Another response to a friend about how I got to where I am.
March 2010
I can’t tell you when this started for me, perhaps I was a bit of a late bloomer as I did not have the high school or college rebellion that many youth do. But at some point in my mid 20s I realized that I had adopted much of the thinking of the home I was raised in, and didn’t really have the “umpf” and knowledge behind it to support it. I am not saying this was a bad thing. It was and is, a very good thing to have been raised with the values of my home. But I began to wonder “what do I think?” I think most teenagers start to question their parents and their viewpoints… it just came to me much later. As I am now a parent of teens and an almost young adult, I believe that it is our responsibility to raise our kids WITH our opinions and viewpoints but to also encourage them to find their own way and know things for themselves. It was during this time that I pretty much decided that the things I KNEW I believed (the gospel mainly) didn’t need to be questioned. But as I finally started to grow up… huh… I finally started to think and study things out on my own.
The Political Party
I remember being 18 years old and going to Judy M.'s home and registering to vote. She said “you are a Republican right?” I was 18 and (see above) I answered “well of course!” Five years later in the 1992 presidential election, I remember being enthralled with Ross Perot. He made SENSE to me. I followed the campaign and he got my vote. And since then, I make decisions in ALL aspects of my life based on ONE important principle…
BALANCE
Balance really governs everything I do and everything I say and everything I think. I see everything, and I do mean everything, in shades of grey. There is very little black and white in this world. I scrutinize every decision I must make, every consequence that follows. I seek balance in all things. I know that there are very few definitive right answers and very few definitive wrong answers. It makes the world a very cloudy and confusing place at times which is why I seek…
The Peace of the Gospel
When I needed to know where to place my allegiance in this last election the answer was of course grey (see above.) There was not a candidate that represented ME and where I stood on all the issues. Therefore, I needed to turn to the issues that are important to me at this time in my life and find the closest balance. Originally I followed Mitt Romney and he would have had my vote had he won the primary. To say I was disgusted by McCain in the primaries would be putting it very lightly. He offended me deeply. Furthermore, I was disgusted by the LDS who would have supported Romney and then out of a matter of allegiance to the beloved Republican Party, they became McCain fans overnight. It turned my stomach. Sarah Palin did not increase my confidence. So yes, I voted for Obama. He spoke of change and at that time (and even at this time) change is something this country DOES need.
I don’t watch television but I read the news every day. I read the Hartford Courant, TIME, CNN, the Deseret News, the Church News and Google News (google collects top stories from all sources). I listen to the political chatter and I do all of this concurrent with the most serious study of our Standard Works that I have ever embarked on. I am in my third year as a seminary teacher. Doing so not only requires a daily study of the scriptures but some serious pondering on how to apply them to our lives. Every day I sit with 15 teenagers and I discuss with them not only WHAT Jesus said, but WHY it matters and what my responsibilities as a Christian are. I think it would be accurate to say that I spend 10-20 hours a week in scripture study. Now, this may sound self righteous and I don’t intend it to. But I have to bring this in to the equation as I KNOW it has influenced me. I attended seminary in high school, I did the 14 hours of religious credits needed to graduate from BYU. But I can tell you with all honesty that these last 2.5 years is WHEN I have learned the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have heard it said from the pulpit and I can now bear testimony to the fact that while there are very real lessons there to be learned and at times words would literally jump off the page to me…. The greater blessing from MY time in the scriptures has been a greater peace and calm and confidence in knowing that I am living the best life I can be living right now. Being immersed in the life of Christ on a daily basis has caused a change in me that could have happened in no other way. I have an intense desire to live the life He wants me to live. I take my concerns about my family, my ward, my friends, my community and my country to the Lord in prayer. I feel the peace of the gospel. And that provides me with….
Confidence in my Decisions
I have heard your viewpoint and I know we disagree. I understand WHAT you are saying, I just don’t agree with it. My OWN personal journey has brought me to this:
1. Our President is our elected official. He is not a terrorist. He has a difficult job and seeks to find the balance just like I do, on very important decisions. He is not perfect and he is going to make a lot of mistakes. He needs our constant prayers and support.
2. Our country is NOT headed towards Communism. If it were, our religious freedoms would be at stake and our Prophet would be warning us. He has not. If he does, I will react as the Prophet guides.
3. Our Lord and Savior taught us that the second greatest commandment was to love our neighbor. The New Testament and His life are nothing but examples of loving those that are the hardest to love. My personal belief is that God holds a nation (even this nation) to the same standard that he holds an individual. Yes, this country, this promised land, has a responsibility to care for it’s people.
4. I would rather support a gov’t program that runs the risk of being abused by those who will never become self reliant than continue to live in a country that does not care for it’s poor and where the opportunity is NOT the same for all Americans
That is it in a nutshell… a BIG nutshell. I hope that if nothing else, what you will get from this is that I don’t treat these things lightly. I feel very strongly and my belief is very strongly tied to my understanding of the scriptures. You can imagine how frustrating it is for me when my views are challenged by those who have access to the same scriptures. I don’t expect others to believe as I do, only to respect my decisions.
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