Perhaps you've seen the clip below. If not, it is worth watching for its honesty and passion
It is easy to see John Edwards as a slick, rich, glossy politician defined not by the substance of his campaign - economic justice, compassion, challenges to corporations - but by the gaffes - expensive haircuts - and the reality of his personal wealth.
But to dismiss his message because of the gaffes or because he is wealthy is to miss someone who is truly challenging the status quo. There are certainly things he says that give me gas - the idea that we are going to "eliminate" poverty in 30 years seems utopian; his answer to a forum in the gay community about what a mistake it was for faith to inform his opinion was a true head scratcher. All that being said, however, his message is important and his passion is unquestionably real. This is not a man posing by poverty's side for electoral gain. This is real stuff.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Thinker, regulation can be a tricky thing. The problem is that all regulations cost and their consequences are unpredictable. I am slowly becoming convinced that the government probably ought to be guaranteeing healthcare but I hope that if that develops, people are prepared for the problems it will cause. Compassion makes good people but rarely good government, in my opinion. There are just two many hiding places for scoundrels in marble buildings.
I didn't mean to put down all the good work that faith communities have done providing healthcare for the poor, but I did find it interesting that the rise of denominational hospitals was largely fostered by discrimination as much as by compassion. I think it says a lot about our history.
OK, on a Christian note:
Thinker,
What I "hear" when I "see" words written by people with your political/religious views Thinker, is that we are to turn our lives and our children's lives over to Democrats. Who are indeed very, very, very, much like Nero and his political ways. The GOP for example, may demand resignantion for their sodomites, but the Democrats promote them. Christians are supposed to join Democrats? And Democrat socialism/communism is a far cry from the Acts-style comunisn described in the New Testament.
Supporting John Edwards? Why not become like a Roman centurion worshipping a Bull deity.
"Nero = Democrat? A stretch there don't you think?"
Posted by: Stan
\\\
Stan, I think, with real history guiding us, that I could prove easily that the Democrats and Nero are very much one and the same. BTW: Nero was a man that married another man after an attempted sex change operation (to the other man). And Nero hated Christians talking about Christianity and blamed them for social ills . . . etc., etc., etc..
You can see Nero's marriages to men celebrated here: http://community.livejournal.com/lambdarising/tag/lgbt+history+fact+of+the+day
Nero slaughtered Christians while celebrating that too.
///
(The GOP still has a moral voice of decency. Ask Senator Craig. If he were a Democrat, we would have never heard of his behavior in a bathroom. Or else, we would be charged with hate crimes bigotry if we did. In any event, he would still be a hero to dems. Ask Bill Clinton.)
Immorality is indeed a factor to acquiring sickness and poor physical health.
The free enterprise system gives rise to better economics and tackles corruption. (Ted Kennedy for instance killed a young woman and has not one ounce of care about it. Otherwise he would have admitted to what he had done and served his life sentence in prison.) Democrat-style hedonistic socialsim (really just modern-communism), has been proven to give rise to immense corruption and immorality MTV/HBO style.
John Edwards wants to be eleceted president. Nothing more, nothing less. He is a Democrat. When you compare the whole picture, the Democrats demand to paint everyone in society exactly the same color. I do not see how their ideology can possibly qualify as Christian. Qualifying as Paharisees, certainly the Saducees, and the Pagan Romans yes, but Christians as explained in the writings of the New Testament? No. Not if honesty is important to the discussion and solution.
"I" cannot support the Christian Church AND rally behind a person that dwells within the Democrat camp. And the Democrats make it plain what we'll have to believe and how. Nothing new about that. The Democrats do not waver from their Progressive diversity-homogenization process. They really do not tolerate anything or anyone, unless they are exactly the same.
As a Christian, health care is a perfect example of what not to yoke yourself with when dealing with Democrats. Their ideology is immoral. They'll pass anti-smoking laws because "we" shouldn't have to pay for the excesses of others that can harm us while harming themselves. I do believe that Peter, Paul, John, Jude, James and "the Lord Jesus," have voiced opinions on this, and that my views align with theirs.
Morality is a cure for most of the problems of the poor. Especially the inner city and poor. And by the way, where do these poor exist? I do not see a poor person when I see a 300-pound individual raising multiple children from different fathers. I see people - the mothers and the fathersssssssss' - in need of repenting and going and sinning no more.
Christian time!
Remember the woman "caught" in adultery? Well Thinker, she will no longer risk death by stoning, or by STD's, if she goes and sins no more. She will also not get pregnant again and therefore will have less fatherless children to care for and can better serve the children she does have to care for. And realize, stating that she should "go and sin "NO MORE" is very UN politically correct. It could land Jesus in the Hate Crimes jail being manufactured by Democrats as we write.
But Democrats have already legislated morality as a hate crime. And immorality kills. Ask the AIDS patient that did nothing more than receive a blood transfusion.
And as "Christians. . .?" Socialized medicine will fuse us to Democrat power for our entire corporeal existence. And maybe even beyond if we support it.
Hopefully, American Christians will not want to be pagan-secularists like the Europeans, like the Progressives and Liberals, and will reject the scoialized-medicine slavery being trumpeted and implemented by the Democrats. But when I peruse typical history, I do not see much hope for the populace not being led into destruction.
It's been a long time since anyone got AIDS from a blood transfusion in this country. But as the Edwards' campaign sinks slowly into the sunset...
I'm truly saddened and offended by the idea that because I'm a Christian and a democrat that I am flawed. it is not for you to decide. God will judge me and my actions, no one else.
I believe it is wrong to deny anyone healthcare because they don't have the money, that is immoral. I believe that I cannot force anyone to take care of themselves and I've never see a Democrat ask that cigarettes be banned.
My faith asks that I treat all with love, respect and kindess. I cannot stomach being around someone who is a Christian and then condemns someone elses's faith because it does not resemble their own.
How is medicine for all Anti-Christian? How is caring for those who do not have what we take for granted make us evil in your eyes? Pagan? You're kidding right?
How dare you judge the poor because of their own sins, who are you to judge them. We arell sinners! Have you no compassion? All I see is a pile a stones that you seem quite ready to throw at anyone who disagrees with your idea of Christianity.
Well, Donny, in the midst of your paranoid ravings, you uncork a rather obtuse reading of the Gospel account of the woman caught in adultery found in John 8:1-11. I wouldn't want to even begin to address your utterly crazed attitude towards anyone who might not agree with you about, oh, say, anything you have an opinion about, but I can't let your self-serving exegesis of the biblical text go unchallenged.
How anyone could read the story of the woman caught in adultery and conclude that it is included in the gospels to teach us a lesson about how women can avoid stoning (to say nothing of all the other horrors you imagine are awaiting her) is beyond me. Rather, it seems quite obvious that this pericope is focused on the woman only peripherally. Instead, the passage is primarily about the hypocrisy of the self-righteous and judgmental religious people lying in wait (she was,John tells us, caught "in the act" of adultery, after all), and on the gracious, forgiving and redemptive response with which Jesus responds to the woman.
In fact, the difference between Jesus' teaching and so much of what passes for preaching in today's pulpits is that Jesus rarely, if ever, railed against the immorality (at least as we conventionally define immorality)of ordinary folks like the woman in this passage. Instead, what seemed to get Jesus most exercised was the hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and bullying of folks connected to the religious establishment.
I certainly don't have any big answers as to how we can best fix our broken health care system. But if you are going to bring biblical values and beliefs into the picture, Jesus and the prophets are a good place to start. And surprise--they talk a lot about mercy, compassion, and caring for the poor. At least Edwards is bringing some of those notions into the conversation.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.