My Religous/Political Confusion...

Mark and I went with the kids (along with Mack & Dorothy) to Mark's Aunt Jean's church this morning to participate in their "Old Timey Day". The preacher was a young man who really was giving it his all about Hell and how we need to do everything that we can to make sure that we're not on the path to go there. He talked about the End Times and about how things in this world and country are getting worse and worse and how we need to make sure that we keep God in mind when making all of our decisions.

During his sermon, he made a comment that we as Christians needed to make sure that during this presidental election, that we don't elect the man who "wants to kill the babies". He then made a connection to the fact that if the wrong man gets elected, that it would be a pretty sure thing that the Mark of the Beast wouldn't be too far off in our futures to help "correct" the current financial mess that our nation is in.

This makes my brain so tired.....I am a registered Democrat. I am a free-thinking 31-year-old female who has the sense to realize that in the 8 years that our Republican President has been in office, abortions have yet to be banned or deemed illegal. I also know that our financial mess is due to some of the decisions that have been made during the overseeing of our Republican President. Many will claim that "The Democrats keep the president from making Abortions illegal and the Democrats are who have created the bills that have led to our financial ruin", but isn't it true that if the president WANTED to make an issue out of something like Abortion and Finances, couldn't he do it in such a way as to force the country to take a stand and make the Politicians listen to the people and have them vote the way that the people wanted? I'm not good at politics, but isn't that the way it is supposed to go? I mean, if it's so important to elect a REPUBLICAN this next go-round to "fix" all the moral downfalls that we're in right now, then why didn't the current Republican fix those things while he was in office? Either way, whatever wrongs befall the country after the election, the Republicans will blame the Democrats and the Democrats will blame the Republicans. No one ever has anything nice to say about the other. Neither really ever offer to try to work together for the better good of the country. It's always about blaming someone else. That goes for BOTH sides.

Now...like I said, I'm not so great at politics, but I do know that there are many people in this world who will choose to greatly dislike me purely because I am a registered Democrat. What is even sadder is that there are many who claim to be Christians who will verbally abuse me because of my party affiliation.

You say Democrat, and people have visions of Poor, Atheist, Abortion loving, Gay Rights Upholding people. When you hear the word Republican, you think RICH, Christian, Pro-Choice, Anti-Gay people.

Now...I don't know about the rest of you, but I know plenty of poor Rebublicans and RICH Democrats. I know many Democrats who are as anti-abortion as you can get and on the flip-side, I know many Republicans who are pro-choice. I also know people on the republican side who are pro-gay rights and on the Democratic side who are against gay-rights.

Then you get to the Christian thing........as Christians, we are bound to love others as God loves us. We are bound first and foremost to uphold God's teachings about how to treat others with love and respect and to not judge others for what they have done or for what they believe, but to make sure that WE ourselves are right with God. We are supposed to pray for each other. Not in judgement, but in support that we and everyone around us will make good decisions on a daily basis. We don't have to agree with the choices that others make, but God does want us to love each other unconditionally as he loves us. As Christians, those are our orders. Plain and Simple!

Being a Republican or a Democrat should not evoke feelings of hatred amongst the Christian people. (In all honesty, I wish the parties would be done away with because there are so many left or right "winged" people on all political levels that it's all just a blur anymore (to me at least)).

The fact is, is that in this political race, I'm not going to vote for my Democratic candidate just because I'm a democrat. I'm still extreemly undecided...........That may not make sense to many of you, but to me, I am going to vote for the person I feel will be the best person to take our country out of all of the mess that it is in. If that is Obama or McCain, I have no clue as of yet. They say and do things daily that affect how I feel about them. It will be that way until election day. BUT...............please know......that I will NOT make my decision lightly.

I want to leave you with this thought...If you are a Christian (or not), keep in mind that your actions and words are your best tools to win someone over to your way of thinking, or to push someone away. I would much rather listen to someone who is willing to ask my opinion and offer theirs in a non-threatening way rather than to listen to someone who is verbally bashing my thoughts and beliefs before they know anything about how I feel. (this relates to salvation AND politics!!)

Hope you've all enjoyed my little rant.......I'm sure there will be more to come in the future!!