factions

It's not really anyone's business, but I vote Democrat more often than not. It's not that I particularly align myself with that party on all issues, but I find that my goals and ideals line up more often with the Democratic candidate for any particular position.

But as I'm sitting here on a Sunday morning, watching the head of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, spew venom on national television (even if it is venom that I mostly agree with), I'm struck with how much I hate politics; how divisive they are; and how, like religion, politics is something that is meant to unite us but often fails so miserably.

But to me, it just seems like a big blame game and the winner is the one who can completely cover his/her opponent in shit and avoid being avalanched themselves. Is there really a heart in all of this? Where are the politicians who care and aren't just out for their own agenda?

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that men and women in leadership so often fail their constituents. Power does a terrible thing to man...it inflates the ego; it expands the self-righteousness and gives faux credibility to the belief that because you represent other people, you're more important than said people.

I don't even know why I'm spending time writing about this...probably because it pisses me off so much. And as a Christian, I struggle with how much I should really care. Because, really, this is all gonna burn sooner or later anyway and I have lives to touch and people to build relationships with and that should be all I worry about.

But I can't shake my Earthly connections; I can't shake the feeling that we're watching some giant orchestrated production and in the next act, the villians, Iran-North Korea-Russia-whoever, will be introduced and then it gets really ugly. As in an inhabitant here, albeit just a short-time visitor, I'm compelled to care about this Earth even though others who share my faith don't feel that way.

Why is that? Is God displeased at me for caring about what happens in the world? Does He wish I could turn all that attention to Him and off of the news? I don't know. I can't believe that He wouldn't want me to be aware of what was going on if I'm still striving to accomplish my mission in the mean time.

And what does all of this mean really? I don't know. I'm just writing because Howard Dean was on TV and he was annoying the hell out of me. And I needed to say some of these things because we, as Christians, don't always talk about these things....

I've noticed that there are often three different approaches to the world's news by Christians...

1) the Apocalypse approach wherein Christians watch the news nightly hoping to connect the jigsaw piecse of end times. They want to see how Israel is being persecuted, how the European Union is striving for a one-world government and any technological advances that could be used later to bar code every man, woman and child on earth.

2) the Social Justice approach wherein Christians strive to help those who cannot help themselves. This is a group that isn't so concerned with their own safety and well-being, so much as helping those who cannot help themselves. This is a group that gives of their time and money to help those who are underpriveleged, underrepresented or otherwise forgotten.

3) the personal relationship approach wherein all of this world stuff is secondary to the building of personal, meaningful relationships. That is not to say that these people cannot partake in activites that have social significance, but their focus is on building these one-on-one relationships that grow into something special and from there, foster healthy Christian conversion.

I feel like, in my life, these are the three groups of Christians that I know. Of course, I'm omitting some other factions that have formed and grossly over-simplifying the whole thing. But I find that I know people who fit into all three (and sometimes more than one of ) these categories.

I just find it interesting that we can all have different frames of reference and views as to how we're supposed to spend our time. Some want to wait for Jesus to return...some want to get out and help others...and some want to know all the intimate details of another person's life. We all have different views and sometimes it's hard to reconcile these things.

I've over-extended my ambition for this morning so I think further discussion will have to wait for another time....

Thanks for reading.

Much love to you all