my favorite youth-coordinating couple, the Cross family, started an impromptu 'experiment.'
Melissa put an 'Obama 08' magnet on the back of her car.
Melissa may or may not vote for Obama, i don't know. Shaun may or may not vote.
the point was to see what kind of responses she got...
after a few weeks, with no responses i know of from the church family, she finally was asked in a passive/aggressive sort of way by her employer, a day-care, to remove the sticker or park in a different place. Because it is at a conservative church, the pastor and staff didn't want the church to appear to be supporting one candidate or another, in order to separate church from state (a wonderful, underappreciated concept).
Melissa began parking in a different place...
...and then, one day, came across lots of Huckabee information and pamphlets in the church office...
Melissa then, jokingly, put the magnet/sticker on my car this last Sunday.
Wanting to continue the 'experiment,' i didn't complain and left it, until just a few minutes ago.
i was asked to remove it, for the same original reason as Melissa's employer. Here at Grace, we as a staff, and a church, will not be endorsing any one politician publicly, so the sticker was definitely going against that unwritten policy. Understandably, i removed it. (and we don't have any secret Huckabee pamphlets... just a closet Ron Paul supporter or two)
The only other responses i've had in the past few days were a chuckle from KJ, and an "oh my goodness, what is that doing there" from my wife, who then smiled when i explained the experiment.
If i weren't on staff here, i'd probably leave it up, to continue my experiment in the various places i drive and park my car.
Why?
my friend Mike, during the last election, had a Kerry sticker on the left side of his trunk, and a Bush sticker on the right side of his trunk. I can only imagine the looks on the faces of those he saw through his rear-view window... glancing back and forth, furrowing their brows, squinting their eyes to make sure they were seeing correctly.
Does a politician's sticker on the back of one's car necessitate that the person MUST and/or will be voting for that politician?
in Mike's case, and in mine, it is anyone's guess.
but the experiment i would have liked to continue would, i think, begin to unveil some of the prejudices we carry, especially in the Bible belt. When you see someone with hippie stickers on their car, is it fair to assume that they have long dreadlocks and smoke pot? what if it was just a used car and the current owner was too lazy to razorblade those stickers off?
Does a particular sticker on someone's car make it RIGHT to make a judgment call on their character, morals, or personal hygiene?
tough questions to ask oneself.
here's some more -
because I am a Christian, can i vote for a Democrat with a clear conscience? Can i vote for Obama, specifically? How crucial is my vote to the continued state and/or federally-supported abortions? will my vote affect the margin for gay marriage as it is recognized by the country/state? Would i have been asked to remove the sticker if it was a McCain magnet? Will McCain flip-flop on any of the key issues when he's in office? Is he really a Republican? does that even matter?
What happened to Ron Paul?
i love my church, and out of respect for my staff and my family here, i'll gladly pull that sticker off...
but, i would love to see what the experiment could have unveiled... if there are any facial expressions or conversations that i could have had...
and please, if you had any thoughts, positive or negative, about that sticker on my car, shoot me an e-mail! give me a call, or post a comment.
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11 comments:
You could also ask yourself if it is okay to vote for a Republican due to the nature of their economic policies or their stance on gay marriage, war, and the death penalty.
You could also ask yourself if it is okay to celebrate Independence Day because you are a Christian and the nation is so far from Christian values(and will/should never be close at all).
Plenty to think about here....
i certainly wish SOMEone had a consistent ethic of human life... but alas, i will have to continue choosing the lesser among the evils, it seems...
and the best reason to celebrate Independence Day around here is the free ice cream at our church family's fireworks show :-)
i think i agree with the "will," but i'm hesitant on your "should." are you saying that this nation, or any nation, "should" NOT be foundationally structured on Christian values/morals/ethical positions?
Independance Day is not about whether or not you are "proud" of the nation in which you live. It is a celebration of those who came before to CREATE the nation in which you live. Let the past greatness of your country be remembered, let your memory go beyond your own life experience, and choose to honor the past even if you loathe the present.
Well, in my opinion, if we had a nation completely based on the values of Christianity, it would be the kingdom of God. So, I would be okay with that.
Before that comes about though... even if we started a "Christian nation" people would still have something to bitch about. What Christian values would be included? Would they be the values of people like Shane Claiborne or the values of people like Pat Robertson?
