Cwillz Spills

Krista Tippet and Zondervan recently teamed up to host a discussion with Charles Colson, Greg Boyd, and Shane Clairborne about Evangelicals and politics.  There is great input from all three, exploring the tensions that I like to  flesh out with my friends like Neil, Adam, Jennifer, Scott, Ben, Dauthan, Bryant, my small group, and others.  Here is a small taste:

The full versions are available(web stream or MP3 download) on the Speaking of Faith site and on iTunes for free.

A few of my thoughts:

1) I want to be like all 3 of these men when I grow up.  Each has been very faithful with what God has given them.

2) I felt a little bad for Chuck Colson because I think he didn’t get a chance to speak as much.  Maybe that isn’t true, but I really wanted him to say more.

3) Notice there are honest and somewhat should-be abrupt disagreements between these men (the most obvious being Shane’s blatant anti-military stance), but it is clear  that these guys are on the same team.  Hopefully the core group of people that follow each of them agree on that.

4) Greg’s story about mixing nationalism and faith really hits home with me.  It bothers me deeply that many Christians I know’s view of Christ is inseperably entangled in Americana.  See this post.

5) Where are the women? Momma T!

6)Where are the minorities? Discussion about Dr.King does happen quite a bit in the session, which is a starting point for the necessary inclusion of minority voices.

7) Colson is a tough old man and I love his fatherly tone when he suggests that others need to have the courage “take a political stance” and go from there.

There seems to be a big tension between Augustinian thought and Jesus thought, or at least the expressions from those who emphasize one over the other.

Which one of these men would you vote for if all three were running for president?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

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

Any time you spend money or resources of any kind, you redistribute wealth. The “R” has been misused over the last few weeks, redistribution does not necessarily imply socialism.

Obviously the intended significance of redistribution over the last few weeks by the candidates for president is the 2nd definition. They want to paint a picture of themselves or their opponents by using historically charged paint. On one end of the color spectrum, there is full blown state ownership and control of resources, and on the other end there is unrestricted, unregulated completely free markets.

When we are talking about economics, the above ends of the color spectrum are commonly referred to as liberal or conservative. Liberal means that the government is big– it has (is given, by voters) the power to spend money on (hopefully) what its people needs. Conservative means that government is small–it has(is given, by voters) less or no power to spend money, in hopes that the market and individuals will takes are of thier own needs. My suggestion is that you try and decide what you think about the issue before you worry about how you or others will apply this label to you.

Do we risk our, the people’s, resources in the hands of the government and fight continually for those resources to be spent in proper, good, just ways? Do we, the people, not allow government to control spending and therefore rely on ourselves to spend money in proper, good, and just ways?

If you really look at Barack Obama and John McCain, neither one is really that fiscally conservative nor liberal. Certainly Barack looks to be the bigger spender and therefore will require more money to accomplish that. Before you jump on or off that wagon, realize that McCain’s spending plan isn’t really that much less. The question, at least for me, is more about how these men are wanting to spend the people’s money. If you really want to keep your money, look to Ron Paul.

Here is my real point: Please, please, please spend your money in a way that brings justice to this time and place that we call today on planet Earth. Evaluate for yourselves the role and potential of government and vote/write letters accordingly. In your private or public life, look at all that you have and think of the good you, or we, can do with that.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Yesterday I predicted how this term’s potential VPs would do in their only debate before the election. 

Expected result: I thought that Biden would make a fool of himself and then clarify.  I thought that Palin would speak clearly and then make a fool of herself.

What happened: Surprisingly, both showed good tact and presented their cases with more confidence and discipline than I expected.  This debate was easier to watch than last week’s bout between McCain and Obama.  These two people can look at each other in the eyes when speaking.

Major Issues Discussed:  the Economy, Iraq, Afganistan, Israel, Pakistan, Darfur / the Sudan, U.S. giving to foriegn aid, voting records, civil unions…

The winner: Like last week, people will think the person that won is the person they expected to win before it started. 

Final conclusion: I don’t understand how Joe Biden’s eyebrows go back and up like they do.  I also felt funny when Sarah Palin winked at me.  My hat is off to both of them for their performance in disciplined speech and their ability to instill confidence.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

When asked questions the VP candidates will do the following:

Mr. Biden will initially say something stupid.  When he is asked to clarify he will say something articulate.

Mrs. Palin will initially say something really articulate.  When asked to clarify she will say something stupid.

That’s my prediction. Currently trying to decide if I will be more entertained by The Office or by the VP Debate.

CWillZ

Heaven help us!!– its almost time to pick a president.

A friend recently posted on the politics of Jesus. It was so good that I want to respond.  Earlier this year I posted about how humbling ourselves to the will of God is the way that Jesus would vote.   A few more thoughts:

Jesus’ purpose did not fit the political structures. A major part of Jesus’ ministry was that people tried to push him into being the political Messiah of Israel.  They expected to be re-established as a nation and out of Rome’s hand.  Judas may have thought he was advancing the Kingdom by forcing Jesus into the political system.  Oops!

Didn’t Judas know that Jesus had a different purpose for being on the earth? He could have had all of the Kingdoms in the world during His lifetime, but he turned it down in obedience to the Father.

