Today both Deb and I used the freedom we have in this country to vote. I hope you did as well, it is one of the things that makes this country great. Doesn’t matter who you voted for, just as long as you exercized your right to vote.
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Do You Vote According to Dr James Dobson, that is, against Barack Obama? Criticism of Obama came in the form of the radio address that aired Tuesday on Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program.
In this address, Dobson accuses Obama of distorting the Bible and the Christian faith (see the CNN story, and see the Fox News story also see video). Obama makes some very interesting statements throughout the speech, but the news of course is only going to show small excerpts like they did with the Reverend Wright issue. Doesn’t mean it is any better or worse, just that I think context is important.
“Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?” Obama asked in the speech. “Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?
He is bringing up things that are far more complex than can be answered in a town hall type meeting, but it isn’t my campaign and he speaks for himself.
Dr. Dobson’s Focus on the Family Ministry
The speech is interesting to say the least but it brings the question to my mind, who do we listen to when it comes to placing our vote? I have great respect for Dr Dobson. His work with Focus on the Family is really an incredible ministry, but I know, there actually are brothers and sisters in Christ who are Democrats as well. I might agree with what Dr. Dobson says, I might not, but he has been quite politically charged this primary season, and actually, I don’t really recall off the top of my head who he has been for, just that he has been against several.
“I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology,” Dobson said, adding that Obama is “dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”
I am not going to re-hash the ins and outs of the speech and what Dobson said, there are two very good blog articles about it already, see Dobson on Obama from Jesus Creed, and James Dobson Accuses Obama of ‘Distorting’ Bible from the Christian Post. But I am interested to know who influences your vote now?
Those Political Guides Churches Hand Out
I use to belong to a church that handed out political “guides” during the election season. I never minded these because they were pretty much exactly how I was going to vote anyway, so I didn’t give it much thought. They never mentioned who you should vote for, they were just those pamphlets that said where each candidate stood on what issues.
These are hated literature by the left but pretty common and accepted among the suburban churches. I really didn’t pay much attention until a discussion from a fellow blogger I respect (Ragamuffinsoul), a Believer, and voting for Obama (see Reason #42234 I Love My Team and Caption Please – You Knew It Was Coming for a laugh).
There Are Politics Galore in the Bible
It isn’t new to mix politics with faith, or Christianity, the Bible has scripture all over the place about the Kings and taking land from here or there, but we are no longer in a divide and conquer kind of time period anymore either. I am not saying it isn’t important, it is. Being able to live in a free country is something we sometimes take for granted, especially here in the U.S., so regardless of how you vote, I think it is an important process. What influences our vote is something else altogether.
Radical Ideology or Conservatism / Liberalism at Work?
The more radical someone or some entity gets I think the less weight I give them. I do objectively look at the issue at hand and try to decide for myself, but I really don’t think that is how many approach the media blitz that occurs daily. Some don’t care, there isn’t enough time (there really isn’t), they do like this person, don’t like that person and so on. What I don’t like, no matter what side they are on, is when a church specifically says I should vote for this person or that.
Shouldn’t Churches Do What They Do Best?
I would no more want Obama’s “former” church leaders, i.e., Reverend Jeremiah Wright giving a sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ, than the Southern Baptist’s here in Alabama telling me to vote for McCain. If I think Rev Wright’s wrong for doing what he does, I have to think it wrong on the other side of the coin too.
I want to see a church focused on Jesus, the Gospel message, as it is written in the scriptures. The extent to which the involvement should be from the official voice of the church, to me, is to encourage their parishioners to vote. Who am I voting for? Well, I am taking a real strict issues view about the election, I am voting for the fellow left handed candidate. I found out there are four pervious left handed Presidents. Ford, Bush (41), Regan, and Clinton. What are the odds we would have so many left handed Presidents, I was thrilled.
What about you? What role does the church (that is church with a little “c” not a big “C”) play in the election process.
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The Houston Quilt Show and the Presidential election are both over now and if one had to be better than the other I am glad things turned out the way they did. The Houston show was down about 75% from years past, but we still made a little. At the end of the show I sold the gridwall and hooks. We then decided to not do anymore quilt shows for now and to concentrate on our eBay bead sales. Mom has learned how to count beads and has taken some of the pressure of my job away.
The election turned out better than we expected or hoped for. President George W. Bush won reelection over John Kerry in both the popular vote and the electoral college. The republicans netted 4 more seats in the House of Representatives and most of the media are attributing the wins to the evangelical voters coming out to vote. God truly is great!
I drove home (to Dallas) immediately after the show on Sunday evening, arriving around 11:30 pm. This allowed me to fill about 87+ orders on Monday morning. Things are slowly getting back to normal around here.
David is going to build a cabinet for our entertainment center in the front of the bus next week and Scott and I are going to trade office spaces. I am taking over the back bedroom and he is getting the front living area.
Christmas presents are now in production and coming together nicely. Pictures to follow.
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Well, where should I begin?
Scott and I went back and forth weighing our options for taking the bus to Texas during the Houston Festival Quilt Show. The original plan was for me to take the truck and the booth and do the show myself and then come back to North Carolina. We then decided to take the bus, truck and trailer to Dallas where Scott could stay during the show and fill our eBay orders while I went down to Houston with the truck and booth to do the show. We have a wi/fi connection in Tool at mom and David’s house so Scott’s work would not be disrupted too much.
Then the price of gasoline and diesel started climbing.
So, we returned to the original plan until mom and David called us and told us that they had purchased a piece of property and would be purchasing a tractor to use there. Scott couldn’t stand the thought of being in North Carolina, doing his job and mine, while I was gone for two weeks. He also really wanted to see the land and drive the tractor. So, a week before the show the plans have changed again.
We left North Carolina on Tuesday the 26th of October and headed for Dallas. We drove approximately 350 miles per day, staying at Flying J’s three nights and arrived here yesterday, Saturday, October 30.
Today, we attended our church, Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano where we worshiped and got on our knees to pray for God’s will to be done in the upcoming election. We truly feel that this election is a choice for America between good and evil. The election takes place on Tuesday, the day I drive to Houston.
