How Did I Vote? Sorry... I Ain't Playing That Game

I voted. I always do when given the opportunity (I am a registered Independent and Kentucky has closed primaries, so I can't always vote). But I get more and more depressed each time I do it. I wonder if I am selling out my Christian faith when I vote.

Worse, the way you vote or feel about an issue automatically gets you placed into a camp, at least in America. We Americans like to be for/against, black/white, yes/no. We don't like to think in terms neither/nor, shades of gray, and either/or. Did Jesus believe in the Ten Commandments? Of course. However, when someone needed healing on the Sabbath, he did it. Sometimes, the line moves and black and white becomes shades of gray.

So did I vote? I did. Was I happy about it? No. Was I happy about my choices? Heck no. That meant that I was not happy with the way I voted.

• For president, I had to decide between a senator who speaks well and is enthusiastic yet politically inexperienced and a senator who I once respected but has changed to be more palatable to "his side." Both candidates have very troubling stances that I find morally and ethically problematic. Both represent political parties that have a lot of moral bankruptcy and a history of abdication of responsibility.
• For senator, I had to decide which candidate had the least offensive political ads. I can't blame their parties, because both of them as individuals "approved this message." Sen. McConnell started out his campaign with muckraking and flat-out lies. Before it was over, Bruce Lunsford joined the act and did the very same thing. Maybe that's politically the smart thing to do. But no one will ever convince me it's the moral thing to do. I don't want to teach the next generation that the way to obtain leadership is to do so by denigration and speaking dishonestly of another child of God.

I have voted and my American conscience is clear. My Christian conscience, however, is troubled.

My community is in the midst of a school consolidation issue. It wasn't on the ballot, but it is a source of contention among many. I am watching it tear apart a community. People are taking sides, and you're either on their side or you are "bad." 

In theory, we're all supposed to be on the Lord's side. It seems, however, that people's idea of the Lord's side is based on how they voted. While I think God is concerned about our lives, I am not sure He places that much cosmic importance on a local school consolidation, a U.S. Senatorial election, or even a U.S. Presidential election. We are but one very small speck in an infinite universe of God's creation.

So who's side am I on? I'm on the Lord's side. Do you think I'm gonna tell you how I voted or how I feel about school consolidation?

Not on your life. I am a lot more than my vote or opinion. 

Pax,
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