Whether its because I'm older, or because I've spent the last year arguing in one way or another, I'm completely comfortable with arguments. I've found that I can listen to someone's points respectfully and respectfully present my own thoughts and ideas. If we cannot reach an agreement, the we can agree to disagree....respectfully. (See the theme here?) You don't have to agree with me, whether or not you can respect my point of view, I will always respect yours.
The recent Presidential election along with some friends with differing political viewpoints have helped me to refine my own political views. Some may be exactly what you expect...some may surprise you...but I'd like to express them here. Your comments are always welcome, though, if anyone gets too nasty, I'll edit them or delete them. That is my right as the blogger.
Let's tackle the toughest ones first.
Abortion
One of the problems with a lot of issues, is that they are discussed as black and white issues when there are usually many many shades of gray. Abortion is one of those issues in my opinion. Since I've never carried a child, I can't imagine what it is like. I know that I've heard many reasons that someone would want to end a pregnancy. The government can't possibly pass a law that addresses all of the circumstances surrounding that decision. There is also a lot of arguments about when the 'fetus' becomes a 'child'. When does this new life have rights separate from the rights of the mother? I don't know the answers to these questions. What I do know is this, regardless of when an abortion occurs, you are ending the life of a child. Should the government allow that? They have decided that they should. I'm ok with that. I don't have to like it, it's more of an acceptance than anything. However, I cannot and never will support the idea of two people making a bad decision, creating a child, and then ending that child's life. I call it retroactive birth control. I can't accept it, there are too many people that would love to have a child.
Marriage (Gay or otherwise)
My viewpoint: Marriage is a spiritual union created and controlled by God. He defines marriage and is the ultimate authority on it. His perfect plan for marriage is defined here...
Genesis 2
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam [g] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs [h] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [i] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman, [j] '
for she was taken out of man."
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
(Sorry, I had to include the naked part)
Anyway, my point is, God defines marriage. To my understanding (which I haven't researched fully) men began leaving their wives during the middle ages because they were unhappy for whatever reason. Since it was not accepted for a woman to work at that time, these women were left destitute. The governmental authorities stepped in and began holding men financially responsible for the welfare of theirs wives even when they left them. So, as I see it, in any marriage, there are really two connections, one is spiritual (the real marriage) and the other is legal (financial responsibility).
Now some reality. God's perfect plan for marriage is this: One man, one woman for life.
Matthew 19
1When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'[a] 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'[b]? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
7"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
8Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
10The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."
11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage[c]because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Many years ago I had someone ask me "Would you allow an 18 year old to control all of the decisions in your life?" The obvious answer is NO! His next statement was sobering...."Do you realize that most of the decisions that control your life are made when you are 18?"
The truth is...our world is horribly broken. Some people decide that a homosexual relationship is what they want and need. Some decide after some period of time that the promise that they made when they were in their teens or twenties was a mistake. We all change over time, God knows that, he made us. His plan for marriage had to be that you would accept and adjust to the changes that your spouse goes through. Some decide they cannot do that and decide to divorce. Some states have made that very easy by instituting the "No Fault Divorce". No legal proof of grounds is required, you just decide it's not working, let's end it.
So, back to my point, Marriage is a spiritual institution defined by God. In a perfect world, marriage as defined by God would last a lifetime. In our broken world it does not.
The problem with 'Gay Marriage' is the word marriage. I think if a different term was used, it would be more widely accepted. The homosexual community is asking for the legal rights that heterosexual couples have. This may shock you, but I really don't have a problem with that. However, it is not marriage, it is a legal partnership. All of the rules applying to married couples should also apply when ending a homosexual partnership.
My belief is that we will all stand before God and give an account for our lives. All of our lives are broken in one way or another. Spiritually, our only hope is Jesus. It is only through his sacrifice that we can be reconciled to God.
Socialism
Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.
Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals and have the same political, economic, social, and civil rights.
To me, the effects of socialism comes if you take economics out of the picture. The best example of its effects comes from education. In any classroom, you will have children with an amazing amount of intellect. You will have some with less intellect that work really hard. You will have some with intellect that choose not to use it. Lastly, you will have some that work very hard, but simple do not have the intellect required to pass. In a socialistic classroom, all of these students received the same grade. This may seem very ideal and fair. But what does it do to the drive and incentive for those with high intellect or those who are willing to work very hard? They see that even though there are those who choose not to work hard, they are all treated the same. The incentive to achieve, is taken away. In my opinion, all students become mediocre.
In reality, we give higher grades in education as an incentive. Economically, those who are talented or work hard should also receive incentives to continue to achieve.
How then are the poor to be taken care of? In reality, there are those who, through no fault of their own, are economically challenged. Single mothers who are poorly educated, the disabled (mentally or physically) and many many others who are unable to care for themselves financially. Those who do well financially are responsible for helping the poor. There are many who do. Unfortunately, there are many who are selfish and refuse to give to others. These are usually used as the examples to show that unbridled capitalism is bad. They deserve to be chastised. But when the government gets involved, the effects are usually bad. The government (and our newly elected President) have made it clear that they intend to forcibly remove the financial incentive from the wealthy and give it to the economically challenged (moving towards the egalitarian society) If that is the best answer we can come up with, that's fine. However, just in the education example, please don't gripe when the overall effects of that come to fruition.
Public Education
I support the ideals of public education, but I send my children to a private school. The goal of public education is that every child should have access to education. This is good and correct. My only problem with public education is that they are now required to remove God from the entire education process. Based on my beliefs about our world and its creation, I do not believe that you can ignore God and accurately teach mathematics, science, human behavior, history or any subject.
There are others in this world that do not believe in God, and wish to be free from and forced education that includes him. That is fine. However, that results in a warped view of this world as I see it. Therefore, I pay the taxes to support public education, and I also pay tuition to educate my children as I see fit.
Unfortunately, being an institution run by the government, public education is in quite a mess. I hate that. Raise my taxes to help pay for the poorly run program if you must, my children will go to a private school. If you can give me some credit for not using the services I'm paying for, I would appreciate it.
Well, I can't think of anything else at this point. I'm sure that I am incorrect on some points. It's ok to be wrong. But it's my blog, I'll cry if I want to (cry if I want to)
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