people always say that Jesus wouldn't have been conservative.
and i agree.
but he wouldn't have been liberal, either, so i really hate when people use that as ammo against christian conservatives.

i've been thinking about politics a lot lately. i'm in college, and obviously learning a lot about myself and what i believe.
i've also been reading don miller's "blue like jazz," which i read over the course of about a year and a half (his writing style was really hard for me to get used to) and it just didn't do anything for me the first time... so i wanted to read it again and see what i thought about it.
he talks a lot about politics and how conservatives are basically morons to him.
i like don miller, but this frustrates me.

Jesus didn't like politicians, period. the bible doesn't say anything about political affiliation because there were different issues in the days of Jesus's life. i tend to think that Jesus knew how flawed we were, you know, because he was Jesus, the Son of God. because of the failure of adam and eve to obey God's commands, we've had to resort to the use of politics and political systems to keep people in line and from getting hurt. but where do we draw the line?
my answer is this: i think it's up to us to decide... and i think it needs to be done in a prayerfully considered way, but i also think that because we have a political system in the first place, we're screwed up. God didn't intend for things to be that way, so it is up to us to decide what we feel God is telling us to do... and that doesn't mean align with either party. it just means to decide what you're passionate about and stand up for it. i can tell you my reasoning behind things, but that doesn't mean that it is the way God intended it to be, or what Jesus would have done.
it's tough stuff to swallow. being a christian and politically involved just conflict with each other from the get-go. but i know i'm not perfect and i need redemption, and ultimately i think the rest just works itself out. i think what the founding fathers meant by "in God we trust" was just that... they trusted God (whoever they believed Him to be - which i know who that is but i don't know if they did or what...) to be a source of counsel and guidance for citizens... not to be the head of state. i think that even though, ultimately, God's will is done, the fact that we have to have control over us because we disobeyed God means that our political choices ultimately have nothing to do with God; this is not the way God intended it to be.

does this make any sense? i'll leave my personal political beliefs for another time.

shalom.
s-crum.