Pungent Thoughts, One Blood, and Barack Obama
01/29/09 09:24 PM Filed in: Indiscriminate
Two roads diverged
in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference in the world
It's certainly not scripture, but we can still learn a valuable lesson from the closing line of Frost's poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Something that has always jumped out at me. He didn't come to the crossroads and say, "I stood there waiting indefinitely or at least until someone else made a decision for me."
How can it be that people remain indecisive about such pertinant matters? I can understand when you struggle to decide which sandwich to eat, or whether or not to attend a concert, but how can people idly sit by and let a decision that effects nearly every aspect of their life be left to life's circumstances? In the matter of voting, a lot of people think that their vote won’t matter because they aren’t in a swing state, or they can’t decide between the two candidates so they’d rather just let someone else make a choice for them. The first reason is no excuse, and I’m a little more prone to accept the second if and only if I don’t hear a complaint or praise out of your mouth over the decision for the next four years. If you don’t like something Obama does (or, really, even if you do) in the next four years but you didn’t vote for or against him, you gave up your right to have an opinion. Now, annoyingly, America still gives you that right, and I still have to put up with it.
The thing about indecision is, you think you're taking control by distancing yourself, but in reality you're giving control to everyone else around you. You've been given an amazing freedom and an amazing right in this country, and it bothers me how little people care about that. Whether you like it or not, your inability to make a decision is essentially you consigning your life to everyone else in the world. For you, the wonderful thing about America is that you have just as much of a right not to vote as you do to vote. A vote that someone in a communist country may have given their life for.
I guess I should touch on the “one blood” part of this rant. Ryan a book of that title in which it is proposed that all humans are of one blood. As in, we’re all from Adam and Eve at some point. True story, but the book continues to go on and argue that there’s no such thing as race, and that we’re all exactly alike because we’re from one blood. There’s only one race, and that is the human race. I’ve heard this proposition a few times from speakers in our chapel and in other Christian circles, and this thought really bothers me.
Those attempting to adhere to the fact that there is only one race and ethnicity is irrelevant are living in the past. Maybe in the 1800s that’s what the word “race” meant, but definitions change. You can’t just decide your definition of a word isn’t going to change with the culture. If you’re going to play that game, try to say “faggot” or “gay” in front of a homosexual and see how far that gets you.
Definitions change. Currently, “race” means “each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.” That’s the definition. So why would you write an entire book trying to argue a definition? Write about a book about racism, write a book about being counter-cultural, but a book arguing that a definition is wrong is just silly. There are people with darker skin from other parts of the world. There are people with different noses, different eyes, and different hair, and that’s wonderful!
I love the old-school Michael W. Smith song “Color Blind,” but I disagree with its message. It wouldn’t be better if we could all be color blind. We’re all of the humankind, yes, but we’re many of us of a different race, and that’s the beauty of God’s creation. Kristi is short and from the Philippines, and I wouldn’t have her any other way, dark-skin, long black hair and all. If she was any other way, she wouldn’t be Kristi.
All races are equal, I completely believe that, and that’s one of the points Ken Ham is trying to get across on some level, but the extent to which he goes to say this, and the fact that he’s arguing with an indisputable fact (that someone from Ethiopia, by definition, is a different race than me) just doesn’t work for me. That, and I don’t agree with half the examples he uses. And he’s barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn’t race. Race is just another way for God to display his creativity and beauty. The issue is hatred, jealousy, and ultimately sin.
Transitioning very rapidly to a slightly different subject, I found it special, and something that I had previously taken for granted, that the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated was the day after Martin Luther Kind Day. Whether you voted for Obama, agree with his policies, or think he’s the devil himself (yes, someone told me that in seriousness), you still have to give credit to the significance of having our first African American president. Many of our parents and grandparents can clearly remember the days when black people were not allowed to walk beside white people or drink out of the same drinking fountain. Today, equality rules the nation, and where millions of black people were beaten, tortured, and not even considered human, there now stands an African American who is ruling our great nation.
