Another great teaching at church and the topic dealt with a Christian's responsibility to our government. Some of the things that got me uncomfortable included how much I need to pray for my governemnt whether I like the government or not. That may be tested real hard on January 20 but the pastor was right. Another topic worth noting was how our political parties seem to like to tell us what to believe is important. Both parties consider many things that are worthwhile to be important. What needs to be addressed is that we need to drive those parties to address all issues.
There are some civility issues that need to be addressed by both parties. There is nothing wrong with discussions about rightness and wrongness of a stance but at the end of the day we need to be able to still be friends. There are many instances of bad behavior; I think my party, the Republicans, had some bad behavior when Clinton was president but the Democrats have taken things to a new level ever since going after Ken Starr. They've brought demonization to new heights.
I'm going to try and keep to the issues and I'm hoping other bloggers will do the same.
Posted by Tim at July 4, 2004 11:38 PMTim, great, thoughtful post.
re: "Some of the things that got me uncomfortable included how much I need to pray for my government whether I like the government or not."
Though I'm an agnostic, I think I struggle with a similar concept. For example when monthly economic stats come out, I know that bad numbers probably mean the election chances of my chosen presidential candidate, Senator Kerry, increase. But there's a bad taste of personal immorality I get if I sit and hope my fellow parents are losing jobs and can't pay bills each month just so the Senator can win. No matter whether I support the President or not, I believe morally I must hope things get better in Iraq and the average American family is better off under President Bush's leadership. Even if in the end I try to contribute to his defeat. It's as you say, "uncomfortable."
re: "...our political parties seem to like to tell us what to believe is important...What needs to be addressed is that we need to drive those parties to address all issues."
I greatly admire that you write this blog. When Hugh Hewitt's book, "In, But Not Of" first came out, I skimmed through it. Though it was written to inspire the Christian conservative, even as an agnostic liberal, I appreciated its message of personal responsibility that we have as individuals to change the world. I think your blog is excellent in rallying people to your views. I think your blog does "drive those parties to address all issues."
re: "There are some civility issues that need to be addressed by both parties...at the end of the day we need to be able to still be friends."
That's an idea I saw so often connected with President Reagan and one of the reasons I think I as a liberal Dem mourned his passing so much.
Posted by: Tom at July 5, 2004 09:02 AMThanks for the kind words Tom. I don't know how the bigger issues of trust and civility will be solved but I need to make sure I'm part of the solution and not the problem.
Posted by: trogers at July 5, 2004 09:41 AM
