just a bit on politics

I don't get into politics too much myself, never had much of a desire... but my copy of Rolling Stone showed up at the house yesterday (I have no idea where they are coming from, I have never ordered a subscription to the liberal news monthly that guises itself as a music paper) and there was a cover article about Mike Huckabee, the right-wing nut job.

I am not a huge fan of Huckabee... his fiscal policies are about as bad as our current "republican" president. In other words - TAXES = GOOD! I am not a big fan of that outlook... yet this blog will be more about the reporter's view of Huckabee's Christianity.

I will lay out few of the great quotes from this article.

"Huckabee is also something else: full-blown nuts, a Christian goofball of the highest order. He believes the Earth may be only 6,000 years old, angrily rejects the evidence that human beings evolved from "primates" and thinks America wouldn't need so much Mexican labor if we allowed every aborted ­fetus to grow up and enter the workforce. To top it off, Huckabee also left behind a record of ethical missteps in the swamp of ­Arkansas politics that make White­water seem like a jaywalking ticket."

"Huckabee at most times is gentle and self-deprecating in his public address, but when he talks about religion, he gets weirdly combative and obnoxious, often drifting into outright offensiveness. At one appearance, Huckabee — who's been known to make fart jokes in front of the state legislature — said he would oppose gay marriage "until Moses comes down with two stone tablets from Brokeback Mountain saying he's changed the rules." And he recently scored a rare offend trifecta, simultaneously pissing off immigrants, Jews and the pro-choice crowd when he ludicrously claimed that a "holocaust" of abortions had ­artificially created a demand for Mexican labor."

"Because for all his political waffling in other areas — Huckabee has flip-flopped on a host of earthly political issues, from taxes to local control of school boards — he leaves absolutely no doubt about his commitment to religious wackohood. George Bush and John Ashcroft were religious in a scary way, but the rational among us could always take heart that, deep down, the Bush administration was more cynical than messianic. But it doesn't take much exposure to Huckabee to see that this former understudy of a Texas televangelist is deadly serious about the God thing. On the trail, Huckabee is most animated when he's talking about religious issues. In the first Republican debate in New Hampshire, Huckabee, apparently unaware that human beings are primates, responded to a question about evolution by saying, "If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it."

"The troubling thing about Huckabee's God rhetoric is that a man who is glad that Christians will "win" at Armageddon must be happy about the rest of us losing. When I press him on whether he believes all non-Christians are eternally damned, Huckabee is evasive. "Being president isn't about picking who goes to heaven and who goes to hell," he says. When none other than Bill O'Reilly hammered him on the same point a day later, Huckabee conceded that "I believe Jesus is the way to heaven."

Now this does not article does not give a very good moral picture of Huckabee. He seems to have a loose hand with other people's money. Yet, it is the utter disdain for basic Christian beliefs that scares me. Jesus is the way to heaven. The only way. This is basic Christian thought. God's creation of the world, also typical.

Is anyone else surprised at how hated people can be because of their beliefs? The world talks so much about relativism and being open to other people's beliefs. Yet, when it comes to Christianity, there is no forgiveness for opposing beliefs. Truth is ABSOLUTE! The world hates this idea, because it is exclusive to one view.

The lesson here - live the truth, don't just talk it. Huckabee's problem is that he talks big, but does not live it. Don't fall into this trap. I have done that too many times and it kills your testimony. People do not laugh at Billy Graham, because he lives it. People may hate what Jerry Falwell said, but they could not point to infidelity in his life. Living well is the best form of evangelism.

find the whole story at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/17324246/matt_taibbi_on_mike_huckabee_our_favorite_rightwing_nut_job
Warning: There is some cursing on the site. A lot of it is simply moronic, trite, and downright offensive to a Christian audience. Yet, it is "nice" to know what the world thinks about us and our beliefs.

Thanks leading to worship

Justified - Just as if I'd never sinned at all

This is the most humbling word I can think of. On a day when thanks should be primary in our thoughts, how thankful are we for God's forgiveness? Do we realize how groundbreaking and rediculous justification really is? God looks down on us and see's perfection instead of our nasty sins. How mind blowing this is.

What could draw us to worship God more than this? I know God created the entire universe. I know He is that which holds our very existance in His hands. But He is a forgiver. I daily find it nearly impossibly hard to forgive those who have wronged me, yet the infinite God of the Universe not only forgives me, but He humbled Himself and died on a cross so He could. God's pure holiness demanded that my sin be paid for, and the only way to pay for sin is death. I deserve to die. Yet, Christ died in my place.

Just think about that. Think of what that really means. I deserve to die - not just die... but spend eternity in hell separated for the goodness of God. Yet, God Himself wrapped up in flesh hung on a tree and took my penalty. I did nothing to deserve this. In fact, I did everything I could to push God away.

Wow, I get snubbed by a girl, I get mad and find it hard to forgive her. I get annoyed by someone getting in my face. I become self-righteous and think I am the only one who knows anything and hate to be questioned. I sin and cannot even forgive myself. Yet God forgives me every time I mess up. I shove His love back in His face. I laugh at Him. I push Him away in the name of happiness. I whore myself out to whatever feels good.

Yet He is a forgiver. I am Israel in Judges. I do whatever feels right in my own eyes. I turn from God to my idols of happiness and laziness. I run my own life into the ground. Only then do I turn to God. Yet, he is always there. He is the eternal deliverer.

So, today I give my thanks to a God who deserves it. It is a sad amount of thanks. It is so much less than He deserves. I thank Him for my family, my friends, my trials that make me stronger; but most of all, I think Him for His salvific forgiveness.

"If I raise my hands will You grab me by the wrists
And will You try to pull me from the fray?
And even if my fingers join together into fists
Will You hold me firmly anyway?
Because I would try to escape You
But for everyday I'm sure
That You're on the huge side of big
And the holy side of pure
Okay, hear what I say
As I raise my hands in surrender today
Okay, here I will stay
Hands in the air, singing have Thine own way
If I raise my hands so weak and thin and frail
Will You reveal the light of mercy in Your eyes?
If I cry to You faintly will my feeble whisper fail
Or will it find its way to a reply?
Because, now that I'm exhausted I think I'm ready to admit
That I have spent all my resistance on someone I can't resist"
- Hands in the Air - The Waiting