Then there’s those of you who would say we don’t have a great nation. After all, how could a great nation vote such a stark, black liberal into office? (And some of you are offended by that sentence. Good. That’s the proper reaction.) Some of you think that a great nation couldn’t vote someone into office that so quickly signed FOCA and who’s party is for the advancement of choice in defining marriage. I think it’s for those reasons that we’re a great country.
Allow me to elaborate. I am utterly against homosexuality and the mass murder of unborn babies. Not because I’m against you as a person if you agree with those things, but because I believe, in alignment with my relationship with Jesus Christ, that homosexuality and abortion are morally wrong. But this is where it becomes difficult for me. America is not a Christian nation. America never was a Christian nation. It was founded on moral principles by deists and freemasons. And to this begs the philosophical question, “What is morality?” Is it something defined by an all-powerful, all-loving God who’s character is impeccable? Or is it defined by a society and what it chooses to be right and wrong? Well, I know what I believe, but what I believe is not the belief of this country. This country is free. Though the country was founded on moral principles and many of the founding fathers were deists, the country was founded on the principles of freedom. So, tell me, in the name of freedom, religion and morality aside, do you have a choice to marry who you want? Do you have a choice to rid yourself of that baby?
Now, I love babies. Sadly, babies don’t love me. And it saddens me that millions upon millions of babies are killed every year. I believe life starts at conception. There’s no doubt in my mind that abortion is murder. But what if the vast majority of our country rules that, even if life is at conception, taking the life of an unborn infant should be the choice of the mother? Should we allow her that choice? If morality for a non-religious person truly is determined by society, this would be a perfectly natural and free turn for America to make.
I don’t like talking about unborn babies so flippantly, but that and the decision of homosexual marriage do bring interesting thoughts to my mind when I realize I don’t live in a Christian nation. What would happen if these things did happen? How would I feel about it? I would be saddened by it and I would try to protect the lives of unborn babies. They have just as much of a right to live as anyone else. But not everyone else believes the same as me. And I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible God telling me to live in a world surrounded by those who have the same ideals, morals, and beliefs as myself. I’m blessed to live in a free country, a country where you have a right to choose your lifestyle, and that blessing comes with heavy potential burdens attached to it.
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference in the world
It's certainly not scripture, but we can still learn a valuable lesson from the closing line of Frost's poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Something that has always jumped out at me. He didn't come to the crossroads and say, "I stood there waiting indefinitely or at least until someone else made a decision for me."
How can it be that people remain indecisive about such pertinant matters? I can understand when you struggle to decide which sandwich to eat, or whether or not to attend a concert, but how can people idly sit by and let a decision that effects nearly every aspect of their life be left to life's circumstances? In the matter of voting, a lot of people think that their vote won’t matter because they aren’t in a swing state, or they can’t decide between the two candidates so they’d rather just let someone else make a choice for them. The first reason is no excuse, and I’m a little more prone to accept the second if and only if I don’t hear a complaint or praise out of your mouth over the decision for the next four years. If you don’t like something Obama does (or, really, even if you do) in the next four years but you didn’t vote for or against him, you gave up your right to have an opinion. Now, annoyingly, America still gives you that right, and I still have to put up with it.
The thing about indecision is, you think you're taking control by distancing yourself, but in reality you're giving control to everyone else around you. You've been given an amazing freedom and an amazing right in this country, and it bothers me how little people care about that. Whether you like it or not, your inability to make a decision is essentially you consigning your life to everyone else in the world. For you, the wonderful thing about America is that you have just as much of a right not to vote as you do to vote. A vote that someone in a communist country may have given their life for.
I guess I should touch on the “one blood” part of this rant. Ryan a book of that title in which it is proposed that all humans are of one blood. As in, we’re all from Adam and Eve at some point. True story, but the book continues to go on and argue that there’s no such thing as race, and that we’re all exactly alike because we’re from one blood. There’s only one race, and that is the human race. I’ve heard this proposition a few times from speakers in our chapel and in other Christian circles, and this thought really bothers me.
Those attempting to adhere to the fact that there is only one race and ethnicity is irrelevant are living in the past. Maybe in the 1800s that’s what the word “race” meant, but definitions change. You can’t just decide your definition of a word isn’t going to change with the culture. If you’re going to play that game, try to say “faggot” or “gay” in front of a homosexual and see how far that gets you.
