Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Dr. Seuss and Politics

This is it: the day the fate of our country will forever be determined. Today we either enter Utopian bliss or seal our own destruction. Today is our only shot at rescuing America from its sinful ways; if we choose wrong today, our once-great nation will pass under God's judgment and most likely fail.

All right, hold the phone. Are American standards of morality rapidly deteriorating? As a Christian, I believe so, yes. Is the right to elect our President a blessing, and one I think we should take advantage of? You bet. I voted for the first time this election season and I'm proud to have done so. Does God have the power to judge sinfulness at any time? Of course He does. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah.

I don't agree with President Obama's politics, but I don't believe the fact that babies are being brutally murdered is his fault. Have his policies made it easier to get an abortion? Sure. Did I vote for him? No. But it isn't his fault. It's not his fault that lots of people consider homosexuality an inherent quality rather than a sinful lifestyle choice. Do his policies facilitate it? Yes. Is it his fault? No.

It's my fault.

It's my fault because I don't say anything. I don't always defend God's Word when its principles are questioned. I don't like trying to tell someone who identifies as gay how God feels about that. Even when I stand up for these issues that have jumped the border between morality and politics, I am more than content to sit back in apathy when someone uses the Lord's name in vain, telling myself that's "not as big a deal." I don't ask other Christians why they watch television shows filled with profanity and sex jokes. I shy away from directly telling an immodest girl that she's causing brothers in Christ to stumble.

Even at a Christian college, I pass people every day who don't know Jesus, and I don't even bother to mention Him. I'm not welling over with the indescribable joy that comes with salvation. For the most part, I don't care enough about others to try to get them to Heaven.

Why is America going downhill? I can blame it on politics all I want, but the bottom-line is I'm doing nothing to stop it. But at least I voted!

Growing up I loved Dr. Seuss' book The Lorax. As Dr. Seuss so often is, it's deeper than it seems at first glance, and I've always liked this quote: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." I can vote a certain way, talk a certain way, blog a certain way, but if I'm not actually out there trying to affect change, what on earth is the point?

Lucky for us, hearts, unlike the government, always have the capacity to change. There won't be another presidential election for four years, and whatever happens tonight, we're stuck with it for a time. However, you can go out tomorrow and change someone's life. And that will have a longer lasting impact anyway.


Bottom line, this country isn't going to start changing until I start changing. So I'm gonna start changing. What about you?



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