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Post Info TOPIC: I'm Glad Obama Won


Senior Member

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Posts: 194
Date:
I'm Glad Obama Won
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Going into yesterday's election I was hearing left and right from plenty of people that the greatest issue facing our country today is abortion. I think that is partly right and the "partly" is the biggest reason why I am glad that the "pro life" candidate did not win. The greatest issue facing our country today is the sanctity of life. I am talking about the sanctity of ALL life.

For 24 of the past 32 years we have had a "pro life" president in the Oval office. The big "strategy" for ending abortion I keep hearing is to get a president in there who will nominate Supreme Court Justices who will overturn Roe V Wade. Many of these presidents were voted into office on conditions where a large percentage of their constituency voted solely with this strategy in mind. You would think that if this was a workable strategy it would have been implemented by now, wouldn't you? Lets not also forget that the national Right To Life counsel endorsed justice Scalia.

So lets pretend that McCain had been elected and this time, unlike all those other times, the strategy actually did work. What would happen then. Roe V Wade would be overturned and the decision would become a state issue rather than a federal one. How would that benefit the unborn. Last night, in multiple states, there were referendums designed to limit or restrict abortions in various ways and in various states. I might have missed one here or there, but from what I saw each one failed. Conservative state... liberal state... didn't matter. A majority of people voted against it. So I have no hope that abortion being a states issue will in any way limit the number of preborn children murdered each year.

What we need is a change in society. We need a change in culture. I saw a man elected yesterday who does believe in the sanctity of life. Unfortunately he does not believe that the preborn is alive. But I believe that enough of us do that the value he places on the lives of others will spill over to the preborn and in time all life will have the worth God has placed on it.

Perhaps we will value life more if we stopped telling people murder is wrong and then proving it by murdering murderers.

Perhaps we will value life more if we did more to end the slow murder of the hundreds of thousands dying of starvation living in extreme poverty while fat Americans live high on the hog by sapping the resources from third world countries.

Perhaps we will value life more if we stopped sending our young to die oversees while trying to kill tens thousands of other people. We call these others "insurgents" but they view themselves as simply trying to prevent further American imperialism. Beyond that, far too many who are dying are simply innocents caught in the crossfire. We don't care about them, however, because they had the misfortune to either not be born in America or have the ridiculously high amounts of money it now costs to immigrate.

The single greatest issue facing America today is the sanctity of life. The value of life does not begin at birth... but it doesn't end there either



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Isaiah Campbell

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Good points. I think last night definitely proved to us that we are living in a pro-abortion America. We, as Christians, need to focus on changing the hearts of the people rather than just the policies.


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Gloria Waite

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Werd.


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Ben Cabot

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I am unable to understand that anyone with a modest education or experience could possibly think that the election was about abortion. Late term abortions have been illegal since 2003, Roe V. Wade has been, and will be the standard policy since 1973. Casting a vote based on hate regarding an already settled matter is about as Un American as it gets. If you want the constitution changed, develop a constitutional refferendum for national voting. People should not have wasted their vote under the pious hysteria that you were creating new law by expressing blind hatred of a solidly Christian Candidate. Study and seek wisdom in all things, If you want new Law, learn how to do it correctly.


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Marc Edwards

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"Be the change you want in the world." - Gandhi

"how can you say you love God who you can't see when you don't love your brother who you do see?" - James

"Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me" - Jesus

I have nothing to say.


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April Hunter

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awesome. :)

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Pamela Hampton Dusseau

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Kudos, Marc. I agree with your response. You said volumes!!!

BJ - I'm sad that you saw many people focusing on abortion as the primary issue for this election. I have had two abortions in my life due to medical reasons.

We attempt to make things very black and white; good candidate, bad candidate - right wing, left wing - pro-life, pro-choice. There are no pat answers to complex issues. To say that we need to murder murderers is completely contrary to the teachings of Christ. He did not come with a sword to fight the laws and government of the time, which, interestingly, were controlled largely by the religious right. There was very little distinction between the church and government during His life. He drew everyone in with His compassion, His focus on love and allowed for each individual to utilize their free will to make their own choices.