Definitions change. Currently, “race” means “each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.” That’s the definition. So why would you write an entire book trying to argue a definition? Write about a book about racism, write a book about being counter-cultural, but a book arguing that a definition is wrong is just silly. There are people with darker skin from other parts of the world. There are people with different noses, different eyes, and different hair, and that’s wonderful!
I love the old-school Michael W. Smith song “Color Blind,” but I disagree with its message. It wouldn’t be better if we could all be color blind. We’re all of the humankind, yes, but we’re many of us of a different race, and that’s the beauty of God’s creation. Kristi is short and from the Philippines, and I wouldn’t have her any other way, dark-skin, long black hair and all. If she was any other way, she wouldn’t be Kristi.
All races are equal, I completely believe that, and that’s one of the points Ken Ham is trying to get across on some level, but the extent to which he goes to say this, and the fact that he’s arguing with an indisputable fact (that someone from Ethiopia, by definition, is a different race than me) just doesn’t work for me. That, and I don’t agree with half the examples he uses. And he’s barking up the wrong tree. The problem isn’t race. Race is just another way for God to display his creativity and beauty. The issue is hatred, jealousy, and ultimately sin.
Transitioning very rapidly to a slightly different subject, I found it special, and something that I had previously taken for granted, that the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated was the day after Martin Luther Kind Day. Whether you voted for Obama, agree with his policies, or think he’s the devil himself (yes, someone told me that in seriousness), you still have to give credit to the significance of having our first African American president. Many of our parents and grandparents can clearly remember the days when black people were not allowed to walk beside white people or drink out of the same drinking fountain. Today, equality rules the nation, and where millions of black people were beaten, tortured, and not even considered human, there now stands an African American who is ruling our great nation.
Then there’s those of you who would say we don’t have a great nation. After all, how could a great nation vote such a stark, black liberal into office? (And some of you are offended by that sentence. Good. That’s the proper reaction.) Some of you think that a great nation couldn’t vote someone into office that so quickly signed FOCA and who’s party is for the advancement of choice in defining marriage. I think it’s for those reasons that we’re a great country.
Allow me to elaborate. I am utterly against homosexuality and the mass murder of unborn babies. Not because I’m against you as a person if you agree with those things, but because I believe, in alignment with my relationship with Jesus Christ, that homosexuality and abortion are morally wrong. But this is where it becomes difficult for me. America is not a Christian nation. America never was a Christian nation. It was founded on moral principles by deists and freemasons. And to this begs the philosophical question, “What is morality?” Is it something defined by an all-powerful, all-loving God who’s character is impeccable? Or is it defined by a society and what it chooses to be right and wrong? Well, I know what I believe, but what I believe is not the belief of this country. This country is free. Though the country was founded on moral principles and many of the founding fathers were deists, the country was founded on the principles of freedom. So, tell me, in the name of freedom, religion and morality aside, do you have a choice to marry who you want? Do you have a choice to rid yourself of that baby?
Now, I love babies. Sadly, babies don’t love me. And it saddens me that millions upon millions of babies are killed every year. I believe life starts at conception. There’s no doubt in my mind that abortion is murder. But what if the vast majority of our country rules that, even if life is at conception, taking the life of an unborn infant should be the choice of the mother? Should we allow her that choice? If morality for a non-religious person truly is determined by society, this would be a perfectly natural and free turn for America to make.
I don’t like talking about unborn babies so flippantly, but that and the decision of homosexual marriage do bring interesting thoughts to my mind when I realize I don’t live in a Christian nation. What would happen if these things did happen? How would I feel about it? I would be saddened by it and I would try to protect the lives of unborn babies. They have just as much of a right to live as anyone else. But not everyone else believes the same as me. And I don’t recall anywhere in the Bible God telling me to live in a world surrounded by those who have the same ideals, morals, and beliefs as myself. I’m blessed to live in a free country, a country where you have a right to choose your lifestyle, and that blessing comes with heavy potential burdens attached to it.