The Donkey vs. the Elephant

I'm so sorry that I have not posted on this blog consistently. I'm not sure how many people come across it, until I see comments posted. Junior year in college is a very busy year, and I feel like I should just put a bed in the library on campus. It's practically a second home during the week.

Anyway, I've been riled up about politics lately and I would just like to share my thoughts on this whole two party system that we have. I will profess that many of my professors are usually liberals, and most of my friends here are conservatives. So I guess you could say that I hear both sides of the story.

Do Christians have to pick a party? I mean seriously people, I refuse to pick. I am of the school of thought that there aren't easy answers to every issue. Sometimes I think like a democrat, and then the next day I think like a republican. If I'm around my Christian conservative friends and I say that I agree with the liberal side they look at me like I have two heads. There are some Christians out there, and I have encountered some, that firmly believe that the Republican party is the party for Christians. There simply can't be Liberal Christian Democrats. Impossible.
Not so my friends, because sometimes I happen to be one. Shocking I know. But I think the thing that bothers me so is this: I sometimes get the I think you're a heretic and you need to know your bible more look. I hate that, because my party line shouldn't affect my witness, but it usually does. What results from it is that I have to explain myself to someone and I don't feel like I should have to.

On the other hand, if I take the more conservative side liberals look at me like I'm an uneducated bumbling idiot. Then I have to explain myself to these people too. They usually think that I'm just a narrow minded Christian who refuses to think outside the box. It really bothers me that Christians are thought of in this way, but I think we have television to thank for that. Not all Christians think the same way, and a preacher gets on TV and speaks for the Christian side, and not every Christian is represented by his thoughts. And its usually the way conservative Christian side that is broadcasted on Fox News and they are prime targets for liberals.

Needless to say, I don't claim a party. I absolutely refuse to, because I believe Christians answer to a higher authority and that is Christ Jesus. Following God does not require us to become a republican or a democrat. It requires an intimate relationship with him and a desire to follow him wherever he leads.

Since I don't claim a party, I guess that makes me and uneducated narrow minded Christian, and a flaming heretic all at the same time. Isn't that lovely? This is why I hate politics.