The Child of Guilt

Lust, fear, pride, anxiety, distress, eagerness, greed, guilt, hate, distrust, anguish, and woe are the play Macbeth. They are the play of Macbeth where lust equates itself with destiny, and hate joins forces with pride. Macbeth is the great tale of the struggle within that all men face, and how even the most subtle suspicions can turn one into a mindless murderer. It is this mindset that I shall pull forth onto the stage through the pages of Macbeth.

Evil follows us long after the deed is done, and it clings to the guilty with claws of death. Macbeth faced his death with the guilt of his crimes weighing heavily on his mind, but while still maintaining his belief that his destiny must conquer all! In the end, destiny didn’t shape Macbeth. Instead, he shaped his destiny.

“Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence.” –Banquo

Macbeth became the witness to a mystic revelation where he was told he would become both the Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland. When the first part of the prophecy came true, he began to wonder whether or not he was not truly destined to take the throne as King.

The seeds of suspicion were planted in his mind after he was won over with “honest trifles”. However, when brought to it, the only way Macbeth believes he can become King is to assassinate his liege lord. The clash, or conflict, began to take place as soon as Macbeth was faced with the decision of whether his loyalty, or his destiny held the most sway. Ultimately, his pride, goaded on by a wife eager to see her husband rise to power, got the better of Macbeth, and his conspiracy to kill the king was carried out. Macbeth made his destiny.

Like all great evils, Macbeth’s crime could not stay hidden for long. Banquo, the only other witness to the prophecy of Macbeth becoming king, began to suspect and to fear Macbeth. Macbeth, in turn, began to distrust and to hate Banquo. Such was his dread at being found out, that Macbeth found it in himself to kill his own friend.

“Know Banquo was your enemy. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance that every minute of his being thrusts against my near’st of life.” -Macbeth to the Murderers

Macbeth’s fear of Banquo, while representing his fear of Banquo escaping and disclosing all, gives us a picture of the condition of Macbeth’s own secret thoughts; nothing was so important as to stop Banquo before he destroyed the prophecy as it had been thus fulfilled.

Guilt also became a player in Macbeth’s pageant of woe. He began to distrust his closest friends, and it seemed he was safe nowhere, for so it was! Macbeth’s guilt haunted him about his days in the form of Banquo, and with the voice of an innocent soul sent from this world. Macbeth the murderer became Macbeth the distraught.

Lady Macbeth, immersed in her own guilt from the part she herself played in the death of the King, was unable to be at peace. Her devotion, as a wife, in hoisting Macbeth to what she believed was his great destiny meant that she would take her own life.

“Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” -Lady Macbeth

In the end, Macbeth’s stand is one of desperation and hate. He carried his plan to the full extent of his imagination, killing the king, Banquo, and even the family of his supposed enemy, Macduff. But for all of his determination to carry out his destiny, Macbeth still found himself bereft of all satisfaction, and questioning his own role in a life that seemed to have no purpose.

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

We are all responsible for the actions and steps we take in this life. Our responses to the situations we’re faced with carry on long after our life here ends, and that is something Macbeth failed to comprehend. Destiny can never take the blame for what we do in attempting to fulfill what we believe is fate. Our actions are our own, and our life is determined by what we decide to do every single day.

We All Need a "Peace Child"

I started reading a book called "Peace Child" the other day, and several facets of the storyline struck me from the first page.

It recounted the firsthand experience of a Mr. Don Richardson, as he attempted to establish contact with a group of cannibalistic inhabitants of an island in New Guinea.

The natives that lived deep in the jungle where Richardson explored and established his ministry were at war almost constantly. Different tribes were forced to live miles apart from each other because of the horrendous consequences if two argumentative and barbaric groups should fail to settle disputes peacefully (which was more often than not).

During Richardson's quest to share a spiritual message with the natives he shared the gospel of the Christ and of Jesus' acts here on earth as the Son of God. What Richardson found was that the Sawi natives showed very little interest in the biblical narrative...until he arrived at the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. The Sawi were absolutely enthralled by the details of Judas' treachery and wished to hear more! To their complete satisfaction, they heard Richardson talk about how Judas had lived, ate, traveled, and worked with Jesus for years!

The Sawi had a term for betrayal under such circumstances. They called it "Tuwi asonai man", or "having caught a pig to kill it," which would be the same as to say "I have fattened you with friendship only to kill you!"

