Controversy

In case you haven't heard the press coverage, Dobson has made a few statements about Barak Obama as of late. I have become increasingly disillusioned with Dobson over the past few years and it has finally come to a head for me. He seems insistent that the entirety of politics be boiled down to Abortion and Gay Marriage. I'm just not willing to make it so simple.

In his latest claim to fame, he has made a few strong statements regarding Senator Obama and his interpretation of scripture. I think he COMPLETELY missed the point of Obama's speech.

For that reason, I really enjoyed the following site. Here you can read the entire speech and listen to Dr. Dobson's rebuttal on his radio broadcast. The site also gives a breakdown of the claims on both sides: point by point.

I found it very fair, honest, and refreshing. If you'd like to review the issue, I encourage you to check out the site:

www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/

Happy reading.

The Mariners Hit a High Note

So the Mariners season has been nothing short of depressing this year. As a result the General Manager, the skipper and the hitting coach have all lost their jobs. The Mariners have scrapped together only a handful of wins and are on pace to have the worst record in Mariners history. So why keep watching? Well every now and then something amazing happens.

June 23, 2008 - Game 1 of a 3 Game interleague series vs the Mets at Shea Stadium. Felix Hernandez (Seattle Pitcher) comes to the plate looking for his second career hit....



An opposite field grand slam. The first time an American League pitcher has hit a grand slam since 1971. Incredible.

He's the one guy we WON'T fire this year.

Updates and Thoughts

My apologies to the blogging community for the long delay. It’s hard to believe it has been over a month since I last posted. For those of you that don’t know, we are expecting our third child in January!! We are very excited. More to come as the pregnancy marches on.

As some of you also know, I just returned from a long weekend in Boston where I saw a friend of mine whom I had not seen in nearly 5 years. It was a great blessing. His wife flew me out there to surprise him for his birthday. He was quite shocked.

So now that you are up to date, how about some current thoughts?

Like this one from Donald Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz. This is his final complaint about some of the churches that he had recently attended:

“The churches I attended would embrace war metaphor. They would talk about how we are in a battle, and I agreed with them, only they wouldn’t clarify that we were battling poverty and hate and injustice and pride and the powers of darkness. They left us thinking that our war was against liberals and homosexuals. Their teaching would have me believe I was the good person in the world and the liberals were the bad people in the world.”

This sums up so much of my thinking these days. I am learning that Jesus had a heart for the weak, the broken, the outcast, the poor, and the hungry. He stood against injustice and contended against the powers of darkness with authority and holy resolve. This Jesus is new, unbridled, and doesn’t fit with the flannelgraph Jesus from my childhood.

I grew up believing that being a Christian and being a Republican were intrinsically linked, and abortion and gay marriage were the only important issues in politics. Turns out neither is true. I am pro-life, but I am also anti-poverty and for social justice. I am against large tax breaks for major corporations and the upper class. I am for world trade, but not at the cost of child labor and exploitation. I am against the war in Iraq, but I am for capitol punishment. I favor a more reasonable minimum wage and better job training for the poor. I think our very rich country should do more humanitarian relief and wage fewer wars (and “security details”). In short, I am neither a Republican or a Democrat – and I don’t think Jesus was one of these either.

Faith and Politics are the two topics you are not supposed to bring up in social situations. Why? Because everyone has a different opinion – and some of those can be quite divisive. The issues are too multifaceted to be addressed with simple answers and partisan solutions. The truth is that the Bible does not address every issue on the ballot. Instead, we are given a model of how to bring God’s compassion, redemption and love to this world. At times that means I will be labeled as a flaming liberal, at others a staunch conservative. But regardless of the label, we are told to live out our faith with love and grace – features all too absent in both the church and political arenas.

As November looms, I am reminded that my duty as an American is to vote and be an informed Christ-following voter. However, my duty as a Christ-follower is even greater still. Jesus said to feed the poor, cloth the naked, heal the sick, rescue the dying, defend the powerless, and bring His kingdom to earth. Truth be told, now that I’ve been introduced to the right battle, I need to start fighting.

Questions That Demand an Answer

Our pastor just showed this video over the weekend and challenged us to be prepared with answers. This world needs to be introduced to a REAL God who can impact their lives right where there are.

Roe v Wade Revised

The extremely divisive issues of abortion and gay marriage have often raised the question of whether or not the government should be legislating morality. In other words, should the government exist to protect civil rights or a certain code of conduct? When should the government make a law and when should they allow each individual citizen to decide for themselves?

Some would say that the government must protect a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body. Another faction says that the government should protect a defenseless unborn baby as it would any other citizen.

On the gay marriage side of things, some would say that we must give equal marital rights to both homosexual and heterosexual couples. This they claim is a civil right not currently being protected by the government. Others say that gay marriage is not a true marriage and therefore should not qualify for the same rights and privileges.

Opponents of both gay marriage and abortion have been accused of attempting to legislate their standard of morality instead of legislating basic human rights.

My question is this: Why aren’t people up in arms over the fact that prostitution is illegal in this country? I know that sounds like a strange question, but hear me out. A potential defense of this position might sound a bit like this:

1.) Both men and women have the basic civil right to choose what they do to their own bodies. If they choose to relieve their stress or meet a basic human desire through hiring a prostitute, that should be an individual’s own choice.

2.) Illegalizing prostitution has not caused it to stop. Instead it has likely lead to a rise in the illegal sex trade and human trafficking. Legalizing it would help bring this under government regulation so as to reduce infectious diseases and human trafficking. Though there are health risks, we take that chance in nearly all aspects of our lives. Each citizen should be given the choice of how to use their own bodies regardless of the risk.

3.) Legalizing prostitution would better the economy by providing legal jobs for those who may not otherwise be able to find work in a struggling economic recession.

Granted, I would never argue for such madness. But it does strike me as odd that we have outlawed sex for cash and legalized infanticide.

Happy Birthday Logan

ABCs (Trust Me)