When I saw the results of the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll over the weekend, I was both quite surprised and quite pleased. Everybody always complains about wasteful spending and Washington needing drastic change, and Ron Paul’s actually a guy who would address those problems head on. For all the clamoring about “change,” he’s a guy who would actually change some things. I find him a refreshing politician (if such a thing exists), and I’m thrilled with the opportunity to vote for his like-minded son as a potential U.S. Senator from Kentucky this fall. Have any thoughts on Paul or the rest of the potential field of 2012 challengers for Obama? Sound off in the comments.
Never really thought about this aspect of it before…
“What will be the effect on soldier-to-soldier relations? What will be the effect on two sailors submerged in the same submarine for a couple of months? Now, when this question is usually asked, it is asked with the assumption that I am raising the quesiton of one soldier or sailor hitting on the other one. Right now, he is not supposed to do that, or be open about his orientation. But that is not where my question lies. I am asking if the serviceman who is evangelical will be permitted to witness to his fellow serviceman, who is now out of the closet. Will he be allowed to believe that homosexuality is a sin that God will judge at the last day? Sure. Don’t ask. Will he be allowed to call his fellow serviceman to repentance? Surely not. Don’t tell.”
But here are ten reasons to be grateful for the small mercies at any rate. We should be grateful . . .
10. That, despite the glowing rhetoric, nobody appears to have noticed that equal rights for bisexuals means that such marriages (when we get there) would have to have a minium of three copulating units. So the good news is that President Obama is still guilty of hate-criming the bisexuals. And imagine my astonishment that he is doing this legally. And nobody pushing this seems to be aware of how filled with hate they all still are.
9. That this happened at a time when we have an example to follow as we craft our responses. All we have to say is that we think a wise heterosexual, having lived that life, should be able to make better judgments than someone who hasn’t had the richness of that experience. That’s all.
8. That Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor have gone to be with the Lord. If they were still here writing their fiction, the head-bending that would have to go into them now would be beyond my capacity to bear.
7. That the longer this kind of thing prevails, the more it should become apparent that in Washington we now have the governmental equivalent of professional wrestling; more specifically, we have the governmental equivalent of VEGAS Xtreme SMACKdown.
6. That they are unwittingly paving the way for the legalization of polygamy, which will prove to be the basis for the rebuilding of the Republican Party. Then watch out.
5. That the president issued this proclamation while at the same time holding to the same position on gay marriage as recently articulated by the winsome Miss California, thus showing in yet another way that he is filled to the brim with thought crimes and all manner of evil.
4. That this came about when the Democrat in charge of shuffling the sexual deck was named Obama and not Clinton. Since National Do-Whatever-You-Feel-Like-This-Minute Week is now an inevitability, just imagine the repercussions had it happened with the Lecher-in-Chief in the White House — the central problem being that the Europeans would finally think we had arrived.
3. That they had the foresight to press these issues in the midst of an economic downturn. Sexual energies are powerful when harnessed, and suppose, say, the nation’s shoe manufacturers are languishing. All you have to do is proclaim National Footwear Fetish Week, and bam! there you are, back in the game.
2. That the president is clearly hearing Dick Cheney’s footsteps everywhere. On foreign policy certainly, but now that the former VP has declared himself a tolerance-monger on gay marriage, Obama is getting chased down the road by him on this issue as well. You can cluck at both of them with moral disapproval all you want, but the entertainment value is still high.
1. That they are working us into this slowly. September as it turns out is Screw the Pooch Month, but the American people won’t be ready for that for, oh, weeks yet.
A Georiga congressman has asked President Obama to declare 2010 “The Year of the Bible.”
Leaving aside the question of what good this would even accomplish if it passed (as the video points out, Reagan did this in 1983, and I’m not aware of any mass revival it spawned), I have to say, I find this congressman’s reasoning deeply troubling. He basically presents the Bible as a treatise on political freedom and a tool for “making our nation great again.” While freedom is most certainly a primary theme of Scripture, it sure isn’t the red-white-and-blue variety. Rather than being respected, Scripture is acually degraded, as its message of freedom from personal sin through the death and resurrection of Christ is dumbed down to a message on fiscal conservatism. I’m very uncomfotable with the idea of promoting Scripture as a handbook to political health. With all due respect to Congressman Broun, who may well be well-intentioned, let’s let the government worry about how it spends our money and we’ll leave the teaching of Scripture to the church.
“President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortions, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.” – from USA Today
Just remember: President Obama wants to reduce abortions – by offering people overseas your money to go get one.
John Piper has re-posted an excerpt from a sermon he preached in 1993 as President Clinton took office. I think it is relevant and helpful to those who still believe in the right to life of the unborn. As our nation celebrates the inauguration of a new President today, may we seek to humbly live out our convictions, no matter the political climate.
Let the ads end. Let the pundits cease. Let the water cooler debates quiet. The election is over.
So now what? What should you do if you, like me, cast your vote for the McCain-Palin ticket? What do you do if your excitement that our nation has elected a black man as President (unthinkable when my father was born) is severly tempered by the fact that Barack Obama’s policies show total disregard for the unborn? I’ve got three suggestions.
1. Calm down. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world. The gospel flourished under Nero – an insane, murderous tyrant. I think we’ll be fine under Barack Obama.
2. Pray for President Elect Obama. Thank God for men like Obama who dedicate their lives to public service. The next four or eight years will be incredibly difficult on this man and his family. Look at pictures of George W. Bush in 2000 and again in 2008 if you’d like a visual representation of the stress that Obama has just taken on. If it weren’t for presidents and senators and judges, you wouldn’t enjoy the life of peace and security you do. Our brothers and sisters in Christ in places like Sudan and Afghanistan would be quite grateful to live under the government of Barack Obama, I think, imperfect as he may be. If you still don’t feel like praying or thanking God for Obama, then read 1 Timothy 2:1-7 and get over your sinful hatred. That sounds harsh, I know. But if you look at your political enemy and fail to see a human being created in the image of God, then harsh words are in order.
As I said the other day, the only reason I really care about the upcoming election at this point is the issue of abortion. More than just the judicial future of Roe v. Wade is at stake. Obama has pledged that “the first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.” What is the Freedom of Choice Act? Justin Taylor has a great analysis.
And BTW – if you find me silly for really only caring about one issue, I don’t even care anymore. Other issues matter, but they all pale in comparison to the legally sanctioned killing of innocent human life. Randy Alcorn summed it up well in a great recent blog…
“Please don’t tell me abortion isn’t the only issue. Of course it isn’t. Treatment of the Jews wasn’t the only issue in 1940 Germany. Buying, selling and owning black people wasn’t the only issue in the United States of 1850. Nonetheless, both were the dominant moral issues of their day.”
I know what you’re thinking – “D.J., if you hate politics so much, then why are you still talking about it?” Point taken. However, with the election coming up soon, I think this needs to be shared. I’ve talked with a lot of people over the past few months who are Obama supporters and pro-life. I find this extremely odd. If you’re an Obama supporter and pro-life, I implore you to take 20 minutes and carefully read this article. Dr. Robert P. George has written a level-headed, well-reasoned, fact-based look into Sen. Obama’s record on abortion. This respected scholar of both law and theology comes to the conclusion that Obama is “the most pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.” Yes, he chooses the term “pro-abortion” purposefully and no, the article isn’t filled with Fox-news style sensationalism. This article is the definitive summation of why my conscience will simply not allow me to pull the lever for Obama come November 4th. In our country, millions of human beings are killed each year with the full approval of our government. Not only does Obama see no problem with this, but – and this is a matter of his voting record – he thinks we need to go further.
