danielredbeard’s weblog

Since Barak H. Obama took office I have had very low expectations of the man. I wouldn’t make that kind of hire for my business – someone who talks a good game, but has zero experience to back it up. Just common sense.

But his election came at a time when I found myself rethinking a lot of my political beliefs, as I try to align my thinking to the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught about and spoke of so often.

Lately I find myself needing to run to a mirror when I see Obama on my TV because I need to see for my own eyes that I am in fact nodding in agreement.

So here are a few areas where I am actually agreeing with the man:

1. Exposing what the USA has done to detainees with regard to torture.
   Shedding light on this is a good thing from a Biblical perspective. The Jesus response is first forgiveness and grace, followed by a call to surrender one’s life to Him. There is no other way. He said so.
2. Putting a date on ending the Iraq war.
   Jesus would not start, nor fight in a war. Period. The Jesus response to 9/11 would have been to turn the other cheek, forgive Osama Bin Laden (as I personally have done), and call on those who wronged us to surrender themselves to Jesus and live in His light.
3. Talking with the USA’s enemies.
   Jesus had a thing or two on this topic – we are to LOVE our enemies…and that’s not a passive, hard-love kind of thing – it’s literally to freaking love them. Really. Seriously. Obama is talking with Cuba, maybe Iran, maybe Russa, maybe Chavez, etc., etc., and I look at it and think this is the Jesus way…not that Obama is messianic – he’s just doing things that I agree with from a Biblical perspective.
4. Apologizing for being an ASS, not the USA.
   There are a lot of hand-wringers out there thinking Obama’s apologizing is a bad thing, but I don’t think so. I think when a person or country or whatever behaves badly, an apology is needed. The Iraq war and foreign policy after 9/11 was inane, and opposite of how Jesus would handle the same set of circumstances. Apologies are a good start.
5. Saying that America is not a Christian nation.
   We are not a Christian nation. It would be an insult, and an incredible misunderstanding of what Jesus is all about to call this country “Christian.” It’s not. Jesus doesn’t start wars – period. Jesus doesn’t hold laws that allow for capital punishment – period. Jesus says it would better for your soul to tie a stone around your neck and dive into a body of water than to abort a child in the womb. Jesus isn’t part of consumerism. Jesus isn’t into self-preservationism, equal rights, or saving the planet by way of “green technologies.” He is about… well, there’s a whole freaking book – or several of them, I suppose – on that. I’m not a preacher.

I’m not saying Obama is messianic. I am saying that the man has done a 5 things that I think are things that are much more aligned with Jesus than in recent memory.

I know my Conservative friends will get their panties in a wad if they bother reading this, and that’s cool. I can’t really consider myself much of a true blooded Conservative anymore, and I’m not sure that Libertarianism can hold me either. Not sure what I am these days, other than a wandering soul trying to be more like Jesus.