I Will

Last night, I attended Wednesday night Bible Study at church. The Pastor is leading a study called “I Will – Nine Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian.” Before the study began, I sat in the sanctuary and read over half the book. I missed the first week of the study so I wanted to make sure I was caught up. I think I was was expecting earth shattering revelations but instead, I received heavy does of reality. Isn’t that how it normally goes? We know the truth, we just do not always like hearing it or being reminded of it. I do have to say, a few of the points really struck a chord with me. Many of them are things I have truly, to my chore, been working on so for me they were reaffirming I am on the right path. Some, I do not struggle with and never really have. And a few I need to really give attention to.

I mention this because – 1) if you are in the area and not attending this study, I strongly encourage you to attend. 2) if you are not in the area, I encourage you to get the book and apply it where you are at and 3) I take the prayer thing really serious. Several folks mentioned praying for our country. I have it on the walls of my prayer closet and I do so daily. This morning as I was doing what has become a daily thing for me, I stopped and took some time to do some research and reading.

I am not really sure how to begin all this so I am just going to jump in. I must preface all of this by saying, I am not writing this for any particular person but more for myself so I can get it out of my head. I have been known to say, “You can be a Christian and be a Republican; you can be a Christian and be a conservative. You can be a Christian and even be a liberal or a liberal conservative by their truest definitions but you cannot be a Christian and be a Democrat – not if you truly support their platform.” If I was truly going to pray for my country, especially given the political divide, I wanted to make sure what I said and believed was true. Not to mention, as I have learned over the past six months, I am called to pray for all my brothers and sisters – extend love to everyone. I am not called to agree with them, adopt their views and I have looked it up, I don’t have to like them, but I do have to love them. But in order to love them, I must first have to try (because sometimes you can’t) but try to understand them or at least hear them out.

I can now say I have read the official Democrat and Republican Platform as officially adopted by the DNC and the GOP as of the last election. I have also visited their current websites. It would be impossible to relay to you, in a post, what each says, give commentary, the implications, etc. I do suggest when you have half a day, built up patience, a lot of prayer, maybe alcohol (I read them sober but they may have been more entertaining if I had been intoxicated because I am pretty sure the authors were under the influence of something) read them for yourselves. Here I am merely going to point out a few observations. I will try (note the word try) to keep it concise but I cannot promise.

EDITORIAL NOTE: For the record, I am a registered independent. I vote my conscious not based on a political party. I evaluate each candidate, regardless of political affiliation and determine, based on their stance on issues, who will receive my vote. I have voted for republicans, democrats, libertarians, independents and written in a few people I know who would have done a better job than anyone listed on the ballot.

First I started by looking up the platform. You would think this would be relatively easy to do. You’d be wrong. When you finally get to the correct page for the DNC, you are immediately hit with the opportunity to enter your email and donate money to them. I went to a couple of different official pages all with the same result. Finally, I got to the right page and realized I could scroll down to get to the information I wanted – but first, I could, if I wanted, because they asked boldly, for my information and money. This really struck me. The GOP did not do this. Their page was clear and concise. There was a donate open in the upper left corner but that was if you were paying attention.

The second thing that struck me was before I got to the actual platform on the DNC page, I had the opportunity to watch a very emotional propaganda video explaining who the democratic party was. I watched it. Excellently made video. There was no such video on the GOP page. I could scroll the top and learn more about their party but they felt no need to try to persuade me or lure me in.

Finally, I found the actual platforms. As one who writes technical documentation, reports, presentations, official reports, etc., I can tell you how you present the information is just as important as the information itself.

1. The DNC merely listed their platform with the headings for each and each sub-heading. The reader was able to click and go where they wanted or read through the entire document. The GOP had their entire page basically dedicated to their platform. It was arranged in sections the reader could visit. No scrolling to find it.
2. You had to “hunt” to find the option on the DNC page to find the option for PDF version; the GOP clearly gave you the option upfront.
3. The DNC did not list references, the committee who compiled report, contributors to the report, how to contact them in the report or any information except the report; the GOP; however did.
4. The GOP not only provided their stance on the the issue but reasoning, back up information and in some instances, how they intended to proceed. This information was not included in the DNC report; only their stance on the matter.
5. Only when the issue at hand called for it did the GOP’s report call out a specific group. Otherwise, throughout their platform, they spoke of citizens as Americans, all people, everyone. It was unifying and in no way divisive. The DNC platform, in multiple instances, in multiple cases, on multiple issues, used the phrases “people of color” “women” “race” LGBTQ” “disadvantaged” “Latino American” “African American” “people with disabilities” and more. It was over and over and over in the wording even having separate items in their platform pointing out differences, using “systemic racism” “gender gap” “inequality” and more.
6. The Constitution was used as a roadblock in the DNC platform and as a foundation to the GOP. This sets the stage for all sorts of battles in Congress, the Supreme Court but more importantly, the individual rights of citizens. It also removes power from local and state governments. This is a pretty big deal to some but not to others.