Sawi natives lived by a very complex set of standards. The Sawi standard of honor was measured by one thing: treachery. Tales were that much greater when the treachery was that much more laborious. Anyone could kill...but how many could trick their enemies into being "fattened with friendship."

Richardson found ministering to the Sawi an almost impossible task. They had no concept of wanting to sacrifice or wanting to help others. Their only goal was to destroy and deceive.

After many months with the Sawi, Richardson finally declared that he would leave them. Many different Sawi tribes had come to live around his outpost when he had first settled, and gathering together so many different tribes had opened up hundreds of natives to even more violence than before!

The Sawi were devastated. In an act of desperation, they conducted what Richardson would describe as "proof of goodwill no shadow of cynicism could discredit." In order to ensure peace in a culture that had only ever known war, the Sawi called upon the ancient and almost forgotten ritual of offering a "peace child."

Offering up a peace child would be the equivalent of the king of some European power offering his daughter in marriage to an opposing king in order to ensure peace between the two countries. Two men from the different Sawi factions would bring one of their own young forward to the other tribe and trade it with the other man. They would then exchange names with the other father and promise, along with their tribe, to defend the peace child with their lives in order to maintain a peaceful coexistence. For the Sawi, only by trading a child from each tribe did they feel certain that they could trust one another.

Richardson was astounded. A culture that had only ever cared for war, one that he thought was incapable of ever being turned away from the cannibalism and hate, had been transformed with the offering of a "peace child." There were no longer murders, battles, robberies, or blatant accusations. The two tribes were bound by what they considered the most sacred tie in Sawi culture: the "peace child" bind.

Our Peace Child

Later in his ministry, Richardson would go on to explain to the Sawi that Myao Kodon, his God, had also offered a peace child. Only, Myao Kodon's peace child wasn't given with the expectation of the receiver offering a peace child of his own. Rather, he had given the peace child to unworthy men who he knew would kill his own son, in order to show his love for them.

The Sawi tradition of having a "peace child" is the most innocent expression of God's love and redemption that could ever be shown. And this, from a tribe that had never heard anything of God, nor of the biblical patriarchs!? The Sawi had a built in message right alongside their murdering and cannibalism. It allowed Richardson to speak to them in terms they understood. It allowed him to explain how that, as they fully knew, peace is never free, it requires a "peace child."

Like the "unknown god" of the Athenians, many don't fully understand the mysteries of God and his unconditional love. But through his "peace child" we are able to share the goodness of his grace and mercy with all. He sacrificed all so that all might believe.

Trumping Sincerity

The more often I venture out amongst those in this world, the more often i believe that men truly have little or no value for sincerity. They would rather live a lifetime as thoughtless fools than spend five minutes actually telling someone the truth, and speaking what really weighs on them.

"Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles."
-Confuscious

Why are people so afraid to be sincere? What is so dangerous about opening up one's heart and sharing the trials and burdens that are testing us in our daily lives? In Jame 5 we're told to

"Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

The concept of confession in the Catholic church is, in my opinion, well grounded. For centuries Protestants have been disgusted by the fact that men would deem it necessary to confess their sins to a priest and ask for how they should be atoned for their sin. The matter of atonement is a different subject entirely, but looking at the example of confession we see the perfect example of man's sincerity and openness. What boundaries and self-conscientiousness men often feel in the presence of their peers is often relieved when they meet with someone like a priest.

That should bring us both comfort and grief. How often children refuse to speak to their parents about matters that are tearing at their lives! All men should realize that the tool of confession -- the tool of sharing our burdens -- is such a joy and such a blessing! So often we feel that we can go it alone, or that our own strength is sufficient enough. But in reality, all know this to be a falsehood! Men are weak, and we are weaker still when we refuse to let others help us.

Helping Others Take Heart

"Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor."
-Proverbs 18: 12

No one likes admitting that they need help. Many believe it to be a sign of weakness and of their need for someone stronger to give them aid. Indeed, all men need help, and the highest form of help comes from Christ himself. But in our day to day lives, even while we ask God for strength in the areas where we are weak, we must pour out our hearts to those around us and ask them for prayer and wisdom.

In being "wise as serpents" and "gentle as doves" we can take the first step by letting others help us, and by helping those in need. So take the time to listen to people! Ask those around you how you can pray for them, and what trials they're going through. People often just need someone to set the stage by showing they care before they open up and begin sharing.

Show someone you care, and be willing to share without embarrassment. We all have struggles, so why not share in them together?

