Oh, really?

Letter to the Editor in today's paper: Remember God is watching how you vote on moral issues

It's the usual diatribe on how "you ain't a-gonna get to heaven ifn you don't walk in lockstep with the fundies". I try not to bite on these things, but ......... "Some of the issues God is against are homosexuality and murdering His children by abortion." Here's the kicker - "If you vote against these, God will take care of the other issues."

HUH?!?!?!

Excuse me, but God thought so much about these two issues that less than one mini-micro-percentage of the scriptures we use to learn about who and what God is about even mention such issues, or topics related to them. There are much more significant issues that I figure God's a bit pissed at us about, like the waging of war (whatever the supposed reasons), the huge gap between the haves and have nots and the continuing desire to widen that gap, the injustices we inflict on each other, violence in all its forms, the abuse of our planet, usury, the creation of outsiders/insiders, all those things that humans do to each other to NOT "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", all the ways we refuse to "love your neighbor" (we seem to have gotten the "as you love yourself" part down pretty pat), all the ways we fail to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you". And I'm as guilty of my fair share of these things as the next person. I'm reasonably sure, however, that these will be the issues God rakes us over the coals for, not who we voted for.

I'm also reasonably sure that my vote (or anyone's vote, for that matter) on these two issues will not determine how God responds in all of the other much more urgent and pressing issues that face us. God walks alongside us in the midst of all the good, bad, and indifferent situations in which we find ourselves, with the Holy Spirit urging us along to listen to what God wills in any particular situation. We have Jesus' example and teachings to help guide us, as well.

OK - I'll acknowledge that I'm not a perfect listener, and I all too often don't follow through on what I do hear. Here's where grace comes in! I also believe that Jesus Christ is mediator between humanity and God and, because he has walked among us in human flesh, will speak on our behalf when that day we meet face to face comes. Christ died for our sins, long before we even came into existence. I couldn't ask for a better Advocate than that! So I muddle along, doing the best I can in discerning God's will and acting upon it.

Oh! I love this last quote. "Jesus says, 'The only way to Heaven is to believe in Him as your lord and savior and acknowledge that you are a sinner and then repent of your sins, and then you will be saved." I've looked. Can't find that anywhere in the bible. Here's what I found: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." (John 3:16, NRSV) I choose not to put God or Jesus in a box. I refuse to believe that either only works in ways that this puny mind can understand and accept. So, I'll let Christ do the figuring out of how and when one believes and just stick to trusting where I cannot see and believing in the One who loves so much he was willing to die for us.

btw - Our local paper is good about printing the letters which come in, regardless of perspective, just so you know that this letter isn't an indication of bias on the paper's part.