There are stark differences between the two platforms that can have dire consequences on our nation as a whole:

1. Views on Businesses and Regulations: While both parties agree that it is important to stimulate the economy, they disagree how to do it. As a business major, I have to question a government who can tell a business how to run their company in a capitalistic society. I also question a government who penalizes a business for doing business and forces the business to share its profits with its employees. Could those profits not go into expanding the business and creating more jobs?
2. As an ex-government employee, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, I never forgot I worked for the taxpayers. Allowing federal government workers to unionize which inevitably means they will have to to collectively bargain when the average federal worker receives a substantial benefit package paid for by taxpayers and as shown by the recent government shutdown – back pay for when they were not at work (it will be listed as Administrative leave not of their own fault) – why in the world do they need a union? They are already protected. They are protected by the biggest union there is – the government.
3. Both parties got it wrong, in my opinion. If you want to make it an employee friendly environment, you need to address the “at will” employers. North Carolina is one of the least employee friendly states to work in. Employment laws are written to protect the employer. But what does the federal government care? It is a state issue? That is not a power granted to the federal government.
4. When you call for reform in the education system, it should be across the board, not to one group of individuals like one platform does. One platform also encourages the power of the family to make the educational decision for their children not the state.
5. One platform calls for social reform through the strengthening of social programs; one calls for the strengthening of families.

I went a step further and decided to visit the Democratic National Committee page and the Republican National Committee page. I wanted to be sure I was not missing valuable information. In, the interest of fairness, the Republican National Committee page was “under construction.” They by official reports are restructuring their page. Can’t wait! (no seriously, I can…)

I went to the Democrats page. Again, in the interest of full disclosure, I am so glad I was sitting on the toilet when their page popped up. On their page, front and center, were scrolling articles. And the article it opened up to was, “DNC Chair Tom Perez Suggests Christians Are Stupid.” They openly put that on their page? I just had to read the article. Seems, that is not the first time he had said such studious things.

Guess what another article was? “Remove God From Politics” Read that article, too. Here is where it correlates to the ‘I Will’ study I attended last night. In the article the writer calls it a “religion gap.” Says that, ‘core base of the white evangelical or born again Christians now make up only 18% of the electorate (talking about Washington)” where the so called “nones” have soared to 35% (nones meaning they done proclaim to be Christian or related to any faith.) He went on to state, “It may not be long before you can call us Nones the Amoral Majority.”

The ironic thing was the last article I read on the DNC page was, “Family Values: Democrats are Becoming the Real Family Values Party.”

I can’t tell anyone what to believe or who to support. What I can tell you I now, more than ever, stand firm in what I was saying before I read the platforms. I encourage you to, as I would anyone, to read for yourself because maybe I misinterpreted it. I do not think so. If nothing else, just take the articles – Christians are stupid – not a fact; an opinion. It is decisive, judgmental and condescending. Not to mention, the PC Police says the word stupid is not supposed to be used. As a Christian, we would never use such a description and apply it across the board. The second article openly calls for God to be removed from politics and brags about the rise of amoral majority. The definition of amoral is: having or showing no concern about whether behavior is morally right or wrong. If there are no morals in politics, chaos will certainly ensue but more importantly, the person themselves has no morals. What is their standard? Our founding fathers made their standard pretty clear. This leads one to believe they simply will make up their own rules, discard what is in place, do not have the truth or seek it. Finally, The title speaks for itself, they are becoming… meaning they are not there yet and they are not it… the party of family values.

Folks, it is time to get on your feet and walk back into church. Get on your knees and pray. You need to pray for both parties. You need to quit being one who sits on the fence and make a commitment to what matters. Like the book says, say, “I Will.”