Fear Becoming Manifest

At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep, slow, rhythmical chant of 'B-B! ...B-B!' -- over and over again, very slowly, with a long pause between the first 'B' and the second-a heavy, murmurous sound, somehow curiously savage, in the background of which one seemed to hear the stamp of naked feet and the throbbing of tom-toms. For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise. Winston's entrails seemed to grow cold. In the Two Minutes Hate he could not help sharing in the general delirium, but this sub-human chanting of 'B-B! ...B-B!' always filled him with horror. Of course he chanted with the rest: it was impossible to do otherwise. To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction.

In George Orwell's 1984, we encounter a world where everyone functions under fear. "Big Brother" could be another manifestation of the ACLU, the Soviet Union, or even the Democratic Party. Whichever group you choose to represent Orwell's organized leadership, the effects remain the same: our world has been, and will continue to be ruled by fear.

What kind of fear? Fear of what? Of whom? For what reason?

The Ability To Fear
"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reason as fear."

If I asked you whether or not you feared dying, the answer would most probably be a "yes", or a "well, I can't say I'd really care for it". Most people admit that they fear death. And why? Why is death so terrible? How many people can actually testify, saying "don't die! I've done it before, and it was HELL!" Whether they're speaking literally or figuratively matters not. What matters is that we accept the fact that life is better than death without asking questions.

You don't want to die.

And yet I ask, why not? It's because of human programming.

As a human being, you interact, observe, and make basic conclusions. When a person dies, you see family and friends mourning that person's death. Your first assumption upon seeing tears and grim faces is that something bad has happened. Upon understanding that after dying, the person caused this mayhem and chaos, you arrived at the conclusion that somehow the two were linked.

Death became associated with unhappiness, sorrow and grief.

And how do we label unhappiness, sorrow and grief? The simplest of persons can tell you that they don't necessarily enjoy the three...or even want to experience them. All three are to be avoided. People want happy lives. They want fun. They want laughter. Life becomes associated with happiness and pleasant activities.

After realizing what life symbolized...all the things you wanted, death became a thing to be shied away from. You feared death in four short and rapid deductions.

Fear symbolizes a lack of security. When a person feels secure, they are willing to endure circumstances that seem...unpredictable. When we can't control situations...when things unpredictable, we are afraid.

Controlling situations means we can push the "escape" button at any moment. We can blow away the scary monsters, the radical terrorists, and the insanely jealous rival boyfriend. It means we have the ability to win.

Death gives the majority of people no such certainty. Ask people what happens after death, and you are likely to receive one of three answers. 1) I go to heaven. 2) I go to hell. 3) I really don't know...and I don't want to.

How many people want to embrace death when they really aren't too certain about lies behind each door.

"Will it be door number 1? Door number 2? Or door number 3? It's your choice."

Death means you take a chance...and chance, when your happiness, joy, and fun is on the line...is a terrifying thing.

When to Fear

After the destruction of the Confederate Army in the South, many renegade southern soldiers decided to form a type of militia: a militia that would fight for slavery and continue to degrade freed slaves.

I cannot imagine there was a single freed slave in the whole south that would have wanted to meet with a member of the Klu Klux Klan - mounted atop their white horses, carrying burning crosses, guns, and clubs - seeking innocent victims to murder, beat, and ravage.

Fear was burning brightly in the hearts of freed slaves in the south. They feared because they had no control over what happened to them. No one would protect them, and they didn't know how to protect themselves. They were at the mercy of their enemies, and nothing they could do or say would be able to save them.

That is what real fear is. It's when you know you are helpless...when you know that you're a sitting duck...lined up while the bad guys take shots at you for fun.

"The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself."

Do you think people honestly fear what's lying on the other side of the door? Do you really think people are worried about meeting their end?

You don't fear hitting the the ground floor. It's being carried up to the top before the drop that scares you half-to-death.

Fear is 100% relative to your level of dependency.

The Fall

Dependency means one thing: you do not own yourself.

Whether you depend on God, men, or anything else, you do not own yourself.

That is why you fear, and that is why you are terrified...because you don't have the ability to control.

In some ways, that's a good thing. In other ways...it's enough to put you out of your wits. No matter how you look at it, you are controlled by how much dependency you have. Dependency means something else determines you and your conclusion. Dependency means that whoever owns you can decide how to meet your end: by being crushed to death under a thousand pound weight, or going to sleep on a peaceful night.

You fear because you know you can't decide what happens.

