Sad to say, I didn't convince the Christian fellow I wrote to the other day (reported and reprinted in this blog under "Here We Go Again..." just an entry or so ago). He considers things narrowly -- Obama-Biden are for gay rights and they are pro-choice. These are the only two issues that seem to matter to the dear man.
Forget the fact that Sarah Palin can't even define what a Vice President does and thinks the position is a heavy stick-wielder in the Senate and an "influencer" of opinion there. (Even a fifth grader knows that the sole job description of a VP is to step in if the President can't serve and to cast the deciding vote in a tie-breaker in the Senate.)
Forget that McCain has been so erratic that some days even he doesn't know where he stands on issues.
Forget that if Obama's "socialist" so is McCain, since socialism is being painted with such a narrow brush these days.
Forget that McCain has voted over 90% of the time with Bush... doesn't want the Iraq war to end (even though the Iraqi government and people have told us they want us to leave and let their destiny fall into their own hands).
Forget that McCain doesn't have a blue clue about how to handle the economy, the growing disaffection of the population with politics and politicians, or much of anything else.
Forget that his voice sounds so depressed (unless he's shouting or ungentlemanly arguing a point) that he brings anyone else down who listens to him for any length of time.
Forget that Sarah Palin is no reformer, but a good ol' boy out to get whatever she can within the limits of the law as a candidate, with $150K worth of clothes since she was chosen... and that she was found to have violated her position in the Troopergate affair.
Forget that the Supreme Court will probably need two new judges before the end of the next President's term in office and the GOP platform is the most conservative in history, meaning that Roe v Wade might be overturned if McCain-Palin get in. (No one LIKES abortion, but outlawing it will cause untold misery among desperate woman... see earlier blog Why Abortion?)
Forget that McCain is a hammer at a time when we desperately need a peacemaker/kinsman redeemer in the Oval Office.
Forget that so-called Christians (I'm a Christian myself, so this one comes hardest of all to document) started a war in Iraq that didn't have to be started, knowing that the intelligence re weapons of mass destruction was bogus... and that they want to keep us there for the foreseeable future, even though we got in under false pretenses. If there's justice in heaven (and I believe with all my heart there is), this administration and the next one will have to stand before God and make an account of why they acted the way they did and will.
Forget all that. By God, the Obama-Biden stances on abortion and gay rights trumps all of the above, because it's in the Bible that God speaks of homosexuality as an abomination. (He also sees everything else we do that's outside the box of "holy behavior" as abominations -- like adultery, stealing, lying and gossiping. A sin is a sin. There is no degree of "saintliness" in any of them.) Not to get too far into theology and "what God thinks," because I truly don't know what He's thinking right now about all of this, but in the Bible, the kind of homosexuality portrayed was of the variety where there were no emotional attachments. The kind of homosexuality portrayed in the Bible is not love -- it's lust, it's taking out one's own "needs" on another human being for the sake of physical release rather than a mutual sharing of affection and lasting bonding. In the Bible it also says, "Against love there is no law." The supreme Law of God is love. So what should we do with homosexuals? Allow them to love or line them all up against a wall and shoot them?
Ya know, these Christians just don't seem to realize that we are living in days of grace and that God loves every last one of us and wants us to love him back and come home to Him as soon as possible -- either while on this side of the veil, or the other.
I see uncustomary hatred and enmity in anti-abortion/gay rights hardliners. I don't see that in Obama-Biden supporters. If we were going by behavior and actions instead of platforms, which of these two parties' candidates would win the Christian vote? McCain-Palin, who disagree, mislead, gossip and cast unverified aspersions about their opposing candidates, or the Obama-Biden team, which remains calm and for the most part does not fight fire with fire. (Obama: "I never throw the first punch -- but I'll throw the last one!" The only time he has gotten in McCain's face is after McCain has sullied his stand on issues or his character.) Obama-Biden are on task and on-target, plugging away on the issues that matter most to the American people and the world while McCain and Palin flail, bullyrag and criticize them.
If we were voting based on civilized behavior and spiritual comportment, I'm thinking Obama-Biden would win by even larger margins than they probably will on November 4th.
People aren't stupid. If McCain thinks of and treats our other "enemies" internationally the way he thinks of and treats an honorable, worthy opponent, we are going to be in a much-greater "world of hurt" than we already are.
Christians disagree on many things. I disagree with the dear Christian who votes so narrowly that not even putting Sarah Palin one heartbeat away from the Presidency can dissuade him. She wants an imperial Vice Presidency. What would she do as an imperial President, with her strictly limited, untutored and most un-curious bent toward anything outside Alaska?
It was three months ago that she asked what a VP does. It has been three months and she still doesn't know! Excuse me?! Would a job recruiter bring Palin even into a second interview, knowing that she hadn't even read the job description before applying, and knowing nothing at all about the duties of the position? What part of "don't give a rip -- I want what I want, and I will get it!" don't you understand?
Scary!
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