Donald Miller, writer of really honest, thought-provoking narrative books on faith like "Blue Like Jazz" and "Searching for God Knows What" is joining the Barack Obama: Faith, Family and Values Tour.
I have a very mixed reaction. Honestly, I have no idea who I'm voting for. While Obama is an inexperienced idealist who is probably much more corruptible than his rhetoric leads people to believe, Mccain is Bush #2 who just happens to have experience and a maverick history (not to mention I am not a fan of his running mate).
I just had a conversation with some friends last night on how involved the Church should be in the government or politics. Should Christians stay out of government entirely and just focus on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to individuals, or should we look out for mass society making sure the laws of the land frees the oppressed and oppressors from oppressing? I don't have the answer.
I do believe that to an extent we stayed involved. Yes, we want the government to make ethical God-honoring laws. But politics becomes a messy thing. Both sides don't have it right. Both sides are not entirely ethical.
Honestly, it bothers me when I go to Church and either liberal or conservative politics are preached to me. I don't think the pulpit exists for those platforms. There's a danger in manipulating people to vote a certain way, there's abuse of authority and thirst of power associated with that.
But Donald Miller isn't a pastor. He's a Christian who happens to write faith-inspired books (kinda like what I want to do). And he's taking a stand for something he believes in, and speaking out against the assumption that evangelical voters need to vote Republican. Still, he does have many followers who eat up his books and the words he says. If he's gonna continue on this political trail, he needs to be careful.
I have not made up my mind on how I feel about this campaign tour. I guess we will see what the fruit of it is.
He did the benediction for the DNC convention. This is interview he had with Christianity Today before it. He made some good points, but none which really tells me why he's a democrat instead of an independent.
And the benediction itself:
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