Freeing My Mind

I’ve never been one to shy away from controversy. Considering my southern roots, this probably is somewhat abnormal. There was a time that, although I had somewhat controversial thoughts, I usually tried to steer clear from actually expressing this thought for either fear of the backlash or maybe just attempting to steer clear of having to deal with any backlash. Recently though, I’ve actually begun to simply just embrace this aspect of my psyche. Today should fall in line with this line of thinking.

This will hopefully not be a long rant, but it is something that has frequented my mind in the past few weeks.

Why do the majority of Christians feel the need to fall in the line with almost every message of the Republican party? For some of my readers, this could be old news, but I have recently seen another flair up of political ideas that are stamped with the Christian seal of approval that seem to be at odds with the message of Jesus. If one particular political party stands by a number of ideas that one may strongly believe in, it doesn’t mean that one has to stand by every idea of that particular party. No, I’m not a democrat, but I’m not a republican either.

While some of the ideas that I have issues with may not be on the scale of the war over slavery of the mid 1800′s, I think the mindset can be compared. For the most part, slavery was widely endorsed by the American church and by some even after the civil war. This was not only the case in the south, but across America. The tradition of slavery simply wasn’t questioned by most church leaders. While this type of mindset is detrimental to any reformation, I believe that we could be in a similar quagmire concerning some of our current political thoughts. I think we’ve forgotten that we are not first and foremost American, but first and foremost Jesus followers.

My friend, Doug Addison, taught me to always surround controversial thoughts with, “I’m just saying.” That way you can pretty much say whatever you want. So, without further ado, I’m just saying.

Let’s begin with a somewhat simple one. How has caring for the environment become a purely liberal cause? One of the first commandments given to mankind by God was to “tend the garden”. When God created man, he told man that everything in the earth was given to him. God created the earth and then put it in our hands. How can we make a stance on water-boarding a top priority and place the environment at the bottom of the list. We act as if global warming is something to laugh at, all while, whatever the reason, the earth is growing warmer at an increasing rate. We are scared that laws concerning “green” initiatives will intrude on our “freedoms”, all while complaining about gas prices. I commend a growing movement which is being called the Creation Care Movement. One particular organization that is championing this cause is the Evangelical Environmental Network. I encourage you to check them out. I’ve long sense stopped worrying about being labeled a “tree hugger”. If that means that I actually consider caring for creation as an important part of our mandate as humans, then there will be no awkward side-hugs between me and the oak.

Since I brought up water-boarding, let’s go there. I’ve heard the argument that water-boarding isn’t torture and that’s not what I’m here to debate. I’m also not here to debate if it works or not. My question is simple, would Jesus do it? Even if lives were on the line, would He? Over the past couple of years the idea of torture, when it comes to terrorism, war and lives being at stake, has been a hot button issue in politics and on cable news channels. One of the reported forms of coercion that was used at Guantanamo Bay was the blasting of Britney Spear’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time” at high decibels for hours on end. I don’t see how this being torture could even be up for debate.

Next up, illegal immigration. This is a tricky one. I understand the concern. I understand the need to protect our borders from potentional terrorist threats such as nuclear weapons coming across the Mexican border. What I do not understand is the, at times, degrading and vehement tone when it comes to discussions on the matter. As far as I understand the situation, it seems that we could balance our concern for the border with our concern for the poor people arriving in our cities and towns. I’m just saying.

The death penalty. I could talk about this at length, but I’ll spare you. What in the world are we thinking? This is very simple. One of the ideas that most easily sums up the New Covenant is redemption. Where did the we get the idea that it is our prerogative to take someone’s life if they also took someone’s life? Jesus himself came across a situation concerning the death-penalty while He was walking the earth. In John 8, a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus. The Jewish law said that she should be put to death. Most of you will remember the outcome. “Let you who is without sin cast the first stone.”

This last one has been on my heart a lot lately and I feel that, again, I could probably bloviate for quite some time on the matter. But alas, you get by with a simple observation. How has the military, and even war, become such a cornerstone of the American church? I am not anti-military, let me make that clear. Although, I am anti-war. Meaning, I don’t like war. Now some would say, “Well, no one likes war.” While that is probably true in a sense, we also seem to get so hung up on our political stance concerning wars that we often lose sight of God’s stance. It’s simple to me. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10-3-5)

And hey, if we disagree, that’s cool. Whether you’ve been reading Freeing My Mind for a while or this is your first read, we’ve probably disagreed before.

I’m just saying.

I feel the need to put a disclaimer before today’s inspiration. It’s a joke.