The one where I still don't answer Betsy's question.

A friend was asking should all Christians be involved in some sort of political activity? I left her a nice little comment with my opinion which may or may not be worth something at this particular point in history. And I just wrote four paragraphs about why I have never felt called to be active in any kind of political activities when I realized something. I was thinking along the lines of being active in politics to further what I guess I'd call the "Christian agenda". You know, the standard anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-everything that isn't outright Christian agenda. Which, by the way, I don't necessarily believe is all wrong. But I think years of listening to Christians in the media has turned a lot of people against the idea of getting to know Christ at all.

So to my friend, I rescind my answer. But I'm not sure what my new answer is. I do feel like there is something that I, as a believer, should do when I hear about policy breakdowns that lead to children being abused or killed by their own foster parents here in the the US, or further way situations like the AIDS epidemic in Africa, civil war, etc. I often times just don't know what to do aside from donations. It seems too big for one person to deal with.

But you know what bothers me most about my friend's question and my thoughts afterward? Why aren't whatever tragedies going on around the world and right here in our own country, why weren't these things on the mainstream Christian agenda? Instead of picketing abortion clinics, why aren't Christians known for hugging those women as they go in? That is an act of love that would actually draw those women to God. I'm thinking picketing? Just pushes them farther away. And here we go... the whole gay marriage thing. Does banning gay marriage mean that homosexuals are just going to disappear from the face of the earth?

I'm not saying I'm for gay marriage. But I am for gay people. I am for shattered women who have to decide to keep a baby or destroy that life. I am for people here in this country because they're working their butts off for minimum wage and sending most of it back to their families in South America. Holy crap! Why would I say something like that? Because those people are so often hurting, lonely, homesick and needing real love. And instead of comforting them with the love of a holy God who sacrificed His son for them? Some of us are too busy trying to decide who's wrong and why they're wrong and what can we do to make sure those wrong people don't multiply. It's been said before and I totally agree: If Jesus were on earth today, who do you think he'd be hanging out with?

One more thing. I know the answer to a lot of what I said is that there needs to be a moral standard, the bible is clear on what's right and wrong, etc. But please keep this in mind as an example of what I'm trying to say: adultry is something that the bible clearly frowns on, right? Old and New testament are pretty clear on it. There were clear rules in Jesus' day about how adultresses were to be dealt with. So with the rules, the biblical references, why did Jesus stand between the mob ready to stone the woman caught in the act? Shouldn't He have let her take her punishment because she went against something written about explicitly in scripture and in the law ? Christ loved her first then told her to go on her way and change her lifestyle. Suck it up people! No one is perfect and sin is sin is sin (and not just the big stuff) so get on with it and stop pointing fingers and start loving the lost!

Now, after all that? I guess I've never felt lead to do anything political because I seem to feel led to do little things. I like to take water to the Latino lady on the corner selling flowers or to the hispanic crews working on our street who otherwise don't make eye contact with us and our neighbors. I make an effort to show some sort of love and friendship to someone that I see every weekday that seems to be very lonely. I like to pay for the coffee for the tree cutting crew that's a few people back in line at 7-Eleven. Those people may eventually become convinced that people aren't all bad and may even spread the love. If that love gets spread again and again... a lot of this crap that we fight about wouldn't be an issue. But, that's just one person's opinion.

Geez, Betsy, did I ever actually answer your question?