If you don't want to be afraid, that's fine. Rid yourself of everything you can attach yourself to. Destroy every tie to anything physical or supernatural.

Only after destroying everything you rely and depend on can you be free of fear...because fear will haunt you wherever you cannot decide the outcome.

I can offer only one word of comfort...that if you give up...if you give in to the fear and accept it as fate, accept it as unchangeable, then it becomes nothing more than a stroll through the park.

"Howdy ho there Ted. How are those Tigers lookin this season? No, not too much going on today... Just heard something about my death tomorrow. Oh well. At least there's nothing i can do about it. Lovely day ain't it?"

The Brave New World: Blood, Sex and Love

Before you all cover your eyes in horror, let me emphasize the fact that, in today's culture where issues the public would have shunned with mouths aghast a few decades ago, the same topics are now discussed openly by those of every age. In an epoch where society has eradicated feeling and the ability to comprehend from its daily lives, it is required that we use the same openness to fully expose this world for what it is: a mockery against God and the principles of human decency.

Facing the Truth -- As Distorted As it May Be

Green Day

The representative of the United Kingdom now has the floooooor...
Zieg Heil to the president gasman,
Bombs away is your punishment!
Pulverize the Eiffel towers,
who criticize your government!
Bang bang goes the broken glass man,
Kill all the fags that don't agree!
Trial by fire, setting fire
It's not a way that's meant for me
Just cause, just cause, because we're outlaws yeah!

As amusing as it may seem, the general theme for the pop-culture phenomenon Green Day is carried through a majority of their songs, with underlying themes of "a nation under the new mania".

Innocent enough. After all, we have the freedom of speech, correct? That fact might be questioned by Green Day, but more importantly, our kids are growing up, with groups like this burying political agendas in their music, and inciting young Americans to believe that, in this, a country built on the blood of those who fought for freedom, that we're corrupt and hysterical in a feverish grasp for power.

That might not be so far from the truth in the coming years, but to aim lyrics and songs against the leadership in our country...I find to be less than commendable.


The Killers

They say the devil's water
It ain't so sweet
You dont have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while

Maybe it's just me, but I really can't imagine it being entirely healthy to have young kids (especially girls) listening to implications of sex, free love, and doing what feels "right". The hints are subtle enough to be lost in the majority of the music, but so see them there, and know that that's what our 11, 12 and 13 year olds are being encouraged to do...it's disturbing to say the least.

Snow Patrol

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

When I see how many millions of American teenagers listen to music without fully considering what it is implicating...what it is encouraging them to do...then music becomes nothing more than a tube for feeding our kids all of the things we try not to give them.

It becomes a consuming fire.

Today, when young women are constantly goaded on towards living a loose and "pleasurable" lifestyle, what we feed them with music will either cultivate or destroy those feelings and ideas. And, in a society where women are so often mistreated and used by men who consider them to be objects, rather than people, do we want to cause our sons to believe that women really are "there for the taking" and to be used as they see fit?

If not...then we really need to do some serious reconsidering of what we put into their heads every day through ipods and stereo systems.

The Environment

Our generation is growing in an entirely new and unusual environment...one that the world has never witnessed before this time. Today, you can walk down any street in America and find kids on drum sets, strumming guitar, pounding away to their favorite tunes on the oldest pianos. America has given birth to an entirely new musical sensation.

In the past, music had been loved and appreciated by the majority of Americans. Kids would sings their favorite Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bon Jovi songs...but today is different. Today, we can go to any number of music stores and find kids no older than 13 or 14, playing the same riffs that most of the bands are paid millions of dollars to perform. Kids today don't just listen to music. They play it, and they write it.

When we go to a school, we don't find kids talking about what they got on their last math test, or who they're taking to the next prom. Instead, you see them all trading ipods, discussing the newest musical trends, and trying to prove that they have the best music library in the class.

America has been consumed by music in a way that is incomparable throughout history.

More Than Music

Music is a wonderful gift that can be used in so many different ways. We can feel sorrow, joy, depression, encouragement, and any other numerous emotions just by listening to music. It is a powerful tool that can be easily used for the wrong purposes, and today, that is precisely what's happening.

I gave three instances where music is being used in a wrongful way...but I only touched the surface of a very dark and deeply disturbing industry that continues to become more and more corrupt.

But what can we do?

Not all music bears such heavy influences towards the perverse and distorted American lifestyle. As a carrier for views, opinions and ideals, there is music that does feed the soul and give "rest for the weary one".