I agreed with you that we need to focus on changing the hearts of the people, but that will not come through intellectual discourse, a new or amended law, a strongly worded debate, murdering murderers, or any other method that attempts to control the free will of others. It will come when we change our own hearts and open our arms to those who are in pain, those in need of unconditional love and acceptance. What is needed is not a good lesson in right and wrong, but instead, a gift of kindness, an absence of judgment and the demonstration that love will conquer all things through grace, peace and mercy. Find that in our own hearts and souls and there will be no more room in our hearts for fighting for the "right". We will find that others are drawn to us just as they were drawn to Christ by the thousands.

I would argue that the sanctity of life is not the biggest issue we are facing. The biggest issue we face as people on an individual level and collectively is the absence of unconditional love. To quote a famous Beatles song "...love, love is all we need..."


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Senior Member

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Posts: 194
Date:
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Sorry, Pam, I think that sentence was worded unclearly. It was a tongue in cheek protest against capital punishment. I am against the taking of any life no matter what that person did or what their nationality or ideology is.

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Pamela Hampton Dusseau

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know you weren't actually arguing that people should murder murderers, especially given that you were arguing for the sanctity of life. I was also speaking somewhat tongue in cheek in the sense that I wanted to address the range of approaches that seem to appear in the attempt to influence change.
I'm simply frustrated with the religious right wing putting so much energy into trying to change laws that will not bring forward a positive change in our culture. I believe that this is a point that we agree upon.
The bottom line is that I am ready for a reformation of the "right". I'm ready for those who seem to be full of "righteous indignation" to be filled with compassion, grace and love. I'm tired of hearing about the moral code that we seem compelled to enforce on the nation. As Marc quoted, Be the change you want in the world. If we invested all of our time and energy simply focusing on that goal, change would come. The problem is that that statement requires personal accountability which is much more difficult to implement than picketing outside abortion clinics, rallying against government officials and debating over our national morality. (again, generally speaking, not referring to your approach) My frustration is not with you, it is what you observed on Election Day and reported back. When people become more passionate about loving others than controlling our society through government, we will see a moral revolution that wont require enforcement through laws.

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Marc Edwards

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The religious right needs to acknowledged its roots and move past them. In 1972, the Nixon campaign in an effort to beat the McGovern campaign by attracting the Wallace votes of segregation, put forward the term "Family Values" to attract the segragationist vote that wanted to protect the White Christian way of doing things. The religious right has its roots in the KKK and needs to break with its violent and political roots and unite with the radical themes of the Bible.

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World Conqueror

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I usually find myself either agreeing with you right away or at least able to see your side of it pretty easily. This time, nope. (grin) I did not vote for Obama and I'm not really glad that he won. However, like you, I can imagine that God will get the glory and that this change will work out for good anyway. God is always in control.


Often, I'm tempted to take one side on an issue and ride it to the end. This time, I've managed to stay out of that mindset. Yet, when it comes to the war, I can't imagine a positive end that includes walking away without having won. The Middle East is not like America. They have deep roots and long memories. We can't look at their lives through our own lenses and imagine they're thinking just what we would think. I think that a cultural group who would kill their women to avoid shame is not likely to say, "Whew, they're gone. Glad that's over." If they'll kill the spouse they love or their own daughter when she wrongs them, I don't think they're going to just let this conflict with us drop if we say, "Okay, we'll leave now.
"

Politics is complicated. I hate that about it. I like black and white issues, but life is gray much of the time. Yes, there might be ways we could influence the culture without changing laws. But I couldn't in good conscience sign my name to a candidate who promised to sign into law the most pro-choice piece of legislature to come along in years. Yet, I cannot fault you for another vote. We all have to make our decisions and only through hindsight will we know if our choices were the right ones.


Stephanie

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Indestructible

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Well said.

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