Rob Bell, Ted Nugent: Two Manifestos and a Family Feud

My dad and and I have very similar personalities.  We have pretty similar views about faith and I am contiually finding myself shaped by his wisdom and admire the way he does life.  There are, however, friendly points of dissention between us.  We see politics quite differently, although for the most part we come to different conclusions with similar motivations.

This past election, our votes canceled each other’s out.  He might not see why I don’t think fiscal de-regulation is a great idea and why the appalling stance of many the Democratic party are enough to make me vote towards the right.  I might not see why he doesn’t see that the free market has never really been free and consistently is controlled by people who take advantage of well-intentioned people and that the policies of the far right have most likely been an indirect cause of abortion and poverty, unproductive violence, and diminished quality of life for many.  Either way, we both have our points, and respectfully allow each other to continue find truth somewhere between, under, or beyond the arguments.  I even listen to Rush with him sometimes.  At the end of the day, our thoughts about government matter little because it is the Church’s task to declare and live out righteous and just living.  With us?

Sunday at lunch dad told me that he thought I really should read Ted Nugent’s “Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto.“  I had picked it up for a few minutes in a book store a few months ago and made a snap decision after about 5 pages or so that I thought it would have little productive to say.  Anyway, I like be challenged and enjoy challenging others, and really do appreciate my father’s wisdom, especially because he has had 21+ years of law enforcement experience, a lifetime of pursuing faith, and a sucessful business career that I have not. So, I proposed that we trade books.  I am reading “Ted, White, and Blue” and he is reading / listening to Rob Bell and Don Golden’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile.”

I have found very good thoughts and points in both, and disagree sharply with some of both books.  Manifestos are statements of beliefs, so you can expect people to differ.  However, I want to highlight a great paragraph from “Ted, White, and Blue.”

God gave man a soul; a powerful, instinctual moral and intellectual True North compass that completely differenciates us from all other living creatures. Animals stomp, kill, and and eat each other, even thier own, in primal instinct to survive. Man has the power of reason, calculation, dreaming, and a thought process the choose to do good, not just for himself, but for the predictable benefit of family, fellow man, and the good earth. Respecting the the gift of life and the power of responsible choice, man can pursue happiness while being a positive force for all things When man seeks to benefit from wrong choices, at the expense of others and the environment, he has lost his soul. His misdeeds will eventually catch up with him.  (page 39 Chapter titled “If I Were Presdient”).

The political right and left should take a this paragraph and do an examination of conscience.  Ted won some respect points from me.

Anyway, please pray for the Spirit to be our teacher and guide as dad and I wade through these thoughful and incredibly nuanced books.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