My Heart Is Heavy, My Brain Is Fried

I started out writing another "education" post, and I'm ending up writing about politics. Sorry. :(

So, here's what I've got. I've heard some very good arguments from both sides of the Issue. What is the Issue? Basically, it's about Choosing the Lesser of Two Evils. I've heard this election referred to this way so many times, it's depressing, and definitely a sign of the Times.

First of all, I despise people's jumping into this issue with emotional outbursts and illogical name-calling. I despise the approach to this issue that, "I am right. You are wrong." Debate, people. Use your minds, google your information, and Debate like True Americans. I demand your opinions, but I despise your mental laziness. There is no point at which you should say, "I now know enough about this. I will stop receiving new information on the topic." I'm 27 and I have never voted because I have not felt informed enough on the issues to do so. 

Moving On.

There are many Believers, friends of mine, out there who are willing (they say) to sacrifice their civil liberties for the cause of the Unborn. This is the big question for me. It is the ONE thing that is keeping me from voting Democratic this election. 

Civil Liberties.....that's a really hard one. My rights to free speech, to petition, to assemble freely (church), to keep and bear arms, my right to not be deprived of life, liberty, or property, my right to a trial by jury, my right to be secure in my person, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, to be secure from cruel & unusual punishment.....and all the rest of those that make Americans so "free". There are several of those that will be on the line with a McCain administration. Certainly, he even plainly says so on his own website:

"Unlike Senator Obama who voted against the MCA and favors giving Al Qaeda terrorists direct access to U.S. civilian courts to contest their detention through habeas corpus rights, John McCain recognizes that we cannot treat dangerous terrorists captured on the battlefield as we would common criminals.  John McCain is more concerned with protecting the American people from future terrorist attacks, by killing or bringing to justice those who commit them, than he is with giving terrorists rights that would allow a judge to set them free before they are tried."

With an Obama/Biden administration, we'd be seeing prob'ly lots more socialism....and oh yeah, he would promote abortion.

Wow, it's pretty sad, isn't it, that it has come down to this for us? Americans, killing their infants, tapping phone lines, taking from the "wealthy" and giving it to the "poor," seizing property and keeping prisoners from trial by jury.......it's moments like these when it all overwhelms me that I just want to NOT VOTE, and cry out, "COME QUICKLY, LORD JESUS!"

Ok, so, I've been pled with by a lot of Christian conservatives to set aside these concerns about civil liberties and foreign wars, and vote for Life. It's a very compelling argument. On an emotional level it would sway me completely. For a moment or two after watching some videos on some blogs, I thought, well, I guess my mind's made up. I'll vote for Life. Yet, something keeps stopping me. Many bloggers and friends of mine who are so passionate about the anti-abortion movement in this country frequently equate America to Israel. The Scriptures I've seen used to illustrate how important it is that abortion must be stopped are all referring to the purification of Israel, God's chosen nation. However, my understanding of Israel is that it was exactly that, God's Chosen Nation. He made a covenant with Abraham regarding his offspring, and we understand from the New Testament that it was an image of the Church, with Christ and His followers as the "seed of Abraham." 

So, is America also a Chosen Nation, such that we Americans should be willing to sacrifice our rights guaranteed us in the Constitution in order to "purge the land of bloodshed" and return to the favor of God? I think not. Though America was founded by mostly Believers, and many of its laws and doctrines fall into line with Christian Beliefs, there is a definitive separation of church and State in this country. America is a secular nation.  There is no need to continue quoting Scriptures comparing her to Israel. She is more like---Egypt. We CHRISTIANS are the Isralites, living within the nation of Egypt (America), the secular nation. Of course, all nations, secular or not, will be held accountable to the same standard of holiness in the end. Still, there are far less instances where God urged pagan nations to purify themselves and return to God. Mostly, He just wiped them out, and went on purifying the Chosen Nation. Now, were we talking about Christians aborting their babies, that would be a different thing. I believe we should keep that line clearly drawn when considering abortion along the same lines as Old Testament stories.

