i’ve thought about several different ways to attack the whole voting blog, because everyone knows it’s bound to be written at some point, but right now i’m slightly worked up so this will just have to be it.
i keep reading everywhere that christians only vote republican because they’re told to do so, or christians think that anyone who votes democrat can’t be a christian. i don’t agree, in either case. the only thing i would i would expect/request is sound reasoning (biblical, if you claim to be a christian) for either decision. i also think non-christians can just as easily vote republican. it’s not all or nothing on either side.
ok, so that’s behind us. one thing that i’m really struggling with today is compassion. we’re told to have it. we should have it. we should give it without the government telling us to do so. what i can’t seem to piece together is the democrat’s seeming care for the disenfranchised through social welfare, programs, etc., but their blatant disregard human life. it doesn’t add up. so we only have to care for people once they are out of the womb and until they encounter an atrocity that makes them unable to care for themselves? i don’t care what you believe, it doesn’t take too much to argue that human life starts at conception. this isn’t simply a matter of religion, or me trying to “shove my beliefs down your throat.” i simply cannot vote for someone who has an obvious disregard for the sanctity of life, not matter how great their healthcare plan. and this isn’t just something “pastor billy bob told me i need to do, so by golly i’m going to do it.” i am an intelligent human being, and how dare anyone classify me as being stupid or uniformed for being conservative. i can think for myself, thank you very much.
i can’t even imagine how difficult an unplanned pregnancy can be. i don’t mean to slight the feelings of a mother caught in the overwhelming situation she finds herself in. i don’t mean to say that these women don’t need support, care, and help. we do need to help them, but not at the expense of another life. i know that you might say “a child doesn’t deserve to be born into such and such situation…” how do we know what their situation will be? we don’t. and not only is their concern for the child, but it doesn’t take much research, much conversation, to know the (unexpected) trauma that many women feel for the rest of their lives after they have an abortion. i’ve watched it happen to close friends. lives are forever changed, and not for the good.
we are told to care for the poor and needy, which, at best, we suck at. to be honest. and sometimes voting democrat seems appealing because they address this issue. but those who vote democrat for that reason, let me ask you – what are you doing right now, in your town, in your neighborhood to change things? if this is something we really believed in we should start in our own backyard, not count on the government to take care of everyone for us. we should love and care for one another. the government can only do so much, and it generally ends up falling very short of anything genuinely helpful. it might help for a minute, but how many people are learning to become contributing members of society? how many people are being educated on how to break the cycle of poverty rather than receiving some money or food here or there? there has got to be a better way. and i would imagine it starts with people helping people. will that ever happen?
I agree wholeheartedly with your first point… Christians can and do vote for their beliefs and not their party and “lumping” happens all the time when it shouldn’t.
I am not going to say that I know when life begins, because I definitely don’t, but I would encourage you to read Alexa’s story over at flotsamblog.com… not just her post, but the whole story of her years spent trying to conceive, the grief she suffered over the losses when she miscarried, and then her post about what would have happened had she not been just lucky enough to not need an abortion in order to save her life. I think when we talk about valuing life we have to be more fair, on both sides. Christians don’t support abortion because they value life and “liberals” can forget that or choose not to see it, but Christians don’t seem to be willing to listen to the stories of women who have needed an abortion to LIVE, and in having it lost the child that would not have been able to survive. And I don’t mean that it was a “possibility” that the child might die, but that the child did not have any kidneys. There was no possibility of life.
i’m voting democrat and you asked what i am doing in my community? i am giving blood, giving money, giving time to volunteer with Habitat and tutoring services. I am helping my friends and neighbors when they are depressed or when their boyfriends are threatening to kill them and they have to get out of the house.
but you didn’t answer the question yourself. what are you doing?
as to the danger of federally-funded programs, i think it is unfair to suggest that they don’t work or they fail to empower others without offering your research. i also think that the success of such programs is going to depend entirely on the leadership at the local level and not on where they get their money.
oh, its amanda by the way. and i don’t mean anything i said to be belligerent. i mean it only with deep sincerity and desire to know your thoughts.
I totally agree with your thoughts. Voting is important and we need to do it with thought and prayer. However, compassion, taking care of people, changing society is the responsibilities of individuals not just the government.
From, Kelly’s mom