Before I offend the good Christians that inhabit this site, let me be clear, I am a proud member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America,
I am a believer...but as Susan B. Anthony so eloquently put it:
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires
Once, just once, I would like to see a politician make a statement something like this:
While I want to run for the Senate, I have prayed about it and God has spoken to me, He told me, in no uncertain terms, that I am to stay out of politics and use my talents to feed the hungry, comfort the poor and minister to the less fortunate among us. Therefore, I am withdrawing my
run for the Senate.
Or, perhaps see a President who says this:
While I dream of kicking the sh** out of Sadaam, I have prayed about this night and day, and God seems to be telling me to turn the other cheek.
He is leading me to forgive and while I find that impossible, I plan to
keep praying for the ability to forgive and to work in all possible ways to help the good citizens of Iraq elect a leader who will lead them out of tyranny and into the light. Therefore, I will no longer listen to the people that I am surrounded by, and will call off all plans to lead our country into another useless war.
Or, religion from Wasilla:
I always watch to see what doors God is opening for me. Today, he opened the door that says, "Listen" and today I will listen. I will no longer spout the first thing that enters my mind, I will listen to what people who have no home, no bed to lay their head at night, no place to come home to and in so doing, all my efforts will be directed at raising money for the homeless. In spite of all of your pleas for me to enter the presidential race, I must humbly decline. Also.
God told many of the Prophets to do things that almost always, they didn't want to do...but they did it anyway. When will God put the pressure on the politicians? Why oh why does he always tell them what they want to hear?
This comment from illinifan17 is sooo spot on :
Quoting Ann Lamott, who quotes a friend of hers in Bird by Bird:
You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
UPDATE: ulookarmless is the author of the following poem. Beautiful!
ulookarmless added this comment:
This poem written in 2008
MANIFEST DESTINY
Americans think they’re in charge
Of the rest of the world
Mainly because they think
God gave them the right
Unfortunately
So do the Mullahs in Iran
So somebody must be mistaken
Somebody must be wrong
Meanwhile, the Hindu and the Buddhist
And most of the truly old
Belief systems in the world
Understand that we understand nothing
Peace