This past Tuesday, November 6th, 2012, the United States held their presidential elections. There were several candidates available to choose from but only two were considered primary candidates — Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. All the polling data said the race was going to be close, and close it was. Obama won both the popular vote and the electoral vote (which is currently the only one that really matters). The Republican party clearly failed to nominate a candidate that the citizens could really get behind. I had said, many times, that Romney was basically the same person as Obama. I believe this sentiment was felt by many other voters. So they voted for the “evil they know” rather than the one they did not. But, what does this mean for the United States?
Obviously, the primary meaning is that citizens of the United States have four more years of Obama! This scares a lot of people and honestly, it probably should scare a lot of people… but at the same time, it should not scare any of us. I consider myself to be pretty discerning, pretty level headed, pretty unattached emotionally; therefore thinking about these things comes easy to me. So, today, I want to look at why we should not be afraid of four more years of an Obama administration.
A friend of mine posted a link to this article titled Life after America from The Blaze by Jay Severin. Here is an excerpt detailing some of the things the pro-Romney voters are afraid of:
It will be profoundly dreadful: confiscatory taxes; massive government growth; exploding deficit; widespread unlawfulness protected – nay, promoted – by the government; uncontrolled illegal immigration; open, unbridled racial preferences in every facet of life; hostility and grave threats – and perhaps dismantling – of various Free Speech sources, especially Talk Radio and Any Media unsupportive of Obama. Oba-Medicine, the absolute end of personal choice in medical care, including – Yes- Death Panels, for real; the gutting of our military; Obama’s promised post-election “flexibility” (i.e. surrender) toward our blood enemies and other forms of Gangster Government by a Gangster President should be expected.
Now, I do not buy into all this fear mongering, but let us assume that all of these things are true. What would that mean for us as citizens of the United States? What does it mean for us a followers of Christ?
- Confiscatory Taxes – “‘Show me [Jesus] the coin used for the poll-tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.'” – Matthew 19-20
Being overtaxed is a bad thing, the way our government uses our taxes to kill innocent people is horrible. We currently live in country where we have some say as to what our taxes are used for (though very little, obviously). But as followers of Christ, this should mean very little to us. Our primary citizenship is not in the United States, but on the new Earth. The people Jesus was talking to, they had very little say in how their taxes were used. Christianity was not abolished, humanity survived. The same will be true for us. - Massive Government Growth – The government has been growing since before I was born. It grows under Republicans and it grows under Democrats. It would have grown under Romney (who supported things like the NDAA, the TSA, endless wars, Government subsidized health care, etc.). And it will continue to grow, unless people stop voting for greedy and power hungry candidates. But that is neither here nor there. Massive Government Growth is a mere inconvenience to us. One thing the government cannot do, it cannot grow bigger than our god.
- Exploding Deficit – We talk about our children born today owing 13,000$ because of the U.S. debt. Obviously, this is not good and needs to be stopped… eventually the country will not function because of its overspending. We have to remember, the United States is not promised to Christians, it may fade away like many nations before it. But Jesus lives and we will live through him.
- Uncontrolled Illegal Immigration – Any type of immigration should be considered a blessing to us as followers of Christ. The more people here that we can share with about our relationship with god the better. We need to remember that we should not put our nation’s interests above our creators interests.
- Hostility and Grave Threats to Free Speech – No government can take away your right to free speech. You can say whatever you want, whenever you want. You may be jailed for it, but Paul was jailed many times for breaking the laws of the land. When it comes down to the brass tax, as citizens of this country, we have it easy when you compare it to our Christian ancestors. They survived… we will survive.
- End of Personal Choice in Medical Care – This is a straw man, of course there will continue to be an end to personal choice in medical care. This happened way before the government got their hands involved into it. I cannot visit ANY doctor, I can only visit doctors who take my insurance. I am not covered for EVERY procedure, I’m only covered for the procedures a group of business men deemed appropriate. Furthermore, health insurance and the type of medical care we receive is VERY modern. Go back 100, 200, 500, 1000 years and you will find people who lived and people who died. Just like we live and die, except they did it without CAT scans or Chemo therapy. Ask yourself this, as a god-fearer, if we lose our lives to sickness and disease, what is lost?
- Death Panels – The last time I check, only God can take away a life. Death panels may come, they may not. The fact is, everyone dies. I know that sounds crass, but Christians especially should not fear death.
- Gutting Our Military – GOOD! (though I believe this is more fear-mongering). As Christians I believe we should support peace. Jesus said that we should LOVE our enemies. I have not found any translation where he said we should DRONE them. Jesus said we should pray for those who hate us and persecute us. Not invade their country and kill their leaders. Is it good for the United States to “gut” the military… probably not. But, again, we need to remember the United States may be where we live, but it is not our final destination and it was never promised to us as some land of milk and honey.
Will four more years of Obama be as devastating as Jay Severin or Fox News want you to believe? I doubt it. But if it is, as followers of Christ, we need to remember that we should not be focused on keeping our cushy and comfortable lifestyles. We might go bankrupt, we might go homeless, we may need to give up the treasures we’ve stored for us on Earth. Perhaps this will make us stronger, perhaps this will make us look to god, who remains constant and loving. We need to be about the business of the lord, helping those in need, giving up our freedoms for the sake of the lost, dieing to ourselves so that others may gain.
I only pray that if it comes down to that, I can be as faithful to god as he has been to me. Until then, remember, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” – 2 Timothy 1:7