Tag Archives: Iraq

McCain

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I have long admired John McCain. I am thrilled that he has come back so strongly from the brink and that he is very likely to be the Republican nominee. I like Mike Huckabee as well but all along I have been rooting for McCain. The disdain, scorn, and tantrums of some in the Republican party about this outcome — including, apparently, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family — just leaves me bewildered. Am I missing something earthshakingly bad about McCain that these naysayers know? I really doubt it.

I am sure that John McCain is no saint. I have an inherent distrust of all politicians. But more than anyone else in my lifetime, I have come to appreciate McCain’s stubborn passion for taking a stand on various issues regardless of whether it is popular or not. To me he is the very antithesis of say, Hillary or Bill Clinton, who will say and do whatever it takes to get what they want. I think it would be wonderful to have a woman become president of this country. But not if that woman is Hillary Clinton.

The prospect of an African American becoming president is similarly wonderful, and Barack Obama has a lot going for him. But I cannot support his stand on many critical issues (including the war in Iraq — much as that has been mismanaged and started upon extremely shaky grounds) and I will not cast my vote for him. I think McCain will be my choice.

Capacity for evil

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The capacity for evil in this world continually astounds me. The violence against innocent girls in an Amish country school yesterday haunts me, as does the killing of a girl in a school in Colorado and the murder of a school principal in rural Wisconsin. Another incident that I can’t get out of my mind is the gruesome slaughter of a woman and her unborn child, along with her three older children, in East St. Louis. Early last month several little kids died here in the Chicago area in an apartment fire while neighbors and family watched helplessly. When I read about killings day after day in Iraq and other areas of the Middle East, I am numbed by the sheer volume of violence.

I haven’t felt this way — highly concerned and anxious about the state of affairs around me — since September 11, 2001. I know who is the author and promoter of evil: Satan. I know that his power is great and that his weapons include fear, doubt, and destruction. But I also know that his power is in no way comparable to God’s; that his efforts are ultimately fruitless; that the only sure thing I have in this world is the promise that God will never leave me or forsake me. Jesus said to his followers: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Gorgeous day

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Today is a gorgeous day, a little on the hot side for my liking, but still, gorgeous. I had to run down to Muncie for a doctor appointment and also was able to get a haircut, at last. I feel like a new man ;-)

Last night I had a good talk with my brother. One of the things we commiserated over was the incredibly ugly stuff that’s been happening in Iraq with regard to the abuse of prisoners by U.S. troops. So many people in evangelical Christendom have this twisted belief, and it’s especially strong in the South where my brother lives, that the U.S. is some kind of promised land, morally righteous, a Christian nation. Nothing could be further from the truth. This country is morally bankrupt and nothing could have demonstrated that more blatantly than the inexcusable actions in that prison in Baghdad. This is the direct result of the extremely self-focused, there-is-no-truth society that is our country. We as a society have decided that everything is relative, what’s right for you is fine but may not be right for me. The sick thing is, and this is not an exaggeration, the Church is no different than the world in this regard. You look at Christians today and there is hardly any perceptible difference in the way they live their lives than those who reject God. It makes me sick, especially as I see this holds true too often for myself. It’s no wonder that many adherents of Islam despise the West in general and the U.S. in particular. I am totally against their doctrine and theology but at least they have a measure of piety and faithfulness to their beliefs.

There is no hope in military might, in ANY man-made government, in “good feelings,” and especially in the greatest disease of our time, the word “tolerance,” which sounds great but really means there is no right and wrong and that we have no right to discern the difference. What we see around us in the U.S., supposedly the “light of the world,” at least in many people’s eyes, is the best that we as humankind can achieve. Obviously, it’s a failure. The answer to our failure lies only in Jesus Christ. I can’t wait for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. That will happen, it’s a promise.