The key today is in discerning what to feed on, and what to starve. If we do listen to music encouraging a promiscuous and immoral lifestyle, our thoughts (and perhaps our actions) can begin to turn more in that direction. But by starving what we know can only lead down a path to more dangerous and deceitful ways...we save ourselves from much agony and woe.

Earlier I said music is a tool...a gift...and what we do with it, or choose to do with what others give, us is entirely in our hands. Whatever we decide, will affect us and those that we have influence over. It's our call to make.

How will we live?

The End of Capitalism and the Rise of the Socialistic Left

Yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton, one of the several presidential hopefuls in the 2008 election, lashed out at oil companies. In particular, Senator Clinton mentioned Exxon Mobile, which raked in a 7.64 billion dollar profit in the last quarter.

As Senator Clinton stated,

"I want to go after the oil companies and the oil speculators and the manipulators of the money, because they're the ones who I think are really behind this."

The Senator also mentioned how she was "tired frankly of being at the mercy of these large oil companies." In short, Senator Clinton made it altogether noticeable - that if she is elected, she has no intention whatsoever of allowing oil companies to be "manipulators of the money."



A Problem with Big Oil?

So where are the major harms that Senator Clinton implies are controlling the American economy and strong-arming their way around? Frankly, the only companies I see are operations that are simply taking advantage of a free-market system of industry and production. Yes, while Senator Clinton may be correct in labeling them as "Big Oil" and asserting the fact that they do, in fact, have an enormous amount of leverage and influence, the Senator is mistaken in believing that these companies should have their power balanced out or taken away from them.

The United States is a capitalistic country that pulls from, and grows because of a market that prides itself on the freedom of trade. That freedom has greatly benefited the American people. In fact, when compared to countries that did not transform to free-market economies until much later, we can clearly see that the U.S. had the advantage over countries that chose to keep trade and commerce regulated and under government control.

Free-market trade and the ability to export and import without having every little item chosen and given a fixed price by the government or some other organization allows Americans to profit and prosper enormously.

The "Big Oil" that Senator Clinton would seek to make us hate with a fervent passion is simply exercising a right that all Americans and organizations can enjoy. Everyone can prosper and be as successful as they wish to be, and there is no reason to regulate and limit a company or individual's business because we believe they are making more money than the rest of us all.

A simple question I'd like to ask Senator Clinton would be: if you were the CEO of a company like Exxon Mobile, would you be eager for the government to take away your livelihood and mode of profit?

I think not.


The Socialist Monster

Adolf Hitler instated and enforced a socialistic system of government in Germany. Jobs were regulated, producing a substantial cut in unemployment. Hitler also attempted to have and influence on the number of children being born within Germany, offering substantial honors to women that bore more than four children. Hitler's Germany became a regulated, well timed machine that counted on the government to oversee all areas of life.

Hillary Clinton is on the boarder border of bringing out country into the arms of a socialist regime. Yesterday, Dick Morris, former Clinton adviser, stated that Hillary Clinton will become the next president of the United States, and that her's will be the worst presidency in our nation's history.

But why?

The answer is simple. Hillary Clinton has the firm belief that government, not individuals, should be the one to regulate, officiate, and manage affairs of personal and public life for all citizens. Oil is simply a small space in the gigantic arena that Senator Clinton would attempt to fill if she were elected president. Among the items on her agenda, such issues as: taking custody and decision-making power wiht regards to children away from their parents, launching a campaign encouraging abortions among women, and raising taxes for the "wealthy" of America.

To be frank, Hillary Clinton would seek to control every aspect of life, business, and our ability to be free.



The Danger

America is great because it was founded on the belief that we, the people, were the one's in control, not women like Hillary Clinton. The liberals are attempting to counter that view, because they believe that Americans are not able to think for themselves, able to choose how to discipline their children, able to have a successful marriage, or able to decide how their taxpayer dollars could be best spent. According to Senator Hillary Clinton, you, the people of the United States of America, are incompetent.

Congratulations.

Unless you are willing to get up, get out on the streets, and start talking with people about why our rights and freedoms are ours and should not be regulated or taken away, then you're about to wake up in one heck of a nightmare come 2008.

Have a fun trip my fellow Americans.

Moral Correctness and Political Duty

Right now, the liberal-minded left would appear to be divided between any of three candidates: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, and Jonathan Edwards. All three have announced their plans to run for President in 2008, and appear to be leading the pack of the Democratic party.

