On Being a Citizen, Part 1 of 5

It’s that wonderful time of the year again. Time when a nation turns against itself to learn who would lead the country for the next four years. Isn’t it a great time? People argue over who is more Christian than the other, and at the same time argue why the other candidate is a complete idiot compared to him/her. People argue over which is more right, to have the government regulate how much income you make or to let corporations regulate how much income you make. Either way, both people smile and make claims of just wanting to help the little guy, all the while stabbing him in the back. They argue over how precious they value life. One values the life of the unborn while deeming the life of foreigners and our own forfeit while the other deems the unborn as less than human. They will agree on one thing though, and that is that the one thing we need our people to do is spend, spend, SPEND!! We can’t stop spending or else this whole thing falls apart. “What if I don’t have the money to spend?” says the middle-income family. “Why then we’ll get you a credit line so you can spend money!!” shout the politicians. “What about me? I can’t afford to feed my kids!” cries the low-income single mom. “You’re not important,” is the response they get from one, while another says, “I’ll work to get you help sometime in the future…”
What a nation we are. We worry and fret about what will happen if this person is elected or that. We worry about how others will view us if this person is elected or that one. We consider economics, homosexuality, and all sorts of things. So who do we vote for? Half the country says to vote one way, the other half says to vote the other way. It’s even more stressed this year (whether the stress is actually greater or not) because of the economic issue, because of war issues, because of racial issues, because of gender issues. It’s always a call that is of such grave concern that it demands our utmost attention. This is a problem I’ve been debating for some time and one that I’ve finally had to come to some workable conclusion to in the past month. Because for me it’s not simply a question of who do I vote for as an American citizen. The bigger question is who do I vote for as a Christian? I wish I could just make this a quick and easy statement, but unfortunately this is gonna take some time. It’s not a simple question, and so the answer itself isn’t simple either. I hope you don’t mind joining me for a few days while I show you the process I’ve been going through. Because in going through this process I’ve had to consider the Democrats, the Republicans, the role of government as it was intended and where I personally believe it stands today. I’ll have to show you what I think a Christian nation looks like, and what I believe the Christian response for today is. It’s been an intriguing journey for me, so I hope you don’t mind it also. If you are interested, then grab a cup of coffee come tomorrow, because I’ll be posting one part each day leading up to the election day.