This is where I stand - where do you stand?

Continuing discussions with Bill:
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John,

Thanks for our continuing conversation.

I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I believe God is in my heart and that He gave me a brain and expects me to use it. Having traveled in 22 countries and lived in three, I have had the opportunity to see many points of view and to realize that although I honor the upbringing that molded my core values, I know that upbringing was a matter of chance, that I was born in time and space.

I don't think that God's values are relative - I believe they are absolute, and that is reinforced in my experience in that I see these values in good people regardless of their religion or nationality or race or sex - or sexual orientation.

I would doubt that God will give much weight on Judgment Day should I use, as an argument, that my actions were the result of what I was told by some religion or political party. Religions and political parties, even in America, have in the past supported slavery, withholding of women's rights, segregation, and a host of things I know in my heart to be wrong. I know and assume full responsibility for my actions. I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God - and I believe that God also inspired the works of Shakespeare, Mozart, Van Gogh, and even Mohammed.

Most people stray little from their childhood influences - if born a Muslim, they are apt to stay Muslim; if born a Republican, they are apt to stay Republican; if born into a democracy, they are apt to retain strong ties to democracy. "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11)

I believe the Bible is hardly inerrant, and blind faith, to me as an adult, is as stupid as the ancient Greeks believing that the Gods resided on Olympus, or the Egyptians who believed that the Pharaoh was the incarnation of God, or the Inquisitors who believed they were doing godly work, or the Catholics who see their historically corrupt church as necessary between them and God.

I do believe in common sense, love, non-judgmental behavior, charity, compassion, humility, and my deep-rooted sense of the difference between right and wrong. I think science reveals an aspect of God's truth.

All this is a preamble, but it supports my position on a number of political issues. John, I have met you before, not you specifically, but the many people like you, relatives, friends, and acquaintances, all over the world and over the decades. And I am saddened that so many of you are so closed-minded, and often so hypocritical. It is crystal clear to me that the death penalty is unnecessary, that abortions should be rare but be the province of the woman and her physician, that people should be treated equally regardless of race, religion, nationality, sex, or sexual orientation, and that euthanasia is a matter only between an individual and his physician.

On practical matters I am also clear about the growing gulf between rich and poor, the inequities of public education, the inexcusable lack of health insurance for children. I'm opposed to elective wars and having lived in Saudi Arabia, it comes at no surprise that tribal and regional animosities would be unleashed as soon as Saddam was overthrown and that the U.S. was naive to have gone into the Iraq War without a full contingency to deal with this probability.

I am also smart enough to see politicians for who they are, very few who stand with integrity, conviction, or principle. It is clear that our politics have generated a house divided, and that this is the nations loss. Leadership is scant, and ultimately motivated self-interests come far ahead of any effort to improve the quality of life.

John, life is short, a mere 30,000 days or so out of an eternity. And I will wonder at how you or I will fare when we stand before St. Peter and he asks, "Well how did you spend your one short life - your one chance in all eternity to be born in some time and space, male or female, black or white, rich or poor, gay or straight - just how did you spend that life and - how did you live up to that potential - what difference did you make?”

With love,

Bill

My response to Bill below:

I would doubt that God will give much weight on Judgment Day should I use, as an argument, that my actions were the result of what I was told by some religion or political party. Religions and political parties, even in America, have in the past supported slavery, withholding of women's rights, segregation, and a host of things I know in my heart to be wrong. I know and assume full responsibility for my actions. I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God - and I believe that God also inspired the works of Shakespeare, Mozart, Van Gogh, and even Mohammed.

I agree that God will not give any weight to actions based on doctrine’s of organized religion or politics. Organized religions and political often start with good intentions that begin to warp with the egos of the succeeding generation that tends to miss the heart of the original. It is the intractable perceptions of the next generation that attempt to find justification for the evils of culture.

I tend to be intractable when it comes to my perceptions of the Word of God. I say my perceptions, because many of my fellow “Word of Faith” or “Renewal” faithful would consider some of my thoughts heretical. Yet I am a Bible kind of guy, that holds the Judeo/Christian Bible to be the absolute Word of God. I can see some works of man as inspired, maybe even inspired by God. However I view the Bible as the only Scripture inspired by God.

I believe the Bible is hardly inerrant, and blind faith, to me as an adult, is as stupid as the ancient Greeks believing that the Gods resided on Olympus, or the Egyptians who believed that the Pharaoh was the incarnation of God, or the Inquisitors who believed they were doing godly work, or the Catholics who see their historically corrupt church as necessary between them and God.

I believe the Bible is inerrant, if that is blind faith so be it. It is the kind of faith the Lord Jesus has called the faith of a little child. That is the kind of blind faith I strive to achieve. I often fail but I get up and keep trying.

John, life is short, a mere 30,000 days or so out of an eternity. And I will wonder at how you or I will fare when we stand before St. Peter and he asks, "Well how did you spend your one short life - your one chance in all eternity to be born in some time and space, male or female, black or white, rich or poor, gay or straight - just how did you spend that life and - how did you live up to that potential - what difference did you make?”

Life is short and eternity is forever. I don’t think old St. Peter will ask any questions. I think the Lord of glory will open the Book of Life, if your name, my name and whoever’s name is written therein; then the Blood of Christ and faith in the Redemptive Sacrifice will enable the Gate of Pearl to swing open. We will enter His Gate with praise and Thanksgiving. Death and tearfulness will be ended and the joy of the Lord will be found in everlasting union in Christ Jesus, the risen from the dead to everlasting joy.