At the opposite end of the spectrum we have the Republican candidates. Primarily: Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, and John McCain. So far, of the three, only Brownback has announced his bid for the Presidential ticket in 2008. The result? 2/3 of the more notable Republican candidates sit on the more liberal side of the arena.

So, what do we have? We have the (cookie cutter) liberal left, and, what would appear to be a far more liberal Republican party than we've seen in quite a while. The problem? Well, what many conservatives are asking is..."who do I vote for?" Which brings us to the question of moral correctness and political duty.

In 2000, as we prepared for the elections, we had a moderately conservative republican ticket (George W. Bush/Dick Cheney) vs. a far more liberal democratic ticket (Al Gore/ Joe Lieberman). The choice was, for most conservatives, very black and white. George W. Bush was elected into office, and re-elected in 2004.

Now we have a dilemna though. Unlike the elections in 2000, and 2004, the top Republican candidates could, quite possibly, also be the most liberal Republican candidates. In that situation, do we have the ability, dare we even suggest, the duty of still voting for the Republican ticket?


Let's first take a look at one of the most hotly contested Republican candidates, Rudy Giuliani:

According to Wikipedia's page on the former New York mayor:

"Giuliani is a Roman Catholic who is pro-choice, favors same-sex civil unions, gun control, and embryonic stem cell research. Pro-life groups, such as the Republican National Coalition for Life, have already announced their intention to oppose Giuliani or any other pro-choice candidate, though evidence suggests that even among these voters, he enjoys some support."

(1)

Giuliani already breaks with the model set down by current President George W. Bush, of being 1) pro-life, 2) against gay-marriage, and 3) being against embryonic stem-cell research. In short, Giuliani is anything but a traditional candidate for the Republican party, and defies many of the chief principles upon which Christian conservatives base their GOP vote.


Moving on, we find Senator John McCain of Arizona as a potentional candidate. While McCain has voted against gay-marriage in some instances, "Focus on the Family's James Dobson said the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law has prevented Christian broadcasters 'from telling the truth right before elections.'

Dobson also contended that McCain 'is not in favor of traditional marriage,' adding, 'I pray that we will not get stuck with him.' " (2)

A highly respected figure in conservative Christian circles, Mr. Dobson's remarks have been acknowledged by many Christians as in line with their own opinions about Senator McCain, making his possible bid for President in 2008 a questionable one with regards to the conservative Christian vote.


Lastly, we have Senator Sam Brownback. Senator Brownback is pro-life, against same-sex marriage, and a proponent of allowing the teaching of "intelligent design" within the public school system. Compared with Mr. Giuliani and Senator McCain, Senator Brownback remains, by far, the more conservative of the three candidates.

The Issue?

By now, many of your are thinking "ok Josiah. We understand Senator McCain and former mayor Rudy Giuliani are probably more liberal, but what about Brownback? So long as we can vote for him, aren't we in good shape?" Well, yes and no.

Yes, because Senator Brownback is a candidate in the race, and probably the one that the conservatives will want to consider voting for.

No, because, arguably, Senator Brownback doesn't have the support and network needed to win the nomination for the Republican ticket.

What if?

So, what if we're stuck with a Republican candidate like Giuliani or McCain, compared to a Democratic candidate like Clinton or Obama? Who do we vote for? Can we, as conservatives, and mroe importantly, as Christians, consider voting for pro-choice, and same-sex advocates? Perhaps more importantly, we must ask the question, "what will happen if we vote for someone like Giuliani or McCain, compared to voting for a democratic candidate, or not voting at all?"

When looking back and forth at McCain, Clinton, Obama, and Giuliani, I think the only answer is to vote for "the lesser of two evils". Once we reach that point of thinking, the only question we have to ask is "who is the greater evil?" Is it someone like Clinton, or someone like McCain?

For myself, were I given that option, I would say that it would be far better to take a more conservative liberal, than not to vote, or to vote for a candidate (within a gorup like the constitutional party) that we know cannot win.

Moral obligations are strong, and while we should never give up our moral views on the sanctity of life and marriage, we must do what we can to change America.

Politics isn't about getting people to do the right thing. It's about getting people to do the best thing you can get them to do.

So, continue to stand, continue to fight for politicians that will represent our views in the government, but never forget that we have to make decisions, and, though they may negatively affect our nation in some regards, better that we find options that can at least work in part for the better, than options that can accomplish nothing good in the course of human history.


(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani

(2) http://www.wbir.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=41305