The "Christian nation" that certain people are envisioning is not something I want to be a part of. I'll just continue to anticipate the coming of the kingdom.
Chris, for whom will you be voting (if anyone) and on the basis of what criteria?
David, how do you determine which Christian values/morals/ethical positions believers ought to impose on the general population through the government, and why?
Despite my silly moniker, these are honest and serious questions.
Slater
Slater,
First of all, you are my hero. When you won homecoming for Bayside, it was a great day for me.
Anyway, I have yet to decide who I am going to vote for. I do not like McCain or Obama and I'm very tired of having to choose and deal with "the lesser of the evils." I don't want to vote, but I will even if it means throwing my vote away on a more qualified candidate with less money to campaign.
Chris,
Thanks for the reply. My next question: why the dogged commitment to vote?
And thanks for joining me in the joy of winning homecoming. It was a great day for me, too.
Slater
i have a problem with the way your question toward me was phrased, slater -
why would you say we (meaning Christians) need to "impose" ANYthing, especially through the government?
if indeed we are to 'impose' anything, it would have to be principles drawn from how Jesus and Paul outlined our interaction with this alien place. we are just passing through, in that we are citizens of a very different Kingdom, and in light of that truth it seems rather counterproductive to try to impose things through this government when instead we could be inviting people to join us in the Kingdom, by modeling what that Kingdom life looks like.
I will vote in the off chance that people choose the best candidate even if it is not someone who not in one of the two big parties.
David:
Perhaps I don't understand what you intend to accomplish by voting, then. The way I have thought through it (which could certainly be faulty), people vote in order to get the laws by which they think everyone should abide passed. I don't understand how this could be understood as other than an attempt to impose/enforce one's value system (to one degree or another) on the general population through the government. Perhaps the word "impose" gives it an unfairly negative rhetorical spin, but if that isn't what is happening in voting, I need help to understand what the goals of voting are and in what categories I ought to be thinking about it. I love what you say about the Kingdom of God here, but I'm not sure how to mesh that with the practice of voting.
Chris (every time I type your name, I type "Christ" out of habit and then have to erase the "t"):
I think we're at the point in our e-conversation where I want to ask you the same questions that I've been trying to ask David. How do you decide who the best candidate is? By that, I mainly mean, on what are your views of what our government ought to be doing based? I think most Christians want to answer "the Bible," but I have a hard time seeing where in the Bible or how from the Bible people come to their views of this (back to hermeneutics!). Most Christians I know think that people ought to be prohibited by the government from aborting babies or public nudity, but ought to be allowed by the government to curse God or privately view pornography. When I tried to think through my own list of what the government should and should not do along these lines, I found that I had no consistent criteria, and I haven't yet spoken with a person who has. This leads me to the question, should I (or any other Christian) really be voting? What are we trying to accomplish? How do we even decide what the goals are? Once we have decided what the government ought to do, what kind of force do we think the government ought to use to back it up, and why? Can we be confident that God will approve of our decisions on these issues, and how? Does each person really just arbitrarily draw the line of what Christian principles ought to be ovserved by the general population arbitrarily and then vote accordingly? Perhaps there are good answers to all of these questions, I simply haven't found them yet. I guess I'm asking overall if either of you (Chris or David; other takers are also welcome to contribute) have. And, if not, how do you vote with a good conscience?
Sorry this response has grown so long. I just really need help thinking through these things and would appreciate any thoughts in response. I've said a lot, and perhaps have some major category mistakes. Feel free to point those out, if anyone bothers to take the time. I hope everybody has a great day.
Slater
If finding a consistent criteria is an incentive to vote then I'm not sure anyone should.
I am a Christian first and an American second. It is my right to vote and do what I think is best for my country as long as it does not interfere with my faith.
We can never be confident about the type of leadership we choose. We have to trust that they will make the decisions that they promise to or we don't vote for them again. I mean, if pastors can keep jobs even when they are bad pastors then presidents, senators, and congressmen and women are bound to keep their jobs even when they do a horrible job.
As Christians, we should be willing to vote but also willing to stand against injustice just as Christ would. Even if it means to admit that we made a mistake.
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