Now, my first loyalty is to the Kingdom of Heaven. I hope all my Christian blogger friends out there can agree with me on this issue, at least. Second, my loyalty is to America, as one of its citizens. So, next I have to wonder, my loyalty to the Kingdom of Heaven---does that bring me to intervene on behalf of the unborn children in this nation?And my loyalty to my country--does that bring me to defend my constitutional rights, protecting my religious freedoms and those of my children?

This is a complicated Issue, folks. Stop saying it's simple!!! Start reading, start googling. The only reason you say it's an easy choice to make is because you haven't read all the issues! You're finding it easy to vote just based on abortion because that's the only thing you've spent time looking at. Be honest, how many videos with soft music have you watched telling you that a fetus is a human being, getting sickened at the images of slaughtered infants? Now, how much do you know about McCain's foreign policy, and what his plan for Homeland Security is? Are you concerned about how his aggressive anti-terrorism plans might affect this country for your grandchildren? 

Here are some very random thoughts that are jolting their way around my head these days. Not all of them make perfect sense, and I apologize for that. I just want to get some of them out there to discuss with you. Talking points, y'all. Up for grabs.

~If David says, "In sin did my mother conceive me, " is it INNOCENT life we're defending? No, unborn children will grow up sinful, just like the politicians we're all bickering about. When God told Israelites to defeat a pagan nation, He often told them to kill them all, men, women, and "innocent" children. God sometimes views the offspring of the Wicked as "Wicked, Too." Yet, murder is murder, whether the victim is 3 months gestation or 30 years old, sinner or saved.

~People who want abortions have deeper problems than just wanting abortions. Prohibiting abortion only changes the law, it doesn't purify the nation. By saving the lives of countless infants from abortion, I've still just left them to (possibly) live in sin....eventually die like all other humans, and perhaps go to hell. Have I saved any souls by voting against abortion? Ask yourself this: If the unborn children in question be born alive, what will their lives be like? 

~McCain claims to support the rights of the unborn, but I have some concerns that he is using that as an "in" for people who would vote him in based merely on his pro-life stance. His personal beliefs on the actual Rights of the Unborn come into question when he states that he's "ok" with an abortion in the case of a rape. How would he determine if there had been a rape? He would give the victim the "benefit of the doubt." So, in McCain's mind, the baby who's mother claims she's been raped unfortunately has no rights to life. I have my doubts, Senator......

~The Bill of Rights protects people from being deprived of Life, Liberty, & Property. Do the unborn "people" still qualify as "people?" If so, then abortion itself defies the constitution (I actually believe this). We should vote Pro-Life in order to extend the Bill of Rights to the Unborn.

~If I truly believe that abortion is murder, then I should treat it as such, and truly be willing to sacrifice my constitutional rights and those of my children and my children's children in order to save a generation of aborted babies, as I have been called to lay my life down for my brothers.

~But, wait....children's children? Do I want future generations of Forsheys to look back at me and my generation and say, "If only they knew what they had been doing. Had they voted for Obama, at least we would not have seen so much bloodshed in foreign wars.....and lost our rights to freedom of speech, trial by jury, and protection from warrantless seizures & arrests." This is MY family we're talking about. Is that the best way to provide spiritually for my offspring?

~My children will probably never be affected by abortion being legal in America. If God allows, and our faith is passed down from generation to generation, abortion will never be an option for them. However, if I allow myself to vote for a McCain administration, generations from now, my offspring may fall under persecution as Christians because of such heavily enforced internal "security" not to mention being prevented from speaking freely, possibly suffering warrantless seizures, etc, etc. God only knows. 

I guess in conclusion, I am seeing a Dual Citizenship here....to Heaven and also to America.  Dammit. It's not easy. I find it impossible to vote to both uphold the Constitution of the Country I Love and to vote to restore its Provisions to its unborn citizens. I guess I must separate myself from loyalty to my country, return to my first Loyalty (the Kingdom of Heaven...."Thou Shall Not Murder"), vote to reverse the first Wrong (Roe vs. Wade) and pray that God will intervene in the future and hinder McCain's plans for violating habeus corpus. I suppose Christianity tends to flourish under persecution anyhow.

It's no wonder Jesus did not become involved in politics. His answer for the way things are is to destroy all of it with fire.......and set up His New Kingdom. Praise God for that.