23 of the the average wage earners here.

You could generously feed 5000 families for one week with that same money.

If given to World Vision, you could feed over 2000 children for one year.

This makes me quite sad.

It's all over but the crying...

The election polls have closed and our election officials have been counting the votes.

The best part? I don't have to watch any more advertisements slamming the opponents.

I'd scream but you wouldn't hear.

More thoughts on Pastor Ted

As I mentioned below, we have been having a media storm here in Colorado due to the elections (I am glad this is the end) and the actions around the pastor in Colorado Springs.

Since the weekend, he resigned from the church he lead and is undergoing personal counseling.

My observation? In spite of the fact he was a very public figure, way to many people are talking that are involved. People involved in the pastoral staff were talking in ways I would say was inappropriate when the story of Ted stepping down from NAE. I heard interviews with those involved in the overseeing process who told much more than was made public. The latest are interviews with those who are monitoring his recovery.

I don't know the terms of his recovery program so it could be legitimate but this bothers me.