OK, so Jesus was not a politician. Is the Kingdom he brought/declared/taught/will bring a political Kingdom? How do those of us who are a part this Kingdom do this politics thing?

There have been times of intense emphasis on different principles from the Kingdom that have missed the mark of the purposes of God, both to the left and to the right.  I firmly believe that Kingdom people are to be involved in politics, but only as an expression of their allegiance to the will of God.  A good example of this is the life of Daniel.

Righteous and Justice, both personal and social are all part of the Good News for the Kingdom.  Living them out will result in a more correct world.  We will do well to search the scriptures for God’s heart.  We get to cast one vote.  The questions we should be asking are: who is God? If God wrote laws what would He be concerned about? What is righteousness/justice?

Once we take a long look at that, we can choose the people who will represent that heart the best.

Further reading by better thinkers:

The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder

Jesus for President by Shane Claibourne

The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

This election has turned depressing for me, and I think that many people feel the same way.  The hard part of it is is that in February, I wanted to see a McCain / Obama race.  This is my second election to vote in, and early this summer I felt as if I was going to get to vote for the better of two goods and not the lesser of two bads as I felt last election.  That was easier to see before they entered into a struggle for votes.

The primaries and pre-primary debates were fun to watch because of the ideas and sense of togetherness that competetion within the same parties could bring. It was great to watch people sharpen themseles and share the distinctive ways they saw issues.  These were days where talking about politics had a general sense of “Yes, but [the issue is different/can be best addressed this way/is not that simple]“.

The past few weeks have turned from “yes, but…” to “no, and [some insult to the other party or candidate/you kicked your dog as a kid]“.  This is getting old.  I wanted these candidates because they are thinkers and moderates who I think will acutally represent the American people.

Arguing ad hominem over commercials is damaging.  I wish both Barack and John would become a little more “elitist” and not stoop so low to cut each other.  In my opinion, they are going to need each other over the next 4 years.

This letter was sent to the members of a group called “Dream for Darfur”, who hope to raise world awareness and influence the People’s Republic of China to use their political power for the good of the Darfurian people. It is a good opportunity to creatively impact your world.

Dear Friends,

Terror continues for the people of Darfur. Despite our efforts and yours, China has not used its unique influence with Sudan and its role as Olympic host to try to address the Darfur conflict.

China has ignored the people of Darfur. Tomorrow at www.DarfurOlympics.org you can send Beijing a message by refusing to watch Chinese propaganda during the Olympics.

Every time China touts itself as a responsible world power during the Games, tune into our alternative Olympic programming on the web. Watch the Alternative Opening Ceremony with artists including Talib Kweli and R.E.M. and then watch Mia Farrow’s daily webcast from a Darfurian refugee camp from August 8 to 15 at www.darfurolympics.org.

We hope that you will join us in helping to bring peace to the people of Darfur.

In Peace,
Dream for Darfur

May the Lord’s Will Be Done

I had to laugh a little late one night I Carol and I were on the interstate coming home from a wedding in Knoxville. We passed a car whose bumper sticker read, “Republican Healthcare Plan: Don’t Get Sick”. It made me chuckle a little, but the bumper sticker is a little unfair to those who truly believe that the private sector and innovation eventually will pay off in the long run. However, the bumber sticker revealed an existing belief that some in our society hold about the private sector — its a phrase that people hide behind so they don’t have to do anything about injustice (again not fair or entirely true).

Whether believe that healthcare should be left to unrestricted free market or if you are of the opinon that government should become increasingly involved (about 20% of healthcare costs are subsidized), the real cost of healthcare is this: we get sick. However, many if not most of the diseases that cost us the most are preventable.

Heart disease, diabetes, lung and mouth cancer, and high blood pressure are all very costly conditions that can be avoided by simply taking care of oneself. Its pretty simple really: eat healthy, don’t use tabacco, and get moderate exercise. Save yourself and everyone some green.

“Don’t get sick” is a wise plan reducing the costs of healthcare, and how those reduced costs are paid is another debate entirely. I’d rather pay the same or a little higher for my healthcare and allow for those 7 – 12% who don’t have insurance and couldn’t pay the bills if they did be taken care of too. I’m still hopefully for the private sector to get creative and make progress, but its hard not to be jaded.

George Barna:
“I have met a number of born again Christians who believe in “gay rights” — i.e. that gays
should have the same rights as everyone else — even while they
believe that homosexuality is un-biblical and a sin. To most people
reading this, that will seem a huge contradiction — can you shed any
light on what Christians like that are thinking”.
…
I am a “Christian like this”. Barna does a good job at explaining my thoughts.
…
Still Barna:
While it is true that you can legislate morality – after all, what laws do is define what is right and wrong, which is the essence of morality – a growing number of born again people are not staking their entire realm of influence on the legal and political systems. Instead, they desire to offer a theologically honest but emotionally compassionate reaction to proponents of homosexuality. In other words, they cannot ignore the fact that homosexuality is a sin from a biblical perspective, but also realize that Jesus’ primary exhortation was to love other people into a different way of understanding and living their lives
…
Dear Gay People, We love you. You know we disagree, but we love you.